IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING THE COMBUSTION IN A FURNACE OF THE SMOKE AND GASES RESULTING FROM THE FUEL THEREOF
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Washington Rawson, of the State of
Massachusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING THE COMBUSTION IN A FURNACE
OF THE SMOKE AND GASES RESULTING FROM THE FUEL THEREOF."
Sealed the 15th February 1870, and dated the 28th December 1869.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Washington
Rawson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 28th December 1869, pursuant to
the 9th Section of the Patent Law 'Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WASHINGTON RAWSON, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR PROMOTING THE COMBUSTION IN A FURNACE OF THE SMOKE AND GASES RESULTING
FROM THE FUEL THEREOF," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto
me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
[Price 8d.1

page_text: for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and
first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Washington Rawson, do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement, that is to say:-
The nature of such Invention consists in the arrangement of an air
blast wheel and its case outside, of and separate from a furnace, and
connecting the case of the wheel not only with the ash chamber or
fire-place of the furnace by means of an educt or conduit, but with the
chinney or discharge flue of such furnace by another conduit or induct
opening out of the said chimney and into the said case, the whole being
so that while the blast wheel may be in revolution the waste smoke and
spent gases of the fuel escaping into the chimney or discharge flue
may be drawn into such blast wheel case, and from thence with air
drawn into the case be driven into the ash-pit or fire-place, there to be
subjected to the action of the fuel in combustion within such fire-
place, the whole being to effect the consumption or burning of such
smoke and the waste combustible gases, and their utilization in the
production of heat.
The nature of the said Invention further consists in the combination
of a damper arranged in the smoke pipe of a furnace with an air blower
and pipes for connecting the case of such blower with the furnace and
smoke discharge flue, in manner substantially as herein-after explained.
The nature of my Invention further consists in the combination and
arrangement of an air register of the blower case with the blower, a
furnace and pipes or conduits for connecting the two, in manner
substantially as herein-after explained.
Of the Drawings afore-mentioned Figure 1 is a top view; Figure 2 is
a side elevation; Figure 3 a front end elevation of a locomotive engine
hoiler and furnace with my Invention applied thereto; Figure 4 is a
transverse section of such, the plane of section being through the air
blower or blast wheel and case; Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of the
boiler and furnace.
In carrying out my Invention I provide the chimney or eduction
pipe a of a furnace A with a valve or damper by which I arrange over

page_text: the mouth of a pipe c leading out of such chimney to the middle part of
one end of the case d of a fan blower, B, the blast or fan wheel of which
is shown at e. The eduction pipe f of such blower I lead into the ash
chamber g of the furnace A. Furthermore, I provide the opposite head
of the blower case with one or more air induction openings having a
register or closing valve 2. Under this state of things, if we suppose
fuel to be in combustion on the grate of the furnace, the damper of
the chimney to be closed, the blower wheel to be put in rapid revolution,
and the air register of the blower case to be partially or properly opened,
as the case may require, the smoke, gases, and lighter carbonaceous
matters which would otherwise escape by the chimney will be drawn
through the pipe c into the blower case, and there be mixed with air
also drawn therein by the fan wheel, and with such air will be driven
into the ash chamber and up through the grate and into the mass of fuel
thereon. The smoke and most if not all the gases, and the lighter
carbonaceous matters thus returned to the fuel, will be burned thereby,
and thus utilized or made to contribute to heating the boiler or whatever
the furnace may be applied to.
This Invention has been in operation with highly advantageous results
with a glass furnace, that is, a furnace used for producing glass in a
molten state. When the Invention is in operation it not only supplies
the furnace with the air necessary to the combustion of the fuel but it
causes the smoke and gases escaping from the fuel to be returned to it,
and forced in contact with or through it until they are finally consumed.
There will be little or no smoke issuing from the top of the chimney.
The results of the application of my said Invention to the glass
furnace has been that by the consumption of three tons of coal I could
heat the pots far more effectively than they could be by eight tons of
coal used without such Invention. When the Invention is in use the
furnace doors are to be closed. Instead of the air being let directly into
the blower case in manner as above explained it may be let into the
smoke conduit leading into such case.
The advantages of introducing the air into the blower case is that
such air will abstract heat from the case and wheel, and thus operate to
prevent them, or either of them, from being burned by the hot smoke
and gases. The heat so abstracted will be carried back into the fuel.and
thus be utilized.
I do not claim as my Invention the mere combination of a blower

page_text: with a furnace so as to blow air alone into it or its ash chamber; nor do
I claim the arrangement of a blast wheel within the smoke chamber of
a furnace, and providing such furnace and smoke chamber with a conduit
to lead from the smoke chamber to the ash chamber of the furnace. I
arrange my blower case and its conduits outside of and distinct from
the furnace and its smoke chamber, in consequence of which the blast
wheel is better protected from the action of the flame, and the furnace
can be kept in operation while the blower case may be open (for;
enabling its wheel to be repaired), or the revolution of the blast wheel
be arrested..
What therefore I claim as my Invention is, the arrangement of the
air blast wheel and its case outside of and separate from the furnace,
and connecting such case with the ash chamber, or the fire-place and
with the smoke chamber, or discharge flue thereof by means of pipes or
conduits arranged substantially as described.
I also claim the combination of the damper, arranged in the smoke
pipe of the furnace with an air blower, and pipes for connecting the case
of such blower, with the furnace and smoke discharge flue in manner
substantially, as described.
I also claim the combination and arrangement of the air register of
the blower case with the blower, a furnace and pipes for connecting the
two, in manner, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Washington Rawson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, of the
year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
GEORGE WASHINGTON RAWSON. (L.S.)