IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Sorrell, of Kingsland, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE."
Scaled the 27th May 1853, and dated the 11th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Sorrell a
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th December 1852.
I, WILLIAM SORRELL, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND FIRE PLACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE" to be
as follows:-
the fire.
I cause the smoke to be drawn from the shaft or chimney, and
mixing it with atmospheric air, I make it pass through or over
If two fires are used, I cause the smoke arising from
one, after mixing atmospheric air with it, to pass through or over
the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the condition of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Sorrell in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 11th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM SORRELL, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex, En-
gineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of. December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Sorrell, Her
special licence that I, the said William Sorrell, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Sorrell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND FIRE PLACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Sorrell, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Sorrell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Draw-
ings annexed (that is to say):
My Invention has for its object the consuming of the smoke
arising from the combustion of fuel in fire places and furnaces; and
this I do by causing the smoke to be drawn from the chimney or
shaft of the fire place or furnace, and mixed with atmospheric air,

page_text: and in that state made to pass through or over the fire; when the
oxygen of the air will enable the carbonaceous and other inflam-
mable constituents of the smoke to be consumed, and an increased
useful effect will thus be produced from a given quantity of fuel, as
compared with cases in which the smoke is allowed to escape un-
consumed.
Figure 1, of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation
of a steam boiler, shewing the two furnaces and apparatus in
connection therewith, for carrying out my Invention. Figure 2, is
a cross section of the same near the back end of the boilers. Figure
3, another cross section on the line A, B, of Figure 4. Figure 4,
is a longitudinal section between the boilers, and Figure 5, a plan of
the apparatus for working the valves or dampers. a, a, are the
boilers; b, the return flue from the back end of the boilers, which is
furnished with two dampers 8, 8, so that communication with either
boiler can be shut off at pleasure; c, is a pipe leading from the flue
to a fan d, for drawing away and mixing the smoke; e, is the outlet
of the fan, which communicates with the passage f, between the boilers;
e', is the air inlet to the fan; g, is a D slide, covering the mouth of
the passage h, which has two outlets i, i, one for the ash pit of cach
boiler; k, k, are pipes from the slide g, to the ash pits or furnaces;
which they put in communication with the fluc b, alternately, accord-
ing as the slide g, is shifted to one side or the other; l, is a pinion or
toothed segment, by which the slide g, is worked; this pinion or
segment is mounted on the lower end of the shaft ', and gears into
a rack formed in the interior of the slide; the upper end of the shaft
, carries the lever m, which is connected by the rod m³, to one arm
of the bell crank lever m', which is mounted on the damper spindle
n; the other arm of the bell crank is connected by the rod m³, to
the lever m², which is fixed on the damper spindle u; so the dampers
s, s, are moved simultaneously but in opposite directions, the one
being opened as the other is closed; n, n, are levers for shifting the
dampers t, t, to which they are connected by the rods n', n2, and
levers n³, n, the latter of which are mounted on the damper spin-
dles n, n; the levers n, n, are mounted on spindles o, o, which are
fixed at the hinged part of the furnace doors, and turn with thein

page_text: when they are opened; the bosses of the levers n, n, are formed with
clutches on the top, which correspond with other clutches p, p, by
which the chimney dampers are alternately put into and out of gear.
7,9, are levers (not shewn in Fig. 5), by which the clutches P. P.
are moved. r, is a disc with two crank pins, to which the ends of
the levers q, q, are attached by slotted holes, to allow the pins to
traverse the turning of the disc, and consequent rising or fulling of
the levers q, q, disengages or engages the clutches, the one being
put in gear as the other is thrown out. The disc r is caused to turn
by means of the worm r', which gears into worm teeth cut on the
edge of the disc. The worm 21, is driven by a strap passing round
the pulley, from any prime mover. In the side of the pulley ²,
is formed a friction clutch, into which a corresponding clutch piece
3,fits; and the pulley 12, runs loose on its shaft, except when the
clutch is engaged, which is effected by the closing of the furnace
doors alternately; the clutch is thrown out by means of the lever
74, which is connected by a chain to a weight 7. The weight r³, is
also connected to the lever n³, and another weight n³, is connected
to the lever n, for the purpose of opening the dampers t, t, when the
clutches P, P, are disconnected, and also for throwing out the friction
clutch, and stopping the worm and disc r¹, and r. When the worm
is driven by the friction clutch being in gear, the disc revolves, and
the pin in its side lifts one of the levers q, and the clutch p, carried
by that lever, which allows the weights to open the dampers t, t, al-
ternately. A handle 2, is fixed on the spindle 1, for the
of
purpose
enabling the spindle to be turned, and the dampers s, s, opened or
closed, so as to form a communication to the fan d, and from thence
to the opposite ash pit to that of the furnace from which the
fan is drawing; the communication from the fan to the ash pit
being made through either passage i, and pipe k, by means of the
slide which is moved by the same action of the handle 1. 20, 20,
are the ashpit doors, which are kept always closed except when
clearing out ashes. The air always has access to one of the furnaces,
through the passage h, according to the position of the slide g, and
after having passed through the fire, is drawn into the fan, and

page_text: forced into the opposite fire. x, is the shaft of the fan d, which is
supported in the standards x, x¹. The blades are attached to arms
in the ordinary manner, and there is a disc d', which has a boss at
its centre with a pinching screw, so that it may slide on the shaft,
and thus regulate the quantity of air drawn in and mixed with the
smoke. 3, is a rigger on the shaft c, for driving the fan. It will
be seen that, according to this arrangement, the dampers are opened
or closed alternately by the movement of the ash-pit doors, and that
when one set of dampers are opened, the other set will be closed,
and the smoke drawn off from the one furnace thrown in to be con-
sumed in the other furnace. For the purpose of more effectually
burning the smoke, by causing it to pass through the fire, I cause
the fire bars of the furnace to have motion given to them so as to
break up the fire, and allow the smoke and products of combustion
to pass into it more freely.
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, shew the mode of arranging
the fire bars or surfaces so as to give up the necessary motion as,
applied to a single furnace boiler. a, a, are fire bars of the ordinary
form, between which are placed revolving. discs, b, b, mounted on.
cross shafts c, c; these discs are of the form shewn in Figure 8, and,
placed at such a level, that the tappets or projections formed on
them shall come a little above the upper surface of the fixed 'bars
a, a. d, d, are rockers or tumblers mounted on other cross shafts
e, e, and placed so as to occupy the spaces between the discs, but
without interfering with their revolution. Motion is given to the
discs b, b, by means of the pauls or clicks f, f, which are mounted in
the grooved bar g, and take into ratchet wheels h, h, on the ends of
the cross shafts c, c, on which the discs are mounted. The grooved
bar
9₁ is connected at one end by a link or rod g¹, to one arm of the
bell crank lever 2, the other arm of which is connected by a rod or
link to a crank pin in the side of a ratchet wheel, which receives
motion by a click or pall attached to the end of a rod moved by an
excentric driven from a steam engine or other power. The effect
of the step by step revolving motion given to the discs b, b, and the
rocking action of the tumblers, is to break up the fire, and thus

page_text: cause the smoke and air admitted or forced into the ash pit to pass
more readily through the fire. The air entering the ash pit passes
also to the back of it, and rises up in front of the bridge, in the
space left at the inner end of the fire bar, where it meets the smoke
passing towards the bridge, and becoming mixed with it, causes it
to be consumed; the effect of the air thus entering the furnace may
be increased by admitting water into the pipe k, where it becomes
converted into steam, which issues through the bridge into the fur-
The admission of air, &c. to the fire, for the purpose of con-
suming the smoke, may be effected by fitting the furnace or fire place
with fire bars of the ordinary form, and with a row of revolving
discs of the form shewn in Figure 8, at the inner end immediately
under the bridge, so as to keep a clear space at the back of the bars
to admit air through the fire.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
The arranging the dampers of furnaces and fire places in such
manner as to stop off the blowing into the fire during the operation
of stoking.
I also claim the revolving discs and tappets for breaking up and
clearing the fire, and the employment of a single row of revolving
discs at the back of ordinary fire bars, all for the purpose of effecting
consumption of smoke and other products of combustion.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Sorrell, have hereunto?
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-three.