IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-GRATES OR RANGES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Onion, of Loughborough, in the County
of Leicester, Engineer, and William Onion, of Sneinton, in the
County of Nottingham, Machinist, for the Invention of "IM-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Onion and
William Onion at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th April 1873.
We, THOMAS ONION, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester,
Engineer, and WILLIAM ONION, of Sneinton, in the County of
Nottingham, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-GRATES OR RANGES," to
be as follows:-
Our improvements consist in closing or stopping up with any suitable
materials the chimney or flue of each fire-grate at or near the chimney
breast, leaving therein two or more openings arranged so that each
opening can be readily closed by a valve or sliding cover; the open

page_text: :
fire-grate we cover with a plate of cast iron or other material, of such
width that the sides of the plate will touch and rest upon the tops of
the oven and boiler and be level with the tops thereof, the front of the
plate is flanged on the lower side, such flange nearly meeting the upper
side of the top bar of the fire-grate, the back of the plate is extended
so as to touch the back of the flue or rest upon the chimney back;
near the back of the plate is a perforation which has a projecting flange
on the top side, upon which flange the lower end of a pipe is slipped,
the upper end of this pipe is passed into one of the openings in the
closing of the flue or chimney before named; the said pipe connecting
the fire-place with the flue is for the purpose of passing the products
of combustion into the flue, the draught being regulated by the valve
or plate before mentioned, or by a valve capable of adjustment in the
pipe; besides the flanged perforation above named are other perforations
horrizontally flanged," which perforations are temporally closed with
stoppers or lids which may be removed for the purpose of inserting
pans or saucepans therein, or they may be placed thereon, the oven
and boiler flues, if any, are provided with dampers, by means of which
we can regulate the draught as required.
t
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Thomas Onion and William Onion in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 27th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ONION, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Engineer, and
WILLIAM ONION, of Sneinton, in the County of Nottingham, Machinist, 2
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One' thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc- 3
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Onion and William
Onion, Her special licence that we, the said Thomas Onion (and
William Onion, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Thomas Onion and William Onion, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, a

page_text: t
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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-GRATES OR RANGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Thomas. Onion and William Onion,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Thomas Onion and William
Onion, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our improvements consist in closing or stopping up with any suitable
materials the chimney or flue of each fire-grate at or near the chimney
breast, leaving therein two or more openings arranged so that each
opening can be readily closed by a valve or sliding cover; the open fire-
grate we cover with a plate of cast iron or other material, of such width
that the sides of the plates will touch and rest upon tlic tops of the oven
and boiler and lie level with the tops thereof, the front of the plate is
flanged on the lower side, such flange nearly meeting the upper side of
the top bar of the fire-grate, the back of the plate is extended so as to
touch the back of the flue or rest upon the chimney back; near the
back of the plate is a perforation which has a projecting flange on
the top side, upon which flange the lower end of a pipe is slipped, the
upper end of this pipe is passed into one of the openings in the closing
of the flue or chimney before named; the said pipe connecting the fire-
place with the flue is for the purpose of passing the products of com-
bustion into the flue, the draught being regulated by the valve or plate
before mentioned, or by a valve capable of adjustment in the pipe;
besides the flanged perforation above named are other perforations
horizontally flanged, which perforations are temporarily closed with
stoppers or lids which may be removed for the purpose of inserting
pans or saucepans therein, or they may be placed thereon, the oven and

page_text: t
boiler flues, if any, are provided with dampers by means of which we
can regulate the draught as required.
. In carrying out our Invention we employ several separate arrange-
ments of apparatus, the first is shewn in plan at Figure 1, front view at
Figure 2, and in section at Figure 3; the second arrangement in
section at Figure 4 and in plan at Figure 5; the third arrangement
in plan at Figure 6, front view at Figure 7, and in section at Figure 8;
a fourth arrangement is shewn in section at Figure 9, and in plan at
Figure 10; and a valve plate and stop plate hereafter referred to are
shewn in plan at Figure 11, and a front view at Figure 12.
In the first arrangement we close the flue by means of a plate or
plates A, A, shown by dotted lines at Figure 2, or such closing may be
made with stone, brick, or other suitable material, there are two or more
openings in the closing, one of which may be stopped by a sliding grate
or valve B or by a sliding plate, the open fire-grate we cover with a
plate of cast iron or other material C of such a width that the sides of
it will rest upon the tops of the oven' and boiler and lie level with the
tops thereof, the front of the plate C has a flange on the under side of
sufficient depth to meet or nearly meet the upper side of the top bar
of the fire-grate, the back of the plate is extended so as to touch the
back of the flue or rest upon the chimney back near which the plate is
perforated and has a projecting flange C on the top side, upon which
flange the lower end of a pipe C³ is placed, the upper end of this pipe is
passed into one of the openings in the plate or other material closing
the flue, such pipe passing the products of combustion of the fuel used
in the grate into the flue; the flue is provided with a valve C³ which is
capable of adjustment. The plate C has one or more other horizontally
flanged perforations which may be temporally closed with stoppers or
lids C, or they may be removed to allow of saucepans or other vessels
to be placed upon the fire; the oven and boiler flues, if there are any,
may be provided with dampers D, D¹. In such case if the valve C³ is
closed, and either or both the dampers are withdrawn, the products of
combustion will then pass from the lower side of the fuel under and up
the backs of the oven and boiler or either of them, thus the draught
may be regulated to the greatest nicety and. directed where required.
Instead of the valve C³ for regulating the draught in the pipe, we may
prefer a plate sliding in a vertical flange of the plate C, as shewn by

page_text: dotted lines C in Figure 3. When such arrangement of apparatus is
used a fire the full depth of the grate not being. required we close the
three lower spaces by means of a piece of sheet iron C or other suitable
material with a piece cut away at each bottom corner to allow a poker
to be inserted to push the burning fuel under either the oven or boiler,
the space between the dotted lines being filled by a piece or pieces of
brick, or by the ashes from the fuel.
Our second arrangement consists in employing the apparatus before
described, and in addition thereto we take out the fire-bars of the grate
and substitute in lieu thereof the parts shewn in section at Figure 4.
and in plan at Figure 5, where a double hit-and-miss grate E is placed
under the front edge of the plate C, and a bottom grate E¹ is supported
by a racked rod E², and is raised or lowered by means of a pinion moved
by a handle Es; part of the axis of the pinion is square, and is provided.
with a spring E, which pressing upon it holds the bottom grate where
placed, the products of combustion in this case, instead of passing up
a pipe above the plate C passes through a perforated fire-brick over the
top of the back of the grate, and then descends down either or both of
the flues F, F, which may be formed of cast metal, brick, or other
suitable material, thence under the bottoms and over the backs of the
oven and boiler, up the flues H, H, in the direction indicated by the
arrows in both Figures; the flues H, H, may be formed of brick in the
usual way, or of cast metal as shewn. The fronts of the lower part of
the flues F, F, are stopped by a plate and clip to allow of it being
removed for the purpose of cleaning out the flues. Between the flues
F, F, and the adjustable bottom grate we place a drawer G, which is
split at the back so as to pass clear of each side of the rod E³, this
drawer receives the ashes which fall through the bottom grate, and may
be removed to empty out the same.
Our third arrangement, shewn at Figures 6, 7, and 8, consists in
closing the flue as described in the first arrangement, but Icaving a
perforation in the plate A to receive the upper end of one flue H, and
employing a flanged plate C, which rests upon the boiler and oven,
and is of such length as to entirely cover the top of the oven, over which
the products of combustion pass, then down a recess cut or built in the
chimney jamb, thence passing through the boxed flue F, under and up
the back of the boiler to the fluc H which is provided with a damper

page_text: for regulating the draught; the plate C may have two or more horizontally
flanged perforations as shewn at Figure 6.
+
In our fourth arrangement, shewn at Figures 9 and 10, we leave the
usual grate bars in their place, and at the back of them place a double
or single hit-and-miss curved grate E, and fill up the space below as
described in our first. arrangement, or we employ an adjustable bottom
grate as described in our second arrangement, using a perforated plate C
as first described, or instead of such plate we substitute a plate C, shewn
in plan at Figure 11 and front view at Figure 12, a plate C7 is placed
so as to fill up the space between the oven and boiler flues, and at the
back of such plate the plate C has three perforations which can be
partially or wholly closed by a double perforated sliding plate Co, operated
by a hand lever as shewn, the chimney flue being stopped as first
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Onion and William Onion,
have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twenty-fifth day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
Witness,
H. W. GOUGH, C.E.
THOS. ONION.
WILLIAM ONION.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)