IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES, STOVES, AND FURNACES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rice, of No. 384, Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES, STOVES, AND FURNACES."
Sealed the 30th April 1872, and dated the 17th February 1872.

page_text: the front immediately over the fire-door or front bars; this is done in
the case of saddle and other boilers by making the flue at the front end
of the boiler instead of at the rear end as heretofore usual, and in open
grates or fire-places by interposing a slab or plate a short distance above
the ignited fuel so as to check the upward ascent of the smoke and make
it pass in front of the slab or plate before it ascends the flue), the back
part of the fire-place being closed at the sides, top, and back, and air
only passing into it from the front or up between the bottom fire-bars.
By this arrangement nearly the whole of the smoke produced will be
consumed, a great saving of fuel will be effected, and great heat will be
obtained
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Rice in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RICE, of No. 384, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Rice, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Rice, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Rice, 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 THE CON-
STRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES, STOVES, AND FURNACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Rice, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one

page_text: Wan Stars, partly
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 Joseph Rice, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore fire-grates, stoves, and furnaces have been so constructed
that the products of combustion have been led away partly unconsumed
by a flue either from the back or the top.
According to my Invention I construct fire-grates, stoves, or furnaces
in such a manner that the products of combustion are led away from
the front immediately over the fire-door or front bars; this is done in
the case of saddle and other boilers by making the flue at the front end
of the boiler instead of at the rear end as heretofore usual, and in open
grates or fire-places by interposing a slab or plate a short distance above
the ignited fuel so as to check the upward ascent of the smoke and make
it pass
in front of the slab or plate before it ascends the flue, the back
part of the fire-place being closed at the sides, top, and back, and air
only passing into it from the front or up between the bottom fire-bars
By this arrangement nearly the whole of the smoke produced will be
consumed, a great saving of fuel will be effected, and great heat will be
obtained.
Furnaces of all kinds, whether for melting or working metals or
glass, or for other purposes, may be constructed in this manner.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn examples of steam
boiler furnaces arranged as above described.
The vertical boiler shewn at Figure 1 is a cylindrical boiler with an
internal fire-place. a is the hollow exterior casing of the boiler, con-
nected by short pipes 6 with an inner water chamber c, a space & being
left between the interior of the casing a and the chamber c for the

page_text: heated gases from the fire to play freely. e, e, are the fire-bars at the
bottom of the casing a; f is the fire-door; and 9 the chimney imme-
diately over the fire-door. In the fire-door are a number of openings, as
shewn at Figure 1*, to admit air to the interior of the furnace.
By thus
admitting air through openings in the door the upward current or
draught through the chimney is checked, and the heated gases passing
away give off heat to the incoming air, so that this air becomes highly
heated before it enters into combination with the fuel or with the partly
consumed gases arising from it. By this means perfect combustion of
the fuel is obtained, the smoke produced is consumed, and consequently
there is a great saving in fuel.
The furnace of the horizontal steam boiler, shewn at Figure 2, is
similarly arranged. a is an ordinary cylindrical steam boiler, resting
upon bearers b, b, and set in brickwork as shewn; e, e, are the fire-bars;
ex, a dead plate in front thereof; f is the fire-door; and g, the chimney
or outlet immediately above it. d, d, is a space at the back and sides of
the boiler, in which the heated gases from the fire can play freely.
With a horizontal boiler having an internal tube or tubes passing from
end to end of the boiler, I set the boiler in a similar manner to that
shewn at Figure 2, with the exception that a chamber or flue is formed
in front of the boiler for the tubes to open into, and the side spaces d are
continued to the front of the boiler so as to communicate with such
chamber. The lower part of the front portion of the side spaces d will
in this case be closed. The heated gases will enter the tubes at the back
end, and will pass out into the chamber or flue at the front, and from
there along the sides and below the bottom of the boiler to the chimney.
A similar chamber or flue may be formed in front of the boiler, even
when the boiler is not formed with internal tubes.
At Figures 3, 4, and 5 I have shewn another arrangement of steam
boiler and furnace constructed according to my Invention. In this
furnace the products of combustion from the fuel on the fire-bars a rises
up between narrow water chambers 6', forming part of the boiler b, the
construction of which is clearly shewn by the Drawings, Figures 3, 4,
and 5. c, c, are partition plates fixed across the spaces between the
narrow water chambers 6', and extending nearly to the top of such
spaces, so as to cause the heated gases to circulate between the
chambers in the manner shewn by the arrows in Figure 3, before they
pass away by the chimney outlet d, which, as in the furnaces already

page_text: described, is placed just above the fire-door e. f is a dead plate extending
from the door up to the fire-bars.
Figure 6 is a fire-grate constructed according to my Invention. a, a,
are the fire-bars, and 6, 6, the front bars of the fire-grate; c, a plate
above the same to check the direct upward ascent of the products of
combustion; d, an opening in front thereof, through which the products
of combustion pass to the chimney; c*, a hinged door in the plate c, to
afford access to the chimney when it requires to be swept.
In place of the plate c being curved as above described it might if
desired be made straight, as shewn at Figure 7.
A plate such as shewn at Figure 7 may likewise advantageously be
placed above the fire-place of a kitchen range, the plate being made to
pass from one side to the other of the range, and to extend forward some
inches in front of the fire-grate. By constructing a fire-grate as above
described a more perfect combustion of the fuel will be ensured, and the
production of smoke will be avoided.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is,-
1. The construction of the furnaces of steam boilers and other furnaces,
substantially in the manner herein described.