Improvements in Fuel Feading Devices for Furnaces.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application,
L
June, 1000
Complete Specification Left, 30th Mar., 1900-Accepted, 5th May, 1900
Date of Applicatio
Complete Specification Left, 30th Mar., 1900-4 coepted, 5th May, 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fuel Feading Devices for Furnaces.
I, JOSEPH DAVIES, of Bridgeport, in the County of Montgomery, State of
Pennsylvania, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of certain improvements in fuel feeding devices for fur-
naces, and relates both to the mechanism for preparing the fuel for the action
of the feeder and to the feeder itself, the invention having for its object to provide
for perfect control of the preparation of the fuel and for the effective feeding of
the fuel into and its distribution in the fire box of the furnace. A feeding device
according to my invention is arranged as follows:-
Built into the, masonry at the front of the fire box of the furnace is a tubular
casing in which rotates a feed tube mounted at the front end in a bearing in a
cap plate of a blast box which is secured to the lower end of the fuel hopper the
said blast box having a nozzle whereby a propelling agent such as a jet of super-
heated steam, is projected from the lower portion of the blast box into the
lower portion of the feed tube where it meets the ground, or pulverized, fuel
passing from the hopper, and carries the said fuel through the feed tube and
casing into the fire box of the furnace.
The ground, or pulverized, fuel is prevented from falling directly onto the
nozzle by a transverse partition extending across the blast box and inclined down-
wardly towards the feed tube so that the fuel will flow into the forward end of
the said feed tube and into the blast entering the same.
The blast box may be supplied either with cold air, hot air, unconsumed pro-
ducts of combustion, or a mixture of these, a suitable plugged opening in the
blast box providing for the inflow of cold air, and a pipe, extending from the blast
box into the smoke box of the furnace, providing for the supply of hot air, or
unconsumed products of combustion, the pipe being coiled in the smoke box,
carried through one of the flues of the boiler, or otherwise disposed so as to pre-
sent an extended surface to the products of combustion when it is desired to use
it as an air heater.
Secured at its forward end to the blast box is a bar, which extends into the
feed tube and bears against one side thereof, so that as the tube is rotated, the
said bar will act as a scraper, and prevent moist fuel from adhering to, and becom
ing caked upon, the inner surface of the said feed tube, and the said tube cannot
become obstructed, or partially obstructed, by such caked fuel but will present,
at all times, an opening of full area for the feeding of fuel to the furnace.
In the upper portion of the aforesaid tubular casing is a longitudinal opening
in which is carried a tube free to turn in the said opening and having at its inner
end a projecting bracket to which are hung by ears a distributor which occupies
a position immediately in the path of the fuel projected into the furnace from
the feed tube.
This distributor resembles, in shape, the double mould board of a plough, that

page_text: is to say, it comprises a central rib and opposite downwardly and outwardly flar-
ing wings so that the fuel thrown against it by the feed tube is directed, not only
downwards onto the grate of the fire box, but is spread laterally so as to be carried
outwardly towards each side of the fire box, thus effecting a more uniform dis-
tribution of the fuel over the grate than can be effected by a simple flat plate.
In order to still further enlarge the area over which the fuel can be spread I
impart to the distributor a longitudinal swinging motion whereby the angle of the
downwardly extending wings thereof, in respect to the mass of fuel projected
against them, is constantly changing with the effect of correspondingly changing
the distribution of the fuel longitudinally in the fire box, so that when the dis-
tributor swings upwardly and rearwardly the fuel will be directed further back
towards the rear of the fire box than when the distributor swings forwardly and
downwardly.
The reciprocation of the distributor is effected by means of a rod carried in the
distributor carrying tube and either bears upon, or is connected to, the distributor
at its inner end while at its outer end it is connected to a yoke mounted upon
the feed tube and having a slotted lug in which engages a rod having nuts on
opposite sides of said lug, the said rod being connected to one arm of a lever
which is hung to a bracket on the hopper and is vibrated by means of an eccen-
tric upon a shaft which passes through the fuel hopper and carries a toothed
grinding disc, the eccentric sleeve having an arm with a pin adjustable in a slot
in the lever so that the throw of the lever and consequently the extent of the
swinging motion of the distributor, can be readily regulated, the opposite
extremes of movement of the distributor being also subject to change by longitu-
dinal movement of the yoke in respect to the rod.
By reason of these adjustments the fuel can be distributed in any part of the
fire box desired.
It is desirable to provide for laterally adjusting the distributor in order that its
relation to the column of fuel discharged from the feed tube may be varied to meet
the requirements of any particular case, and in order to effect this I swing the
distributor carrying tube in its bearing in the casing by manipulating nuts upon
a rod which is connected at one end to a lug on a head at the front end of the
tube and passes through a bar forming one of the supports for the blast box and
fuel hopper.
The feed tube has secured upon it a worm wheel which engages with a worm
on a transverse shaft carried in bearings in the aforesaid bar and in a bracket
secured upon the front plate of the furnace, the said shaft having fast and loose
pulleys for the reception of a belt whereby the shaft may be driven from any
available source of power.
The shaff also has a pinion which engages with a spur wheel on a sleeve which
is free to turn on a stud projecting from the fuel hopper and on this sleeve is a
pinion which engages with a spur wheel on the shaft which carries the toothed
grinding dise, the said shaft having, at the opposite end, the aforesaid eccentric,
and a spur pinion which engages with a spur wheel on a shaft extending trans-
versely across the fuel hopper and having blades or teeth which serve to crack, or
break up large lumps of fuel before the same are subjected to the action of the
toothed grinding disc.
The said grinding disc operates in conjunction with a plate secured at its upper
end to the inner side of the flaring front of the hopper but free at the lower end
so that it can be adjusted from or towards the toothed periphery of the grinding
disc thereby causing the latter to grind fine, or coarse as desired, such adjustment
of the plate being effected by a series of set screws bearing upon the plate and
passing through a screwed hole in the front of the fuel hopper.
The fuel hopper terminates at the bottom in a neck and an opening in the front
of this neck is closed by a slide plate which can be readily removed when it is
desired to gain access to the neck for purposes of inspection or to dislodge any
fuel which may have accumulated therein,

page_text: A sliding plate in the front of the upper portion of the fuel hopper provides
a convenient means of access to the breaker or other parts in the lower portion of
the said fuel hopper.
Dated this 15th day of June 1800
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
De particu
My invention consists of certain improvements in fuel feeding device for fur-
naces the said improvements relating both to the mechanism for preparing the
coal for the action of the feeder and to the feeder itself and having for their
object the better control of the preparation of the fuel and the more effective feed-
ing of the fuel into and distribution of the same in the fire box of the furnace,
than in former devices.
I will describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings of
which
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section sufficient of a steam boiler furnace
to illustrate my fuel feeding device in connection therewith:
Figure 2 is a front view of the same:
Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse section of part of the device, taken on the
liner, Fig. 1.
Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse section of another part of the device, taken
on the line yy, Figure 1;
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a deflector or distributor forming part of the
apparatus.
1 represents the front plate of the furnace and 2 the plate for the support of
the transverse masonry at the front of the fire box against which the front end
of the boiler 3 abuts or upon which it is partially supported. Built into the
masonry at the front of the furnace is a tubular casing 4, in which rotates a feed
tube 5, mounted at the front end in a bearing in the cap plate of a blast box 6
which is secured to the lower end of the fuel hopper 7, the said blast box having
a nozzle 8 whereby a propelling agent such as a jet of superheated steam is pro-
jected from the lower portion of the blast box into the lower portion of the feed
tube 5, where it meets the ground or pulverized fuel passing from the hopper 7
and carries the said fuel through the feed tube 5 and casing 4 into the fire box
of the furnace.
The ground or pulverized fuel is prevented from falling directly onto the nozzle 8
by a transverse partition 9 extending across the blast box and inclined down-
wardly toward the feed tube, so that the fuel will flow from the same into the
forward end of the said feed tube and into the blast entering the same.
The blast box may be supplied either with cold air, hot air, unconsumed pro-
ducts of combustion, or a mixture of these, a suitable plugged opening 10 being
provided in the blast box for the inflow of cold air, a pipe 11 extending from the
blast box back into the smoke box of the furnace providing for the supply of hot.
air or unconsumed products of combustion, the pipe being coiled in the smoke box,
carried through one of the flues of the boiler, or otherwise arranged so as to pre-

page_text: sent an extended surface to the products of combustion when it is desired to use
it as an air heater.
Secured at its forward end to the blast box is a bar 12 which extends into the
feed tube and bears against one side thereof as shewn in Figure 3 so that as the
tube is rotated the bar will act as a scraper and prevent moist fuel from adhering
to and becoming caked upon the inner surface of the feed tube so that the said
feed tube cannot become obstructed or partially obstructed by such caked fuel,
but will present at all times an opening of full area for the feeding of fuel to the
furnace.
In the upper portion of the tubular casing 4 is a longitudinal opening in which
is carried so as to be free to turn therein a tube 13 having at its inner end a pro-
jecting bracket 14 to which is hung by ears a distributor 15 which occupies a
position immediately in the path of the fuel projected into the furnace from the
fuel tube 5. This distributor resembles in shape the double mould board of a
plough that is to say, it comprises a central rib 16 and opposite downwardly and
outwardly flaring wings. 17, so that the fuel thrown against it by the feed tube
is directed not only downward onto the grate of the fire box, but is spread later-
ally so as to be carried outwardly toward each side of the fire box thus effecting
a more uniform distribution of the fuel over the grate than can be effected by a
simple flat plate.
In order to still further enlarge the area over which the fuel can be spread I
impart to the distributor 15 a longitudinal swinging motion whereby the angle
of the downwardly extending wings 17 in respect to the mass of fuel projected
against them is constantly changing with the effect of correspondingly changing
the distribution of the fuel longitudinally in the fire box so that when the distri-
butor swings upwardly and rearwardly the fuel will be directed further back
toward the rear of the fire box than when the distributor swings forwardly and
'downwardly.
The reciprocation of the distributor 15 is effected by means of a rod 18 which
passes through the tube 13 and either bears upon or is connected to the distributor
at its inner end, while at its outer end it is connected to a yoke 19 mounted upon
the feed tube and having a slotted lug which engages a rod 20 having nuts 21
'on opposite sides of the said lug, as shewn in Figure 1, the said rod being con-
nected to one arm of a lever 22 which is hung to a bracket 23 on the hopper 7
and is vibrated by means of an eccentric 24 upon a shaft 25 which passes through
the fuel hopper and carries a toothed grinding disc 26, the eccentric strap having
an arm with a pin, adjustable, in a slot 27 in the lever 22, so that the throw of
the lever and consequently the extent of the swinging motion of the distributor 15
can be readily regulated, the opposite extremes of movement of the distributor
being also subject to change by manipulating the nuts 21 so as to effect longitu-
linal movement of the yoke 19 in respect of the rod 20 as shown in Figures 1
and 3.
!
By reason of these adjustments the fuel can be distributed in any part of the
fire box desired.
It is desirable to provide for laterally tilting the distributor 15 in order that the
relation of the same to the column of fuel discharged from the feed tube 5 may
be varied to meet the requirements of any particular case, and in order to effect
such lateral tilting of the distributor the tube 13 is turned in its bearing in the
casing by manipulating nuts 28 upon a rod 29 which is connected at one end to
a lug 30 on a head at the front end of the tube 13 and passes through a bar 32
forming one of the supports for the blast box and fuel hopper. The feed tube 5
has secured upon it a worm wheel 33 which gears with a worm 34 on a transverse
shaft 35 which is mounted in bearings in the bar 32 and in a bracket 36 secured
upon the front plate 1 of the furnace, the said shaft 35 having fast and loose
pulleys for the reception of a belt whereby the shaft may be driven from any
available source of power. The shaft 35 also has a pinion 37 which gears with a
spur wheel 38 on a sleeve which is free to turn on a stud projecting from the

page_text: fuel hopper, and on this sleeve is a pinion 39 which gears with a spur wheel 40
on the shaft 25 which carries the toothed grinding disc 26 before referred to the
said shaft 25 having at the opposite end the eccentric 24 and a spur pinion 41
which gears with a spur wheel 42 on a shaft 43 the latter extending transversely
across the fuel hopper and having blades or teeth 44 which serve to crack or break
up large lumps of fuel before the same are subjected to the action of the toothed
grinding disk 26. The said grinding disk operates in conjunction with a plate 45
secured at its upper end to the inner side of the flaring front of the hopper, but
free at the lower end, so that it can be adjusted from or toward the toothed peri-
phery of the grinding disk 26, thereby causing the latter to grind fine or coarse,
as desired such adjustment of the plate 45 being effected by a series of set
screws 46, bearing upon the plate and adapted to threaded openings in the front
of the fuel hopper, as shewn in Figure 1.
The fuel hopper terminates at the bottom in a neck 47 and an opening in the
front of this neck is closed by a slide plate 48 which can be readily removed when
it is desired to gain access to the neck for purposes of inspection or to dislodge
any fuel which may have accumulated therein.
A sliding plate 49 in the front of the upper portion of the fuel hopper provides
means of access to the breaker 44 or other parts in the lower portion of said fuel
hopper.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
1 claim is—
1. The combination with means for projecting fuel into a fire box of a dis-
tributor having downwardly and outwardly flaring portions on each side of a
central line whereby a lateral as well as a longitudinal distribution of the fuel
will be effected, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The combination with means for projecting fuel into a fire box of a distri-
butor mounted in the path of the said projected fuel, and means for tilting the
said distributor laterally so as to vary its relation to the moving fuel and means
for imparting longitudinal vibration to the distributor substantially as herein-
before described.
3. The combination with means for projecting fuel into a fire box of a dis-
tributor located in the path of the moving fuel; a hanger carrying the distributor,
a bearing for the said hanger, and means for tilting the said hanger in the bear-
ing substantially as herein before described.
4. The combination with means for projecting a mass of fuel into a fire box of
a distributor situated in the path of the said moving mass of fuel, a hanger for
the said distributor a hearing in which the said hanger is mounted so as to be
capable of tilting or turning, a rod passing through the said hanger and acting
upon the distributor so as to effect vibration of the same, and means for imparting
reciprocating motion to the said rod substantially as herein before described.
5. The combination with means for projecting a mass of fuel into a fire box of
a swinging distributor situated in the path of the said moving mass of fuel, a rod
acting on the said distributor, a yoke connected to the said rod, an operating rod
having a longitudinal adjustment in respect to the said yoke, and means for
imparting reciprocating motion to the said operating rod substantially
before described.
as herein-
6. The combination with means for projecting a mass of fuel into a fire box of
a tilting distributor interposed in the path of the said moving mass of fuel, a
rod for imparting tilting movement to the said distributor, and mechanism for
reciprocating the said rod, one of the elements of the said mechanism being a
slotted lever whereby the extent of reciprocating movement of the rod can be
regulated substantially as herein before described.
7. The combination in a fuel feeding device for furnaces, of a feed tube, means
for rotating the same, an air blast and fuel supply chamber communicating with

page_text: the said tube, and a scraper arranged on the inside of the rotating tube and serv-
ing to prevent accumulations of fuel thereon substantially as herein before
described.
8. The combination of a fuel feeding device for furnaces, of means for pro-
jecting fuel into the fire box, a fuel hopper, a grinding device in the lower por-
tion of the same, and a toothed breaker rotating in the hopper above the said
grinding device, whereby large lumps of fuel are cracked or broken by the said
breaker before they are subjected to the action of the grinding device substan
tially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 30th day of March 1900
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.