IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HEATING GREENHOUSES AND HORTICULTURAL AND OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cowan, of Dromore, Kenmare, in the
County of Kerry, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR HEATING GREENHOUSES AND HORTICULTURAL AND OTHER
BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 22nd April 1873, and dated the 11th February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cowan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1873.
I, JOHN COWAN, of Dromore, Kenmare, in the County of Kerry,
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HEATING GREENHOUSES AND HORTICULTURAL AND
OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
heating greenhouses and horticultural and other buildings. For this
purpose I utilise the waste heat of a lime kiln by placing in the flame at
the mouth thereof the boiler of a hot water apparatus, and from this
boiler I lead pipes through the buildings to be warmed, and the water

page_text: which has become heated in the boiler circulates in the pipes, the heated
water leaving the boiler at or near the top, and the water which has
become cooled by flowing through the circuit of pipes being returned to
the boiler at or near the bottom. By this arrangement the cost of the
fuel consumed will be fully repaid in the value of the lime manufactured,
and a large range of horticultural buildings may be heated without any
cost for fuel, and with less attention than the furnace of a hot water
apparatus commonly requires.
The boiler I prefer to employ is of a
or saddle form; there
is a hole through the bottom water space corresponding with the mouth
of the kiln and a midfeather or bridge over which the flame passes and
then descends. The heat from the kiln escapes at the back of the boiler
which is closed with the exception of an opening left for this purpose in
the lower part, and then are led by external flues around the exterior of
the boiler. The front of the boiler is fitted with a door closing the
mouth by which the kiln is fed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Cowan in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COWAN, of Dromore, Kenmare, in the County of Kerry, Ireland, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, 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-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Cowan, Her special
license that I, the said John Cowan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cowan, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 APPARATUS FOR
HEATING GREENHOUSES AND HORTICULTURAL AND OTHER BUILDINGS," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cowan, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing, under my, 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 I, the said John Cowan, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
heating greenhouses and horticultural and other buildings. For this
purpose I utilise the waste heat of a lime kiln by placing in the flame at
the mouth thereof the boiler of a hot water apparatus, and from this
boiler I lead pipes through the buildings to be warmed, and the water
which has become heated in the boiler circulates in the pipes, the heated
water leaving the boiler at or near the top, and the water which has
become cooled by flowing through the circuit of pipes being returned to
the boiler at or near the bottom. By this arrangement the cost of the
fuel consumed will be fully repaid in the value of the line manufactured,
and a large range of horticultural buildings may be heated without any
cost for fuel, and with less attention than the furnace of a hot water
apparatus commonly requires.
or saddle form; there
The boiler I prefer to employ is of a
is a hole through the bottom water space corresponding with the mouth
of the kiln, and a hollow midfeather or bridge continuous with and
commnicating with the main water space over which the flame passes
and then descends, or two or more such midfeathers or bridges may be
employed. The heated gases and other products of combustion from the
kiln escape at the back of the boiler which is closed with the exception
of an opening left for this purpose in the lower part, and are then led by
external flues around the exterior of the boiler. The front of the boiler
is fitted with a door closing the mouth by which the kiln is fed.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed,

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation; Figure 2 is a transverse and vertical section;
and Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of apparatus for heating green-
houses and horticultural buildings arranged according to my Invention.
a is the chamber of a kiln for lime burning; its horizontal section is
circular; b is the containing wall of the chamber; it is built of fire-brick
or stone with a backing c of sand, and outside this a filling of rough
broken stone or other material of cubical form; dis an arched recess
giving access to the drawing and lighting hole e at the foot of the
chamber a, this hole may conveniently be about nine inches square so
that it will admit a shovel easily. Over the top or mouth of the
chamber a a boiler is set. A side view of this boiler is shewn separately
at Figure 4, and an end view at Figure 5. Figure 6 also is a vertical
and longitudinal section of the boiler. The main water space f of the
boiler is of saddle form, and there are also hollow midfeathers or bridges
or transverse water spaces g, h, i, and k. The boiler is so set over the
mouth of the chamber a that the heat and flame from it rises between
the water spaces g and h. The opening at 1 is provided with a door
(see Figures 1 and 3) which is closed except whilst the kiln is being
charged, so that the draught is compelled over the water space h, under i,
and over k, and so it arrives at the flues m (see Figures 2 and 3) which
are built on the outside of the boiler and on either side of it. At the
front of the boiler the draft rises from the flues m into the flue n which
returns over the top and so enters the chimney o; p, p¹, and q, q¹, are
cast-iron sockets bolted on to the boiler, they receive the ends of the
pipes by which the greenhouses or horticultural or other buildings are
heated, and these should be as near to the boiler as may be convenient.
The hot water flows out of the boiler at p and p¹, and circulates in two
separate systems of pipes until it re-enters the boiler at q and q¹. The
arrangement shewn in the Drawings (which are drawn to the scale of
half an inch to the foot) is competent to heat 3000 feet of four-inch
pipe.
Boilers of the construction shewn in the Drawings are also suitable for
use where it is not required to burn lime, and for this purpose the boilers
used are provided with fire-bars in the space between g and h.
Although I have described and shewn in the Drawings hereunto
annexed a peculiar boiler of the saddle form, and have found it very

page_text: suitable for the purposes of my said Invention, I do not confine myself
thereto.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I make
no claim to any of the parts of which the apparatus herein-before
described taken separately or apart from the combination thereof with
the other parts of which my said apparatus is composed, but what I
claim is, the combination of hot-water circulating apparatus and lime
kilns for heating greenhouses and other buildings, substantially as
herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cowan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.