CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS, WHICH BARS ARE APPLICABLE TO ALL FURNACES WHERE GREAT HEAT AND ECONOMY OF FUEL ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Schofield Crowther Sheard, Engineer, of Smethwick,
in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN FIRE-BARS, WHICH BARS ARE APPLICABLE TO ALL FURNACES WHERE GREAT
HEAT AND ECONOMY OF FUEL ARE REQUIRED."-
Sealed the 11th November 1859, and dated the 16th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Schofield Crowther
Sheard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Peti-
tion, on the 16th May 1859.
I, SCHOFIELD CROWTHER SHEARD, Engineer, of Smethwick, in the County of
Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS, WHICH BARS ARE APPLICABLE TO ALL FURNACES WHERE
GREAT HEAT AND ECONOMY OF FUEL ARE REQUIRED," to be as follows (that is
to say):
The nature and object of my Invention is to simplify the construction of
fire-bars, and to render them susceptible of greater facility in removing them
for the purpose of breaking up the slag or cinder that is liable to form on
them when in use, thereby ensuring thorough combustion, and consequently
economy of coal. I effect this by bevelling outward, at any desirable angle,
the lower ends of my bars, which resting on friction rollers, and the bars
having clips formed on their under sides for clipping the top rail of two
rockers, to one of which a lever may be applied in the usual way, so that by
moving the rockers the bars are made alternately to advance and recede,

page_text: which action elevates one end in the same proportion that it depresses the
other. And as the whole weight of the bars at all times rests on the friction
rollers on which they work, the mere action of the lever attached to the front
rocker as convenient will readily put them in motion; or, the friction rollers
on which they rest may be toothed, and corresponding cogs being formed on
the slanting ends of the bars, the leverage may be applied to the axis of such
toothed rollers with proper gearing to reverse the action, so that while one series
are advanced the other is retiring. Nor am I compelled to have the bevilled
ends straight, as they may be curved, both being of the same area, the rollers
on which they rest being placed in position for their working over them, and
which curved ends may be toothed or plain as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Schofield Crowther Sheard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SCHOFIELD
CROWTHER SHEARD, Engineer, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Scofield Crowther Sheard, Her special license that I, the said Schofield
Crowther Sheard, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Schofield Crowther Sheard, my executors, administrators, or
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS, WHICH BARS ARE APPLICABLE
TO ALL FURNACES WHERE GREAT HEAT AND ECONOMY OF FUEL IS REQUIRED," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Schofield Crowther Sheard, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Schofield Crowther Sheard, 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 (that is to say):
:-
My improvements in fire-bars are mainly intended to simplify their con-
struction, and facilitate the means by which they may be alternately shifted
and altered in their plane, so that a free current of atmospheric air may be
admitted to the fire, either by breaking up or preventing cinder or slag
forming or caking over their surfaces, which is mainly prevented by admitting
a free access of air between the bars to all parts of the fire, which produces
the thorough and complete combustion so desirable in furnaces generally,
whether required for the generating of steam, the smelting of metals, the
puddling of iron, or other purposes where great heat and economy of fuel is
required. And my improvements consist in placing rollers at the front and
back, with their axis resting in the side plates, built in the brickwork or
otherwise supported, and which rollers I purpose placing in such a way that
the two outer ones shall stand above the others, so that a line drawn over
their surfaces shall meet in the middle about a foot (more or less as required)
below the horizontal plane of their position, and the ends of my fire-bars
I form also of a corresponding bevil or angle, so that in moving the bars
alternately, one portion forward and the other portion backward, they will cause
the rollers on which they rest to revolve, and as the bars fall on one end in
proportion to the rise on the other an equivolent force is produced, so that a
slight effort and simple means are only required to produce this desired object,
and which means may be effected either by rockers or by gearing the front or
back rollers together, so that they may move in reverse direction. And the
surfaces of the rollers on which the bars rest may be formed into cogs, and
the front or back end of the bar being correspondingly toothed, the turning of
the rollers so geared will cause one set of the bars to advance and the other
to retire, at the same time altering the position of their plane, the series that
is brought forward rising in front and falling behind, and the series that
retires drops in front and rises behind in like manner as described when
rockers are being used, the amount of their inclination depending entirely.
upon the amount of angle given to their ends and to the rollers on which they
work, thus producing a combined equilibrium and undulating motion; but as
my Invention will be more fully comprehended and understood by referring
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, I will proceed to describe the same,
reference being made to the various figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to soul.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a sectional side view of an ordinary brick-built furnace,
the dead plate A being represented as cast with the door frame, but which of
course may be made in a separate piece when desired, and which is indeed
essential when applying my improved bars to furnaces already built. B is a
bridge at the back of the fire, supported by a plate of iron or otherwise, as
convenient, and merely introduced here to show that my improved fire bars do
not require any alteration in the usual mode of constructing the brickwork of
ordinary furnaces; C, C, represents a complete side view of a fire bar resting
on the rollers D and E, while the bar that may supposed to be behind rests on
the rollers F and G, the rollers D and E being only used for the series of bars
that move toward the mouth or front of the furnace, and the rollers F and G
for the bars that move from the front to the back; and in order that the
desired part of the bevilled ends of the bars shall come in contact with their
respective rollers, a portion of the bar each end (as at a, a,) is cut away.
Hand I are rockers, which work on axes at J, K, on which are cast or
formed, or secured, the partially toothed segmental wheels b, b, and to the axis
of the front rocker a shank may be formed for receiving the hollow end of the
lever handle L, or the lever or handle may be applied otherwise, if desired, and,
with this general arrangement it will be readily seen that by lowering the
handle the rockers H and I will move asunder, bringing one series of the bars
forward, and taking the other series back, and from the angular form of the
ends, the bars that are brought forward will rise at the front ends, and drop in
the same proportion at the other end, while the bars that are carried back will
rise behind and lower in front; the effect of this balanced undulating motion
will be to so open and disturb the burning mass of fuel that may be resting on
them (when in use) as to so permit the air to freely pass through and
thoroughly commingle with the carbonaceous matter as to effect its entire
combustion, the operation being repeated (as due care and attention may.
direct) the principle and process of combustion will be active and efficient in
keeping up the desired heat, even when cheap and refuse coal is being used.
The change in the plane of the surface of the fire bars is shown also in a
corresponding section at Fig. 2, in which Figure all the parts are marked
with the same letters of reference as in Figure One, and here the retiring bar,
not seen in Figure One, is represented marked M. And before passing from
the description of these two Figures, I will observe that the axes of the rockers
are made to work through or in sockets formed in cast-iron boxes or side
plates marked N, O, and which boxes I prefer so forming that from their
proportions they may be readily built in and with the brickwork of the
furnace, but altered and adapted as the position and character of the furnaco

page_text: may require, as, for instance, for locomotive furnaces I prefer carrying the axis
of the rocker through the sides, which for endurance should be made of fire-
clay, and applying the gearing cogs on the outside, as also the handle for.
moving the bars, likewise the bearings or sockets for the axes of the rockers
to work on, and this principle may also be applicable to stationary furnaces,
and the boxes on each side that form also the bearings for the rockers, and.
also the front rollers, may be so arranged as to be capable of being lowered in
front bodily with the bars, for thoroughly breaking up or removing any slag
or cinder that might from neglect have accumulated at the back of the
furnace.
Fig. 3 and 4 is a side and top view of a detached bar, showing projections
at the ends for regulating or. keeping the bars asunder, and which projections
are marked a, a; the top edge of the bar is represented straight, but they may
be as exhibited at C, C, Figure 1 and 2, or as at Fig. 5, or otherwise, as
desired; and sometimes, instead of altering the plane of the entire series of
bars behind, I only cause the alternate bars to rise, and the intermediate
ones to slide back on a parallel bearing, as exhibited in the last Figure
marked P.
Fig. 6 represents my mode of altering or varying the plane of the bars, as
herein-before referred to, namely, by partially forming the alternate bearings
of the bars and rollers with cogs, and by also gearing the rollers together, as
exhibited at Q and R, and in a detached view at Fig. 8, which represents the
rollers S and T, standing directly one above the other, in which position they
are also exhibited at Fig. 7; the sectional view of S and T, Figure 6, is as if
taken through the dotted line e and f of Figure 7; thus it may be seen that
the handle, as exhibited at Figure 6, marked U, has only to be pulled up,
when the end wheels Q and R, with the rollers S and T, will be turned in the
direction of the arrows, causing the bars to assume the balanced position, as
exhibited at Figure 2, stops being formed on the pinions or partially geared
wheels Q and R, for regulating the range. The bevilled ends of the bars are
not necessarily compelled to be straight, as they may be curved so as to form
at each end segments of a circle, or the curvature may be reversed, as ex-
hibited by the dotted lines g and h, Figure 6; nor am I compelled to apply
the handle, as exhibited in this Figure, to roller S, or that this roller shall be
confined to or for actuating the retiring bars, as it may be as well used for
advancing the one series, while the other bar may be used for retiring or taking
back the others, and for locomotive or other purposes where the space below
the bars is generally limited, the handle may be placed on the outside, as
before referred to.

page_text: Having thus given a general description of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that I do
not purpose confining myself to the precise bevil or angle of the ends of the
bars, as that may be varied according to the amount of variation required in
the plane or bed for the fire, nor to the general details for giving motion to
such bars, as the whole may be varied as desired, or the requirements of
present constructed furnaces may permit; but what I claim and wish pro-
tected by these my in part recited Letters Patent is, the combined means of
imparting to fire-bars, while in use, the equilibrium undulating motion or
motions herein described and exhibited.
In witness whereof, I, the said Schofield Crowther Sheard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
SCHOFIELD CROWTHER SHEARD. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent, Birmingham.