IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING CINDERS FROM ASHES, AND ECONOMIZING FUEL
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Chambers, of Cheapside, in the City of
London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING
CINDERS FROM ASHES, AND ECONOMIZING FUEL."
Sealed the 9th February 1858, and dated the 11th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Chambers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th August 1857.
I, GEORGE CHAMBERS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPA-
RATING CINDERS FROM ASHES, AND ECONOMIZING FUEL," to be as follows:--
I propose to form a guard or covering (of metal, wire, or other suitable
material) for the lower or under bars and bottom of a fire grate, in such wise
that as the consumed or partly consumed contents of the said grate fall there-
from the larger portions thereof shall be retained in a receiver, and the dust
or ash allowed to fall through. A trap door or slide will be so formed or
made in the said receiver as to permit the cinders to be withdrawn therefrom
at pleasure, thus dispensing altogether with the use of a fender.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Chambers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CHAMBERS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Chambers, Her special licence that I, the said George
Chambers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Chambers, 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 SEPARATING CINDERS FROM ASHES, AND ECONOMIZING FUEL,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Chambers, 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 George Chambers, 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, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is the adjustment of apparatus composed of
metal bars and wire, to the ordinary grate or stove, in such wise that when
partial combustion of the fuel used to maintain a fire in the stove or grate
shall have taken place, and the fuel be so far burnt or destroyed as to cause
the residue, commonly called cinders, to fall through the ordinary under bars
of the grate, such residue or cinders shall be caught upon and upheld by the
bars of my apparatus (the ash passing through them) until either more com-
plete combustion shall have taken place, or until they shall, by the withdrawal
of the apparatus, be again cast upon the fire. When combustion has proceeded
to such an extent as to produce ash, the ash falls into an entirely concealed

page_text: ash-pan, which I construct under my cinder bars. This ash-pan can either
be quite connected with the rest of the apparatus, or can be made to run on
a slide, and on the removal or opening of a door or outer covering (made
usually of ornamental wire) can be taken out and the ashes removed there-
5 from. If the stove or fire-place be small it is usually sufficient to have the
front guard made to come about a third of the distance from the bottom bar
to the top, fastening the apparatus on to the second or even the lowest bar of
the grate (or standing it on feet) and allowing the cinder holder or bottom
portion of the apparatus to pass to the back of the fire-place, either within
two or three inches of the grate (bottom bars), or gradually dropping towards
the hearth, as may be preferred; but in the latter case it is evident that the
cinders will undergo no further combustion till they are again cast upon the
fire. In either case the ash will fall through, either on to the hearth or into
the ash-pan, as before described. I usually make the apparatus to run up in
front, either as high as the second bar (as aforesaid) or up to the top bar, or
even higher if preferred. This is done that any coal which may fall forward
in mending the fire may not fall on the hearth, but be caught and passed
downwards to the receptacle for cinders, also to act as an ordinary fire-guard,
preven ag injury from hot clinkers or other matters projected horizontally
from fire in course of combustion. Wherc, from the size of the grate
or from any other cause, it is desirable to reduce the cinders and falling coals
to ashes without recasting them on the fire, the first or upper bottom of the
ash-holder is made of wrought or cast iron bars (wrought or cast into form
similar to the bottom of the grate) which I prefer to make file-shaped or
thus
so that as the cinders or coals consume the entire of the ash will
fall into the pan or on to the hearth, as the case may be. While combustion
of the cinders or coal is thus taking place, the heat thrown into the room from
the fire is considerably greater than when no such action is going on, for the
receiving bars being placed within two or three inches of the lower bars of the
grate, it follows that the caloric from the bottom of the grate will act upon
the coal and cinders immediately below, and during the combustion thereof
there is as it were a double fire in the grate. The shape of the apparatus is
entirely dependent upon that of the fire place or stove grate to which it is to be
applied. I usually make the whole, with the exception of the bars and ash-
pan, of ordinary iron or brass wire, and so construct it that whether the divisions
be vertical, horizontal, or crossed, no cinders or coals (unless very small indeed)
can pass through the interstices of the screen work.
Where the whole appa-

page_text: ratus is to be put on the grate or taken off at pleasure, and not furnished with
cinder bars and ash-pan, a small handle of wire placed about the centre of the
front of the apparatus will be sufficient for the purpose of putting it on to the
bars or removing it therefrom. Where the cinder bars and ash-pan are used,
then the front only or wirework is usually removed, leaving the bars and pan
in their places. Or the apparatus may be made in two parts, as thus:-The
ash-pan and cinder bars may be fitted to a wire framing with ornamental
front; this front may either be made to take off or swing as a door, revealing
the ash-pan and cinder bars, which (working on or in slides) may be removed,
emptied, cleaned, and replaced, the screen portion curving or sloping down so
as to meet the top of the ornamental front, and appear to be of a piece there-
with. The top or ledge of the screen may be turned over to a scroll or any
other graceful or ornamental pattern.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means or manner
by or with which I carry it into practical effect, I wish it to be understood
that I lay no claim to the exclusive use of any of the materials employed in
making or forming my apparatus; but what I do claim is the exclusive use,
manufacture, or construction of an apparatus by which cinders and coal shall
be separated from ashes (when falling from the ordinary fire grate), whether
such coal and cinders be consumed immediately under the fire bars of the
grate, or whether they are allowed to fall lower, and are again returned to
the grate for complete combustion, as herein-before set forth, described, or
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Chambers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. H. HARDY.
GEORGE CHAMBERS. (L.S.)