IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGE- MENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Beatt Sharp, of the City of Manchester,
Engineer, and Alexander Yorston, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
in Ireland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGE-
MENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES."
Sealed the 30th October 1855, and dated the 26th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and
Alexander Yorston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 26th June 1855.
We, THOMAS BEATT SHARP, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, and
ALEXANDER YORSTON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES" to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is the more effectual combustion of fuel.
When our improvements are applied to the boiler of a locomotive steam
engine, two firing doors (one placed above the other) are required; a curved
mid-feather, reaching from between the firing doors to the lower portion of the
fire box, and arched over the grate bars, is employed to separate the space
above the fire grate into two compartments. By this arrangement, coal may
[Price 8d1

page_text: be consumed in the compartment within the curved mid-feather and coke in
the other, and the smoke generated by the coal, passing under the arch of
the mid-feather or through tubes through the mid-feather, is consumed in its
passage through or over the ignited coke.
When our improvements are applied to marine or other boilers in which
two or more furnaces or fire-places alongside each other are used, the mid-
feather or mid-feathers separating the fire-places are provided with passages,
which can be opened and closed at pleasure, and lampers are applied in the
flues. By this arrangement, the smoke rising from fresh coal is conveyed into
or over red coal in another compartment of the fire-place, thereby entirely or
to a great extent consuming the smoke. The firing doors of locomotive or
other boilers may be perforated or provided with valves for the admission of
air to increase the combustion of the smoke.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander Yorston in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
BEATT SHARP, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, and ALEXANDER YORSTON,
of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander Yorston, Her special license that we, the
said Thomas Beatt Sharpand Alexander Yorstou, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander
Yorston, our 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 ARRANGE-
MENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander
Yorston, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of either of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander
Yorston, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawing, that is to say:-
The nature of our Invention consists in the application of a curved mid-
feather to the furnace or fire-place of a locomotive engine boiler for dividing
the space above the fire grate into two compartments, by which improved
arrangement and construction the fuel is more advantageously and effectually
consumed than heretofore.
We have in the said Drawing given Figures for shewing how our Invention
may be constructed, similar parts in each of the views being marked with
similar letters of reference.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figures 2 & 3 sectional elevations, of the
fire box of a locomotive engine boiler to which our improvements are applied.
á is part of the boiler; b, the outer casing; and c, the inner casing of the fire
box; and d, the grate bars. These parts are made in the ordinary manner.
e is the curved mid-feather, which is attached to the back plate and two side
plates of the inner fire box; these plates have oval holes through them, as
shewn by dotted lines at f, in Figure 1, and at g, in Figure 2, to admit the
water into the curved mid-feather, which is stayed in the same manner as
the sides of the fire box. The lower part of the mid-feather is arched over
the fire grate, the object of the arched form being to prevent the accumu-
lation of sediment in the lower part of the mid-feather.
The fire box is thus divided into two compartments; the one nearer the
'back is intended for the consumption of coal, which is supplied through the
door h, and the other, which is intended for coke, is supplied through the
door i. j,j, are a series of tubes through the back of the fire box, covered
by the slide k furnished with holes, which slide is moved to and fro by the
lever ; these tubes, when the slidé is moved in the direction of the arrow,
are uncovered to admit air into the coal fire.
When the fires are lighted in both compartments, it is obvious that the.
products of combustion rising from the coal fire must pass under the arch or
through the passages m of the mid-feather, and thus pass through the heated

page_text: coke, by which means the smoke rising from the coals is consumed before
entering the tubes of the boiler.
These tubes are not shewn in the Drawing, as they are similar to those in
general use. When fresh coals are put on, the slide k is moved so as to
admit air to the fire through the tubes j, which are gradually closed by the
attendant as the combustion progresses. The tubes ;,, may be dispensed
with, and the air admitted through perforations, or a valve in the door h of the
fire box, or in any other convenient manner, the admission of air to the fire
boxes of locomotive engine boilers and the passages m having before been
in use.
Figure 4 is a section of part of a locomotive engine boiler to which
another modification of our improvements is applied. As most of the parts in
this view are similar to those represented in Figure 2, they are marked with
corresponding letters of reference. In this instance the mid-feather e is made
to approach nearer to the ends of the boiler tubes, in order to increase the
capacity of that part of the fire grate which is supplied with fuel through the
door h. The fire bars dare made to slant towards the dead plate n, the object
of which dead plate is to prevent the admission of air near the plate c¹, and to
compel the air that enters between the fire bars to pass through the incan-
descent coal or coke. By means of this improved arrangement and construc-
tion of the fire box, coal may be consumed in both compartments, and the
products of combustion effectually consumed by the proper admission of air, in
the manner above described. The fire bars d in Figure 2 may also be inclined
towards the back of the fire box, as shewn in Figure 4, in order to bring
forward the partially coked coal, and thus reduce the quantity of coke supplied
to the front compartment of the fire box.
We wish to remark here, that in our Provisional Specification we mentioned
that when our improvments are applied to marine or other boilers in which
two or more furnaces or fire-places alongside each other are used, the mid-
feather or mid-feathers separating the fire places are provided with passages=
which can be opened and closed at pleasure, and dampers are applied in the
flues; by this arrangement, the smoke rising from fresh coal is conveyed into
or over red coal in another compartment of the fire-place, thereby entirely
or to a great extent consuming the smoke.
Since the filing of the said Provisional Specification, we have found that
the said improvements have been applied to marine or other boilers in which
two or more fire-places are used; we therefore make no claim to these.
improvements.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that what we claim is,
First, the mid-feather marked e when applied to the fire box of an ordinary
locomotive engine boiler.
And, secondly, the mid-feather marked e when combined with a fire box, as
shewn and described in reference to Figure 4.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Beatt Sharp and Alexander
Yorston, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
THO. B. SHARF.
(L.S.)
ALEXANDER YORSTON. (..s.)