A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN CONNECTION WITH BOILER FURNACES OR STEAM GENERATORS AND LIKE
Year: 1881

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Edwin Powley Alexander, of 36, Southampton Buildings,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and British and Foreign
Patent Agent, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF
AND APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN
CONNECTION WITH BOILER FURNACES OR STEAM GENERATORS AND
LIKE" A communication from abroad by James Elliott, Engineer, of the City
of Montreal, in the District of Montreal and Province of Quebec, in the
Dominion of Canada.
THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Powley Alexander at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th November 1881.
EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 36, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and British and Foreign Patent Agent.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE
AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN
CONNECTION WITH BOILER FURNACES OR STEAM
GENERATORS AND THE LIKE." A communication from abroad by James Elliott,
Engineer, of the City of Montreal, in the District of Montreal and Province of
Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada.
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improved method whereby the smoke and
gases arising from the fire of a boiler furnace or steam generator are prevented
from escaping to the outer air through the chimney and are consumed in the fire
chamber; and secondly, to a novel construction and arrangement of apparatus
whereby this method may be adapted to any description of boiler, and to all sizes
of fire chambers.
The said improved method consists of the application in combination and in a
peculiar manner of three well known operations, neither of which separately form
any part of this Invention.

page_text: The first of these is the injection of steam into the fire place; the second is the
blowing in of air; and the third, the drawing back of smoke and gases after they
escape from the fuel for subsequent consumption.
According to this Invention, whatever smoke and gases may escape from the fire
chamber are drawn back from any desired point under the boiler, in the smoke
box, or in the chimney or flue leading thereto as may be found most convenient,
and discharged simultaneously with and by means of jets of dry steam and heated
air over the fire from any point or points situate in whatever position may be
found most desirable.
The apparatus which has been found most suitable for carrying out the said
improved method or process above described consists essentially of a pipe or pipes
connected at one end to the smoke stack and at the other by means of short T pipes
with induction nozzles, to which a steam pipe is also joined, and into or alongside
which air taken from underneath the grate is also admitted or induced so that the
whole mixture may be blown in the form of jets over the fire from the sides of
the fire chamber, the said pipe or pipes and nozzles being contained within suitable
air chambers in the brickwork on each side of the furnace.
It will thus be seen that combined jets of dry steam, hot air, and smoke aro
formed, and by discharging the same from the sides of the fire chamber at different
points the whole grate surface of any description of furnace can be covered
without reference to the length of grate bars, thereby gaining a very great
advantage over the old method of blowing from the front.
It will be understood that this apparatus may be arranged in a variety of forms
and positions, and applied to locomotive, marine,-and-all-descriptions_of_boilers.
without in any way departing from the essential features of this invention.
In some instances it may be sufficient to use jets of steam and air without the
waste smoke and gases, in which case the arrangement of pipes and nozzles at the
side or sides of the grate will be found of great advantage over the jets at present
blown from the front, not only by sweeping the entire length of the fire, but also
by the employment of heated air from the side chambers and extra dry steam from
the pipes enclosed by such chambers.
The saving of fuel is effected, as will be readily seen, by burning the smoke and
gases which at present escape to the outer air, and also by the action of the jets
upon the fire, which serve the purpose of keeping the same clear by blowing off
the scale from the coal (where such is used), burning same, and thus keeping the
flues clean, preventing clinkers from forming and otherwise promoting the proper
and economical combustion of whatever fuel is used for the generation of steam.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edwin Powley Alexander in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th May 1882.
EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 36, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and British and Foreign Patent Agent.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE
AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN
CONNECTION WITH BOILER FURNACES OR STEAM
GENERATORS AND THE LIKE." A communication from abroad by James Elliott,
Engineer, of the City of Montreal, in the District of Montreal and Province of
Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada.
The said Invention relates, firstly, to an improved method whereby the smoke
and gases arising from the fire of a boiler furnace or steam generator are prevented
from escaping to the outer air through the chimney, and are consumed in the fire
chamber; and secondly, to a novel construction and arrangement of apparatus
whereby this method may be adapted to any description of boiler, and to all sizes
of fire chambers.
The said improved method consists of the application in combination and in a
peculiar manner of three well known operations, neither of which separately
form any part of this Invention.
The first of these is the injection of steam into the fire place, the second is the
blowing in of air, and the third the drawing back of smoke and gases after they
escape from the fuel for subsequent consumption.
Heretofore steam brought from the boiler has been injected over the fire from
the front of the furnace simultaneously with cold air, and.in other cases smoke
has been drawn into a pipe near the bridge-wall and discharged underneath the
grate, mingled with and by means of jets of steam, forming also a suction for this
smoke and for air brought by flues from the front of the furnace, but in none of
these instances has smoke been satisfactorily consumed or an economy of fuel
effected, for reasons which those skilled in the art will readily understand.
According to this Invention whatever smoke and gases may escape from the fire
chamber are drawn back from any desired point under the boiler in the smoke box
or in the chimney or flue leading thereto as may be found most convenient, and
discharged simultaneously with and by means of jets of dry steam and heated air
over the fire from any point or points, situate in whatever position may be found
most desirable.
The apparatus which has been found most suitable for carrying out the said
improved method or process above described consists essentially of a pipe or pipes
connected at one end to the smoke stack, and at the other by means of short
Tpipes with induction nozzles, to which a steam pipe is also joined, and into or
alongside which air taken from underneath the grate is also admitted or induced,
so that the whole mixture may be blown into the form of jets over the fire from the
sides of the fire chamber, the said pipe or pipes and nozzles being contained within
suitable air chambers in the brick work on each side of the furnace.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a longitudinal section of a boiler furnace or
steam generator with the said Invention applied; Figure 2 is a cross section of the
same taken through the fire chatuber on the line X, X, in Figure 1; and Figures 3
and 4 are sectional elevations enlarged showing the arrangement of pipes and
nozzles.

page_text: A represents the fire chamber; B, the grate; C, the tubes; and D, the smoke
stack of a boiler furnace or steam generator of any of the usual styles.
E is a pipe connected preferably to the smoke stack D, somewhere near its base,
and passing down outside the furnace to within a short distance of the level of the
grate bars, branches off on either side of the fire chamber, as shown at E', E', each
branch passing into an air chamber F formed in each side of the furnace in the
brick walls. These chambers F, F, receive air preferably from underneath the grate,
as shown by the passages f. f.
The branch pipes E', E', are connected inside the chambers F, F, by short T pipes
with any number of nozzles G, G, which it may be found necessary to distribute
over the grate surface.
H, H, are steam pipes conducting dry steam, preferably from the dome of the
boiler, and passing into the air chambers F, F, at any point which will allow them
to connect also with the nozzles G, G.
g, g, are short tubes laid in the brickwork, as shown particularly in Figures 2
and 4, these are of sufficient diameter to admit the ends of the nozzles G, G, and
also to allow of the passage of air from the chambers F, F, into the fire
chamber A.
The operation of this apparatus is as follows:-
Steam being turned on through the pipes H, H, an exhaust or vacuum is
immediately formed at each of the nozzles G, G, which has the effect of drawing
from the stack through the pipes E, E¹, air and whatever unconsumed smoke
and gases may escape from the fire, and discharge same mingled with the jets of
steam through the nozzles G, G, over-the-grate, bot-air-being-also-sucked-out-of-
the chambers F, F, and thrown through the tubes g, g, in the same direction.
The placing of the pipes E' and H inside the air chambers F, F, obviates any
chance of their becoming destroyed by the action of the fire.
It will thus be seen that combined jets of dry steam, hot air, and smoke are
formed, and by discharging the same from the sides of the fire chamber at différent
points the whole grate surface of any description of furnace can be covered without
reference to the length of grate bars, thereby gaining a great advantage over the
old method of blowing from the front.
It will be understood that this apparatus may be arranged in a variety of forms
and positions and applied to locomotive, marine, and all descriptions of boilers,
without in any way departing from the essential features of this Invention.
In some instances it may be sufficient to use jets of steam and air without the
waste smoke and gases, in which case the arrangement of pipes and nozzles at the
side or sides of the grate will be found of great advantage over the jets at present
blown from the front, not only by sweeping the entire length of the fire, but also
by the employment of heated air from the side chambers, and extra dry steam from
the pipes enclosed by such chambers.
The saving of fuel is effected as will be readily seen by burning the smoke and
gases, which at present escape to the outer air and also by the action of the jets
upon the fire which serve the purpose of keeping the same clear by blowing off the
scale from the coal (where such is used), burning same and thus keeping the fires
clean, preventing clinkers from forming, and otherwise promoting the proper and
economical combustion of whatever fuel is used for the generation of steam.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the liereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The method of consuming the smoke and gases arising from the fire of a
boiler furnace, or furnace of a steam generator, by introducing into the fire chamber
combined dry steam, heated air, and waste siñoke and gases in the form of jets
blown over the grate surface.
Secondly. In an apparatus or attachment for consuming smoke, substantially

page_text: such as described in boiler furnaces or steam generators, a pipe or pipes extending
along the side or sides of the fire chamber, and arranged to discharge jets of steam
and air over the fire at right angles to the grate bars or nearly so.
Thirdly. The combination with the pipes E, E', and H, of the air chambers F, F,
formed in the brickwork or sides of the fire place, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
Fourthly. The combination with nozzles G, G, for the injection of jets of steam
and waste smoke into the fire chamber of the chambers F, F, receiving air from
underneath the grate and discharging same through tubes g, g, or similar openings
for the purpose described.
Fifthly. In combination with the nozzles G, G, the pipes E, E', for the purpose
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
EDWIN T. AL
ALLAANDER
DER. (L.S.)