IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR HEATING BY GAS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edwin Powley Alexander at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd September 1877. A
communication from abroad by Charles Martin, of Paris, in the Republic of
France, Manufacturer of Gas Heating Apparatus.
EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 14, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING
TO APPARATUS FOR HEATING BY GAS." A communication from abroad by Charles
Martin, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Manufacturer of Gas Heating Apparatus.
This Invention relates to stoves and fire-places for heating by gas, and
consists,-
First. Of a novel arrangement and construction of reflector composed of a number
of tubes or rods of glass or crystal, either plain or silvered internally, or of one or
more plates or slabs of glass or crystal, with the burner placed below and behind the
said reflector, so as to show the flame, or with the burner placed above and in front
of the same.
Secondly. Of an arrangement of removeable plates or divisions, according as the
heater is intended to transmit the heat from the reflector alone, or from all parts of
the apparatus.
By these improvements the heat obtained is increased, and the consumption of
gas diminished.
In carrying out the said Invention the body of the stove, which may be cylindrical
or of any other shape, rests upon a hollow base, and is surmounted by a copper top
or cover. The base is provided with a lateral opening, closed by a hinged door, for
the facility of lighting the burner, which is effected by a smaller burner mounted on
a hinged gas bracket pipe, and supplied from the pipe of the main burner, the said
bracket pipe being connected by a rigid rod to the door, so as to follow its move-
ments in opening and closing, the opening of the door bringing the small burner to
the aperture for ignition, whilst the closing of the door again causes the said burner
to ignite the main burner; or the lighting of the burner may be effected from the
front through an aperture closed by a hinged or removeable piece of glass or other
substance independent of the reflector, and situate at the lower and front part
thereof.

page_text: An opening may be left in the bottom of the base for the admission of air, or
lateral apertures may be made round the base for the same purpose.
The reflector is composed either of a series of glass or crystal tubes, or solid rods
or bars retained at each end, one above the other, in grooves or slots in a rectan-
gular frame, or may consist of one or more plates or slabs of glass or crystal, plain
or silvered, or ornamented in any desired manner.
The inner sides of the frame are closed in, whilst the lower part is open through-
out the entire length of tubes to allow them to absorb the heat from the burner,
which is radiated from their surfaces.
Where the burner is placed above and in front of the reflector the back of the
frame may be also closed in. A moveable plate is placed above the reflector in order
to direct the heated air through the open front of the stove.
In some cases a double plate with an air space between may be employed, so as
to produce a current of heated air, or the plate may be so constructed as to direct a
portion of the heated air outwards, and another portion into a hollow inverted
chamber or magazine, in which it is collected before escaping through lateral openings
into the apartment. Above this chamber there is provided plate, upon which
articles to be heated may be placed.
In some cases there is placed above the reflector a plate having two other plates
attached thereto, and connected by a short tube so as to form a heat reservoir. The
heat, after having circulated between the said plates, passes up the tube, being drawn
upwards by a fan ventilator, and then allowed to expand in the upper part of the
stove, and to escape finally through lateral exits.
The sides of the reflector may in some cases be composed of mirror glass.
Solid bars or rods of crystal or glass of any section, prismatic or otherwise, may
be substituted for the tubes of the reflector if desired.
The above improvements or some of them are applicable to metal and pottery ware
stoves, and also to chimney fire-places.