CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BURGE, of the City of Bristol, Confectioner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of November,
in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
William Burge, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full
power, sole priviledge, and authority, that I, the said William Burge, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that
part of His said Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called England, His
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-PLACES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said William Burge, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the said Letters Patent, on
relation being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Burge, have, in the Plans or Drawings specified in the margin hereof,
and to which these presents refer, set forth, and do hereby describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, as follows; (that is to say,)-
Figure 1 is a stove of the vase kind, shewing its fire on the top through a
hollow work cover A, of various patterns; the current of air necessary for com-
bustion enters on the top, and passing through the fire carries with it all the
smoke, sulphur, and every offensive matter into the hollow space B, between
the grate and outside, which communicates with the flue behind through the
aperture C; the grate D containing the fire is composed of bars or other
openings, either vertical or horizontal, to let the smoke, &c. into the flue; in the
base on which it stands is a drawer E to receive the ashes. Figure 2 is the
same as Figure 1, excepting that it stands on legs, and the receiver of the ashes
is immediately under the grate. The nichs in which these stoves stand may
be composed of one or many pieces of clay, metal, or any other incombustible
substance; immediately behind the niche is the flue G, which has a space H
round it air-tight, to which are fixed pipes I, one for the bringing fresh air into
and the other for taking hot air from it, into the same or other rooms.
Figure 8 is another vase calculated to stand in any part of the room, the
smoke to be conducted from it under ground; this vase, like the last, shews its
fire on the top, similar to Figure 1. Between the outside and the grate contain-
ing the fire is an inside casing K, supported by stays L, either from the sides or
bottom, to give room for the descent of the smoke all round it, through the foot
M to the flue below. This case contains the ash-box, to prevent the ashes
falling into the flue.
Figure 4-This fire-place is a grate N, fixed on a pedestal O; round this
grate is a broad projecting rim P, slanting upwards, which serves the purpose
of a fender, and prevents the fire falling out; round this fire-place are any
number of hollow pillars Q, supporting a. dome R; under this is another dome
S, with an aperture T in the centre, sufficiently large to admit the smoke to
ascend through it, which, coming in contact with the upper dome R, is repelled
by it down the pillars into the hollow base U on which it stands; from the base
it may either be conveyed under the floor to a chimney, or ascend again
through the pedestal into the fire; in the pedestal is the drawers for the ashes;
in the base are one or more openings V, which may be closed at pleasure to
admit air to the bottom of the fire.
Figure 5 is a fire-place, shewing its fire all round, with its flue A in the
centre to convey the smoke down; pillars or other ornaments B support the
top; the opening between the pillars have each an open fancy work door C;

page_text: hung by hinges or other fastenings, which open to supply the fire, and serve as
guards to prevent anything falling into it; round the grate is a projecting rim
similar to Figure 4, within the grate round the flue is an air-tight chamber E
for warming the air.
All or any of the stoves or fire-places may be made round, oval, square, or of
any number of sides, and may be composed of metal, or any other incombus-
tible substance. The superabundant heat produced by the above-described
stoves may be applied to many useful purposes, such as warming other rooms,
green-houses, &c. &c., also for obtaining a regular and determined heat in ovens,
stoves, &c. for chemical and other purposes, as delineated in Figures 6 and 7.
Which said Invention, as above specified and described in the construction
of fire-places, stoves, and grates, are to be used and applied for curing smoky
chimneys, preventing dust, and obtaining an increased heat from the same
quantity of fuel, preventing likewise all accidents by fire, being so constructed
that the fuel cannot fall out of them, and never getting hot enough to set fire
to anything that may fall or be blown against them, by the means of a space
round the fire serving the purpose of a flue, and which prevents the outside
getting too hot, or by fences of hollow work through which the fire is seen, and
which serve as guards to prevent all danger from light dresses of females or
children touching or approaching too near the fire.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this
day of December, in the fifty-fourth
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace
of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hand-odd thintoon