IMPROVEMENTS IN KITCHEN RANGES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Broughton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th June
1868.
I, WILLIAM BROUGHTON, of 8, South Street, Finsbury Market, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KITCHEN RANGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in kitchen ranges.
Heretofore the several parts of which a kitchen range is composed have
been connected together by screws, the screws being passed through
holes in one part, and screwed into holes bored in lugs or flanges cast on
another part. By this mode of connecting together the several parts of
a kitchen range skilled labour is required, as the holes in the lugs or
flanges on the one part have to be drilled and tapped to correspond
exactly with the holes in the other part.
According to my Invention I form each of the lugs or flanges with a
slot, through which the stem of the screw may pass freely and be then
screwed into a nut, which is unable to turn by reason of one of its sides
resting against the side of the plate or part upon which the lugs or

page_text: flanges are cast. In some cases in place of employing this arrangement
for fixing the oven to the oven front I form a dovetail projection on the
bottom of the oven to drop into a corresponding recess at the bottom of
the opening in the "front." In this case the top of the oven is formed
with a small flange projecting upwards to lap over the top of the front,
and when the top plate or oven hob is fixed in its place the oven will be
held securely. In some cases in order to fix the legs or cheeks to the
front plates I form each leg or check with a flange, which is passed
under overlapping projections on the back of the front plates, then when
the grating forming the fire-bars is fixed in its place the cheeks will be
securely fixed to the front plates.
The next part of my Invention relates to a mode of fixing the tap into
the boiler. This is usually effected by forming the tap with a collar,
which bears against the front plate or boiler front; the stem of the tap
which is behind this collar is passed through a hole in the front plate or
boiler front, and also through a hole in the front of the boiler. A nut
is then screwed on to its end from the interior of the boiler, so nipping
the front plate and the front of the boiler between the collar on the tap
and the nut. In place of this I form a boss on the front of the boiler to
pass through a hole in the front plate or boiler front; through this boss
a hole is drilled and tapped to allow of the stem of the tap being screwed
into it, or the stem of the tap might be driven into the hole in the boss
in place of being screwed into it as above described.
The next part of my Invention relates to the ventilating the ovens
of kitchen ranges, and consists in forming the ventilator or moveable
grating in one piece with the bolt used for fastening the door. The bolt is
so formed that when the door is closed it engages with one end of a lever,
the opposite end of which covers over an opening in the top of the oven.
By this arrangement a slight movement of the bolt may be used to open
both the openings in the door and top of the oven, and a still further
movement of the bolt will unfasten the door.
The next part of my Invention relates to that class of kitchen range
known as self-acting kitchen ranges, in which the oven is at one side of
the fire, and at the other side of the fire is an L boiler, which also passes
behind a portion of the back of the fire. In this class of range the oven
is commonly heated by a plate called a "conductor" projecting out
from it into the fire and coming close up to the front of that part of
the boiler which is at the back of the fire, the space behind this plate

page_text: forming a channel or flue for a portion of the heat of the fire to rise
up.
According to my Invention I employ a false bottom, which may
either slide backwards or forwards on guides or turn on a pivot, so that
when out of use it may be slidden or turned back below the bottom of
the boiler; or when a smaller fire is required the false bottom may be
slidden or turned forward to form a bottom to the fire level with the
bottom of the conductor, so lessening the depth of the fire and shutting
off the fire from the back of the conductor.
The next part of my Invention consists in forming the oven shelf, so
that it may also act as a hanging plate in front of the fire, one edge
of the shelf having for this purpose hooks fixed to it, which can be
hooked over one of the front fire bars, whilst continuations of the
hooks rest against the bar below, or the edge of the plate may rest on
one fire bar, whilst projections on the under side of the plate come
against this bar, and projections on the upper side of the plate come
against the back of the fire bar above it.
The next part of my Invention relates to a mode of fixing the front
fire bars in the side chceks. For this purpose the holes in the checks
which are to receive the ends of the bars are made to taper slightly,
the smaller ends of the holes being inwards towards the fire-place; the
ends of the bars are inserted through these holes, a dovetail or sloping
notch having first been cut into one angle or side of each bar near cach
of its ends; a key or wedge is then driven into each hole against the
opposite side or corner of the bar to that in which the notch is formed.
The sloping side of the notch is thus forced against the side of the taper
hole and the bar is held securely.