IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACH GRATES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oharles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Ohancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACH GRATES."—A
communication from abroad by Gabriel de Usera, Mining Engineer,
and Alejandro Goujet, Mechanical Engineer, both of Madrid, in
the Kingdom of Spain.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th August 1871.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE
GRATES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing furnace grates of a number of
very deep fire-bars, arranged longitudinally from the front to the back of

page_text: O
the furnace, and resting with cylindrically formed ends in semicircular
recesses formed in transverse bearers fixed at the front and back ends of
the furnace, in which recesses the bars are consequently free to turn:
The tops of the bars are by preference of a cylindrical form, from which
part they taper in thickness downwards to the lower edge terminating in
'a small cylindrical bead; the bars are all connected together at their
· lower edges by a transverse bar or "transmitter," which has circular
notches into which fit the cylindrical bends of the bars, and which serves
to transmit simultaneously to all the bars a vibrating or rocking motion,
the transmitter being actuated for this purpose by means of a lever 1
turning on a fulcrum fixed underneath the front transverse bearer, and
projecting out beyond the furnace, where it is actuated either by hand
or by any suitable known arrangement of automatic gear. The
"transmitter" has conically enlarged holes passing through from its
under side to the before mentioned notches into which the bars fit, so ]
that any ashes that may fall into such notches will escape through
these holes.
This construction of furnace grates may be applied to steam boiler
and other furnaces, as also to locomotives, and to stoves and kitcheners.
In the latter case the front and back supports are framed together by 2
means of side bars for facility of fixing.
In using the improved grate the bars are made to rock or vibrate on
their bearings several times by means of the transmitter and lever before
introducing fresh fuel, whereby the whole mass of burning fuel is
broken up so as to free it from cinders and slag.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in 3
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel,
my 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 FURNACE GRATES," a communication to me from
abroad by Gabriel de Uscra, Mining Engineer, and Alejandro Goujet,
Mechanical Engineer, both of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Denton Abel,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, 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 I, the said Charles Denton Abel, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom- .
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thercon, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in constructing furnace grates of a number of
very deep fire-bars arranged longitudinally from the front to the back of
the furnace, and resting with cylindrically formed ends in semicircular
recesses formed in transverse bearers fixed at the front and back ends
of the furnace, in which recesses the bars are consequently free to turn;
the tops of the bars are by preference of a cylindrical form, from which
part they taper in thickness downwards to the lower edge, terminating
in a small cylindrical bead. The bars are all connected together at their
lower edges by a transverse bar or "transmitter," which has circular
notches into which fit the cylindrical beads of the bars, and which
serves to transmit simultaneously to all the bars a vibrating or rocking
motion; the transmitter being actuated for this purpose by means of a
lever turning on a fulcrum fixed underneath the front transverse bearer,

page_text: and projecting out beyond the furnace where it is actuated either by
band or by any suitable known arrangement of automatic gear. The
"transmitter" has conically enlarged holes passing through from its'
under side to the before-mentioned notches, into which the bars fit,
so that any ashes that may fall into such notches, will escape through 5
these holes.
This construction of furnace grates may be applied to steam boiler and
other furnaces, as also to locomotives, and to stoves and kitcheners; in
the latter case the front and back supports are framed together by
1
means of side bars for facility of fixing.
In using the improved grate the bars are made to rock or vibrate on
their bearings several times by means of the transmitter and lever,
before introducing fresh fuel, whereby the whole mass of burning fuel is
broken up so as to free it from cinders and slag.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a plan of a furnace grate constructed according to
this Invention; Fig. 2 represents a transverse section on the line A, A,
and Fig. 3 a transverse section on the line B, B; Fig. 4 represents a
front elevation, and Fig. 5 a side clevation; Fig. 6 represents to an
enlarged scale a transverse section of one of the bars and a longitudinal 2
section of part of the "transmitter."
a is the back bearing bar in which the cylindrical back ends of the
fire-bars brest in circular hollows, and c is the front bearing bar on
which the cylindrical front ends of the fire-bars rest in like manner;"
d is the "transmitter" bar which receives the cylindrical beads at the
lower edges of the fire-bars, these beads being passed endways into the
hollows or notches in the bar d and serving to support it; e arc tho
countersunk or conically enlarged holes in the transmitter bar d,
provided for the escape of ashes from the recesses above them; fis a
lever mounted on a pin or fulcrum 7 supported on a bracket h from the
front bearing bar c. One end of this lever ƒ enters freely a hole k in
the transmitter d, and the other end is made with a socket into which
a bar or lever can be inserted when it is desired to rock the fire-bars;
the fire-bars b resting by their cylindrical ends in the circular hollows of
the bearing bars a and c, are free to rock or oscillate on the axes of
their cylindrical ends, and the cylindrical beads at their lower edges
1

page_text: being engaged in notches of partly circular form in the transmitter d;
when the transmitter is caused by the movement of the leverf to move
to and fro in the direction of its length, all the fire-bars are caused at
the same time to oscillate.
:
Instead of using a lever as ƒ mounted on a vertical pin, movement.
may be communicated to the transmitter from the front of the furnace
by means of a rocking shaft with cranks or arms on it, or by any other
suitable connections as may be readily understood.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, I would have it understood that no claim is made
generally to the use of rocking fire-bars in furnaces, but what I claim
is, the peculiar form and arrangement of rocking fire-bars and of the
apparatus for causing them to rock substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton. Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.