IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER APPARATUS. FOR CONSUMING FUEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, F.C.S., of
54, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER
APPARATUS. FOR CONSUMING FUEL."- A communication from abroad'
by Benjamin Franklin, residing at Indianopolis, in the United
States of America.
Scaled the 8th November 1872, and dated the 24th June 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Primerose
Howard Vaughan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 24th June 1872.
I, EDWARD PRIMEROSE HOWARD VAUGHAN, F.C.S., of 54, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, STOVES, AND
OTHER APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING FUEL," being a communication to me
from abroad by Benjamin Franklin, residing at Indianopolis, in the
United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention is based upon the fact that combustion can be most
readily and thoroughly effected by supplying the supporter to the
.

page_text: "materials of combustion" in sufficient quantity, rightly divided,
generally diffused, at a temperature that will not check inflammation,
and at the instant when volatilization begins before smoke condenses or
even compound gases are formed.
The chief substances of fuel being carbon and hydrogen the supporter 5
of combustion should be made ready to meet them, as well as sulphur
and other combustibles, when and where the heat first sets them free
atomically. After they have combined with one another, or formed with
less than steam or a complete acid, and especially after smoke
appears, chemical combinations will have arisen which impede inflam- 1
mation and make combustion comparatively difficult and expensive.
The available economical supporter of combustion is the oxygen in the
atmosphere.
oxygen
I am aware that many attempts have been made some to burn and
some to prevent smoke, and that they have partially succeeded; but 1
this Invention is new, in that it meets all difficulties in the case in a.
manner not hitherto attempted. It fulfils the three requirements, viz.,
1stly, sufficient quantity of air; 2dly, rightly diffused and divided;
3dly, and supplied at the proper time and place.
6
The work is all done within the fire chamber by such arrangements of
over draughts that the supply of oxygen through the fuel from below
between the grate bars, which is insufficient, however they are con-.
structed, shall be effectively supplemented. To this end provision is
made for the delivery of fine jets or thin sheets of air all around through
and immediately over the fuel, so that whenever and where the atoms of
combustible matter-fly off, and before they can combine deleteriously to:
combustion, atoms of oxygen, in sufficient number and right condition,
will meet them and perfect combustion.
The Drawings show the application of this method to a furnace for
heating air; but it may be applied also, by changes of form and adjust-
ment, to locomotive, steamboat, and standing boiler furnaces, to metal-
lurgic and glass furnaces, to stoves and open grates, and indeed to all
constructions for consuming fuel.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a front elevation of
a house furnace; Fig. 2, a central section in the line x, x, of Fig. 1,
illustrating the application of a." jacket" and "inductor" to the furnace,

page_text: for the purpose of introducing side and mid draughts into the fuel, and
over draughts at and near its surface; Fig. 3 is a.horizontal section in
the line y, y, of Figure 2.
A is the fire-pot; B, the grate; C, the ash-pit, and D the upper
radiating chamber of a stove or furnace of any approved form; E is the
facing plate; F, the fuel door; G, the feeding spout; and H, the ash-
pit door of the furnace fitted with my smoke and gas preventing devices.
The fire-pot is surrounded by a jacket K to form an air chamber W.
Narrow apertures or slits S, s, indicated by black lines in the Drawing,
arc formed in the wall of the fire pot or chamber over the top of the
fuel when at its proper level, so as to permit air from within the
chamber W (formed by the jacket K) to flow in a thin sheet into the
fire-pot directly over the fuel for the purpose of cutting off any particles
that may escape unconsumed beyond the herein-after described apertures.
Similar horizontal apertures t, either single or in series one above
another, arc made low down in the sides of the fire-pot for the purpose
of injecting air when the fuel is low. Projections ", the upper longer
than the lower, extend from just over these apertures into the air
chamber for the purpose of catching and turning into the fire chamber
parts of the outer ascending currents of air. Lugs for support are set
at intervals in s and, which cannot be shown in the Drawing. Narrow
apertures, or series of them, extend up and down between s and t; these
may be continuous or divided, vertical or inclined, though they are
preferred as represented by the lines r, r, in the Drawing.
8
L is an air channel extending. from the outer air to the chamber W
to supply air to the said chamber. The mouth of said channel is covered
by a register M to control the admission of air thereto.
To produce a more uniform supply and diffusion of air around the fire-
pot I contemplate a division of the air chamber formed by the jacket K
into two or more compartments, by means of vertical partitions n, n, as
shown in Fig. 3, in which each compartment will be supplied with air
by an independent opening controlled by a separate register, although all
the registers may if desired be so connected as to operate simultaneously
by a movement of one of them.
Instead of making the air chamber concentric, to inclose the fire-pot

page_text: P represents an air chamber formed within the fire-pot of the furnace,
as shown in Fig. 3, which I term an "inductor;" it may be surrounded by
the fuel, or touch either or both sides of a fire-pot or ends of a fire-box, and
of any convenient shape; its upper edge is placed just above the highest
level to which the fuel should ever be placed, and its lower part extending
downward nearly to or below the grate communicates with the outer air
through a tube or channel g, which for the sake of convenience is carried
forward under the air channel L of the jacket, so as to be opened and
closed by the same register M. Its sides are provided with a series of
small orifices of any convenient form and relation (indicated as vertical
slits by black lines in the Drawing), extending. nearly to the lower end,
while its top is covered by a cap plate, which preferably is made to
project over its sides. Under this cap plate are left horizontal open
spaces, through which the air is projected into the fire space over the
fuel in opposition to the currents of air from the air chamber about the
walls of the fire-box, to produce thereby a more complete intermingling
of the warm fresh air with the particles escaping from the burning fuel.
In some constructions the inductor is made in sections, one above
another, with horizontal spaces between, combined or not with the
vertical space.
In large furnaces two or more of these inductors may be used, either
alone or in combination with one or more exterior air chambers; they
may be constructed of iron, fire-tile or brick, of stone, or any other
suitable material.
In some cases they may be protected in a manner analogous to that
used in tuyeres of blast furnaces.
Provision is made against the falling of dust and small particles of
coal into the orifices, not only by the cap plates as described, but when
burning dust or slack.
Further protection is afforded by suitable cap plates placed at intervals
along, over, or across the slits and apertures, both of the inductor and
'the walls of the fire-pot or box.
The air channels described above may be attached to a blast as well as
open to the outer air, and valves or registers should be so constructed in
all cases that the air rising through the grate bars should only assist
combustion by volatilizing the material for the over draught to inflame.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
PRIMEROSE HOWARD VAUGHAN, F.C.S., of 54, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year'
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
Her special licence that I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other's as I, the said
Edward Primerose. Howard Vaughan, 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 FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER
APPARATUS FOR Consuming Fuel” (a communication from abroad by Benjamin
Franklin, residing at Indianopolis, in the United States of America),
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Primerose
Howard Vaughan; my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
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, reference being had to the Figures
of the accompanying Drawing, that is to say :-
This Invention is based upon the fact that combustion can be most
readily and thoroughly effected by supplying the supporter to the
"materials of combustion" in sufficient quantity, rightly divided and

page_text: .
°
generally diffused at a temperature that will not check inflammation,
and at the instant when volatilization begins, before smoke condenses,
or even compound gases are formed.
The chief substances of fuel being carbon and hydrogen the supporter
of combustion should be made ready to meet them, as well as sulphur 5
and other combustibles, when and where the heat first sets them free
atomatically. After they have combined with one another or formed
with oxygen less than steam or a complete acid, and especially after
smoke appears, chemical combinations will arise which impede inflam-
mation and make combustion comparatively difficult and expensive. 1
The available economical supporter of combustion is the oxygen in the
atmosphere.
.
I am aware that many attempts have been made, some to burn and
some to prevent smoke, and that they have partially succeeded; but
this Invention is new.in that it meets all difficulties in the case in a
manner not hitherto attempted. It fulfils the three requirements, viz.,
1stly, sufficient quantity of air; 2dly, rightly diffused and divided;
3dly, and supplied at the proper time and place.
The work is all done within the fire chamber by such arrangements of
over draughts that the supply of oxygen through the fuel from below a
between the grate bars, which is insufficient however they are con-
structed, shall be effectively supplemented. To this end, provision is
made for the delivery of fine jets or thin sheets of air all around, through
and immediately over the fuel, so that whenever and where the atoms
of combustible matter fly off, and before they can combine deleteriously
to combustion, atoms of oxygen in sufficient number and right condition
will meet them and perfect combustion.
.
The Drawings show the application of this method to a furnace for
heating air, but it may be applied also by changes of form and adjust-
ment to locomotive, steamboat, and standing boiler furnaces, to metal-
lurgic and glass furnaces, to stoves and open grates, and indeed to all
_constructions for consuming fuel.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a front elevation
of a house furnace; Figure 2 a central section in the line x, x, of
Figure 1, illustrating the application of a "jacket" and "inductor" to
the furnace for the purpose of introducing side and mid draughts into

page_text: the fuel, and over draughts at and near its surface; Figure 3 is a
horizontal section in the line y, y, of Fig. 2.
A is the fire-pot; B, the grate; C, the ash-pit; and D the upper
radiating chamber of a stove or furnace of any approved form; E is the
facing plate; F, the fuel door; G, the feeding spout; and the ash-pit
door of the furnace fitted with my smoke and gas preventing devices.
The fire-pot is surrounded by a jacket K to form an air chamber W.
Narrow apertures or slits 8, indicated by black lines in the Drawing,
are formed in the wall of the fire-pot or chamber over the top of the fuel
when at its proper level, so as to permit air from within the. chamber Ŵ
(formed by the jacket K) to flow in a thin sheet into the fire-pot
directly over the fuel, for the purpose of cutting off any particles that
may escape unconsumed beyond the herein-after described apertures.
Similar horizontal apertures t, either single or in series one above
another, are made low down in the sides of the fire-pot for the purpose
of injecting air when the fuel is low. Projections u, the upper longer
than the lower, extend from just over these apertures into the air
chamber for the purpose of catching and turning into the fire chamber
parts of the outer ascending currents of air. Lugs for support are set
at intervals in s and t, which cannot be shown in the Drawing. Narrow
apertures or series of them extend up and down between 8 and t; these
may be continuous or divided, vertical or inclined, though they are
preferred as represented by the lines r, r, in the Drawing.
8
L is an air channel extending from the outer air to the chamber W
to supply air to said chamber. The mouth of said channel is covered
by a register M to, control the admission of air thereto.
To produce a more uniform supply and diffusion of air around the
fire-pot, I contemplate a division of the air chamber formed by the
jacket K into two or more compartments by means of vertical par-
titions n, n, as shown in Figure 3, in which each compartment will be
supplied with air by an independent opening controlled by a separate
register, although all the registers may, if desired, be so connected as to
operate simultaneously by a movement of one of them.
:
Instead of making the air-chamber concentric to inclose the fire-pot,
as illustrated, it may be formed at side, sides, or end of the fire-box.
P represents an air chamber formed within the fire-pot of the furnace,
as shown in Figure 3, which I term an "inductor;" it may be sur-

page_text: rounded by the fuel, or touch either or both sides of a fire-pot, or ends
of a fire-box, and of any convenient shape. Its upper edge is placed
just above the highest level to which the fuel should ever be placed, and
its lower part extending downward nearly to or below the grate, com-
municates with the outer air, through a tube or channel g, which for
the sake of convenience is carried forward under the air channel L of
the jacket, so as to be opened and closed by the same register M. Its
sides are provided with a series of small orifices of any convenient form
and relation (indicated as vertical slits by black lines in the Drawing);
extending nearly to the lower end, while its top is covered by a cap
plate, which preferably is made to project over its sides. Under this cap
plate are left horizontal open spaces, through which the air is projected
into the fire space over the fuel in opposition to the currents of air from
the air chamber about the walls of the fire-box, to produce thereby a
more complete intermingling of the warm fresh air with the particles
escaping from the burning fuel.
In some constructions the inductor is made in sections, one above
another, with horizontal spaces between combined or not with the
vertical spaces.
In large furnaces two or more of those inductors may be used either.:
alone or in combination with one or more exterior air chambers. They
may be constructed of iron, fire-tile or brick, of stone or any other
suitable material.
In some cases they may be protected in a manner analogous to that
used in tuyeres of blast furnaces.
Provision is made against the falling of dust and small particles of
coal into the orifices, not only by the cap plates as described, but when
burning dust or slačk.
Further protection is afforded by suitable cap plates placed at intervals
along, over, or across the slits and apertures, both of the inductor and
the walls of the fire-pot or box.
The air channels described above may be attached to a blast as well
as open to the outer air, and valves or registers should be so constructed
in all cases that the air rising through the grate bars should only assist
combustion by volatilizing the material for the over draught to inflame.
Having now described the nature of the said improvements, and the
manner of carrying them into effect, I would have it understood that

page_text: I do not confine myself to the details of construction and arrangement
herein laid down, as these may be modified according to circumstances,
without deviating from the principle or main features of tlie Invention;
but what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is,―
1stly. The delivery of air in-sufficient. quantities, rightly divided and
with due relative temperature, so low down in the fuel chamber, and so
early in the process of combustion, as to bring the materials of com-
bustion and supporter of combustion at the earliest practicable moment
into proper contact for full and prompt inflammation by means of small
or narrow openings or orifices within the fire-box, extending above and
below the surface of the fuel and ranged horizontally, inclined, or
vertically, or all combined, and forming communication between feeding
air duct or ducts, and the fire chamber.
2dly. The application- of this device at the outside of the fuel,.
above and below the surface level of the latter, by orifices as described,
communicating through walls of the fire chamber, between outward air
ducts and the fuel within.
3dly. The application of same device by means of "inductors". as
.described, rising up through the midst of the fuel, perforated in like
manner and supplied with air from without by air ducts of any con-
venient shape and position.
4thly. The combination of these two methods of supplying the
"supporter" to the materials of combustion" within the fire chamber
so early in the process that perfect combustion will be obtained, or very
closely approximated.
5thly. The control by means of valves and registers of the under
draught through the grate bars relatively to the over draughts as
described, so that the former may merely raise heat enough to volatilize
particles sufficient for the latter to inflame.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
have hereto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two.