Iм- PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR BURNING FUEL
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Price, of Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
4
19
Sealed the 2nd April 1874, and dated the 24th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Price at the
'
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
: 24th October 1873.
I, JOHN PRICE, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR BURNING FUEL," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to utilize a larger per centage of the
heating power of fuel than is ordinarily effected in the arts, and to
extend the use of some solid fuels which have at present but a limited
application.

page_text: My Invention applies to metallurgical and other furnaces, and may
be used in connection with those of the ordinary construction, but I
prefer to employ a special arrangement of furnace.
My Invention consists essentially in heating the fuel preparatory to
its combustion in the furnace, and also in heating the air employed in
keeping up such combustion. This I effect by preference through the
waste products of combustion of the furnace to which the Invention is
applied. To this end I provide adjoining the combustion chamber a
chamber into which the waste gases of combustion are led. This
chamber I fit with a retort, which is supplied from a hopper with the
fuel to be burned. The retort is connected with the fire chamber in
order that it may discharge its solid contents therein from time to
time, and it is further connected with the fire chamber so that the
products of distillation may find their way into the furnace and be there
consumed. The retort chamber I propose to use also for heating the air
supplied to the furnace, leading it round the chamber through pipes or
through flues built in the walls of the chamber. The fuel used may be
ordinary coal, or slack, or refuse coal, or anthracite, and this I admit into
the retort from the hopper by means of check valves, which will prevent
access of air to the retort.
.
If desired the retort and the hot air flues may be heated in a separate
furnace, suitable connections being made with the combustion chamber
of the furnace to which the Invention is to be applied.
By treating the fuel as above described, and bringing it and the air
required to maintain combustion in a heated state, not only will a moro
perfect combustion of the fuel be effected than is now commonly secured,
but the proportion of heat thereby generated will be largely increased,
and very high temperatures may also be attained.
i

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said John Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PRICE, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Mechanical Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Price, Her special licence that I,
the said John Price, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Price, 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 THE MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR BURNING FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Price, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 John Price, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
The object of this Invention is to utilize a larger per centage of the
heating power of fuel than is ordinarily effected in the arts, and to
extend the use of some solid fuels which have at present but a limited
application.

page_text: My Invention applies to metallurgical and other furnaces, a special
arrangement of which is employed.
The advantages which I obtain are due essentially to the heating of a
continuous supply of fuel preparatory to its combustion in the furnace
partly in the gaseous and partly in the solid form, and also to the heating
the air employed in keeping up such combustion. These effects I secure
by utilizing the heat of the waste products of combustion of the furnace
to which the Invention is applied in the manner to be presently

page_text: base plate, which forms the bottom of the retort, is bedded upon the
brickwork F¹ which stands in the centre of the chamber D.
.
The necks f, f¹, of the retort are open at their ends, and the outer
neck fis closed by a door H, Fig. 6. The retort F connects by means
of the neck f¹ with the fire-place or chamber A, the passage which it
forms being continued by brickwork to that chamber. The hopper G is
secured to the top of the retort externally of the chamber D by bolts
and nuts, which are passed through flanges of the coupled pieces. This
hopper is intended to discharge fuel into the retort from time to time
without the access of air thereto, and for this purpose it is fitted with a
hinged cover G at top and with a slide valve I at bottom. This valve
is attached to a spindle, which is carried by a pair of arms I' keyed to a
horizontal rock shaft I³ that passes through the hopper and has its
bearings in the sides thereof. Affixed to one end of this rock shaft is a
counterweighted lever K which when tipped by the drag of a chain will
raise the slide valve I to the position of Fig. 4 and allow the contents of
the hopper to discharge into the retort. When the lever is released it
will return the slide valve I to its closed position, thereby cutting off
the connection between the hopper and the retort. By this arrangement
the supply of coal to the retort may be kept up without admitting an
indraught of air, and every fresh supply of coal will assist in discharging
the heated fuel from the retort. The flame and heated gases from the
fire chamber A play over and around the goods piled upon the hearth B,
and descending thence are led by the flue C to the retort end of the
furnace. The gases of combustion being still in a highly heated state
on arriving at the chamber D rise upwards and circulate around the
retort, which will absorb a large amount of caloric and impart the same
to its contents. In this way the fuel will be highly heated at the
expense of the waste gases on their passage to the chimney, and the
fuel will thereby be caused to discharge its gaseous products into the
fire chamber, where they will be efficiently consumed.
In starting the furnace it will be understood that the fire must be
lighted on the grate in the usual manner and kept up by a supply of
fuel through the door of the combustion chamber until the retort has
become sufficiently heated. When this has been effected the further
charging of the chamber will be from the retort. For this purpose the
attendant will from time to time open the door H and drive forward on to
the grate the heated fuel which rests upon the bottom of the retort,

page_text: 'The superincumbent fuel in the retort will then fall down to take the
place of that which has been discharged, and room will thus be provided
,at the top of the retort for the admission of fresh fuel, the weight of
which, assisted by the downwardly increasing diameter of the retort,
will drive down any partially coked fuel that may adhere to the sides of
the retort. In this way a supply of heated fuel to the furnace may be
kept up for an indefinite length of time, thus greatly adding to the
efficiency of the furnace.
As a further improvement I propose to use the retort chamber for
heating the air supplied to the furnace. This modification of my Invention
is illustrated in Sheet III. of the Drawings, where Fig. 8 is a vertical
central section of a reheating furnace fitted with air heating apparatus;
Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view taken in the line 5, 6, of Fig. 8; and
Fig. 10 is a transverse section taken in the line 7, 8, of the same Figure.
In this arrangement the chamber D is closed at top by a cast-iron
annular box L, to which air either compressed or otherwise is admitted
by a pipe L'. Leading down from this box are air pipes M, M, which
reach to near the bottom of the chamber D and enter a cylindrical
chamber of cast iron, which takes the place of the block of brickwork F¹
in Figures 1 and 6. Leading from opposite sides of this chamber D¹ are
air pipes N, which are built into the brickwork of the furnace, and
nearly surround the fire-place or combustion chamber A. The walls of
this combustion chamber are built with a series of small openings on a
level with the air pipes N, and opposite to these openings the pipes are
pierced to allow of the discharge of air therefrom on to the fuel. As
the air passes down the pipes M it will become rapidly heated, and will
be discharged into the combustion chamber at a high temperature. The
fuel used in my improved furnace may be ordinary coal or slack, or
refuse coal or anthracite.
It will be understood that by treating the fuel as above described, and
bringing it and the air required to maintain combustion in a heated
state, not only will a more perfect combustion of the fuel be effected
than is now commonly secured, but the proportion of heat thereby
generated will be largely increased, and very high temperatures may also
be attained.

page_text: manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
I do not claim broadly the supplying of heated fuel to furnace grates, as
attempts have heretofore been made to that end, but what I claim under
the above in part recited Letters Patent is maintaining the fire in re-
heating and other furnaces in the manner and by the apparatus above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Price, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the 23rd day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.