AN IMPROVED STOVE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
STOVE." A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Austin Spalding
Witter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th February 1856.
I, FREDERICK AUSTIN SPALDING WITTER, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN
IMPROVED STOVE," which has been communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad, to be as follows:--
This Invention consists in the peculiar conformation and arrangement of an
open stove for burning coal or coke, and so constructed that it shall possess
the appearance of an ordinary fire grate, together with the advantages and
conveniences of a portable stove. The stove may be either placed in the
aperture generally containing the grate, or entirely independent of the wall,
having only a pipe to convey the smoke, &c., from the fire. The front part of
the stove is formed in three moveable plates; the bottom one to cover the
ashes and bottom or curved bars; the middle one to cover the upper bars; and
the top one to close in the fire, giving it the outside appearance of a closed
stove when required. The fire will burn either with or without these plates,
but I prefer to keep the top plate off, except when the greatest heat of the
stove is not required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Austin Spalding Witter in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
AUSTIN SPALDING WITTER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, Her especial licence that I, the said
Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, 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 "AN IMPROVED STOVE," which has been com-
municated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, 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, that is to say:-"
This Invention consists in the peculiar conformation and arrangement of an
open stove for burning coal or coke, and so constructed that it possesses the
appearance of an ordinary fire grate, together with the advantages and con-
veniences of a portable stove. The stove may either be placed before the
place generally containing the grate, or entirely independent of the wall,
having only a pipe to convey the smoke &c. from the fire. In order that this
improvement may be the better understood and explained in detail, I have
hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the conformation and
general ornamental appearance of the stove.
Fig. 1 represents an ornamental and useful stove; also two covers (which

page_text: belong to it; the one on the right hand being applied to the lower bars of the
grate serves as a "damper" to the fire, the one on the left for covering the
fire is termed the "blower," as it serves to increase the draft of the stove, and
both damper and blower being applied to the stove confine the fire securely.
Figure 2 is the representation of a stove of the same class having the grate
for the fire differently arranged, one cover only before the fire, and being more
ornamental. The following is a general description of the proportions and
construction of this class of stoves-A stove thirty inches in height will be
about twenty-one inches broad in the narrowest, and twenty-six inches in the
widest part, front view; also about twelve inches deep from back to front.
The bearth will be about thirty inches broad, eleven inches narrowest depth,
back to front, and twenty-four inches in the widest; the top for the same being
twenty-eight inches broad and thirteen inches greatest depth. The stove is
formed of cast-iron except the back, which is of an oval or rounded form, and
is made of sheet iron. The fire place is fifteen inches broad by ten inches deep,
and the back of it is faced or lined with fire brick. The grate which supports
the fire is attached to the stove by an axle or pivots, and may be inverted to
throw out cinders in cleaning it. In the hearth of the stove is an ash-pan
with a grate to cover it, and on the hearth is a fender to cover them, all
moveable. The draft or pipe is applied to the back of the stove near the top.
The principal advantages of this class or kind of stove are, that it has the
appearance and usefulness of a grate, the fire in it being governable and secure,
that it is safer, has a better draft, and more heat can be obtained with the use
of less fuel than is requisite for a grate, and that it will consume poor coal.
Having now described the nature and object of this Invention as com-
municated to me, I beg to state, in conclusion, that I claim the principle of
construction and arrangement, and the character of the ornamental design. It
will be evident that a stove may be made on the same plan or principle, and
be larger or smaller, the grate for the fire more open (as Figure 2), and other-
wise attached or arranged, the damper and blower sliding, instead of lifting,
and the stove be made of cast-iron or other metal without departure from the
substantial features of this Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Austin Spalding Witter, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
F. A. S. WITTER. (L.S.)