Improvements in or relating to the Burning of Inflammable Gas or Vapour and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 16th Mar., 1899-Accepted, 1st July, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Burning of Inflammable Gas or
Vapour and in Apparatus therefor.
We, THOMAS CLARKSON, Engineer, and THE CLARKSON & CAPEL STEAM CAR
SYNDICATE LIMITED, both of Deverell Street, Great Dover Street, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the burning of inflammable gas or vapour and to appar-
atus therefor, and although otherwise applicable, is particularly suitable for
burners in which a wide range of adjustment is required-and we will describe
it as applied to a burner suitable for burning oil vapour for heating purposes.
A common form of such a burner comprises the burner proper, which may be of
varied construction, a vapouriser in which the oil is subjected to the action of heat,
and the vapour led to the burner, where or before it reaches the burner it is mixed
with air. Preferably the vapour is discharged into an inducing tube where it
acts on the principle of an injector sucking in the air into a closed box which
forms the under portion of the burner, the top being composed of openings of
some description through which the inflammable vapour passes to be burnt. Means
are generally provided to vary the amount of vapour allowed to escape into the
inducing tube according to the volume of flame required. It has been found that
with this arrangement the pressure in the burner box and consequently the
velocity of the vapour mixture passing through the burner openings, varies so that
when the pressure and velocity are low, "striking back" or the ignition of the
inflammable mixture inside the burner box is liable to take place.
To get over the above drawback we now provide means whereby the pressure
in the burner box may be maintained substantially constant, although slight varia-
tions may not be material; this we prefer to effect by varying the size or number
of the orifice or orifices through which the vapour mixture escapes to be burnt.
Many different ways of effecting this object will readily present themselves;
two of these are to shut off a certain number of the orifices so that a smaller number
only remain all to reduce the size of some or all of the orifices.
Should the top of the burner be formed as a grid with a number of long narrow
apertures, a slide-internal or external and operating like a hit-and-miss venti-
lator would be suitable for the purpose; or a plain slide without openings to shut
off certain of the orifices would be suitable. Where the orifice was circular, a
conical plug could be used so as to reduce the available air, and this plug or any
of the other devices may if desired be directly or indirectly connected with sonie
controlling portion of the apparatus, say, for example, that which controls the
admission of the vapour from the vapouriser to the inducing tube should the latter
he employed. In another arrangement the burner might have an open top or end
closed by a solid lid so as to leave a space round the edges which could be varied
by moving the cover nearer to or farther from the open end. Many other devices
for effecting the same arrangement may be employed.
By the above invention it will be seen that the exit from the burner or burner.

page_text: box of whatever description--may be varied either independently of or in pro-
portion to the vapour jet, and thereby the pressure or velocity may be kept
substantially constant.
In some forms of burner particularly circular ones, the exterior of the issuing
orifice has a larger sectional area than the interior thereof, which may result in
"slack" flame. To overcome this one or both of the meeting faces may be
inclined or otherwise arranged so as to correct this variation of sectional area.
a
It sometimes happens that owing to the great heat from the flame or the body
which it heats the upper portion of the burner or burner-box becomes so highly
heated that the vapour mixture inside will light by mere contact with the heated
walls of the burner; to prevent this we may employ a slab or other arrangement
of refractory material for protective purposes.
Improvements in or relating to the Burning of Inflammable Gas or
Vapour and in Apparatus therefor.
We, THOMAS CLARKSON, Engineer, and THE CLARKSON & CAPEL STEAM CAR
SYNDICATE LIMITED, both of Deverell Street, Great Dover Street, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to the burning of inflammable gas or vapour and to appar-
atus therefor, and although otherwise applicable, is particularly suitable for
burners in which a wide range of adjustment is required-and we will describe
it as applied to a burner suitable for burning oil vapour for heating purposes.
A common form of such a burner comprises the burner proper, which may be of
varied construction, a vapouriser in which the oil is subjected to the action of heat,
and the vapour led to the burner, where or before it reaches the burner it is mixed
with air. Preferably the vapour is discharged into an inducing tube where it
acts on the principle of an injector sucking in the air into a closed box which
forms the under portion of the burner, the top being composed of openings of
some description through which the inflammable vapour mixture passes to be burnt.
Means are generally provided to vary the amount of vapour allowed to escape into the
inducing tube according to the volume of flame required. It has been found that
with this arrangement the pressure in the burner box and consequently the
velocity of the vapour mixture passing through the burner openings, varies so that
when the pressure and velocity are low “
inflammable mixture inside the burner box is liable to take place.
striking back" or the ignition of the
To get over the above drawback we now provide means whereby the pressure
in the burner box may be maintained substantially constant, although slight varia-
tions may not be material; this we prefer to effect by varying the size or number
of the orifice or orifices through which the vapour mixture escapes to be burnt.
Many different ways of effecting this object will readily present themselves;
two of these are to shut off a certain number of the orifices so that a smaller number
only remain or to reduce the size of some or all of the orifices.
Should the top of the burner be formed as a grid with a number of long narrow

page_text: apertures, a slide-internal or external and operating like a hit-and-miss venti-
lator would be suitable for the purpose; or a plain slide without openings to
shut off certain of the orifices would be suitable. Where the orifice was circular,
a conical plug could be used.
In another arrangement the burner might have an open top or end closed by a
solid lid so as to leave a space round the edges which could be varied by moving
the cover nearer to or farther from the open end. Many other devices for effecting
the same arrangement may be employed.
Whatever arrangement is employed it should be directly or indirectly connected
with some controlling portion of the apparatus, say, for example with that which
controls the admission of the vapour from the vapouriser to the inducing tube
should the latter be employed.
By the above invention it will be seen that the exit from the burner or burner-
box of whatever description-may be varied either independently of but in
proportion to the vapour jet, and thereby the pressure or velocity of the mixture
of air and vapour may be kept substantially constant.
In some forms of burner particularly circular ones, the exterior of the issuing
orifice has a larger sectional area than the interior thereof, which may result in
a "slack" flame. To overcome this one or both of the faces of the outlet conduit
may be inclined or otherwise arranged so as to correct this variation of sectional
area.
It sometimes happens that owing to the great heat from the flame or the body
which it heats the upper portion of the burner or burner-box becomes so highly
heated that the vapour mixture inside will light by mere contact with the heated
walls of the burner; to prevent this we may employ a slab or other arrangement
of refractory material for protectve purposes.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a plan of a form of burner constructed according to this invention.
Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a detached view of the burner box.
Figure 4 is a view of the induction tube air regulator.
Figure 5 is an enlarged end view of the vapour-delivery nozzle.
Figure 6 is a plan showing an alternative form of burner.
Figure 7 is a detail enlarged of Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a plan of a burner with two burner boxes.
Like letters indicate like parts in all the figures.
With reference more particularly to Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 the burner-box com-
prises a cylindrical body A having a casing A° of refractory material and an
internal central boss A' bored to form a bearing for a rod A2, and having a cover A³,
with a threaded central boss into which is screwed one end of the rod A2, on to
which it is locked in any desired position by a nut A. The cover fits on the top
of the body A so as to completely close it and preferably is formed as shown in
Figure 2 sloping towards the centre boss, and in this case the walls of the body A
will be formed with a corresponding top bevel.
A. horizontal tube A is formed on the side of the body A at its lower part, con-
nected by flanges or otherwise with, and forming part of, the induction tube 13.
The free end B of the induction tube B for the admission of air is preferably
bell shaped or conical and desirably provided with a regulating device, which may
be of any ordinary type, a convenient form 12 being shown in Figures 1 and 4.
The vapour is delivered through a nozzle B3, placed centrally within the tube
at the commencement of its normal diameter. Desirably it is formed, as shown,
integral with the induction tube, and is provided with an externally threaded
end for connection with the vapour delivery pipe of the generator. The vapour
delivery orifice B5 is preferably square or rectangular; a screw plug Be may be
provided for constructive and cleaning purposes.
In the lower part of the tube is an oblong opening B7 over which is secured a
cap Bª having a recess B³ through which runs a rocking shaft B¹.

page_text: Rigidly secured on the rocking shaft and extending up into the induction tube
is an arm B, the upper end of which is pivotally secured to a bar B12, with a
chisel-shaped end B which forms the regulator of the vapour nozzle orifice B.
The bevelled face of the chisel is on the upper side and to hold the flat face against
the bottom surface of the orifice tension in an upward direction is applied to the
under side of the other end of the bar by means of a spring B secured to the
cap B8 by a screw B15. Instead of a flat chisel-ended bar B entering a rectang-
ular orifice B a conical bar or needle entering a circular opening may be used
but this would necessitate the use of special compensating mechanism to main-
tain the equality of ratio between the areas of the opening B and that of the
openings Bu
A screw pin B" with a lock nut B18 may be used to limit the extreme inward
throw of the bar B12. One end of an arm 1319 is secured on the rocking shaft B
outside the cap, its other end being provided with a pin B20
A lever A, fulcrummed in lugs A¹ on the lower side of A", is at one end slotted
and engaged by the pin B20, its other end engaging in a slot A2 formed in the
lower end of the rod A previously referred to. 1316 is a counter-weight to aid
in balancing the lever A and the parts supported thereby.
The top of the cover A³ may be coated with a mass of fireclay or other refrac-
tory non-conducting material D to avoid over-heating of the cover and prevent
ignition of the vapour mixture within the burner box.
As shown in Figure 1 the delivery nozzle orifice B5 is completely closed by the
regulating bar B, and the burner box A is also entirely closed by its cover A³.
By rocking the shaft B10 to give movement of the arm B" to the right the orifice 1
can be opened to any desired degree; at the same time by the action of the arm B¹9
on the lever A, the rod A² raises the cover A³ forming the escape orifice A" for
the vapour mixture, to a size varying in constant proportion to the size of the
orifice B5 of the delivery nozzle.
The rocking shaft B may be turned by hand or connected with and operated
by any desired controlling mechanism. It is evident that if desired the controlling
mechanism may be connected to either the arm 119 or the lever A instead of to
the rocking shaft.
In Figure 6 is shown an alternative arrangement of the induction tube and the
connections for operating the regulating mechanism.
The induction tube B is connected to the burner box A by a curved portion B21.
The nozzle delivery regulating bar B12 is bent so as to be carried below the nozzle
and brought out through the bell mouthed opening B of the induction tube, and
connected with one end of a rod E¹ the other end of which is pivotted on to a tem-
perature or boiler pressure regulator E such for example as is described in an
earlier British Patent No. 20166 dated 11th September 1896.
The rod E is likewise connected by a link E2 with an arm E3 on a rocking
shaft E. On this shaft E is an arm with a rod corresponding in function with
the short arm of the lever A2 of Figure 2, and engaging, like that arm, with a
rod carrying the burner-box lid A³.
Two or more burner boxes may be supplied by one induction tube and vapour
generator. Such an arrangement is shown in Figure 8, in which two burners
Boxes are shown, connected by their tubes A to an expanded portion 1322 of the
common induction tube B. The arrangement is similar to that shown in Figure 6,
except that the position of the regulator E is altered so that its rod E¹ is at right
angles to the rocking shaft E instead of being parallel to the same, necessitating
the use of a bell-crank lever E and link E7 between the said rocking shaft and
the link E2. An arm E5 is provided for each burner box rod A².
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In a vapour or similar burner varying the area of the orifice or orifices through

page_text: which the vapour mixture issues to be burnt in order to maintain a substantially
constant velocity of the issuing gases so as to prevent the flame from "striking
back."
2. In a vapour or similar burner regulating simultaneously and in equal ratio
the quantity of vapour delivered to the burner and the quantity of inflammable
mixture issuing therefrom.
3. In a vapour or similar burner regulating simultaneously and in equal ratio
the quantity of vapour entering the inducing tube and the quantity of inflam-
mable mixture issuing therefrom.
4. In a vapour or similar burner varying simultaneously and in equal ratio the
size of the orifice delivering vapour to the inducing tube and the size or number
of the escape orifice or orifices of the vapour mixture from the burner box.
5. In a vapour or similar burner a burner box comprising a hollow body and a
solid lid, and means for raising the lid to form an aperture for the escape of the
inflammable mixture of gases.
6. In a vapour or similar burner having a burner box substantially as described
covering the lid and sides with non-conducting refractory material for the purpose
described.
7. In a vapour or similar burner a vapour nozzle having a delivery orifice such
as B5 and a chisel-shaped regulating bar such as B12 B adapted to be recipro-
cated within it for the purpose described.
8. In a vapour or similar burner the combination with a vapour nozzle having
an orifice such as B and a chisel-shaped regulating bar of a spring to hold the
bar against one surface of the orifice.
9. In a vapour or similar burner the combination with an inducing tube such
as B having a vapour nozzle and a regulating-bar and a burner box such as A
and rod A3 of a temperature or boiler-pressure regulator operatively connected
both with the nozzle regulator bar and the burner box rod.
10. The complete vapour burner constructed and operating substantially as
described or illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 or in Figures 6 and 7 or in Figure 8
of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 15th day of March 1899