IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Fearnley, of the Albion Works.
Bradford, in the County of York, Engineer, for the Invention
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Fearnley
at the Office of the Conimissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th May 1858.
I, THOMAS FEARNLEY, of the Albion Works, Bradford, in the County
of York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in placing the fireplace or furnace beneath
the combustion chamber, in place of at one end as is ordinarily done.
The communication between the furnace and this chamber is effected
by one or more flues or tubes, the number of which may be regulated
according to the size of the flues or tubes. These communications
may be arranged cither perpendicularly or obliquely, so as to cross the
flames on entering the combustion chamber. One or more fireplaces
be used, and the flues may join each other before entering the
combustion chamber. By this arrangement a better combustion of
the gases is effected, and the length of the boiler considerably dimi-
may
nished

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Fearnley in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 5th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
THOMAS FEARNLEY, of the Albion Works, Bradford, in the County of
York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Fearnley, Her special license
that I, the said Thomas Fearnley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Fearnley, 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 STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Fearnley, 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 Thomas Fearnley, do hereby declaro
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 accompanying Draw-
ings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to a peculiar arrangement of combustion
chamber, in conjunction with the furnaces, for obtaining greater com-
pactness in the boiler, with a more perfect and economic consumption
of fuel, and consists in placing the furnace or furnaces beneath the

page_text: combustion chamber, instead of at one end as is ordinarily done. The
communication between the furnace or furnaces and this chamber is
effected by one or more flues or tubes, the number of which may be
regulated according to the size of such flues or tubes. The communi-
cations may be arranged either perpendicularly or obliquely, so as to
cross the flames on entering the combustion chamber. One or more
fireplaces or furnaces may be employed, and the flues may join each
other before entering the combustion chamber. Figure 1, on the
accompanying sheet of Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical
section of my improved steam boiler; and Figure 2, is a corresponding
transverse section of the same, taken through the middle of the fur-
naces, and through one of the before-mentioned flues. A, is the
barrel of the boiler, which is of the cylindrical class, and fitted with
tubes, B, B; these tubes open at one end into the end of the com-
bustion chamber C, and at the other into a smoke box or return flue;
as the case may be. The furnaces D, D, are fitted below the con-
bustion chamber, and are connected therewith by a series of flues or
passages E, E. These passages are represented as of a rectangular
section, but they may obviously be made cylindrical, if required. The
combustion chamber is suspended or supported from the upper portion
of the boiler by the stays F, F, and is supported laterally by the side
stays G, G. Boilers of this description may be constructed with one
or more cylindrical flues, if preferred, in place of having a series of
tubes, as shewn in the Drawing, and the flame and heated air may
either pass directly into the chimney, or enter return flues round the
outside of the boiler, if required, such portion of the arrangement not
forming a part of my Invention. Another modification consists in
making the bottom of the combustion chamber flat or slightly curved,
and having one or more furnaces beneath it; the communications being
effected with the combustion chamber by short tubes placed either
vertically or obliquely so as to incline in opposite directions, by which
means the flames and gasses from the furnace, as they pass into the
combustion chamber, will cross each other and become thoroughly
ignited within it. If desirable, the water space at the end and sides

page_text: of the furnace or furnaces may be continued down below the level
of the firebars, as shewn by the dotted lines in the Drawings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not
confine or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which
I have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations inay
be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and ori-
ginal, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
First, the general arrangement and construction of steam generators,
as herein-before described;
Second, the system or mode of constructing steam generators, wherein
the combustion chamber is placed immediately over the furnace or fur-
naces, as herein-before described; and,
Third, the application and use of the passages or flues in the manner
and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Fearnley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
THOMAS FEARNLEY. (L.S.)