IM- PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Arena Martin and James Purdie, of
Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Engineers, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Arena Martin
and James Purdie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 13th April 1859.
We, WILLIAM ARENA MARTIN and JAMES PURDIE, of Woolwich, in the
County of Kent, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in fire-bars consist in constructing a number of air-
conducting tubes, holes, or openings; these tubes, holes, or openings having a
vertical and diagonal entrance through the middle and sides of the bar; the
form of the bar and the number of the tubes, holes, or openings being
determined by the various lengths of the furnaces in which the bars are fitted.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Arena Martin and James Purdie, Her special licence that we,
the said William Arena Martin and James Purdie, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Arena Martin
and James Purdie, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Arena Martin and James Purdie, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 on or before the Thirtieth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Arena Martin and James
Purdie, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Sheet of Drawings accompanying this our Specification, and forming part
thereof, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our improvements in fire-bars consist in making or causing to be made a
number of holes, tubes, or openings, entering at each side of the fire-bar, which
may be made of iron or other suitable metal, in a diagonal or slanting
direction, and thence ascending through the centre, or near the centre of the
upper surface of the bar. The number, form, and exact direction of such
tubes, holes, or openings will necessarily be varied according to the requirements
of the furnaces to which they are to be applied.
In order that our said Invention may be better understood, we refer to
the said Drawings.
Figure 1 is a side view of a fire-bar constructed according to our said
Invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the upper surface thereof; and Figure 3
is a cross section in the lines a, b, of Figures 1 and 2. The same letters refer
to similar parts in each of the Drawings.

page_text: A is the body of the bar; B, a strengthening rib or feather on its under
side; C, C, are a series of holes, opening in a diagonal or slanting direction
on each side of the strengthening rib or feather B, and thence ascending
vertically, or nearly so, through the body of the bar and its upper surface. A
supply of atmospheric air passes through those openings, and also through the
interstices, and also through the grooves D, D, of the bars when laid together
in a furnace, and assist the combustion of the gaseous products of the fuel in
the furnace.
We are aware that hollow fire-bars and perforated fire-bars, dissimilar to
our Invention, have been publicly known and used; and we wish it to be
distinctly understood that what we claim as our "Improvements in Fire-bars"
are fire-bars for furnaces, so made that the air may enter at the side in a
diagonal or slanting direction, and thence through the centre and surface of the
bar, as herein-before described and shewn in the said Drawing; and we also
claim the right to vary or alter the number, form, and exact direction of the
openings for the passage of air from the sides up to and through the upper
surface of the fire-bars, as aforesaid, without departing from the nature of
our said Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Arena Martin and James
Purdie, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM ARENA MARTIN. (L.S.)
JAMES PURDIE.
(L.S.)
5 Witness,
Tuos. M. HARE,
Agent for the Patentees,
31, Essex St., Strand.