IMPROVEMENTS FOR PREVENTING OR DIMINISHING THE PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES, AND FOR EFFECTING ITS COMBUSTION
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Holmes, of Pendleton, in the County of
Lancaster, Bleacher, and Thomas Aspinall, of Pendleton aforesaid,
Watchman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS FOR PREVENTING OR
DIMINISHING THE PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES, AND
FOR EFFECTING ITS COMBUSTION."
Sealed the 16th December 1856, and dated the 25th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Holmes and
Thomas Aspinall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th September 1856.
We, THOMAS HOLMES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher,
and THOMAS ASPINALL, of Pendleton aforesaid, Watchman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS FOR PREVENTING OR
DIMINISHING THE PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES, AND FOR
EFFECTING ITS COMBUSTION," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in applying lime, or substances containing lime
(either with or without the addition thereto of soda ash or other alkaline sub-
stance) to the fuel employed in the fire-places or furnaces, the smoke whereof
it is desired to prevent or consume. The ingredients used may be mixed with
the coal before it is thrown upon the fire, or may be thrown over the coal
immediately after the coal is charged on the fire.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 17th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
HOLMES, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher, and THOMAS
ASPINALL, of Pendleton aforesaid, Watchman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall, Ier special licence that we, the said
Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall,
our 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 Ircland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS FOR PREVENTING OR
DIMINISHING THE PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES, AND FOR
EFFECTING ITS COMBUSTION," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 we, the said Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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:-
Our Invention consists in the application of lime, or of substances containing
lime, either alone or with the addition of soda ash or other alkaline substance,
to the fuel employed in fire-places or furnaces, whereby the smoke from such
fire-places or furnaces is more or less prevented or consumed.
Now, although we do not confine ourselves to the use of any of the above-
named substances, nor of any mixture of two or more of them, yet we prefer
to use either quicklime alone or a mixture of quicklime with one-twentieth

page_text: part of soda ash. The quicklime known as bleachers' refuse lime answers the
purpose very well. We have found quicklime or mixture of quicklime and
soda ash added to the fuel, in the proportion of seven pounds to each hundred-
weight of the fuel put into the furnace, to effect the desired object. Which-
soever of the above-mentioned ingredients or mixtures be used, it may be
either mixed with the fuel before the latter is put upon the fire, or it may be
thrown over the fuel immediately after the fuel is charged on the furnace.
We prefer, however, to mix about one-half of the proper proportion of the
quicklime or mixture of quicklime and soda ash with the fuel before its
introduction into the furnace, and then to throw and distribute the remaining
half proportion over the surface of the fuel immediately after its introduction
into the furnace.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means
known to us for performing the same, we hereby declare that we do not confine
ourselves to the use of the proportions and mixtures above recommended, and
which we find to be most suitable for the bituminous coals generally used in
furnaces and fire-places; but we claim as our Invention the use of lime or
substances containing lime (either with or without the addition thereto of soda
ash or other alkaline substance) for the prevention of smoke in furnaces and
fire-places, by the admixture of such substance or substances as aforesaid in
any proportions with the fuel used in the said furnaces and fire-places.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Holmes and Thomas Aspinall,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
THOMAS HOLMES.
'(L.S.)
THOMAS ASPINALL. (L.s.)