IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR WARMING GREENHOUSES OR OTHER BUILDINGS OR ROOMS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Tebbs at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 13th September 1878.
ROBERT TEBBS, of Stepney, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR WARMING GREENHOUSES OR OTHER BUILDINGS OR
ROOMS."
The primary object of my Invention is to construct a compact apparatus con-
taining within itself a sufficiently large surface through which water heated by such
apparatus may transmit or impart its heat to the air; the expensive and cumbrous
piping through which hot water is made to circulate through the greenhouse or
other building or room in the ordinary way of heating by hot water being thereby
dispensed with.
My improved apparatus consists of a cylindrical or other casing closed at both
ends and preferably vertical. Through this casing, which when the apparatus is in
use is filled with water, a series of air tubes or passages open at both ends are
carried, and one of these tubes which is by preference conical forms a flue or chimney
when gas or oil is the fuel employed. The upper end of the casing communicates
with a horizontal pipe extending across the top of the same and leading to a vertical
pipe outside the casing, which latter pipe communicates at its lower end with the
lower part of the casing. Thus when the stove is lighted the water rises in the.
casing and circulates through the horizontal pipe and vertical pipe back again to
the lower part of the casing. Above the said vertical pipe is a cup or chamber with
which it communicates and which is provided with an overflow outlet and also with
a cover having one or more perforations therein. When the fuel employed is gas or
petroleum or other oil the burner is situated in a recess at the lower part of the
casing, one of the tubes forming the chimney or flue as above stated. The appa-
ratus is provided with a cover which fits upon a perforated extension of the casing
and encloses the horizontal pipe before described. The action is as follows:-The
water is introduced to the casing through the top of the vertical pipe and should be
filled up to the level of the horizontal pipe. When the stove is lighted the water
becomes heated, circulating as already explained, while the air which passes up
through the tubes becomes warmed by contact with the surfaces of such tubes, and

page_text: escapes through the perforations before described in the extension of the casing into
the greenhouse or other building or room. As the water expands in heating it
rises into the chamber above the vertical pipe, and any excess escapes by the over-
flow. The overflow outlet allows of the admission of a current of air to the said
chamber, which after assisting in the condensation of any steam which may collect
in the chamber escapes through the perforation in the cover. Any bubbling or
agitation of the water is thus prevented, and escape of steam reduced to a
minimum.
In order to prevent the metal of the lamp in which the oil (when such is used as
the fuel) is burnt getting very hot and also to utilize the heat I form the lamp with
a metal collar or flange which fits closely into the tube forming the flue as before
described; as this tube is surrounded by the water the metal of the tube (which I
prefer to make of copper) and of the collar or flange above mentioned will not get
heated above the temperature of boiling water. I provide the lamp or burner with
a shutter or door which is by preference made to slide in vertical guides on the
casing, and fitted at its lower end with a catch to take under the lower edge of the
casing when raised, and thereby prevent its being lifted quite out of its guides. The
door or shutter has an opening filled with talc or other transparent material to allow
the light to be seen when the shutter is closed; and this opening is in its turn pro-
vided with a shutter or door which slides in guides in the main shutter.
When the fuel employed is gas I fit between the upper part of the casing and the
cover a pan for containing water, and I form perforations in the said cover. The
products of combustion mixed with air are conducted into the space between the
pan and the cover, and mixing with the steam given off from the water in the pan,
becomes sufficiently purified to prevent any deleterious effects.
When the fuel employed is coal, charcoal, or other like fuel, I prefer to form the
combustion chamber in the centre of the casing; the water space thus becomes of
annular form and through this space the air tubes or passages extend. The com-
bustion chamber is supplied with fuel from the top of the apparatus where it is
fitted with a cover, and the fuel rests upon a fire place in the form of an inverted
cone having holes for the passage of air to the fuel. Below the conical fire place is
another inverted cone of bright metal concentric therewith, and at a suitable
distance therefrom. The air on its way to the air tubes has to pass through the
space between the two cones, and in so doing becomes partly warmed before entering
the said tubes. The ashes which fall from the conical fire place are conducted by
the lower cone into a pan below. The combustion chamber is provided with a pipe
or flue to carry off the products of combustion. The conical fire place and lower
cone of bright metal above described will also be found of great advantage in stoves
where the air is heated in passing through a jacket surrounding the combustion
chamber.
The air tubes may be cylindrical or flat, or conical, as preferred, and they may if
desired be corrugated in order to increase the heating surface.
In cases where it is not wished to have the fuel consumed in the room or place
where my hot water heating apparatus is situated the lower end of the casing is
connected by a pipe with a boiler at any other desired place, and a return pipe to
such boiler is led from the lower end of the vertical pipe of my apparatus.