CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF HEAT TO BOLLERS FOR GENERATING STEAM, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS MAY BE ALSO APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HEAT IS REQUIRED
Year: 1845

page_text: RITTERBANDT'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
ANTOINE RITTERBANDT, of Gerard Street, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor
of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of May, in the eighth year of Her reign,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis Antoine Ritterbandt,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Louis Antoine Ratterbandt, my exors, aduiors,
or assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Antoine Ritterbandt, my exors,
adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF HEAT TO BOLLERS FOR GENERATING STEAM,
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS MAY BE ALSO APPLIED TO OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HEAT IS
REQUIRED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I,
the said Louis Antoine Ritterbandt, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Louis Antoine Ritterbandt, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described
in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
The nature of the said Invention, that is to say, of my said invented im-
provements in the application of heat to boilers for generating steam, consists
in so regulating the progress of the combustion of the fuel employed for the
purpose, that any required degree of heat can be kept up and applied to the
boiler without those intermissions attendant on the mode in which steam
boilers are ordinarily heated. The manner in which the Invention is carried
into effect consists in constructing the furnaces of steam boilers with two
alternating sets of bars, the one fixed or stationary, and the other moveable
or shifting, and in attaching the moveable or shifting bars to a carriage, by
means of which they are made to travel in a continuous round of alternately
vertical and horizontal movements; which have the effect of lifting and trans-
ferring the charges of fuel in continuous succession from the front to the
back part of the furnace. The better to elucidate this system of mechanical
action, let it be supposed that the line a, b, on the diagram, Figure 1,
represents the level of the fixed. bars of a furnace which is supplied with fuel
from a hopper on the side a, and the bridge of which is situated to the
left of the point b; let c, d, represent the series of moveable bars, and let it
be further understood that the longitudinal spaces. between the fixed and
moveable bars are so small as to allow only of ashes or dust falling through.
On a travelling motion of the description aforesaid being given to the move-
able bars c, d, they first rise upwards in the direction c, e, and lift the partially
consumed fuel from off the stationary bars a, b, to the level e, f, and are then
moved forwards horizontally until the point e coincides with the point f, after
which they descend to their original level, leaving the fuel on the stationary
bars a, b, as before, but moved forward towards the back of the furnace (where
the fuel is in an incandescent state) to the extent of the distance from e to f.
The moveable bars on returning by the horizontal movement from d to c are
free to repeat the same course of operations on a second charge of fuel, and
so on continuously for any length of time required. Figure 2 of the annexed
Drawings represents a side elevation, partly in section, of a boiler or furnace
constructed on this plan, Figure 3, a front elevation; and Figure 4, a trans-

page_text: verse section on the line a, z, of Figure 2. A is the supply hopper; B, the
revolving feeder; C, C, the stationary bars; D, D, the shifting bars; and E,
the carriage to which the shifting bars D, D, are attached. Both sets of bars
are about three quarters of an inch in breadth, and the intervening spaces
about one fourth of an inch in width. The stationary bars have pieces 9, 9,
projecting from beneath, which take into corresponding recesses in the trans-
verse bearings F, F, and the moveable bars have similar pieces, which take
into the recesses b, b, in the carriage E. The carriage has four grooved
wheels p, p, by which it runs on the two V shaped rails G, G. T', T², are two
cams or tumblers, fixed at right angles to one another on the main shaft S, so
that these may act alternately as the shaft revolves. The cam T' is connected
by a rod L with the carriage E, and serves to give the horizontal motion to it
along the rails G, G. The cani T which imparts the vertical motion is con-
nected with and acts on the carriage in the manner separately represented in
the plan, Figure 5, and elevation, Figure 6. H, H, are two transverse shafts
which
pass through the bridge pieces k, k, of the rails G, G, and have their
outer bearings in the sides of the furnace. K, K, K, K, are four pinions,
fixed on the shafts H, H, between the rails and the furnace sides, which take
into four racks N attached to the outsides of the rails G, G. O, O, are two
bars, placed upon and attached to the shafts H, H. P, P, are two connecting
rods, which connect the cani T with the bars O, O, and through them with
the pinions K, K, K, K, which taking into the racks N, cause the carriage
either to rise or descend, as the case may be. It is a curved rake or scraper,
which is placed immediately over the furnace bars at the outer end, and
consists of as many pieces or prongs as there are bars, each prong being of
the same width as the bars beneath it. The alternato pieces or prongs, which
correspond with the shifting bars D, D, turn on hinges so as to enable them
to rise and fall with the rise and descent of these bars when the shifting
bars D, D, make their advancing movenient; this scraper serves not only to
keep the outer ends of the stationary bars cleared for the reception of a fresh
charge of fuel, but to incline that charge forward in the required direction.
W, W, are counterpoises to balance the weight of the shifting bars D, D, the
carriage E, bars 0, 0, and of the fuel moved forward from time to time.
Y is a plate which covers the space between the ends of the furnace bars and
the bridge, and serves as a place of deposit for any refuse portions of the fuel,
or for any clinkers which may be formed; this plate turns on a hinge at the
centre, and is raised or lowered by means of the compound lever X, so that as
often as any matters accumulate upon it they may be turned over into the ash

page_text: pit beneath. Motion is communicated to the main shaft S, and through that
to the revolving feeder B, the cams T', T, &c., from a steam engine or any
other first mover through the medium of two conical drums V, V, connected
by a shifting strap, which allows of the speed being altered at pleasure, according
to the draught required, or in other words, to the degree of heat desired to be
kept up.
The arrangements before described -are, so far as concerns the form of the
bars, applicable more particularly where the fuel made use of is in large or at
least considerable masses; but when very small coal is used it will be found
preferable to adopt the modification represented in Figure 7. Here the bars
are made, for as much of their length as is immediately under the arch Q of
the furnace, without any open spaces between them, which prevents any escape
through of the small coal while it is in the course of being fused into a
coherent mass under the strong heat of the arch, after which it can be pushed
forward upon that portion of the bars where there are open spaces between
them without any risk of waste. In this case the scraper should of course be
made to correspond, that is to say, either without any open spaces between its
prongs, or in one entire piece. In Figure 8 (a side view) and Figure 9 (a
plan) I have shewn a modification of the plan represented in Figures 2, 3, 4,
and 5, which may in same cases be adopted with advantage. B, B, is a plate
attached to the furnace door frame by a hinge, and which consequently rises and
falls at the end opposite the hinge on the rise and fall of the shifting bars D, D.
C, C, is a plate of iron, bent as a rake or scraper, which is attached by hinges
and bolts to lugs or standards cast on the upper part of the two outermost
shifting bars D, D. In this case the scraper moves forward, and sliding upon
theplate B, B, clears a space for the fresh charge of fuel to fall upon.
I have described the shifting bars D, D, as performing a rectangular sort of
circuit; but I desire it to be understood, that though I prefer that description
of movement from its simplicity, yet, that my improved system of heating
would be equally well carried out if such a motion were given to these bars
that any given point in them would describe a circle or an ellipse, or any
other curvilineal figure.
Furnaces constructed on the same plan or plans, as before described, will be
found applicable not only to furnaces used for generating steam, but to most
other cases of heating by the direct action of fire and flame.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as of my
Invention is, the regulating the progress of the combustion of fuel in boiler

page_text: and other furnaces by means of shifting bars travelling in a continuous round
of alternately vertical and horizontal movements, as before described, and the
application of the same system to all other cases of heating by the direct
action of fire and flame to which it may be usefully adapted.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seven-
teenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
L. A. RITTERBANDT. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Louis Antoine Ritterbandt came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.