IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Rankin Whitelaw, of Glasgow, in the
Counties of Lanark and Renfrew, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES."
Sealed the 22nd March 1872, and dated the 21th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Rankin
Whitelaw at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 21th October 1871.
I, WALTER RANKIN WHITELAW, of Glasgow, in the Counties of
Lanark and Renfrew, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES," to be as follows, that
is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in the arrangement or.
construction of furnaces for generating steam, and which improvements
are also applicable to other furnaces wherein fire-bars are used, has for
its object to effect the consumption of smoke and economise fuel.

page_text: The Invention is carried out by forming the fire-bars with a hollow or
channel along one side, so that when any two such bars are placed
together in the position they occupy in a fire-grate, the two hollows
constitute a passage which, leading to a horizontal or nearly horizontal
space in the bridge, allow of air to be drawn therethrough, and which
escaping upwards at the back of the bridge meets the unburnt gases and
smoke and then ignites them.
The effect of allowing the air to pass through the spaces in the fire-
bars is to heat it so that it is supplied as hot air to combine with the
unburnt gases and smoke, at the same time the fire-bars are rendered
more durable by reason of the passage of the air maintaining them at a
lower temperature.
In place of forming the hollow space by means of any two contiguous
fire bars each fire-bar may be made tubular in order to obtain results
similar to those herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
RANKIN WHITELAW, of Glasgow, in the Counties of Lanark and
Renfrew, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give:
and grant unto me, the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw, Her special
license that I, the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Rankin
Whitelaw, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw, do hereby
declare 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
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say :-
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in the arrangement
or construction of furnaces for generating steam, and which improve-
ments are also applicable to other furnaces wherein fire-bars are used,
has for its object to effect the consumption of smoke and economise
fucl.
The Invention is carried out by forming the fire-bars with a hollow or
channel along one side, so that when any two such bars are placed
together in the position they occupy in a fire-grate, the two hollows
constitute a passage which, leading to a horizontal or nearly horizontal
space in the bridge, allow of air to be drawn therethrough, and which
cscaping upwards at the back of the bridge meets the unburnt gases and
smoke and then ignites them.
The effect of allowing the air to pass through the spaces in the fire-
bars is to heat it so that it is supplied as hot air to combine with the
unburnt gases and smoke, at the same time the fire-bars are rendered
more durable by reason of the passage of the air maintaining them at a
lower temperature.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, that is to say:-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a longi,
tudinal section of part of an ordinary one-flued Cornish boiler, in which

page_text: my improvements are shewn applied; Figures 2 and 3 are a transverse
and horizontal section thereof respectively; whilst Figure 1 is a front
elevation of the same.
As shewn by Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, the furnace A,
which is situated in the usual manner within the flue B of the boiler C,
is provided with my improved fire-bars D, which are constructed with a
hollow or channel a along one side of each, so that when the fire-bars D
are placed in the position they occupy in the fire-grate, the sides in
which the hollow or channel a is formed of cach two of the fire-bars D,
constitutes a passage b, shewn more particularly at the transverse
section, Figure 2. The opposite side of the fire-bars D is formed in the
ordinary way to allow of the ashes and air passing between them. The
bridge E is constructed with a space c, into which the passages b formed
by the fire-bars D are led, thereby allowing air to be drawn there-
through, which escaping upwards at the back of the bridge E by means
of the passage F (or it may escape through the bridge E horizontally, as
shewn in dotted lines at Figure 1), comes in contact with the gases and
smoke that are unburnt, and then ignites them.
By allowing the air to pass through the passages b it becomes heated,
so that it is supplied as hot air to combine with the unburnt gases and
smoke; at the same time the fire-bars D are rendered more durable
by reason of the passage of the air maintaining them at a lower
temperature.
When found in practice that too much air is passed through the fire-
bars D by means of the passages b, the amount can be regulated by
forming a semicircular or other shaped hollow or channel c at the front
cuds of the fire-bars D, shewn at Figure 1, so as to diminish the area of
opening for the admission of air, as shewn at d, as in Figure 4.
-
At Figure 5 is shown a longitudinal section of part of a puddling
furnace, with my improvements applied thereto; Figures 6 and 7 are
respectively a transverse and horizontal section thereof; whilst Figure 8
is a front elevation of the same, as shewn at Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8. The
puddling furnace A is fitted with my improved fire-bars D and bridge E,
which are constructed and act similarly to those herein-before described,
and therefore need not be herein further referred to.
Figure 9 is an enlarged elevation of the fire-bar D, drawn to a larger
scale; Figures 10 and 11 are a plan and end elevation thereof; whilst

page_text: Figure 12 is a transverse section of the same, shewing the form of the
hollow or channel a.
At Figures 13, 14, 15, and 16 is shewn the fire-bar with the hollow or
channel a constructed of another form, as more particularly shewn at
the transverse section, Figure 16.
It is obvious that the channel a may be made of various other forms
besides these shown on the annexed Drawings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I desire to
observe that I am aware that tubular fire-bars, that is to say, bars cach
one of which forms a tube in itself, have before been used, and that my
present Invention does not relate to fire-bars so constructed; what
however I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the construction of fire-bars with a hollow or channel at one
side, so that when any two of such bars are placed together, they con-
stitute a passage through which air passes and becomes heated, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Rankin Whitelaw, have
WALTER R. WHITELAW. (L.S.)