IMPROVE. MENTS IN STOVES
Year: 1861

page_text: Sealed the 11th February 1862, and dated the 14th August 1861:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Billing at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1861.
1, JOHN BILLING, of 12, Abingdon Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN STOVES," to be as follows:
This Invention has for its object the attainment of a more complete com-
bustion of the fuel, and a greater prevention of the annoyance of smoke in
apartments from insufficient draught and from gusts of wind, by an arrange-
ment which may readily be adapted to the ordinary stove fronts now in use in
public and private offices and domestic buildings. For this purpose I form
three flues immediately behind the stove, one being situated at the back and
the others on each side of the same (the back flue being what is ordinarily
called a "back draught "). These flues communicate with each other at the
bottom, and the two sides ones communicate with the ordinary chimney Blue at
the top, whilst the back flue is closed at the top. An opening is formed into
this flue immediately over the fire grate, so that the smoke from the top of the
Price 8d 1

page_text: fuel is made to assume a nearly horizontal current from the fuel into this flue,
and to pass down behind the fire box. being thereby made to come in contact
with the heated back and sides of the same before escaping into the chimney
through the two sides flues, thus effecting a more perfect combustion of the
fuel; or the smoke may pass over the sides and up the back draught or over
the sides alone. In some cases I provide the fire brick back of the fire box
with a number of small vertical channels, into which air is admitted from
beneath the grate, and after passing through these channels, and thereby
becoming highly heated the air emerges from them in the form of a number
of highly heated currents, which impinge upon the horizontal current of smoke
passing into the back draught through the before-mentioned opening, and
becoming thus thoroughly mixed with the unconverted particles of carbon,
cause the more effectual combustion of the same. The before-mentioned
channels in the fire-brick back may be opened or closed at pleasure by means
of a weighted flap and spring catch beneath the grate. By causing the
draught from the fire to pass first down the back flue, and then up the side
flues, the current has to make several angles in its course, and thereby the
effect of the wind down the chimney is much obstructed and diminished. To
cause the smoke to take this course, as well as to close the chimney when
requisite, I open or close the top of the front and back flues simultaneously
by one valve over the aforesaid two flues, similar to that for which Letters
Patent were granted to me, and bearing date the First day of March 1858,
No. 406. with such modifications for opening and closing it as may be
required (or the valve may be divided into two portions if expedient); this
valve is worked by a screw through the stove front, or in any other suitable
manner, so that the back and front flue open simultaneously to a certain
extent, and afterwards the back flue opens principally so as to cause the chief
draught to be up the back fine, and therefore to draw the smoke immediately
in contact with the fuel, and round the back and sides of the fire box.
sometimes perforate the back or sides, or both, of the fire box, to cause a
current of air and heated smoke to pass directly into the back flue, and thus to
bring the smoke in the back flue in actual contact with the fuel in the fire box.
The position of the aperture for the escape of smoke into the back draught
may be varied with the motion of the valve by attaching thereto a sliding
piece of fire tile or iron, or other suitable material. which being raised or
lowered by the valve. allows the smoke to pass either directly into the chimney
or causes it to pass behind the fire in either a nearly horizontal or more.
vertical direction, and thus the angle of the draught over the fuel in the fire
box may be regulated with reference to the varying draughts in chimneys, and

page_text: the combustion is rendered more or less perfect, as the chimney may have
either a long and powerful or a short and weak ascending power. I also
slide a peculiarly formed second grating upon an inclined plane or inclined
planes under the fire bars, adapted to the openings by which the supply of air
to the bottom of the fire may be regulated at pleasure.
In some cases I provide these stoves with a rolling "blower" of metal,
closely woven metallic gauze, or other suitable material worked in conjunction
with the knob which regulates the opening of the chimney valve above
described. The flues at the back and sides would be swept when requisite
through apertures either in the sides of the fire-box or adjacent thereto. I
generally use the valvular openings at the sides of the fire box for the
admission of external air into the apartment, as described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me, and bearing date the Third day of July 1858,
No. 1494, the air being warmed before it enters the apartment by being
passed through perforated or chambered iron or terra cotta.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Billing in the Great Sea! Patent Office on the 14th
February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BILLING, of 12, Abingdon Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Billing, Her special licence that 1, the said John
Billing, my executors, administrators, and assigns or such others as I the
said John Billing, my 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Billing, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: 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 I, the said John Billing, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object the attainment of a more complete com-
bustion of the fuel, a more effectual prevention of the annoyance of smoke in
apartments from insufficient draught and from gusts of wind by an arrangement
which may readily be adapted to the ordinary stove fronts now in use in
public and private offices and domestic buildings. For this purpose I form
three flues immediately behind the stove, one being situated at the back
and the others, one on each side of the same (the back flue being what is
ordinarily called a "back draught.") These flues communicate with each
other at the bottom and the two side ones communicate with the ordinary
chimney flue at the top, whilst the back flue is closed at the top. An opening.
is formed into this flue immediately ever the fire-grate so that the smoke
from the top of the fuel is made to assume a nearly horizontal current
from the fuel into this flue and passes down behind the fire-box, being
thereby made to come in contact with the heated back, and in some cases
with the sides of the same before escaping into the chimney through the
two side flues, thus effecting a more perfect combustion of the fuel. By
causing the draught from the fire to pass first down the back flue and then
up the side flues the current makes several angles in its course and thereby
the effect of the wind down the chimney is much obstructed and diminished.
I regulate the opening or closing of the aforesaid aperture into the back
draught by raising or lowering a sliding plate actuated by means of a lever,
the position of which is regulated by a screw passing through the front of
the stove, and which at the same time operates the opening or closing of a
throat valve or valves situated over the top of the front flue, and in some
cases also over the back flue, which throat valve or valves is or are con-
structed in a similar manner to that for which Letters Patent were granted
to me, and hearing date the First day of March 1858, No. 406, with such
modifications for opening and closing as may be required.
In some cases I provide the fire-brick back of the fire box in my improved
stove with a number of small vertical channels, into which air is admitted
from beneath the grate, either from the apartment or through a channel

page_text: leading to the external wall of the Duning, and arteet passing a
channels and thereby becoming more or less heated the air emerges from
them in the form of a number of heated currents which impinge upon the
horizontal current of smoke passing into the back draught through the
before-mentioned opening, and becoming thus thoroughly mixed with the
unconverted particles of carbon cause the more effectual combustion of the
same.
I sometimes perforate the back or sides or both of the fire box to causc
a current of air and heated smoke to pass directly into the back flue, and
thus to bring the smoke in the back flue in actual contact with the fuel in
the fire box. I also slide a peculiarly formed second grating upon an
inclined plane or inclined planes under the fire bars, adapted to the openings
in the first grating, by which the supply of air to the bottom of the fire may
be regulated at pleasure.
In some cases I provide my improved stove with a "blower," either formed
of a flexible sheet of metal or closely woven gauze or cloth of metal or other
suitable incombustible material, arranged so as to roll up; or I form the
same of a number of metal laths which are raised or lowered consecutively
by means of chains passing round rollers, actuated in conjunction with the
knob or knob-escutcheon or rose, which regulates the opening and closing
of the chimney valve herein-before described.
I sometimes construct my improved stove as before described with only
the central back flue, omitting the side flues, in which case the smoke passes
through the before-described opening over the back of the fire-box directly
up this back flue.
But in order that my Invention may be more easily understood and readily
carried into effect, I will now describe the best means I am acquainted with
of performing the same.
Figures 1 to 9 on the accompanying Drawing shew one arrangement of my
improved stove. Figure 1 shews a front elevation of the same; Figure 2
shews a sectional back elevation; Figure 3 shews a plan of the same;
Figures 4, 5, and 6, shew transverse sections; Figure 7 shews a sectional
plan on line X, X; Figure 8 shews a plan of the bottom moveable grating
detached, and Figure 9 shews a section through the fixed and moveable
grating, similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the Figures.
At the back of the ordinary stove front A and cheeks A¹ are formed
The central
firstly a central back flue C, and secondly two side flues D, E.
flue C communicates with the fire box F by means of the opening G formed
in the back of the stove Z, and is closed above this opening by means of

page_text: the partition H. It communicates at the bottom through the openings I. J.
with each of the side flues D, E: these unite at the top in the central space K
which opens into the chimney.
In order to regulate the draught through the opening G into the just
described flues a sliding valve L is fixed at the back of the stove, which
valve by being raised or lowered opens or closes this aperture. This valve
is actuated by means of the bell crank lever M, to which it is attached by
the link N, and the position of which is regulated by the screw spindle O
in the following manner :-The screw spindle O works in a bush p fixed
in the stove front, and is provided externally with a knob, by means of which
it is turned, at the other end it has a moveable collar. with studs Q, which
studs work in the slots of the short forked arm m of the bell crank lever M,
so that by turning the screw spindle O in one direction or the other it is
made to move in or out of the stove front and thereby lowers or raises the
lever M and with it the sliding valve L. The opening B to the front flue
of the stove is provided with the throat valve P, which is so arranged that
when quite closed, as shewn in Figure 6, a narrow opening a is left in the
back of the stove. This narrow opening is closed when the sliding valve-I
is quite down by means of a T-piece 7 attached to this latter. The opening
and closing of the throat valve P is also effected by the screw spindle O and
bell crank lever M; this latter is for this purpose provided with the loop m',
in which the link Qattached to the valve P works. By this arrangement
the combined action of the throat valve P and the sliding valve L takes
place as follows:-When the fire is first lighted or only a small draught is
required the sliding valve L is slightly raised, whereby a small opening is
formed into the back flue C, and at the same time the T-piece being raised
into the dotted position, shewn in Figure 4, the narrow opening a is
uncovered, when a greater draught is required the sliding valve L is
raised so as to uncover the aperiure G more or less, but owing to the
loop m in the end of the lever M the throat valve P will remain closed
until the sliding valve L has almost quite uncovered the aperture G, as
shewn in Figure 6, whereby the whole of the smoke is still caused to
pass horizontally into the back draught with the exception of a small
portion which escapes through the opening a. When a vertical draught into
the chimney is required in consequence of a large quantity of fresh fuel being
in a state of imperfect combustion, the lever M is raised still further, by which
the throat valve P is opened, as shown in the section, Figure 5. The fixed
grate R of the fire box is extended backwards, as shewn at R¹, so as to form
the bottom of the back flue C; it has attached to it two inclined projections

page_text: r, r, and a loop r. Upon the inclined rims of these projecting pieces r, r,
rests a moveable grate S, shewn detached in plan at Figure 8. This second
grate is capable of being slid backwards and forwards, and is so constructed
that its bars, which are formed and serrated as shewn in Figures 8 and 9, fit
in between and rise slightly above the ordinary grate bars when in the most
backward position, as shewn in Figure 4, and drop out from between the bars
when moved more or less forward, as shown in Figures 5 and 6. This is
effected by the pins s, s, on the moveable grate S. sliding up and down the
inclined surfaces of the projections r, r, on the fixed grate by the inclined tail
piece sliding up and down in the loop r', when the grate S is moved back-
wards or forwards by means of the handle. The grate S remains in what-
ever position it is placed by the inclined surfaces r. r. being stepped or
notched. By moving the bottom grating, as above described, the bottom of
the fire is freed from dust and small cinders, and the draught through the
grate is increased or diminished at pleasure. The fire box is further provided
with a fire-brick back T, having a number of vertical passages t, and an iron
cap is fixed on the top of the same with smaller holes u, u, corresponding
with the passages t; currents of air pass up from beneath the grate through
these passages, and becoming heated cause the more perfect combustion of the
smoke and gases with which they come in contact on issuing from the top of
the fire-brick back. The spaces V, V, V, shown in Figures 3 and 7, left
between the brickwork and the back, front, and sides of the stove are well
adapted for forming warm air chambers, into which air may be conducted
from the exterior of the building, and whence this air, after being warmed,
passes into the apartment through valvular openings in the stove front, simi-
larly constructed to those described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to me, and bearing date the 3rd day of July 1858, No. 1494. or
constructed in any other suitable manner. The back plate Z of the stove, and
the sliding valve L, together with the partitions which divide the back of the
stove into the flues C, D, and E, is readily removed upon unhooking the link N
attached to the arm M. whereupon the back of the stove, including the
three flues, may be easily cleaned, if requisite, at the same time that the
chimney is swept.
Figure 10 shows a transverse section of another arrangement of my improved
stove, the only difference from the above-described arrangement being that
the two side flues D, E, are here dispensed with, the draught passing directly
from the back flue C into the chimney. The other details are all precisely
the same as in the before-described arrangement, and require no further
explanation.

page_text: In Figures 11 and 12 is shewn an arrangement of my improved stove, in
which a blower" is employed, being worked in combination with the appa-
ratus for opening and closing the throat and sliding valves; Figure 11 shews
a sectional back elevation; and Figure 12 shews a transverse section. The
blower A is here shown constructed of a number of thin metal laths a, a, a,
which are attached to one another by means of pins fixed in slots, as shown,
the top lath being fixed to the stove front B, whilst the bottom one is attached
to the chains C, C, passing over the pullies D, D, fixed on the spindle E.
This spindle has a worm wheel F fixed to it, worked by a worm G formed on
a short tube H, which passes through the stove front and forms the escutcheon
or rose H to the knob 1, by which the screw spindle J for raising or lowering
the valves K and L is worked; this screw spindle passes through the tube H,
and works in the cross piece M fixed immediately behind the latter. Thus
by turning the escutcheon round in one direction or the other the laths of the
"blower are raised or lowered consecutively. In some cases the before-
described throat valve may extend over the front and back draught, and be
divided into two portions, as shewn in the part transverse section_in. Figure 13.
By this arrangement the draught in the flues may be regulated or shut off,
either with or without the sliding valve before described. For this purpose
the valve is divided into the part A, and the part A' attached thereto, and is
actuated in the following manner:-The arm B of the bell-crank lever, before
described in reference to the other Figures, on being raised catches under-
neath the end of a small bell-crank lever C, which projects through a slot in
the back of the stove D. The lever C is kept forward by the balance weight E,
and is raised by the arm B; the fulcrum c of the lever C sliding at the same
time between the fixed bars I and the back of the stove. The upper end of
the lever C is hinged to the rod F, which on being raised elevates the por-
tion A of the throat valve, which is over the back draught. The arm B on
being further raised opens the whole valve as shown by the dotted lines G, H,
at the same time allowing the lever C, balance weight E, and rod F to slide
down into their original position.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself
to the precise details as shown on the accompanying Drawing, as these may
be variously modified without departing from the principles of my Invention,
nor do claim generally the construction of a back draught to stoves, nor
the application and working of throat valves, as herein-before described, when
considered apart and separate from the combinations herein-before described;
but what I claim under the before in part recited Patent is,-

page_text: Firstly, the construction of stoves, wherein the smoke from the fire-box is
caused to pass horizontally through an opening in the back of the stove into a
central back flue, in which it descends and then passes into two side flues,
whence it ascends into the chimney, substantially as herein-before described.
Secondly, the construction of stoves having descending and ascending back
flues, or simply one ascending back flue and a sliding valve to regulate the
opening into the same, in combination with a throat valve or throat valves, and
wherein the opening and closing of the throat valve or valves. and of the
sliding valve, regulating the opening into the back flue or flues is effected
by means of one and the same screw, spindle, and levers, substantially as
herein-before described.
Thirdly, the application of a rising and falling blower" to stoves actuated
by an escutcheon or a rose in conjunction with the knob that regulates the
opening and closing of the valve or valves, substantially as herein-before
described.
Fourthly, the construction of stoves wherein a second moveable grating is
placed beneath, and is fitted in between the bars of the ordinary grating for
regulating the draught and clearing the bottom of the fire, substantially as
herein-before described.
Fifthly, the construction of stoves provided with a back draught, wherein a
fire brick or metal back is employed, having a number of vertical or nearly
vertical channels, through which air is made to pass, substantially and for the
purpose as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Billing, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of February. in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
C. D. ABEL.
JNO. BILLLI