AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Woodcock, of the Earl's Court Brewery,
Brompton, in the County of Middlesex, Brewer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES."
Sealed the 20th February 1855, and dated the 25th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Woodcock at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th August 1854.
I, WILLIAM WOODCOCK, of the Earl's Court Brewery, Brompton, in the
County of Middlesex, Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES" to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to prevent as much as possible the downward
radiation of heat into the ash pit from the under side of the grate bars of a
furnace. I propose to effect this object by fixing a series of long, narrow, and
thin plates of iron or other suitable material at convenient distances from each
other, and from the under side of the grate bars, and also inclined to their
surface at or about an angle of forty-five degrees, after the fashion of Venetian
blinds. Under certain circumstances I intend to add another similar series
below that just described, with the plates inclined at a similar angle, but in an
opposite direction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Woodcock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WOODCOCK, of the Earl's Court Brewery, Brompton, in the County of
Middlesex, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Woodcock, Her special licence that I, the said William Woodcock, my
executors, administrators, and assigns,-or- such others as I, the said William
Woodcock, 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
terin 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Woodcock, 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 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 William Woodcock, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say) :—
The object of my Invention is to prevent as much as possible the downward
radiation of heat into the ash pit from the under side of the grate bars of a
furnace. I propose to effect this object by fixing a series of long, narrow, and
thin plates of iron or other suitable material at convenient distances from each
other, and from the under side of the grate bars, and also inclined to their
surface at or about an angle of forty-five degrees, after the fashion of Venetian
blinds. Under certain circumstances I intend to add another similar series
below that just described, with the plates at a similar angle, but in an opposite
direction.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: Figure 1 shows a longitudinal, and Figure 2 a transverse, section of a
furnace having my Invention applied thereto. a, a, are the fire bars of the
furnace; b, the ash pit; and c, c, are a series of long, narrow, and thin plates
of iron or other material capable of sustaining the heat of the fire above. These
plates c, c, are fixed in an inclined position, so that the downward radiation of
heat from the furnace is intercepted. The arrangement of narrow thin plates
shewn run in a direction lengthwise of the ash pit, but this may be varied; and
they are arranged at such a distance apart as to admit of the dust and ashes
which fall through between the fire bars to fall between the narrow plates;
and, if requisite, each bar may be moveable; or the whole series may be fitted
into a frame attached by a hinge to the ash pit, so as to be let down from
the front, in order to give ample room for the tool when used for clinkering
below the bars. And in some cases, such as in brewers' furnaces, I make cach
of the plates moveable on an axis at each end, so that they may be closed, and
prevent for the most part the passage of air through between them; or by
partially closing the same the passing of the air may be regulated. d, d, is a
second series of like narrow thin plates below those at c. These plates are
inclined in the opposite direction. By the use of these narrow plates c and d,
very little heat can descend below them, and they keep the ash pit, and conse-
quently the engine rooni, more cool than when the ash pit is not so provided
with the two series of plates c and d.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
combining a series of plates c and d with furnaces, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Woodcock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
WM WOODCOCK. (L.S.)