AN IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Yates, of Bromley, in the County of. Middle-
sex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES."
Sealed the 26th August 1856, and dated the 14th March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Yates at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
March 1856.
I, WILLIAM YATES, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
FURNACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved feed apparatus, which I fit to the
front of a furnace, for causing the coal or fuel to present itself to the air
admitted in the manner hereafter explained, which, combining with the gases
evolved by the fuel, renders combustion as perfect as may be. I mount upon
an axis a hand lever, and connect to the same axis a lever or plate, which
extends across the opening for the door, and terminates at bottom in a grating,
through which the air enters into the furnace, and over the axis of the levers
I fit a coal or fuel hopper. The door consists of a sliding plate, which is
inade to cover more or less of the grating by being raised or lowered as
required. The fuel falls from the hopper down on to the fire bars behind the
grating, and after having given off its gases or become coked, the hand lever

page_text: is drawn down, whereby the grating is tilted inwards, drives the coked fuel
into the furnace, and, on being restored to its position, on releasing the hand
lever a fresh supply falls from the hopper to occupy the space of the coked
fuel iust pushed forward in the furnace.
the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William.. Yates in the Great-Seal Patent Office on
13th September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
YATES, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Yates, Her special licence that I; the said William
Yates, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Yates, 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
AN IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Yates, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Yates, do hereby declare the
'nature of my 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 Drawings hereunto annexed
'that is to say:-
My Invention consists in an improved feed apparatus, which I fit to the
front of a furnace, for causing the coal or fuel to present itself to the air
'admitted in the manner hereafter explained, which air, combining with the
:

page_text: gases evolved by the fuel, renders combustion as perfect as may be. 1 mount
upon an axis a hand lever, and connect to the same axis a lever or plate,
which extends across the opening for the door, and terminates at bottom-in
a grating, through which the air enters into the furnace; over the axis of the
lever I fit, a coal or fuel hopper. The door consists of a sliding plate, which
is made to cover more or less of the grating by being raised or lowered as
required. The fuel falls from the hopper down on a plate inside the grating,
and after having given off its gases or become coked, the lever is drawn down,
whereby the grating is tilted inwards, drives the coked fuel into the furnace,
and, on being restored to its position by releasing the lever, a. fresh supply falls
from the hopper to occupy the place of the coked fuel just pushed forward in
the furnace.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect.
Figure 1 represents an ordinary waggon boiler and furnace (fitted in its
brickwork) with my improved feed apparatus applied thereto. Figure 2 is a
sectional plan of the same with the brickwork removed. Figure 3 an eleva-
tion in section of a furnace and boiler, shewing the hopper and the arrange-
ment for regulating the supply of fuel. Figure 4 shews the apparatus applied
to a Cornish boiler. Figure 5, a plan in section of the same; and Figure 6,
a sectional elevation of a Cornish boiler with the feed regulator fitted to the
exterior of the furnace. The same letters indicate similar parts in all the
Figures. A, A, is the boiler set in brickwork, B; C, is the furnace; D, D,
are the fire bars; E is the ash-pit; F, F, holes for gaining access to the
flues G, G; I, the furnace bridge; K is a plate or flap of metal mounted on
an axis a fitted in the frame L of the furnace. This plate K has a grating
M at bottom through which air passes; a door N works in slides in the
grating M for regulating the draft. The top part of the metal piece K¹
above the axis a formis a segment of a circle, being drawn from the same
radius as the centre of the axis a, and is of such a size as to close the bottom
of the hopper O. This piece K¹, working close under the hopper plate 6¹,
prevents any fuel from falling in front of the grating M. Through the
hopper O the fuel is supplied to the furnace. On the axis a I mount one or
two levers P, P; if two, one on cach side of the feeder. or hopper O. These
levers are free to move in grooves b, b, and have fixed to them pauls c, c,
which take into ratchet teeth d, d, formed or cast in the frame L. These
teeth are to retain the levers P, P, and plate K in any required position.
The hopper O being filled with fuel, and the furnace requiring a fresh supply,
the lever P is depressed, which draws back the metal piece K', and so

page_text: opens the bottom of the hopper Othergrating M at the same time pushing
forward the fuel that had been previously: deposited. there. The lever is kept
in this position (by the pauld, and ratchet teeth dd;) until a sufficient
quantity of fuel falls behind-the. grating M; the lever Pais then raised, the
chal just admitted becomes i coked, and when the gases have been expelled
wholly or partially from it, the lever Pris again depressed, and the grating 'M
coming in contact with the coked fuel pushes it on to the fire at the back
of the furnace, at the same time admitting a freshisupply to occupy its place;
the air entering through the grating M keeps upla thorough draft, we
Although I have représented in the Drawings; tandedéscribed the improved
feed apparatus' as applicable to steam boiler furnaces, yet it is evident that the
same principle can be applied with great advantage to ordinary furnaces
stoves; and fire-places. By this arrangement smokeris .consumed or prevented,
very inferior quality of fuel can be used, and the consumption will not be so
great as in ordinary furnaces.
And having now described the nature of my. said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed; declare that I claim the feed apparatus
for, supplying 'fuel to, furnaces constructed' and operating.in the manner herein
before described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed: ""
In witness whicreof; I, the said William Yates, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of September, One thousand eight
liundred' and 'fifty-six.