AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INCREASING, REGULATING, AND CONTROLLING THE HEAT AND DRAUGHT IN WIRD DIAGRE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Middlemist, of Saville Street, Hull, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR INCREASING, REGULATING, AND CONTROLLING THE HEAT AND DRAUGHT IN
WIRD DIAGRE "
Şealed the 24th July 1868, and dated the 27th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Middlemist
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th January 1868.
I, ALFRED MIDDLEMIST, of Saville Street, Hull, in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN:
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INCREASING, REGULATING, AND CONTROLLING THE HEAT
AND DRAUGHT IN STOVES AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows (that is to.
say) :-
My Invention has reference to an apparatus to be employed in
connection with kitchen ranges, stoves, or other domestic fire-places for
accelerating or checking the draught and heat in chimnies or otherwise,
whereby greater economy of fuel and in the mode of utilizing and
regulating the heat of the fire within the grate is obtained without

page_text: requiring the frequent sweeping of the chimney as at present, and
consists of a rectangular or other formed box "provided with damper
and top plate" corresponding in dimensions to the opening of the grate
in which the same is placed passing vertically into the chimney
immediately above the fire so as to form a connecting passage between
the mouth of the grate and the said chimney through which the smoke
and heat is caused to ascend and admit of being regulated at pleasure
through the medium of the opening and contracting passages in the
same for the admission of air or otherwise.
The said apparatus may be formed of wrought or cast iron and readily
fitted to any or all of the various descriptions of grates or fire-places of
the usual construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Alfred Middlemist in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
MIDDLEMIST, of Saville Street, Hull, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Middlemist, Her special license,
that I, the said Alfred Middlemist, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Middlemist, 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 IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INCREASING, REGULATING, AND CONTROLLING THE
HEAT AND DRAUGHT IN STOVES AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Middlemist, 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
11

page_text: 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 Alfred. Middlemist, 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 Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
My Invention of "An Improved Apparatus for Increasing, Regu-
lating, and Controlling the Heat and Draught in Stoves and other Fire-
places," has reference to apparatus to be employed in connection with
kitchen ranges, stoves, or other domestic fire-places for equalizing and
regulating the draught and heat in rooms, fire-places, and flues, by
which economy of fuel and free ventilation within the apartment is
obtained without requiring the frequent sweeping of the chimney as
at present.
The Invention consists in the adaptation to the back part of the
range, stove, or fire-place of a rectangular or other formed box or case:
provided with a damper or valve to be employed in connection with
the grate, stove, or otherwise, so as to regulate the passage of the air,
heat and smoke within the chimney and accelerate or diminish the
draught to or from the fire by means of a mouth or opening as herein-
after referred to.
The apparatus whereby this is effected may be formed of wrought
or cast iron or other material and fitted or adapted to any or all of
the various descriptions of grates or stoves at present in use or new
grates or stoves may be so constructed as to have the Invention com-
bined therewith.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a front elevation
of a parlour grate having my improvements adapted thereto.
Fig. 2 is a back view thereof shewing the rectangular box hereafter
more particularly referred to.
Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken through the dotted
line a, a, Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the back of a bedroom stove.

page_text: These figures show modifications of my improvements.
A, A, is the front or face of the stove or range; B, B, are the cheeks
which are bevilled or otherwise; C, C, is the fire-place; D, D, are the
fire-bars and grating, which are of the usual construction. A mouth
or opening E, E, is made at the back of the grate through which the
lieat, smoke, and unconsumed gases from the fire pass into the rectan-
gular or other shaped regulating box F, F, which is placed in the
chimney or flue as shewn at Fig. 3, and serves for concentrating the
draft to the fire. A regulating valve or damper G, G, is enclosed within
the box for the purpose of controlling the current of air that passes
from the apartment through or over the fire in the fire-place. The
handle H, in Figures 1, 2, and 3, is adapted to the spindle of the rotating
valve so that it may be turned as may be required. Instead of a rotary
valve or damper, as shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 3, a sliding valve may be
used as shewn in the sectional view, Fig. 6, which is a sectional view
shewing the stove and cheeks projecting into the apartment instead of
being recessed back as shewn at Fig. 3. A vertical sliding plate may be
adapted to the opening E in the back plate of the stove for shutting,
opening, or regulating the area of the passage to the chimney.
It will be understood that my Invention may be adapted to a kitchen
range in which there may be a boiler provided with a cover and an oven
with a flue so arranged that the heat from the fire shall first enter the
flue from the bottom and pass up the side opposite the fire, then over or
unto a space above the oven and from thence into the flue out into the
chimney. A pipe may be attached to the lower part of the boiler and
placed in the range so that the fire will keep it constantly hot and
communicate heat to the water in the boiler. In Figures 4 and 5 the
smoke box is shown without a back, the damper, which is a sliding one,
is made to fit square into the chimney so as to admit of being applied to
any ordinary grate, in which case a top plate or cover N is employed for
shutting out the draught and directing it through the box F.
In conclusion to the foregoing description I would here briefly note
that the said apparatus may be constructed in a portable form and fitted
to drawing, dining, or bed room grates, or to kitchen ranges, of the
ordinary description, when a top plate N must be employed for closing
up the chimney and diverting the draft into the box F.

page_text: Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and
carried into effect, I could have it understood that I do not intend to
confine myself to the precise details herein-before described, as the same
may be varied without departing from the general principle or the
nature and object of my Invention, which I declare to consist in the use
and adaptation of the regulating box and top plate N, and damper, in
combination with the sliding doors and opening at the back for the
purpose of regulating and controlling the draft, and causing the
smoke and gases arising from the fire to pass into the box and from
thence into the chimney, in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Middlemist, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witnesses,
WILLIAM BEW ELLISON,
4, Saville Street,
Hull.
JAMES WEBSTER,
16, Bond Street,
Hull.
ALFRED MIDDLEMIST. (L.S.)
4, Saville Street,
Hull.