IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING AND IN SUPPLYING AIR, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO EXHAUSTING FLUIDS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING
AND IN SUPPLYING AIR, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PART OF
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO EXHAUSTING FLUIDS."— A com-
munication from abroad by Louis Cyrille Bureau, of Paris, in the French.
Empire.
Sealed the 27th October 1859, and dated the 10th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1859.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HEATING AND IN SUPPLYING AIR, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,
PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO EXHAUSTING FLUIDS," Com-
municated to me from abroad by Louis Cyrille Bureau, residing at Paris,
in the French Empire, to be as follows:-
The improved heating apparatus or furnace intended for "gasifying" or
burning fuel iu such manner as to obtain gaseous products therefrom for
heating purposes, is constructed of metal at the upper parts, and of fire brick
or other refractory material at the lower parts. Steam is admitted at one or
Prio: 8d.]

page_text: more points above the fire-bars for increasing the quantity of combustible
gases, and regulating the action or temperature.
The mode employed for supplying air is by injecting steam through a bell
or conical mouth into a contracted or confined part or neck formed in an air
pipe, thereby producing a vacuum and causing the atmospheric air to rush
in through the space round the bell or cone mouth, and form as it were an
annular current around or concentric to a core of steam. This mode is also
applicable to other purposes where air has to be injected, blown in, or
supplied, or fluids to be exhausted.
In the form of furnace preferred, the upper sides consist of a metal jacket
or double casing filled with water from a boiler above. Air is blown in
through a bell-mouth pipe with a contracted neck, in which another bell-
mouth pipe admits steam, whereby air is drawn in between the mouths of the
pipes from the vacuum so produced, and led by the air pipe to beneath the
fire-bars. The gases given off from the incandescent fuel ascend thence
through the fresh or unkindled fuel above, and becoming converted into oxyde
of carbon, pass into a pipe, which carries them off to be burnt, combined with
the heated air circulating around the furnace. The lower parts of the furnace
sides are formed of fire-brick, backed (and spaced off from the outside walls)
by metal fittings, which prevent the gases from escaping through and com-
bining disadvantageously with the heated air. Steam regulated as desired is
injected at the sides and in the interior of the furnace above the fire-bars on
to the upper part of the incandescent fuel, and becomes decomposed, its
hydrogen being a combustible gas, and its oxygen combining with the
carbon to form carbonic acid and oxyde of carbon. The scoriae, &c. fall
into a chamber with double slides over an ash-pit.
The mode of forcing air may be readily applied to exhausting fluids, as
for example, thus, supposing air has to be exhausted from a confined space,
a pipe with a cone or bell-mouth tube admitting steam into it, is conuected
to a cylinder fitted with a piston, and having valves so operating as to
open and close the cylinder's communication with the exhaust pipe, and
with the air to be exhausted on each side of its piston alternately, i.e., in
such manner that the air may enter and be exhausted on each side of the
piston alternately, the shifting of the valves (by studs on the piston rod or
otherwise) reversing the action.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that I, the said Michael Henry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Michael.
Henry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timeagree 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 Channe!
Islands, and Isle of Man, au Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING AND
IN SUPPLYING AIR, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO EXHAUSTING FLUIDS," communicated to
me from abroad by Louis Cyrille Bureau, of Paris, in the French: Empire,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Michael Henry,
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
the same was to be perforined, 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 Michael Henry, 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, as communicated to me, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
-is-to say:
"
This Invention first relates to heating apparatus or furnaces intended for
gasifying" or burning fuel in such manner as to obtain gaseous products
therefrom for heating purposes; hitherto such furnaces have been constructed
either wholly of fire-brick or wholly of metal, which methods are considered
objectionable from the liability of the former to become destroyed at the upper

page_text: and of the latter at the lower parts. Now, according to the present Invention
an improved furnace or heating apparatus is constructed, in which both fire-
brick (or other refractory material) and metal are combined, that is to say,
the upper parts of this improved apparatus are composed of metal, and the
lower parts of fire-brick or other refractory material. For increasing the
quantity of combustible gases, and regulating the action and temperature of
the apparatus, steam is admitted at one or more points above the fire-bars.
The mode employed according to this Invention for supplying air is as
follows: Steam is injected through a bell or conical mouth into a contracted
or confined part or neck of an air pipe, thereby producing a vacuum, and
causing atmospheric air to rush in through the space round the bell or cone
mouth, and constitute as it were an annular current around or concentric
to a core of steam. This mode is applicable to other furnaces and purposes
where air is to be injected, blown in, or supplied, and may likewise be
adapted to the exhausting of fluids.
I now proceed more particularly to describe one arrangement of apparatus
constructed according to this Invention. The upper sides of the apparatus
consist of a metal jacket or double casing filled with water from a boiler above;
air is blown in through a pipe having a bell or conical mouth and a contracted
neck, into which another bell or conical mouth pipe admits steam, and thus
produces a vacuum, whereby air is drawn in between the mouths of the pipes,
and is led by the air pipe to beneath the fire-bars. By this simple arrange-
ment, wherein the direct action of steam is employed for supplying the air
required, air pumps and ordinary blowing machines may be dispensed with.
The gases given off from the incandescent fuel ascend thence in the manner
usual in such apparatuses, through the fresh or unkindled fuel lying above,
become converted into oxide of carbon, and pass off into a pipe, which carries
them away to be burnt in combination with the heated air circulating around
the furnace. The lower parts of the furnace sides are constructed of fire-brick
(or other refractory material), backed and spaced off from the outside walls by
metal fittings, which prevent the gases from escaping through, and from
combining prematurely and disadvantageously with the heated air. Steam
regulated as desired is injected at the sides and into the internal parts of the
furnace above the fire-bars, blowing on to the upper part of the incandescent
portions of the fuel, and becomes decomposed, its hydrogen of course being a
combustible gas, and its oxygen combining with the carbon, and producing
carbonic acid and oxide of carbon. This injection of steam assists the
operation of the streams of air upon the burning matters, increasing the
quantity of gases produced, while the temperature of the furnace may be

page_text: lowered. The steam, however, not reducing it to an injurious extent, nor
preventing the scoria from fusing, which is needful for the satisfactory
operation of the apparatus. The scoria, &c. fall into a chamber with double
slides over an ash-pit.
The method herein-before described of forcing air may be readily applied to
the exhausting of fluids, as, for example, in the following manner :-Suppose
air has to be exhausted from a confined space, a pipe, into which a cone or
bell-mouth tube admits steam, is connected to a cylinder fitted with a piston,
and having valves so operating as to open and close the cylinder's communica-
tion with the exhaust pipe and with the air to be exhausted on each side of its
piston alternately,i.e., in such manner that the air mayenter and be exhausted
on each side of the piston alternately, the shifting of the valves, as by studs on
the piston rod, or otherwise, reversing the action.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a furnaceor
beating apparatus constructed according to this Invention. C,C,are the upper
sides or upper inside walls of the furnace,consisting of adouble metalcasingor
jacket,being composed of iron, copper, or other metal plates, enclosing a water
space,and braced together bystays in like manner tothefurnaces of locomotive
engines. The water space so enclosed between the inner and outer plates C
is kept filled with cold water, supplied through pipes R', leading to their
lower part from a boiler. The steam produced serves to heat the water,
which returns into the boiler from the top, or combines with the steam from
the boiler. D, D, are the lower sides or lower inside walls of the apparatus
constructed of fire-brick, such material sustaining better the excessive heatto
which these parts are exposed. S, S, are cast-iron plates fitted behind the
brick walls D to support them,and likewise to prevent the gases fromescaping
through into the spaces K, K,and prematurelycombining with the airtherein.
N is a tube or flue opening into the furnace at E, through which air is
injected by the means before described, that is to say, the tube N has a con-
tracted part or neck as shewn, into which a jet of steam is admitted through
a pipe O, terminating in a cone mouth, and a vacuum is thus produced at
that part, and the air rushes into the tube N; F is a chamber into which
the scoria, ashes, and solid products of combustion fall, and wherefrom on
withdrawing the sliding register L,they may be allowed-to drop into the ash-
pit G,and may be removed thence through the doors R. The chamber F
be closed at top by another register L" temporarily, that is, just while the
plate L' is opened. H is the feed mouth for feeding in the fuel, closed at top
by a valve or register M, and at bottom by a valve or register N¹, by which
may

page_text: arrangement loss of gas is prevented during the feeding in of the fuel. P, P,
are sight holes for inspecting the interior of the apparatus at various heights;
Qis an opening through which the heap of fuel maybeequalized andarranged
as required; W is the outer brick work, which holds the metal walls C, and
the fire-brick walls D together. The rivetting at the lower portions of the
metal sides should be as much as possible on the outside, ou account of the
destructive effect of heat at that part; U is a tube leading above the fire-
bars, (say, for example, from twelve to fourteen inches over them,) through
which steam is injected on to the incandescent fuel. The gases disengaged
pass up through the mass of fresh or unkindled fuel T, and are carried away
by a pipe I to the boiler or place where they are to be consumed, mixed
with the heated air from K, &c.; J, escape pipe,into which the gases can pass
off during the temporary closing of the register L. Of course I do not restrict
myself to the mode of admitting fuel, or of supplying water to the waterspaces,
or in short to any of the details, accessories, or precise arrangements repre-
sented and described, as the same may be varied, provided the general
character of the Invention be retained.
Figure 2 is a detached sectional view exemplifying the improved arrange-
ment for supplying air and exhausting fluids, the principle of which may be
brieflystated as consisting in theinjection of aslendercurrentor jetof steaminto
a tube, at the mouth of which conical surfaces are provided, the degree of con-
vergence whereof in some respects regulates the effects to be produced. Thus,
steam entering into the tube S through the pipe V, (which passes into the
cone mouth K,) necessarily impels and disturbs the air that offersitresistance,
displaces it, and produces a vacuum, the air rushes in from behind through
the cone mouth L, and at its junction with the steam jet, a current sets in
down the tube in the direction indicated, the air being drawn through the
cone K.
Figure 3 is a sectional view of an apparatus exemplifying the mode of
applying this improvement to the exhausting of air contained in a confined
space.
Y is a cylinder with four orifices or ports e, f, g, h, opened and closed
by the same number of valves a, b, c, d, on a rod or stem m. X is a piston
working in the cylinder Y,and Z is its rod extending on both sidesandthrough
the cylinder ends, and provided with studs T,T, forshifting the valves, which
are so arranged, that while the valves band d open the orifices and h fully,
the valves a and c close the orifices e and g, and vice versa. In connection
with the cylinder is an arrangement similar to that described in Figure 2.
Sis an air pipe here acting as a discharge or exhaust pipe, connected to the

page_text: cylinder by a branch pipe as shewn, and having a cone at K, contracting its
bore or area, into which contracted part a pipe V admits a jet of steam to
produce a vacuum as and for the purpose explained. Two of the orifices
(that is, one on each side of the cylinder,) say e and h, communicate with the
exhaust pipe, and the other two (one on each side of the cylinder) as fand g
with the space to be exhausted. The air to be exhausted enters into the
cylinder on one side of the piston and presses it in one direction, while the
air that has already entered is being exhausted from the other side through
the tube s, by the vacuum produced therein by the steam jet, one of the
studs T,T¹ coming in contact with the valve rod,shifts the valves, and reverses
the action, closing communication between the cylinder and the exhaust on the
side where it was opened, and opening on the same side communication
between the cylinder and the space to be exhausted, and vice versa ; the air
thus enters on the other side of the piston, and is exhausted on the opposite
side, and so on. The black arrows indicate the direction of the current of air
in the position of the valves shewn in the Drawings, and the red arrows the
direction in the reverse position.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,-
First, in respect of furnaces or apparatus for "gasifying" or burning fuel,
so as to obtain its gaseous products for heating purposes, I claim the mode
herein-before described of combining in the construction of such furnace or
apparatus metal and fire-brick or other refractory material, that is to say,
constructing its upper parts or upper inner walls or sides of metal, and its
lower parts or lower inner walls or sides of fire-brick or other refractory
material.
Second, I claim the employment in or application to furnaces or apparatus
for the purpose stated of arrangements for injecting steam atone or more parts
above the fire-bars, in order to increase the quantity of combustible gases, and
regulate the operation and temperature of the apparatus.
Third, I claim the arrangement herein-before described for supplying air, in
which a jet of steam is injected into the contracted or confined part of an air
tube or passage through a cone or bell mouth, leaving space around it for the
admission of air, which is drawn in as it were in a sort of belt or annular
current round a core of steam. And I claim this arrangement when applied
_to or combined with my improved furnace, and likewise when applied to or
combined with other apparatus or purposes in which air has to be injected or
supplied. And I further claim the application or adaptation of the said
arrangement to the exhausting of fluids.

page_text: Fourth, I claim the arrangement and combination of furnace or heating
apparatus represented in Figure 1 of the Drawings, and herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME,
84, Fleet Street, Loudon.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)