FIRE GRATE UPON AN IMPROVED PLAN
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL PEOPLE TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MATTHEW WYATT, of Queen Ann Street East, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, sends greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under His Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-first day of December, in the forty-third year of His reign,
did grant unto me, the said Matthew Wyatt, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, His said Majesty's especial licence, full power, sole privilege,
and authority, that I, the said Matthew Wyatt, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by mine and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Matthew
Wyatt, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend my new invented "FIRE GRATE UPON AN IMPROVED PLAN," within His
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called England, our
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, in such manner as to
me, the said Matthew Wyatt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or

page_text: any of them, shall in my or their discretion seem meet; and that I, the said
Matthew Wyatt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, shall and lawfully
.may have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from
time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said
Invention, for and during the term of years therein mentioned, to have, hold,
exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, priviledges, and advantages therein-
before granted or mentioned be granted unto me, the said Matthew Wyatt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the full end
and term of fourteen years from the date of the now reciting Letters Patent
next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended according
to the Statute in such case made and provided; in which said recited Letters
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said Matthew Wyatt,
should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should
utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything therein-before contained
to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the said
recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Wyatt, do hereby declare
that the particular uses and conveniences of my new invented fire grate are
that of suddenly extinguishing the fire without producing dust, smoke, or any
unpleasant or sulphurous smell, and that of totally closing up the opening of
the chimney if required, thereby preventing any draft of cold air into the room,
which in bed-rooms particularly is frequently found to be very objectionable, and
that of preventing also the smell of soot and smoak from coming into the room
from adjoining chimnies when the fire is out, and likewise of preventing the
chimney from smoaking, by means of a perpendicular register, by which the
draft may be moderated to any degree. Another great advantage to be derived
from my new invented fire grate is that of effectually preventing the dry rott,
which occasions injuries of the most serious nature wherever it prevails; the
plan which I propose for this purpose will not be liable to any of the disagree-
able effects arising from the experiments which have hitherto been made with
a view to the same object; these experiments have actually been found to make
rooms colder, whereas on the contrary my method will contribute to warm

page_text: them. The excellency of my new invented fire-guard is that of totally pre-
venting those dreadful calamities which have so frequently happened to the
female sex and to children, and even to whole mansions, which have been con-
sumed by fire, either by accidents or carelessness of servants, and that the
same is to be performed as in the plan drawn and hereunto annexed, and
herein-after is expressed (that is to say) :-
The grate or that part of it which is intended to contain the fuel is supported
at the bottom on a pivot formed at the bottom of the back working in a cylin-
drical hole or socket under it, as at A, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and which hole or
socket is formed in a bar under the back between the grate and the drawer
at S, Figure 1 and 4), and is kept in a perpendicular position by a pin or
spindle B, Figure 1 and 2, perpendicularly over it, working in such a hole as
the pivot below, by which means the front part of the grate may occasionally
be turned so that the back of it may be towards the room, and the grating or
bars with its fuel into the chamber H, Fig. 2 and 3, or space made behind the
back to receive it, the top of which is formed by a flap y, Fig. 2, resting on
the bar in which the pivot (B) works, and is fixed at the back of the chamber
by centers or hinges in order that it may occasionally be raised; immediately
under this flap there is a grating Z, Fig. 2 and 8, for the purpose of sifting
the cinders, which being thrown upon the grating, will roll down upon the fire,
whilst the ashes fall through to the bottom of the chamber into the drawer E;
these principal advantages of this part of my Invention consist in the facility
which it affords to using all the cinders and keeping the hearth constantly
clean without occasioning either dust or trouble. The bottom of the grate is
supported by two centres C, C, Fig. 3, and a button D, which turns on a centre,
Fig. 2, 3, and 4. The intention of this is, that in the act of turning, the fuel
may be discharged from it into the drawer E, Figure 1 and 2, 'in manner
following, viz at F:-Figure 4 is a fixed pin, and the grate is intended to be
pushed in the direction that the button D, Figure 2, 3, 4, approaches towards
F and cannot pass the pin F without turning the button D, which disengages
the bottom from this part of the support; the bottom now rests on the roller G,
Fig. 2, 3, and 4, but by still pushing it further the bottom falls over the
roller G, and hangs perpendicularly on the centres C, C; in this position
the flap Q, Fig. 2 and 3, which is attached to the back of the grate by
hinges, and is now of course towards the room, may be turned up to meet the
flat or register R, Figure 1 and 2, by which means the aperture of the
the chimney will be compleatly closed; this register is attached to the top of
the stove by hinges or centres, and reaches within about six inches of the upper

page_text: part of the grate, and leaves that space for the aperture of the chimney through
which the common draft of air together with the smoak will pass; but this
register, as it is hung upon centers at the top, may occasionally be brought
forward or raised at the bottom for the purpose of increasing the aperture and
of regulating the draft; the sides of the rigister are made of elastic metal, and
form of themselves springs which will support the register at any angle; when
the grate is to be set in a direction proper for lighting a fire again, it is to be
turned out of its chamber in the reverse direction to that by which it passed into
the chamber, and of course the order of its movements will be reversed; the
bottom will be turned on the roller G, until it becomes level; the button D
will again meet with the pin F, and be turned in a direction fit to support the
bottom as before. There is a catch at I, Figure 1, 3, and 5, in order to keep the
grate steadily in its place; and when there is occasion to turn it, nothing more
is necessary than to apply the end of the poker to the catch, and by pushing it;
it will be immediately released from the hold it has on the cheek or coving K;
Figure 1, 2, 3, and 4; and when the catch arrives at the coving L, Figure I
and 3, it will be stopped on the other side. In the back part, as at N,
Figure 1, 2, and 3, there is a tube or pipe of communication betwixt the
drawer E, Figure 2 and 3, that receives the ashes and the flue, which pipe
carries off the smoke, dust, and smell in the covings K and L. Figure 1
and 3 are two concealed hobs, which may occasionally be drawn out and used
for the purpose of placing anything thereon. For the purpose of preventing the
dry rot, v, v, Figures 1, 2, and 8, are tubes passing from the floor under the
hearth, and going up the outside of the stove to the openings W, Fig. 1 and 2,
in the covings K & L, which may be occasionally closed by means of a
plate for that purpose at W; the part marked X, Fig. 2, is a receptical for any
sparks which may accidentally enter the aperture W. In the covings K
and L, Figure 1, 2, and 3, there is an opening nearly from the top to the
bottom, about half an inch wide, but closed by a moulding which conceals it,
as at M, Figure 1, 2, and 3; this moulding on each side forms an edge of
the fire guard. The guard itself being made of two circular or any other
formed separate pieces of wire work, either of a circular, or of any other form,
moves upon rollers at the bottom in a grove, as at O, Figure 2 and 3; the
upper edge of the guard passes also through a grove, as at P, Fig. 2, but
without rollers, the object of this grove being merely that of keeping the
guard in a perpendicular position. These two pieces of wire work, when they
are both drawn out, meet at a convenient distance from the fire, at equal dis-
tances from the covings already described, forming in this posture a complete

page_text: security against all sparks of fire. Figure 6 shews the stove as when out
of use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Wyatt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of January, in the forty-third year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of
God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand cight
hundred and three.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifteenth day of January,
5 in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Matthew Wyatt came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fifteenth day of January, in the year above written.