CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE GRATES OR FIRE- PLACES APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HETT, of Gower Street, Bedford Square, in the Parish of Saint Giles in the
Fields and County of Middlesex, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of January, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexander Hett, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Alexander Hett, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alexander Hett, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE GRATES OR FIRE-
PLACES APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Alexander Hett, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Hett, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of improvements in the arrangement and construction of fire
grates or fire-places consists in a peculiar disposition of the several parts of the
fire-place, whereby I am enabled to economise fuel and heat and raise and
maintain the temperature of a room or chamber at a considerable height or
degree of warmth without employing a very large fire. I effect this object by
warming a stratum of air with the heat that would otherwise escape up the
chimney without being used, this air being afterwards in a warm state allowed
to pass into the room or chamber. The means I employ to effect this object
will be understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings, which repre-
sent several views of various constructions of fire grates or firc-places, the
parts of which are arranged according to my improvements. The grate has
false or hollow sides and back, the under part or hearth also being made
hollow; a pipe in a communication with the external atmosphere conveys cold
air into the hollow space before mentioned in the back and sides of the grate:
this air being brought into contact with the heated sides and back of the grate
becomes warmed but not burnt, and in this state is allowed to pass through a
conducting pipe and escape into the room through an aperture situated at any
convenient part of the room, or the warm air may be conveyed through
This is one
a pipe into a room above or otherwise nearly contiguous.
arrangement. I will now describe another, in which the cold air is warmed
by the smoke and heat which escapes up the chimney. In this arrangement
the cold air is made to traverse a series of bent pipes extended across the
upper part of the grate and placed in about the same situation as the register
plate of a common register stove.. The smoke and heated vapour in proceed-
ing from the fire into the chimney passes between these bent pipes, and thereby
raises the temperature of the air contained within them, and this warm air is
conveyed from the pipes into the room or otherwise in the same manner as in
the former arrangement. Fig. 1 is a front view of a grate shewing both the
methods above mentioned for warming cold air and passing it in a warm state
into a room. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the upper part of the grate
shewing the arrangement of bent pipes through which the air passes from the
external atmosphere into the room or chamber that requires warming. Fig. 3
is a vertical section taken transversely, Fig. 1 exhibiting the arrangement of

page_text: pipes above and also the hollow back and hearth. Fig. 4 is a back view of
Figs. 1 and3; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken through the line 1, 2 of
Fig. 3; in all these Figures similar letters of reference mark the same parts
of the fire-place. a, a, a, a, are the front bars of the grate; b, b, is the ash
pit; and c, c, the hollow hearth; d, and d*, the hollow back, which is divided
into two parts by an upright partition e; see Fig. 5, and shewn in dotted lines
in Fig. 4; a hole f made in the upper part of this partition opens a communi-
cation between the two parts & and d of the back, as seen best in Fig. 5.
Cold air is brought from the outside of the house by means of a pipe g, and is
introduced into the hollow sides and back at any convenient point, as seen in
Figs. 1, 4, and 5. The cold air rushes into the chamber d, formed by the
hollow sides and back, and rising up as it becomes rarified by the heat of the fire
passes through the hole f in the partition into the other chamber d*, and from
thence, after circulating in this chamber, escapes through the exit pipe h into the
room; or the air circulating through the hollow side and back of the grate
instead of passing through the hole f into the other chamber d*, rises up and
proceeds through the bent pipe i, see Fig. 2, 3, and 4, and circulates through
the system of pipes j, j, j, j, j, above. Whilst passing through these pipes, as
shewn by dotted lines and arrows in Figs. 2 and 4, the air becomes warmed
by the smoke and heated vapour which ascends between the pipes, as shewn
by the black arrows in Figs. 3 and 4, and finally passes down the pipe k into
the chamber d, from whence it escapes into the room by the exit pipe h, as
in the arrangement before described. The system of pipes j, j, j, j,j, is made
capable of turning on centres formed by the bent pipes i and k, in order that
when the chimney requires clearing they may be thrown back, as shewn by
dots in Fig. 3, and the throat of the chimney thereby opened. The heat of
the room is regulated by a mercurial regulator acting upon a valve in the
ordinary manner of regulating the heat given out by the stove or grate, as will
be well understood by stove makers. In Figs. 6, 7, and 8, I have shewn my
improvements as adapted to a grate for burning anthracite coal; Fig. 6 is a
front view; Fig. 7 a vertical section; and Fig. 8 a sectional horizontal view.
In this arrangement the system of pipes j, j,j, j, j, is dispensed with, and the
hollow back, hearth, and sides only used. The draft to support combustion
passes directly through the fire and through an oblong hole m, made in the
back plate of the grate. A pipe 7, 1, which serves as the chimney, is fastened
by a flange to the back part of the grate. This pipe passes up through the
hollow back, and thereby warms the air contained therein. The draft through
the fire is regulated by a damper n, which may, if thought desirable, extinguish
the fire entirely. A flat plate o, which turns on a hinge p, prevents any of the

page_text: heat given out by the fire from ascending up the chimney. This plate may, how-
ever, be thrown back and the grate used as a common fire-place with ordinary
coal, if required. Fig. 9 and 10 represent the last-described improvement
(viz, grates for burning anthracite coal) as applied to a kitchen range. Fig. 9
is a plan view, and Fig. 10 a vertical section of a kitchen range constructed
according to my improvements. q, q, is the oven; and r, r, the boiler for
boiling water situated at the side and back of the fire. s is the lid or cover of
the boiler, and t the cock or tap for drawing the water from it. The flue 1, l,
passes through the boiler, and thereby warms the water contained therein. It
will not be necessary for me to describe this arrangement more minutely, as it
so closely resembles the construction shewn in Fig. 6, 7, and 8, and the
whole of which is fully detailed and exhibited in the several Figures of the
Drawings above referred to.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Hett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord