Improved Means for Consuming Smoke in Steam Boiler and other Furnaces.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 9th June, 1892-Accepted, 16th July, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Consuming Smoke in Steam Boiler and other
Furnaces.
We JOHN LANGFIELD Engineer and RICHARD BOARDMAN SHARPLES,
Manufacturer, both of 14 Lever Street Manchester in the County of Lancaster do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:—
The object of this invention is to consume the smoke and consequently to
economize the fuel in steam boiler and other furnaces by the introduction of highly
heated air into the furnace at or near the bridge without robbing the said furnace
itself of any of its own heat.
This we propose to do by means of an auxiliary furnace placed outside the boiler
or main furnace, the said auxiliary furnace being by preference provided with tubes
or a chamber into which the cold air is admitted by an inlet opening or openings
and heated by the fire to the desired degree, and an exit opening or openings and
pipe or pipes by means of which the heated air is discharged into the main furnace
in front of, or at or about the bridge, where the heat is greatest.
The highly heated air thus introduced into the hottest part of the main furnace
will effectually consume the smoke and greatly improve the combustion and as none
of the heat of the main furnace is borrowed for heating the air thus employed, the
main furnace, instead of being robbed of a portion of its heat has additional heat
introduced into it from the auxiliary furnace, and it is found by experiment that
notwithstanding the fact that a certain amount of fuel is consumed by the auxiliary
furnace the aggregate amount of fuel required by the two to produce and maintain
a given pressure of steam is considerably less than would be required to produce
the same pressure with the main furnace only.
And in order to prevent the admission of a volume of cold air when the main,
furnace doors are opened for firing (or otherwise) we place a damper in any
convenient part of the flue or flues and we connect such damper with the furnace
doors in such a manner that whenever the furnace doors are opened the damper
shall be more or less closed so as to check the draught and thus prevent the inward
rush of cold air, and as the furnace doors are closed the damper or dampers shall
be automatically opened.
Provision is made for disconnecting this arrangement from the furnace doors
when it is required to open the said doors for any purpose without closing the
damper or dampers.
This latter part of our invention is applicable also to furnaces in general.
Dated this 9th day of September 1891.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Consuming Smoke in Steam Boiler and other
Furnaces.
We JOHN LANGFIELD Engineer and RICHARD BOARDMAN SHARPLES
Manufacturer, both of 14 Lever Street Manchester in the County of Lancaster
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of this invention is to consume the smoke and consequently to

page_text: (conomize the fuel in steam boiler and other furnaces by the introduction of highly
heated air into the furnace, or into the flues proferably at or near the bridge without
robbing the furnace itself of any of its own heat.
The nature of our said invention and the manner in which the same is to be
performed or carried into practical effect will be readily understood on reference to
the sheet of drawings hereunto annexed and the following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 on the annexed drawing is a horizontal section and Fig. 2 a partial end
elevation and vertical section (taken through about the line A B in Fig. 1.) of a
two flued Lancashire boiler with our invention shown as applied thereto, a being
the boiler, 6 the furnace, and c the flues.
For the purposes of our invention we propose to employ an auxiliary furnace d
placed outside the boiler or main furnace, and being by preference provided with
tubes e or a chamber into which the cold air is admitted by an inlet opening or
openings, and heated by the fire to the desired degree, and an exit opening or
openings and pipe (or pipes) by means of which the heated air is discharged into
the main furnace preferably in front of or at or about the bridge g where the heat
is greatest.
It may however be delivered above or below the fire bars or further back in the
flues behind the bridge if preferred.
The highly heated air thus introduced from an auxiliary furnace into the hottest
part of the main furnace or flues will effectually consume the smoke and greatly
improve the combustion, and as none of the heat of the main furnace is borrowed
for heating the air thus employed, the main furnace, instead of being robbed of a
portion of its heat, has additional heat introduced into it, from the auxiliary furnace,
and it is found by experiment that notwithstanding the fact that a certain amount
of fuel is necessarily consumed by the auxiliary furnace, the aggregate amount of
fuel required by the two fires to produce and maintain a given pressure of steam is
considerably less than would be required to produce the same pressure with the
main furnace only.
And in order to prevent the admission of a volume of cold air when the main
furnace doors are opened for firing (or otherwise) we place a damper ŉ in any
convenient part of the flue or flues and we connect such damper or dampers by
means of rods i and bell cranks or otherwise with the furnace doors k (or with their
hiuges) in such a manner that whenever the furnace doors k are opened the damper
or dampers h shall be more or less closed so as to check the draught and thus
prevent the inward rush of cold air, and as the furnace doors & are closed again the
damper or dampers shall be automatically opened.
Provision may be made by any simple means for disconnecting this arrangement
from the furnace doors when it is required to open the said doors for any purpose
without closing the damper or dampers.
This latter part of the invention is applicable also to furnaces in general.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:
First. The combination with a steam boiler or other furnace, of an auxiliary
furnace whereby air is heated, and such externally heated air is admitted by
passages or pipes to the main furnace or to the flue or flues at or near the bridge
where the heat is greatest for the purpose of consuming the smoke and economizing
the fuel substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings
annexed, and
Secondly. We claim the combination with the fire doors of a steam boiler or
other furnace, of a damper or dampers in the flue or flues so compcated with the
door or doors or their hinges by rods and bell crank levers (or otherwise) that the
opening of the door or doors shall automatically close (more or less the spid
dampers, and vice versa, provision being made for disconnecting such appliance when

page_text: it may be desirable to open and close the furnace door or doors without acting upon
the damper or dampers.
Dated this 8th day of June 1892.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicants