IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Waller, of No. 34, Grey Street, in tho
Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES."
Sealed the 15th November 1870, and dated the 18th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Waller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1870.
I, WILLIAM WALLER, of No. 34, Grey Street, in the Town and
5 County, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the
.said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES," to be as follows :—
This Invention consists in substituting for the ordinary grate bars à
train of spindles of oval or of irregular form, or of bars mounted with
cams or eccentrics so arranged as to revolve, maintaining a regular
distance the one from the other to admit a stream of air while the fuel
lying upon them is tossed, and broken and carried along the length of
the furnace, ensuring the, perfect combustion of the fuel and a regular
supply.
.
i

page_text: Various forms of cams may be arranged, and the cams and spindle
may be in one or more parts and made to revolve simultaneously by a
pitch chain or side rods, or worms and worm wheels, or other mechanical
means, either by hand or power. One, two, or more forms of cam may
be used in one furnace, and cither alone or in connection with the 5
ordinary or other furnace bars. This arrangement may be used as a
feeder only, or as a self-feeding furnace, in connection with a hopper or
trough containing the fuel, or when fired by hand to distribute the fucl
instead of raking and poking.
In uso it is intended that when cams or eccentrics are used the cam 1
or cccentric on one spindle shall present its smallest length to the
longest length of the cam or eccentric on the next spindle, while on
the same spindle they may be arranged to rise altogether or alternately,
or in such other manner as may be wished to effect the object.
The arrangement may be so applied as to bring back along a plate 1
placed below the train of cams or eccentrics the cinders passed over the
end of the furnace, or a second train can be provided if wished. Two
or more trains may be used in one furnace.
By another improvement the furnace is covered with a fire-brick arch
partially closed at the back to allow a sufficient quantity of air to be 2
admitted and to pass away with the flame without impinging upon the
flue walls to be cooled.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Waller in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th November 1870. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WALLER, of No. 34, Grey Street, in the Town and County of Newcastle-
on-Tyne, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of 3
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Waller, Her special licence that I,
the said William Waller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or

page_text: such others as I, the said William Waller, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Waller, my
executors ΟΙ 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 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 William Waller, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom.
panying Drawings, that is to say :—
:
My said Invention consists in substituting for or combining with the
ordinary grate bars a train of spindles or shafts, either mounted with
cams or eccentrics or made of such shape that the external surfaces of
each alternately approach to and recede from the centre of the next
spindle, at the same time that the spaces between the surfaces of
adjacent spindles remain nearly or quite the same. These spindles are
to be actuated simultaneously, so as to break up and pass forward the
fuel lying upon the cams or surfaces. A train of two or more of such
spindles may be used to supply fuel to a furnace of any known form,
and whether it has moving parts or the common fixed furnace grate or
fire-bars. A similar train may be used for carrying from the back of a
furnace any clinkers, lumps, stones, or other residues; or for forming a
second grate for the further combustion of the fuel, or the coked or
partially consumed fuel passing from a first or second set of revolving
or other bars. A train of the spindles may be arranged transversely to
act as an ordinary grate, but. with connections to admit of the spindles
being moved by band for feeding forward the fuel or for breaking up
lumps caked together.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be pronerly understood. I have hereunto annended four

page_text: Sheets of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and
representing two examples of the application of my improved furnace
arrangements, together with a selection of the various forms of cams.or
eccentrics that may be adopted. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the samé ör like parts wherever they aro
repeated.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is one half a plan, and the other half a horizontal
section of an example which is shown in longitudinal vertical section
in Figure 2, Sheet 2. In this example my improved arrangements
are applied to a common horizontal cylindrical steam boiler with
hemispherical ends. Over against the furnace mouth A there is
fitted a hopper B in which the fuel is placed, and from which the
supply is regulated-by-a-sliding door-O.--The fuel gradually moves
along the inclined plate D down upon the cams E, F, which break it up,
turn it, and gradually carry it inwards, finally delivering it upon the
open barred inclined front G of a back or inner furnace, down which
it passes to fire-bars P of the common kind placed in front of the
bridge wall Q, and having a doorway H just above them for removing
clinkers. In some cases the inner furnace may be dispensed with, the
cams E, F, being continued to the bridge wall Q or nearly so. The
cams E, F, are made to revolve_by_means_of_a_pulley-upon-a-shaft-I,
which has fast on it a bevil pinion, driving a bevil wheel. J. on-a shaft.
having fast on it a worm K. This worm K actuates a worm wheel L
carried on a stud, and which has fixed in it an eccentric pin connected
by rods M, M, to cranks O, O, on the ends of the spindles of the
cams E, F; cranks O̟ are formed on the ends of all the spindles, and aro
connected by side rods N. Simpler gearing may possibly be arranged
for turning the cam spindles, but that described has been shown to
illustrate my Invention without. complicating the Drawing. The cam
spindles may be turned continuously or at intervals, and may be worked
either by power or by hand.
°
1
Figure 8, Sheet 3, is a longitudinal vertical section showing a second
example of my improved arrangements, in which three trains of cam
spindles are used, X, Y, Z; the upper train X receiving the fuel as it is
supplied from the hopper B, and gradually feeding it inwards and down
upon the second train Y, which second train constitutes the main furnace
grate. From the inner end of the main train Y of cam spindles. the
cinders, ashes, or residues of the fuel fall down an inclined plate W upon

page_text: the bottom train of cam or eccentric spindles Z, which are actuated in.a
direction opposite to that of the motion of the upper trains X, Y, and sö
that their upper parts move outwards and carry the residues back and
out from the furnace. In order to avoid complicating the Drawings
the details for actuating and connecting the cam spindles are not shown
in Figure 3, but may be the same as those herein-before described with
reference to Figures 1 and 2, or any other convenient arrangement may
be adopted. Instead of using an additional train of cam spindles (Z)
for removing the ashes or fuel residues their removal may be effected
by the main train of spindles (Y) on placing a horizontal plate, such as
the one R shown in Figure 2, immediately beneath the cam spindles,
so as to take advantage of the reversed or outward movement of the
cams when at the bottoms of their circles, which movement will push
along on the plate towards the front the cinders, ashes, or residues
falling through or carried over the inner end.
.
On Sheet 4 of the Drawings three forms of cam or eccentric are
shown, being the simplest and most convenient of the many forms that
might be adopted. In Figures 4, 5, and 6, oval or two-pointed cams are
shown, a contiguous pair being shown in different successive positions in
the three Figures. Figures 7, 8, and 9, show three-cornered cams in a
similar way; whilst Figures 10, 11, and 12; show three successive positions
of a pair of circular eccentrics. In all the Drawings the cam spindles are
represented as consisting of separate cams or eccentrics fitted on spindles
or shafts, but if preferred the spindles may be cast or otherwise formed
with the cam or eccentric projections upon them. The several cams on
any one spindle may be in the same or in different positions, and whilst
the cams at different parts of the same spindle may be of different forms,
all those on different spindles, but in the same line at right angles to
the spindles, should be alike. Thus circular eccentrics may be used at
the ends of the spindles, or, in other words, at the sides of the furnace,
three-cornered cams next, and two-pointed cams in the middle; or the
cams may be of similar form but of different throws or amounts of
projection from the centres. The effect of such an arrangement being
to cause the fuel to be fed and carried along more rapidly at one part of
the furnace than at another.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,

page_text: but that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
1. The supplying of fuel to a furnace by means of revolving spindles
formed or fitted with cams, eccentrics, or other equivalent projecting 5
parts arranged, applied, and acting substantially in the manner herein-
before described.
2. The arranging and combining of revolving spindles formed or
fitted with cams, eccentrics, or other equivalent projecting parts to
carry and move fuel in a furnace in place of or along with fixed or 1
movable grate bars, and substantially in the manner herein-before
described.
3. The removing of ashes or residues from a furnace by means of
revolving spindles formed or fitted with cams, eccentrics, or other
equivalent projecting parts substantially in the manner herein-before 1
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Waller, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
my
year of