NEW OR IMPROVED. APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING FIRES AND PROMOTING COM- BUSTION IN FIRES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Lloyd at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
January 1872.
I, SAMUEL LLOYD, of Sparkbrook, in the County of Warwick, Iron
Tube Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "NEW OR IMPROVED. APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING FIRES AND PROMOTING COM-
BUSTION IN FIRES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of the new or improved apparatus herein-
after described by the use of which fires may be lighted in fire-grates or
stoves by means of gas economically, quickly, and with certainty, and
the combustion of the fuel in the grates or stoves promoted or increased,
when from the nature of the fuel or otherwise the combustion is languid
or below the point to which it is wished to bring it.
The parts of the said apparatus are constructed and arranged in
the following manner :-A pipe in connection with the ordinary gas
service of the house is conducted by preference at or near the bottom
of the wall in which the fire-place or stove is situated, and immediately
underneath the floor or below or behind the skirting board of the room.

page_text: A small opening in the floor or skirting board gives access to a tap
or valve in the said pipe into or on to which a key may be passed
for the purpose of opening and closing the said tap or valve. The said
opening, if in the floor, may be closed when not in use by means of
a small flap or tongue cut in the carpet of the room. From the said
tap or valve the pipe proceeds close against one of the side walls of
the fire-place, or when an ordinary cast-iron grate is used, immediately
at the back of the plate in front of the ash-pit. The said pipe terminates
underneath the grate, the termination consisting of one, two, or three
vertical branches. These branches are screwed externally through the
whole or greater part of their length, and upon the said screwed
branches caps or collars furnished with corresponding concave screws
work. Each of the said caps or collars is surmounted by a gas burner
or jet, by preference of the kind called rose burners, but Bunsen's or
other burners may be used with like effect. By screwing the caps or
collars carrying the gas burners or jets on the screwed branches they
may be raised to a greater or less height underneath the grate.
I prefer that the burners or jets should be so fixed as to be situated
in a horizontal plane from one to three inches below the bottom of the
grate bars of the grate or stove, and in a line parallel with the front
of the grate. The said burners or jets should be situated under the
openings between the bars forming the bottom of the grate, but their
exact position with respect to the said bars is not essential, as the
draught carries the flames through the openings between the bars when
the jets are not in the positions described.
In fixing the apparatus the jets or burners are adjusted to the
required height by means of the screwed collars described. The height
at which the combustion of the gas is most perfectly effected having
been determined, no further adjustment is required.
In using the apparatus it is only necessary by the insertion of the key
to open the tap or valve in the gas pipe, and apply a lighted match to
the gas burners or jets. The flames ascend through the fuel placed in
the grate and speedily light the fire.
When the fuel burns sluggishly of itself, or when the fuel requires
a high temperature for its combustion, such as anthracite or the riddled
ashes from ash-pits, the combustion of the gas may be allowed to
continue so as to promote, intensify, and perfect the combustion of the

page_text: fuel, and in conjunction therewith to produce the required temperature.
When however the lighting of the fire is the only object to be effected
the gas may be turned off as soon as the fuel is thoroughly ignited. I
do not limit myself to any particular number of the gas burners or jets
described, as they may be more or less in number according to the size
of the grate or stove.