IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Sykes, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil
1.4
Merchant, and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, M.D., both of Cleckheaton, in
the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES."
Sealed the 4th June 1861, and dated the 20th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Sykes and Ben-
jamin Clifford Sykes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 20th December 1860.
We, THOMAS SYKES, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil Merchant, and
BENJAMIN CLIFFORD SYKES, M.D., both of Cleckheaton, in the County of
"IMPROVEMENTS
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IN FURNACES," to be as follows:-
The improvements relate to furnaces for the combustion of smoke, and the
economising of fuel, and is applicable to the generation of steam, and the
evaporation of liquids, the melting and smelting of iron and other metals,.
the distillation of animal vegetable, and mineral matters, and to general
heating purposes, and consists in constructing furnaces of an upright or
vertical form, which are fed with fuel at the top, and clinkered at the bottom,
and have covers at the top to open and close them; or the upright furnace
may be provided at its top with what we call a feeding head, and consists of
a set of horizontal grate bars placed in front of the upright furnace, and
Dine Rd77

page_text: Sat was an of CO Ours, or other wen
known means for opening and closing the furnace, the whole being built in
and upon so as to form a continuation of the upright furnace, but in a
horizontal direction. The vertical furnace has a vertical grate or grates, which
extend to within a little distance of the bottom of the furnace, and is pro-
vided with masonry and sliding and opening doors to admit or exclude the
air. Behind the grate at any distance, according to the thickness of the fire
required, is built the fire-back, in such a manner as to have a number of
openings left in it to conduct the heated gases and smoke from the furnace
into a chamber placed behind, which we term the combustion chamber, but
in such a manner as that the smoke and gases from the top part of the furnace
go to and mix with the hotter gases from the lower part of the furnace, and
with the atmospheric air admitted, as described below, and thus become per-
fectly burnt, and are then carried or conducted by a flue to the object to be
heated. The above-mentioned fire-back may be built of a double wall, leaving
a space between them, and open to the air at the sides and top, and provided
with suitable contrivances for opening and closing the same. Through this
double-fire-back are placed a-number-of tubes or pipes of fire-brick or other
refractory material to conduct the hot gases from the furnace into the com-
bustion chamber. These tubes may be perforated, so as to admit a portion of
air in small streams from the space between the double walled fire-back.
The wall of the fire-back nearest the combustion chamber may also be per-
forated to conduct other portions of air into the combustion chamber
The other wall of the combustion chamber may also be perforated, as also
may the flue which conducts the gases to the object to be heated, cach being
provided with means to exclude the air at pleasure. The horizontal section
of the upright furnace may be circular, elliptical, or polygonal, having the
central or middle portion separated to form the combustion chamber, the fire
being placed around it, and the products of combustion may be conducted
away at the bottom. Within this combustion chamber may be placed a
retort for the decomposition and distillation of organic and inorganic matters,
to extend above and below the combustion chamber, and which may be made
a continuous working retort by placing at the top or near the top a side pipe,
with valves, stuffing box, and forcing rod, and a hydraulic, metallic, or other
suitable joint at the bottom for purposes of charging and discharging the
retort without admitting much air into its interior, the retort being made
wider at the bottom than at the top to facilitate the passage of the contents
of the retort from above to below. The horizontal section of the upright
furnace may also be any section of the before-mentioned figures; or two

page_text: furnaces, bounded by straight or curved lines, may be placed back to back, with
the combustion chamber between them, the air perforations being so arranged
as to suit the altered circumstances. When the furnace has a blast brought
to play upon it, the furnace is so encased as to be made air-tight. In applying
this furnace to the melting of iron and other metals, the combustion chamber
may form the cupola, or the furnace and cupola may be separate, and the
products of combustion be conducted either into the bottom or top of the
cupola.
When applying the upright furnace to the smelting of iron and other
metals several furnaces may be arranged around the smelting furnace, and
the products of combustion be conducted into the smelting furnace a little
above its bottom, somewhat like the present working mode of conducting the
blast into the smelting furnace, but with the openings suited to the bulk of
the hot gases to be conveyed. By regulating the strength of the blast and
the thickness of the fire any proportion of carbonic acid and carbonic oxide
may be formed at pleasure, and we propose to apply a large proportion of
hot carbonic oxide to the smelting of iron and other metals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
SYKES, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil Merchant, and BENJAMIN CLIFFORD
SYKES, M.D., both of Cleckheaton, in the Parish of Birstal, in the County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, Her special licence that
we, the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Sykes
and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, our 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 "IMPROVE.

page_text: MENTS IN FURNACES, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford
Sykes, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
Our Invention of improvements relates to furnaces, which are applicable to
the generation of steam, the evaporation of liquids, the melting and smelting
of iron and other metals, the distillation of animal, vegetable, and mineral
substances, and to general heating purposes, and have for their objects the
combustion of smoke and the economising of fuel, and consists in constructing
furnaces, so as to have an upright or vertical form, to be fed with fuel at the
top and clinkered, or have the clinkers and ashes removed at the bottom; the
hot gasses from the upper and lower portions of the burning fuel and atmo-
spheric air, when required, being brought together in such a manner as to
produce perfect combustion and consume the smoke. The different modes of
effecting these objects are numerous, but all contain one general principle.
And in order more fully to ascertain and particularly describe the nature of
our Invention, we have annexed three Shects of Drawings to which we make
reference, observing that the same reference letters denote the same or like
parts in all the different Figures.
Figure 1, in Sheet 1, is a longitudinal vertical section of one form of our
improved furnace, as is also Figure 2, 3, and 4, and 5, 67 of Sheet II., of
other forms.
A is the ordinary feeding doors, in Figure 1, Sheet L., it is placed in the
front of the furnace; in Figure 5, Sheet II., it is placed in the side of the
furnace; and in Figure 7, Sheet II., a feeding hopper is substituted for the
door and placed on the top of the furnace. B is a set of horizontal grate bars
and dead plate, in Figure 1, Sheet I., and in Figures 3 and 4 it is only a
dead plate; whilst in Figure 7, Sheet II., it is a plate or arch at the back of
the furnace, on which the fuel is coked, and pushed or pulled into the vertical
fire-place C, which is bounded in front by the upright grate bars D, and on
the back by the fire back E, which is shown as formed by placing fire-clay
covers or other refractory material of the shape of a parallelopipedon across

page_text: the furnace, and supported at
which we prefer to incline at an angle somewhat like as shown in Figure 1,
Sheet I.; but it may consist of successive arches rising from the sides of the
furnace, as shown in Figure 5, Sheet II.; or of a wall with arch at bottom
and openings above to conduct the hot gasses into the combustion chamber R,
as shown in Figure 11, Sheet II., or it may consist of water tubes or vessels
in connexion with the boiler, and through which water circulates, see Figure 7,
Sheet II., and may thus become an auxiliary in the raising of steam. The
grate bars D may consist of thin iron plates slid into groves made in the
plate or frame J, and may stand either vertically, as shown in Figure 1,
Sheet I., or horizontally, as shown in Figure 6, Sheet II.; or they may be of
fire-brick, so placed as to form open passages for the supply of air to the
burning fuel in the vertical fire-place C; F, F, are sliding or folding doors to
admit, regulate, or exclude the air from the bars B and D, as shown in
Figure 1, Sheet I.; and from the ash-pit K, as shown in Figures 6 and 8,
Sheet II. The grate bars D may be divided into several tiers, as shown in
Figures 6 and 7, Sheet II., each tier of bars having its own door or doors
F, F, so as to enable the fireman to open or close any or all of them at plea-
sure; G is the top that covers in the furnace, and within it there is formed an
air space H, which may be continued down the sides of the furnace and the
back of the combustion chamber R, see Figure 3, Sheet I., and it may com-
municate with the external air through openings in the sides of the furnace
near the bottom, and with the interior of the furnace through small perfora-
tions made in the lower part of the roof G', see Figure 1, Sheet I.; i, i,
Figure 1 and 4, in Sheet I., are hollow perforated pipes or tubes, which
stretch across the furnace, are supported by its sides, and communicate at
their open ends with the air space H, and with the interior of the furnace
through the perforations, and serve to supply the furnace with air in small
streams, as may be required. The fire-back E may be hollow, as in Figure 2,
Sheet I., and perforated as in Figure 3 and 4, Sheet I., and may communicate
with the said air space H at the ends; or it may be a hollow double wall, which
hollow communicates with the said air space H; and have perforated pipes or
tubes provided in it to conduct the hot gasses from the upright fire-place C
into the combustion chamber R, the perforations being passages for air from
the air space H into the furnace. At the bottom of the vertical fire-place C is
a grate J, which hinges upon L, and fastened at the other side by a lug M,
as in Figure 1, Sheet I., or by a chain pulley rack and lever N, as shown in
Figure 2, Sheet I. Now, it is evident that as the fire burns away the clinker
will settle down to the bottom C, and rest upon J2; if now temporary bars

page_text: or rods Qbe thrust between the grate bars D through the fire C, so as to rest
one end upon the projecting wall O, the graie J2 may be lowered to P, as
shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2, Sheet I., and the clinkers will fall into
the ash-pit K; the grate J2 in then replaced and fastened, the temporary rods
or bars withdrawn, the fire C falls down upon J2, whilst more fuel is supplied
at the top. In the sides of the furnace opposite the fire C are openings at
different elevations, through which to stir the fire C. In Figure 3 and 4,
Sheet I., the clinkers are withdrawn through the ash-pit K. In Figure 7,
Sheet II., there are a set of grate-bars X, exactly like D, except that they
incline inward to the fire C, and the grate door W, which opens outwards; the
grate J hinging upon L, so as to afford means to expel clinker and ashes. In
Figure 6, Sheet II., the grate J2 rests upon iwo bearers Y, instead of the
hinges and lugs; and the upright grates W are freely suspended so as to open
inwards or outwards by a rod Z, which passes through them and rests at its
ends in the sides of the furnace, whilst the clinker is thrust backwards by way
of W, and falls into the ash-pit K, and is removed as convenient. In Figure 5,
Sheet II., there is no graic J, and the clinker falls direct into the ash-pit K.
The shows the flue through which the hot gasses are taken out of the furnace
to the boiler or other object to be heated.
Our improved furnace is applicable to what Professor Rankine calls
"internal furnace boilers," in which the fire chamber is enclosed within the
boiler. In this application our vertical furnace may assume a great many
different forms in detail; but in order to give a general idea thereof, we direct
attention to a longitudinal vertical section of one form, as shown in Figure 8,
Sheet II., in which the sides of the furnace are not shown. The fire-back E
is formed by hollow water tubes or pipes reveted, or otherwise properly
secured at their ends to the sides of the furnace, so as to be steam and water
tight; the open ends of the tubes or pipes communicating with the water
space in the sides of the furnace, so as to admit of a circulation of water and
steam through the pipes or tubes from one side of the furnace to the other.
These tubes may be round, square, or of any other figure; but we prefer them
to be of an oval form and properly stayed, so as to resist any pressure they
may have to withstand. The back of the combustion chamber R, which we
call S, is a hollow rectangular iron vessel similarly reveted, or otherwise pro-
perly fastened to the sides and top, so as to allow the greatest freedom to the
circulation of the water through every part of it; and it may also be connected
to the bottom. S' by water pipes, so as to cause a circulation of water; also
from the bottom of fire-box through S into S¹ above, as shown by dotted lines;
but this lack of combustion chamber S may be made of brick, in such a manner

page_text: as to cause the hot gasses from the top part of the combustion chamber to
descend to the bottom part before passing through the fire-flues or tubes.
Figure 9, Sheet II., shows a vertical section of a cornish boiler, furnished
with the upright fire-place C at the end of the horizontal bars B, in which E
is the fire-back; C, the vertical fire-place; D. the upright grate-bars: and
K. the ash-pit. The Drawing shows the fire-box as lined with thin tiles to
retain the heat until the gasses have passed beyond the fire-hack E. In Figure
10, Sheet .. is shown a vertical section of a furnace: the fire-back E built
of fire-brick or quarries, so as to have a number of openings for the passage
of the hot gasses to the combustion chamber; and Fig. II. shows a front eleva-
tion of one form of the fire-back E.
In Figure 12, Sheet III.. there is shown a vertical section of a vertical
furnace, whose horizontal section is circular, as shown in Figure 13; the com-
bustion chamber R being in the centre, and the hot gasses taken out of the
furnace along a flue at the bottom of the combustion chamber R. which
combustion chamber R is surrounded by fire-back E, and around it is placed
the fire-place C. which is surrounded by the grate-bars D, outside of which at
any convenient distance therefrom and concentric with D, are raised iron or
brick pillars D', on which to support the dead plate B and the arched roof G;
and also for the purpose of affording means of fastening the sliding or folding
doors F, to supply or exclude the air to or from the bars D. underneath
which is the ash-pit K. Figure 13 is a horizontal section of Figure 12, in the
line A, B, and Figure 14 is a side elevation of part of the plate J. showing a
few of the upright grate bars D. Within the combustion chamber R there
may be placed a retort for purposes of distillation, which may extend above
the top of the furnace, and below the bottom, so as to afford means for charging
and discharging the retort, in other respects it may be fitted up as the
operator may wish. In melting iron, &c., the cupola may stand within the
combustion chamber R, and the hot gasses be conducted into the bottom of
the cupola and out at the top; but the hot gasses may also be taken into the
cupola at the top and carried out by a flue at the bottom, in which case we
prefer that the furnace be considerably elevated towards the top of the cupola.
In smelting iron, &c. there may be placed around the usual smelting furnace
several of our improved upright furnaces, and the products of combustion be
conducted into the smelting furnace, somewhat like the usual working mode
of conducting the blast into the smelting furnaces, but with the hot-air pas-
sages being made of a suitable size to conduct the hot gasses. By regulating
the strength of the blast of wind, which is made to play upon the fuel in the
upright furnaces instead of into the smelting furnace as is the usual practice,

page_text: and the thickness of the fuel, any proportion of carbonic oxide and carbonic
acid in the hot gasses may be produced as may be desirable, thicker the fuel
with the same weight of blast, and the greater the proportion of carbonic oxide
in the products of combustion; and we prefer a large proportion of carbonic oxide
in the smelting of iron. &c.; when a blast of air is used to expedite com-
bustion any of the well-known means for bringing the blast to play upon the
burning fuel may be used.
Having thus fully described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details herein set forth, as the same may be
modified without departing from the peculiar features of our Invention, and
we do not claim any of the well-known parts which are shown and referred to
for the purpose of illustrating the application of our improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Sykes, for and on behalf of myself
.
and the said Benjamin Clifford Sykes, have hereunto set my hand,
and seal, this Twentieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Thomas Sykes, in the
presence of
WALTER BRIERLEY, Patent Agent,
Halifax.
THOS. SYKES. (L.S.)