IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Wicks, of No. 21, Phoenix Street, Somers
Town, in the County of Middlesex, Builder, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES."
Sealed the 12th March 1858, and dated the 16th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Wicks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th September 1857...
I, RICHARD WICKS, of No. 21, Phoenix Street, Somers Town, in the County
of Middlesex, Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, first, in adapting a sliding bridge to the fire-places
of furnaces; and secondly, in a peculiar form of construction of hollow fire
bars, to be used in combination with an additional ash-pit, formed at the
back part of the ordinary.ash-pit; said additional ash-pit is provided with
a door or other suitable contrivance for the passage of air into the furnace,
and for the removal of ashes, &c., from said, ash-pit.
The peculiar feature of novelty in the fire bars consists in forming vertical
holes through one end of each bar, and in arranging the perforated endsofsaid
bars over the before-mentioned additional ash-pit,sothatwhenthe door thereof
[Price 8d].

page_text: is opened it shall aduit cold air into the furnace when necessary.
It is
proposed to use the aforesaid holes in combination with a hole formed through
each fire bar in the direction of the length thereof, said hole being inclined
from back to front of said bars, and lowest at the fromt thereot.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Wicks in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WICKS, of No. 21, Phoenix Street, Somers Town, in the County of Middlesex,
Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me, the
said Richard Wicks, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Wicks,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Wicks, 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 Richard
Wicks, my executors or 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 Richard Wicks, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:
My Invention consists, first, in adapting a sliding bridge to the fire-places
of furnaces, and secondly, in a peculiar form of construction of hollow fire
bars to be used in combination with an additional ash-pit, said ash-pit being

page_text: provided with a door or other suitable contrivance or opening for the passage
of atmospheric air into the furnace to support combustion of the fuel therein,
and for the removal of ashes and dirt from said ash-pit. The peculiar feature of
novelty in the fire bars consists in forming vertical holes through one end of
each bar, and in arranging the perforated ends of said bars over the before-
mentioned additional ash-pit, so that when the door thereof is opened it shall
admit cold air into the furnace when necessary. I propose to use the afore-
said vertical holes in combination with a hole formed through each fire bar
in the direction of the length thereof, said hole being formed inclined from
back to front of said bars, and lowest at the front thereof.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing
hereunto aunexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal and vertical section of the furnace of a baker's
oven, shewing my improvements adapted thereto; Figure 2, an end view of
my improved perforated fire bars; Figure 3, a top plan of one of said bars;
Figure 4, a longitudinal and vertical section of one of such said bars. At each
of the foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference to deuote
corresponding parts in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of such
said Figures respectively. A, A, represents a portion of the brickwork of a
baker's oven B, the furnace thereof; C, C, furnace bars; D, door or double
doors; a, a, bearers for supporting furnace bars; E, ordinary ash-pit fitted
with a door or doors at b, capable of being opened and closed at will; G,
additional or extra ash-pit, separated from the ash-pit E by a metal plate c
and door ; H is a loose adjustable bridge (shewn detached at Figure 5)
supported at its extremities by recesses., ., in the fire lumps I, which said
lumps form the sides of the furnace. And I would here observe that I
cousider this loose adjustable bridge to be an important feature in my said
Invention, as it not only enables the position of the bridge to be adjusted
to a nicety, but the said bridge when worn out can readily be replaced by a
new one; and this applies to furnaces generally.
I propose also, in constructing furnaces for baker's ovens, to dispense with
the sulphur flues commonly employed, and to substitute in lieu thereof the
following arrangement:-Instead of forming the furnace door solid (as usually

page_text: practised), I form it hollow, or I employ double doors so as to leave a channel
or opening between them, as exhibited; and in connection with the opening
thus formed, and immediately above the fire lumps e, e¹, which form the
crown of the furnace, and between the same and the bottom of the cistern K,
I leave space h; I also form a small slit or opening f in the fire lump e, or I
leave space between the lumps e and e', and thus I allow the sulphurous
vapours given off during the operation of baking to pass from the oven, and
by circulating through the spaces g and h,which are intensely heated, to cause
such said sulphurous vapours to be consumed, and thus avoid the necessity of
having sulphur flues, as above stated. I have found it desirable in practice to
form each of the fire bare C with a lip or projection 1, to prevent the fuel
which is on the fire bars from choking up the openings i, i, in and at the
end of said bars.
The general operations of these improvements are as follows:-The sliding
bridge H being adjusted according to the draught of the furnace, causes the
smoke from the incandescent fuel to be deflected upon the flames, and thus be
consumed; should, however, any smoke pass the said bridge unconsumed,the
atmospheric air as it passes through the hollow fire bars becoming heated, and
passing through the vertical openings i, i",in said bars, mixes with the smoke
and causes sudden combustion thereof, thus preventing the smoke and gases
from the fuel entering the oven. Should the furnace give out more heat than
is required, by opening the door of the additional ash-pit G a current of cold
air will be admitted thereinto, which passing through the openings i, i*, in
the bars C will enter the furnace, and by these means the fire may be damped
or the heat therefrom regulated in the oven to the required temperature,
without opening the furnace doors for that purpose, as commonly practised.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Improvements in Furnaces," together with the best means I
am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect. I would
remark, in conclusion, that I am aware of hollow fire bars having heretofore
been employed in furnaces for the purpose of heating the air before it enters
the furnace; I do not therefore claim to be the inventor of hollow fire bars,
except when such bars are constructed with holes or openings as at i, Figure3,
and I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim,-
First, the adjustable sliding bridge marked H.
Secondly, the additional ash-pit G.
Thirdly, the chamber g between the furnace doors D, D, the chamber h,
and opening f, for the purposes set forth.

page_text: Fourthly and lastly, I claim the general combination and arrangement of
the hollow fire bars C, adjustable bridge H, and additional ash-pit G, as
constituting "Improvements in Furnaces."
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Wicks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. J. WETHERELL,
26, Charles Street,
Hatton Garden.
MUHAND