IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOLLERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO REVERBERATORY AND PUDDLING FURNACES, AND TO FURNACES FOR HEATING BUILDINGS. AND
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Amory, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR
LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOLLERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE
TO REVERBERATORY AND PUDDLING FURNACES, AND TO FURNACES FOR HEATING
BUILDINGS.
LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOLLERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE
TO REVERBERATORY AND PUDDLING FURNACES, AND TO FURNACES FOR HEATING
BUILDINGS.
Sealed the 15th August 1856, and dated the 8th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Amory at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1856.
I, JONATHAN AMORY, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE
TO REVERBERATORY AND PUDLING FURNACES, AND TO FURNACES FOR HEATING
BUILDINGS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a complete consumption of the
smoke and gases generated by fuel during its combustion in the furnaces of
locomotive and other steam boilers, in reverberatory and puddling furnaces,
and in furnaces for heating buildings; and the Invention consists in forming
bridges or projections in the body or flue of the furnace, which contract the
body or flue at intervals, and form chambers, within which the smoke and
gases circulate. The bridges or projections are curved, or formed so as to
produce a regular circulation in the chambers, and they are made hollow for
the introduction of heated air through them, and the orifices through which
the air escapes are so directed as to assist the circulation of the smoke and
gases in the chambers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jonathan Amory in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
AMORY, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jonathan Amory, Her special license that I, the said Jonathan Amory,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Jonathan Amory, 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 FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
APPLICABLE TO REVERBERATORY AND PUDDLING FURNACES, AND TO FURNACES FOR
HEATING BUILDINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Jonathan Amory, 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 Jonathan Amory, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The efforts heretofore made, more completely to consume the smoke and
gases of steam boiler and other furnaces, by the introduction of a current of
fresh air behind the fire bridge, have been but measurably successful; owing
to the fact that the influx of so large a body of cold air into the furnace so
depressed the temperature of the gases and smoke as to cause them to burn
reluctantly and imperfectly. The direction of the currents so injected has also
been such as to hasten the gases and smoke through the furnaces, instead of

page_text: retaining them therein a sufficient length of time to complete the combustion.
Various attempts have been made to heat the air previous to injecting it into
the furnace, but heretofore with only partial success.
The nature of my present Invention consists in the use of hollow fire
bridges within the body of the furnace, in connection with one or more pipes,
for the purpose of admitting air thereto, and with such an arrangement of
apertures for the passage of the heated air from the interior of the bridges to
the combustion chambers, that the direction given to the burning gases and
smoke by the air issuing from a portion of these apertures shall be counter to
that of their general progress through the furnace, whereby they are caused
to reverberate, and become entirely mixed with the heated air injected, and
are retained within the furnace a sufficient length of time to be entirely
consumed.
In Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings my Invention is represented as
applied to a locomotive boiler, the bridges being placed entirely within the
boiler, and to the rear of the tube plate, a portion of the space usually allotted
to the tubes being devoted to this purpose.
:
A is the locomotive steam boiler; B, the fire box; C, D, and E are fire
bridges, which are so arranged as to inclose between them two combustion
chambers F and G, in which the smoke and gases from the fire are retained,
and caused to circulate before they are permitted to issue into the chimney.
By reference to the Drawings it will be seen that the upper and lower wall of
the combustion chambers, as well as their sides, are water space, while their
front and rear walls are formed by the fire bridges. These latter are made
hollow, and communicate with the open air and with each other by the tubes
a, a¹, a², the latter being inclosed within the flue b, through which a portion of
the products of combustion are permitted to pass to the chimney. The air
thus admitted to the hollow fire bridges, after being highly heated, is permitted
to escape into the combustion chambers, where it is mixed with the sinoke and
gases from the fire, for the purpose of facilitating their combustion. And in
order the more perfectly to accomplish this end, and to avoid interrupting the
progress of the products of combustion through the furnace, at the same time
that they are retained a sufficient length of time in the combustion chambers
to ensure their intimate mixture with the heated air, the current of air thus
admitted from one of the bridges is caused to enter in a direction corresponding
with the direction of the gases through the furnace, and the current of air
from the other bridge enters in a direction counter thereto, in the manner
which will now be more particularly described.
As the smoke and gases from the fire grate pass over the first fire bridge at
c, they are mixed with the hot air issuing from the fire bridge C through the

page_text: slit or opening f, which extends along its whole length, the direction given to
this current of air corresponding with that of the gases and smoke, the velocity
of which is consequently not impeded thereby. As the mixture of smoke and
gases issues into the combustion chamber F a portion of them impinge upon
the opposite point g of the fire bridge D, and are deflected in the direction of
the arrow i towards the bottom of the chamber, and at the point h a second
current of heated air issuing from the chamber D is caused to commingle with
them, by which they are caused to reverberate through the combustion
chamber, the flame and heated air being projected upon the water space k
forming the bottom of the combustion chamber, and when they again rise
they pass immediately in contact with the water space H and through the
passage m. As they issue from this passage they are again commingled with
a current of heated air from the opening n in the bridge D, and afterwards
with a similar current from the opening p, the operation within the combustion
chamber G being similar to that in the preceding chamber F, and the products
of combustion ultimately pass over the last bridge E, and through the tubes
and the flue 6 into the smoke box. By means of the above described arrange-
ment of liollow fire bridges and combustion chambers the smoke and gases are
consumed in a more perfect manner than has heretofore been accomplished by
any furnace which has come to my knowledge, while this combustion takes
place in immediate contact with the water space of the boiler both above and
below. Any desired number of pipes a, a', a², of communication between the
fire bridges and the external atmosphere may be employed to admit a sufficient
supply of air to the combustion chambers, or these chambers may communicate
by openings directly through the bottom of the boiler with the open air. I do
not intend, however, to confine myself to such details. It is also my intention
to employ one or any required number of combustion chambers, according to
the length of the boiler, or as may be required by the other circumstances
of the case.
In Fig. 2 is represented a marine boiler with my improvements attached.
A are the grate bars; B, the chimney stack; the heated air being admitted
through the pipe C to the rear bridge D, which may be made to com-
municate with the other bridges by means of suitable pipes, in which case if
found necessary the progress of the heated air may be assisted by means of a
fan or other blower. Under certain circumstances the air may be admitted to
the bridges from beneath through the pipes a. The form of this boiler may
be modified in a variety of ways without departing from the principle of my
Invention, as, for instance, by the addition of return flues or vertical tubes.
These details, however, form no part of my Invention, and need not be further
described.

page_text: Fig. 3 represents a puddling furnace with my improvements attached;
A being the grate bars; B, the fire door; C, the first bridge; D, the hearth
upon and over which the flame is caused to reverberate by the currents
of heated air from the apertures a and b. The air for this purpose is
admitted from a suitable blower through the pipe E to a casing F around the
smoke stack G, whence it is conducted by pipes c to the openings a and b.
The products of combustion ultimately pass through the opening H to the
smoke stack.
Fig. 4 is a plan of a puddling furnace differently arranged; Fig. 5, a
longitudinal section through the same. A are the grate bars; B, the fire
door; C and D, the hollow fire bridges; E, the puddling hearth. The air for
the supply of the currents from the fire bridges enters by the pipe F from any
suitable blower into the casing G surrounding the smoke stack II, whence it is
conducted by the pipes a to the bridges. As in the former cases, the current
of air from one of the bridges (D) is counter to the general direction of the
smoke and gases from the grate bars to the smoke stack, which causes them to
reverberate against the hearth of the furnace, and retains them a sufficient
length of time to complete their combustion before they are permitted to
escape to the stack. In furnaces for heating buildings, the combustion
chambers, in lieu of being surrounded by water space, will be placed within
the hot air chamber, in a manner which need not be further described.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above recited Letters Patent I claim the hollow fire bridges, so formed
and arranged as to inclose the reverberatory chambers between them, and
having openings for the passage of the heated air from the bridges to the
chambers, the direction of the currents from one set of these openings
coinciding with the general direction of the gases and smoke through the
furnace, while the currents from the other set are counter thereto, in the
manner and for the purpose substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Amory, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, One thousand eight
JONATHAN AMORY. (LS.)
Witness,
THOS R. ROACH.