IMPROVE- MENTS IN STOVES AND FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SYLVESTER, of Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Sylvester, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Sylvester, my exors,
admors, or assigns, or such others as I, the said John Sylvester, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully. might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales; and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STOVES AND FIRE-PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso,, that I, the said John Sylvester, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Sylvester, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
My Invention relates, first, to arrangements of parts of a stove having metal
surfaces which in part sustain the fire, and extending into the apartments
communicate heat to the air contained therein.
Secondly, my Invention relates to applying to open fire-places metal
recipients capable of being used as screens, and of assisting in heating the
apartments.
Thirdly, my Invention relates to arranging parts of stoves with heating
surfaces.
And, fourthly, my Invention relates to constructing stoves with boilers and
with ovens connected therewith.
But in order that my Invention may be better understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a front view, Figure 2 a vertical section, and Figure 3
a sectional plan, of a stove, arranged according to the first part of my Invention.
Before, however, proceeding to describe indetail the present improvements,
and in order that these improvements may be better understood, I would state
that according to the arrangement of stove described in the Specification of an
English Patent granted to me, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and which stoves have been
long in public use, metal bars are employed to conduct the heat from the fire-
place into the apartment. It was necessary that there should be an ash-pit
sunk below the hearth, which in many cases has been found very inconvenient,
and in some cases wholly impracticable. Now the object of part of my present
improvements is to remedy this inconvenience, while the advantage arising
from using metal surfaces which in part form a rest for the fire and are con-
tinued into the apartment, may be retained. a, a, is a hollow metal box,
supported upon wheels or rollers a', a', so that it may be readily removed from
the fire-place and again replaced, in order to cleanse the part of the hearth a
immediately beneath the fire bars; for it will be seen that according to my
present arrangement the ordinary hearth-stone and parts may be retained, for
it will be seen that the upper surface a² of the box a projects at a³, so as to form

page_text: the bars to support the fire in the stove, leaving sufficient room for the accumu-
lating ashes; b, b, are apertures in the front of the box a, by which the air of
the apartment may more readily come in contact with the surface a*. I would
here remark that although I have shewn the metal surface a³, a³, as being
cast in one piece, forming the top of the box a, I should sometimes have that
surface formed of separate bars, and I have shewn one of such bars at Figure 4.
Figure 5 is an underside view of the box a. c, c, c, are the parts forming the
front and sides of the stove; d, d, are shutters capable of being placed more or
less open, according to the draft required to be obtained; e, e, are the front
bars which are supported by the parts c, c.
Figure 6 shews a plan, and Figure 7 a section, of another arrangement of
radiating surfaces, according to this part of my Invention. The bars f, f,
are each formed separately, and so as not to cover the box a, but leaving
apertures between them, as shewn, and the parts f¹, f, of the bars f are
covered with a thin metal surface g, which may be highly polished or orna-
mented, and being loose from the bars f may be readily cleaned or renewed.
Some of the bars f, f, are shewn to have projections f² to retain the fuel.
Figure 8 shews the metal plate g separately; Figure 9, a plan and an edge
view of one of the bars f, without the projection f*. Figure 10 shews a plan
and an edge view of one of the bars f, with the projection f³.
. Figure 11 represents a plan, and Figure 12 an edge view, of one of a series
of bars such as I have before described, with what I call a recipient applied
thereto, according to the second part of my Invention. It consists of a plate h
which turns upon an axis h¹, so as to be capable of being raised into the posi-
tion indicated by the dotted lines, there being a counterbalance h² applied to
each of such plates, in order to retain them in the upright position; and if
there be one of such plates h to each of the bars i, it will readily be under-
stood that when they are in an upright position in frout of the opening for the
fire they will prevent the sparks from the fire passing into the room, and a fire-
place, having such an arrangement of plates h (which I call recipients), may
be safely left for any length of time, and the plates h receiving radient heat
from the fire assist in maintaining the temperature of the apartment. And I
would remark, that although I have shewn the fire bars arranged radially, I
do not confine myself to that arrangement; and the plates h, instead of their
being supported each upon a separate axis h¹, each having its own counter-
balance h³, it will be evident that any number of them may be arranged in a
line parallel with the front of the stove on a common axis with only one or
two counterbalance weights; or the plate h may be arranged to slide into and
from suitable recesses formed to receive them at the sides of the fire-place.

page_text: .
Figure 13 represents a front view, Figure 14 a vertical section, and
Figure 15 a plan in section, of an arrangement of stove according to the third
part of my Invention. i, i, are the heating surfaces, one of which is shewn
separately at Figure 16; these surfaces are enclosed between the front plate j
and the back plate k, and the whole is secured together by screws 1, 1, and the
surfaces i do not touch each other except at the parts ¹, and where the screws
pass through them in order that the air of the apartment passing in through the
openings, j', in the plate j, may, by circulating between the surfaces i, become
heated, and thereby heat the apartment; or a communication may be made
(for the admission of air) with the exterior of the apartment in which such
an arrangement of stove is placed, and the air so entering will pass in contact
with the surfaces i, and pass out at: the openings ; or it may be conducted
into another apartiment, which may thereby become heated; and instead of the
surfaces i being continuous around the stove, there may be simply cast on to the
body of the stove projections into the stove chamber; and sometimes I form parts
of the body of the stove of fire bricks or other suitable earthen material or fire
stone, with suitable projections into the stove chamber to heat the air therein.
is a cover capable of sliding over and enclosing the aperture into the flue, or
of allowing that aperture to be more or less open, as may be required; the
cover is made so as to slide in close contact with the plate k, and it may be
slided on either side into openings formed for that purpose in the plate k, as
is shewn more clearly at Figure 17.
I will now describe the fourth part of my Invention. Figure 18 represents
a front view, and Figure 19 an underside view, of an arrangement of stove
according to this part of my improvements; the object being so to construct a
stove with either an oven or boiler or both applied thereto; that the bottom bars
may form a part of the same casting as the boiler or oven. m, m, are the bars;
sometimes I cast only one half of the length of the bars with the oven or
boiler, as is indicated by the red dotted lines, but it is evident that the arrange-
ment of the bars, and the position of the oven or boiler may be varied, and the
surface of such boiler or oven may have suitable surfaces formed thereon, and
projecting into a chamber for heating air therein, as before described.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvements, I would have it
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described,
so long as the peculiar character of either part of my Invention be retained;
but what I claim is,―
First, the so arranging the metal surfaces (of which the bottom bars of the
stove form a part) that they are capable of moving on rollers, or of sliding away
from and to the stove, so as to allow of the ash-pit or under surface being

page_text: cleansed or freed from ashes, as described. And I also claim the so arranging
the metal surfaces that the same are covered with a separate plate, which
may be lighter and capable of being removed, as described.
Secondly, I claim the forming what I have called metal recipients of heat in
front of open fire-places, so constructed that they may be drawn before the fire
or raised at pleasure to protect the same, and receiving the radiant heat of the
fire will transmit this heat to the air of the apartment.
Thirdly, I claim the forming the bodies of stoves of several pieces, with
projections into the stove chambers, so as to heat the air therein as described.
And I also claim the forming the bodies of stoves with projections into the
stove chambers, so as to heat the air therein.
And fourthly, I claim the forming of fire-places with ovens, so that the
bottom bars are cast with and form part of the ovens, as described. And also
I claim the forming of fire-places with boilers, so that the bottom bars are
cast with and form part of the boilers, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sylvester, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five,
JOHN (L.S.) SYLVESTER.