CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON OR ADDITION TO FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1829

page_text: ONZIS
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH'
ANGE FONZI, of Upper Marylebone Strect, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of September, in the tenth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Ange Fonzi, His special licence that I, the said Joseph Ange Fonzi, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Ange Fonzi, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON OR ADDITION TO FIRE-PLACES; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Joseph Ange Fonzi, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said recited 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, the said
Joseph Ange Fonzi, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described
and ascertained in manner following (that is to say): -
My improvements on or additions to fire-places consist in giving to fire-
places the form or forms herein-after described, and also represented in the
large Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, in order that fire-places con-
structed according to my improvements may be adapted to burn coals by a
downwards current of air and flame; so as to avoid-the-escape of smoke or
vapour into the apartment in which such fire-places are placed:
Description of the Apparatus for burning of coals made of iron or any
other suitable substance. I name it a Fonzienne'; the form and dimensions
may be varied at the discretion of the workmen who is to construct the same.
I have adopted the following form and dimensions, from which I have made
the large Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed on a scale of one inch to a foot,
or one-twelfth of the real size. The fire is contained within a cast-iron box
without a lid or a bottom; it is fifteen inches square in the inside, thirteen
inches heigh, and the metal two-thirds of an inch thick. See (N° 1.) At
the lower part of the front side of the box is an opening for the purpose of
introducing a shovel to take out the ashes. This opening 'might be dispensed
with; but it-would then be necessary to take out the ashes at the top, which
would be much less convenient. This opening is to be shut by a small door
during all the time that the fire is burning. (See N° 2.) At the back part
of the box is a circular opening, six inches diameter, its centre being five
inches above the lower edge of the box; to this opening. the pipe or flue is
joined to carry away the flame and smoke into the chimney. This box -is
placed on a pavement composed of square cast-iron plates, two-thirds of an
inch thick, which forms its basis or foundation, and supply the place of "the
bottom to the box: those iron plates may be dispensed with, it being possible
to place the said box upon the chimney hearth. On a pavenient of bricks or
stone work within the interior of the box I adapt a frame of cast iron, with
four.short legs resting on the bottom plates or pavement; the outside of the
frame touches all the interior sides of the box. On this frame rests. the hori-
zontal grate; which is of the same size as the frame, and fills the box; the
grate must be one inch in thickness or more, (see N° 3;) representing the
-frame, and No 4, the grate resting on the frame. The top of the grate is five
inches above the basis, but it may be placed higher in the box, the height of
the frame which supports the grate being made accordingly. On this horizontal
grate another grate of the same thickness is placed nearly vertically within the
box, so as to stand sloping against the inside of the box, being joined to the

page_text: superior edge of the posterior side or back of the box, in which side is the
opening of the flue through.which the smoke and flame are to pass away;
the superior edge of this grate must join closely to the superior edge, of the
back of the box; but the inferior edge of the grate is kept about two inches;
and a half distant from the back of the box by means of two short legs
which project out behind the grate, and touch the back so as to make this,
intertice, (see N° 5;) indicating the said grate, which stands, nearly vertical;
or.instead of that grate a plate of cast iron of the same thickness and size
may be substituted, being placed within the box in the same manner as above
described (see No 6); and other grates of the same construction may be.
adapted to stand in sloping positions against, the four inward sides of the
box (see No. 7): The said plate of iron which may be used in lieu of the
back grate, and the number of the sloping grates which may be so applied
withinside of this box; serve to vary at pleasure. or as need may be the quick-
ness and intensity of the, combustion of the coals contained within the box
which forms the fire-place. The most active fire may be obtained by using
the plate of iron at the posterior side of the box as aforesaid. If instead of
this plate of iron a grate is used, then the consumption of the coals. is less
active, and. it. will be still more moderate if a second sloping grate is applied
against the front internal side of the box above the opening for removing the
ashes, but the smallest fire is made by using all the four sloping grates herein-
before mentioned against the four internal sides of the box, or the sloping plate
of iron may be applied against the posterior internal side of the box, in which
is the opening for the smoke pipe (or flue), whilst three other sloping grates.
are applied in the other sides; in this case the plate of iron must be formed as
represented by N° 8. By these means any required degree of heat may be
produced either for a large or a small kitchen, or for a large or small apart-
ment. The draft or current of air which causes the fire to burn draws down-
wards through the burning fuel (and through the bottom grate upon which it
rests) into the space beneath that grate, from whence it passes away by the
smoke-pipe or flue which is joined to the opening at the back of the box, and
which conducts the smoke into the chimney. To obtain every possible advan-
tage froni this fire-place it will be necessary to make the following additions.
to the said apparatus, viz:-To the four superior edges of the box is adapted
a square. border plate of cast iron extending out around the fire-place nine
inches broad or more on every side; the border plate is fastened on the edges
of the box by screws, and it serves to support all the culinary utensils, pots,
saucepans, &c., which had been previously placed on the burning fire for boiling
or stewing; when situated on this border plate they will still continue to boil.

page_text: (N° 9) represents the border plate; a suitable frame like a stool with legs must-
be placed behind the box at the back where the smoke-conducting pipe is
joined to it; this frame must be of the same height as the box, and must
touch the posterior edge of the border plate; this frame is to support a reser-
voir or boiler to contain water; the boiler may be made of copper, or any
other metal, fourteen inches or more wide, one foot eleven inches high, and
two feet long. A pipe of copper, five or six inches in diameter, open both at
the top and bottom, passes vertically through the boiler, and is soldered to the
middle of the top and bottom plates of the boiler, where it passes through
them; the top of the pipe rises up ten inches above the top of the boiler. At
the lower part of this boiler is a cock to draw off the contained water, and at
the top a hole to pour in fresh water. The lower end of the vertical pipe
through the boiler joins by an elbow turn to the opening at the back of the
box where the smoke escapes, and the hoat which is in consequence conveyed
through the pipe is communicated to the surrounding water. The superior
extremity of the said vertical pipe where it rises above the top of the boiler
enters into an oven composed of copper or iron plates about two feet square
and one foot high. This oven contains another smaller oven withinside of it,
in the manner of a drawer, leaving between them an interstice of two inches
on all sides except the front where the door opens into the oven.. In. the
centre of the upper part of the exterior oven is a hole five or six inches in
diameter, to which is adapted the conducting pipe for conveying the smoke
away to the chimney. The flame, smoke, and heated gas emanating from the
burning coals contained in the fire-place pass through the elbow turn at the
back of the box into the vertical pipe through the center of the boiler, making
the water within it boiling hot; then the smoke passes into the interstice around
the interior of the two above-mentioned ovens, and from thence through the
superior conducting pipe into the chimney. (Sec N° 10, representing the boiler
or reservoir; N° 11, the cock; No 12, the opening by which the boiler is filled;
No 13, the vertical pipe which passes through the boiler; N° 14, the oven;
Number 15, the conducting pipe for the smoke.) The fire-place may be
elevated to a more suitable height, so as to save the trouble of stooping, by
placing the whole apparatus on a basement of brickwork, or supporting it on
a suitable frame; in that case the part 13 of the vertical pipe which is between
the boiler and the oven may be removed, and the oven placed on the boiler,
that the oven may not be too high from the ground. The apparatus may be
constructed in a different manner, as follows:-The box to contain the fire may
be made one foot and a half long, one foot wide, and one foot high, the metal
two-thirds of an inch in thickness; a frame and horizontal. grate is fitted into

page_text: this box in the same manner as in that before described; also the door in front
to remove the ashes, but there is no opening at the back for the smoke pipe;
the back plate, which has been before called the sloping plate (or the grate
which is to be used in lieu thereof), is to be placed vertically at a distance of
six inches from the posterior side of the box, leaving a space of one foot square
to receive the burning fuel, and a space of six inches by one foot behind the
plate or grate for the flame and smoke to ascend in after having passed down
through the burning fuel and the bottom grate; over this latter space is placed
a box one foot long and six inches wide, the height at pleasure; it is open at the
bottom but closed at top, and receives the smoke and flame within it; to the
posterior part of this box is adapted a conducting pipe; N° 16 represents
the box; No 17, the space between the vertical grate and the posterior side of
the box or fire-place; N° 18, the upper box; N°19, the opening to join to; N° 20,
the conducting pipe for the smoke; N° 21, the whole apparatus put together.
Another construction for the same apparatus:-Instead of covering the posterior
part of the apparatus with the upper box, it may be covered with the border
plate, which will extend itself around all the superior edges of the box, and
cover over the space of six inches intended for the smoke to ascend in; over
the middle of this space of six inches a vertical column five or six inches in
diameter and three feet high, is placed on the border plate, and conveys the
smoke upwards. On the top of the column the oven is placed as before
described; the heat will pass up through the column into the instertice between
the two ovens, and from thence will escape by the upper conducting pipe
into the chimney. (Sec N° 22.) Another manner of constructing the appa-
ratus: If two of these apparatus are required to burn at once, they may be
placed one by the side of the other in contact; and instead of placing an
upper box on each, one upper box, two feet long, may be placed across over
both (see N° 23) to receive the flame and smoke arising from both; and from
that long upper box it may pass through a single conducting pipe joined
to the middle of the posterior part of the upper box; or the two apparatus
which are so placed side by side instead of an upper box may have two
vertical columns placed on their border plate over the spaces in which the
smoke rises. In this case, the oven must have two holes to receive both
columns. (See No 24.) If the two apparatus so placed side by side are
required to have a boiler behind them, that boiler may be about double the
breadth of the boiler herein-before mentioned or larger; and it must have
in its inside two vertical pipes, which will enter in the two holes made in the
oven instead of the columns. (See N° 25.) The said apparatus, whether single
or united, must always be surrounded by the border plate on the top edge and

page_text: the sloping or vertical plate of iron; or the sloping or vertical grates, like those in
the first-mentioned apparatus, are to be used to procure all the required degrees
of heat.' To make use of the said apparatus, fill the interior of the box with
coals, and cover over the upper part either with a cover plate divided into two;
or else with two kettles of water, which, when set side by side on the coals,
will cover over the upper part of the box; leave uncovered a small-part of the
coals between the two parts of the cover or the two kettles, and in that opening
put a shovel full of burning charcoal or of lighted wood, which will set the 'coals
beneath it on fire; as they kindle push aside the divided 'cover," or the two
kettles from each other, and when the whole of the coals. are on fire, 'take away
the covers or the kettles, and the fire continues without occasioning the least.
smell or smoke; because the current of air is drawn downwards through the
whole mass of burning fuel, and after passing down through the bottom grate
rises up again in the space left behind the sloping plate or sloping grate, and froni
thence the smoke passes away through the conducting pipe to the boiler and the
oven, and ultimately to the chimney. (See No 26) showing the covers; N°27;
the kettle. After having tried'experiments with the said apparatus, I have found
the following alterations adviseable to adapt it to different purposes. For the
simple warming of rooms the apparatus représented in No 21 inay be made six
teen inches high at the posterior part, and only nine inches high in the front part;
so as to make the top edges of the two sides of the box with a slope towards the front
side. The sloping must begin at a distance of six inches along the lateral edges
from the back of the box, in order that so much of the said edges as are to be
covered by the upper box 18 may remain in a horizontal plane; and all the rest
which is left open for the fuel is inclined, so that the burning fuel will lie higher
at the back than at the front. This apparatus, like the others before described with
the upper edges horizontal, is open at bottom, and is intended to be placed on the
floor; but it must have a bottom plate of the same size as the bottom of the
box, and one-third or one-half an inch larger all round for a raised border, into
which the lower edges of the box are fitted. This bottom plate is to be of the
same thickness as the box or a little niore; the raised border inust be interrupted
in the front part before the door, at which the ashes are to be withdrawn in
order that the door may be put in and taken out easily; the edge of the bottom
plate must advance at least one inch forward in front of the opening' of the door.
This bottom plate may be raised from the floor by means of legs or any other
method, so that the air in circulating under the bottom plate will prevent the
fire from overheating the pavement or plates of iron under the box, or from
communicating, fire to any beam or wood work which may be underneath that
pavement. The divided cover plate for the apparatus to enclose the coals when

page_text: the fire is first lighted may be made in various forms, more or less ornamental:
The superior edges of the said apparatus may be surrounded by a border plate,
of a square or an oval shape, of the same size internally as the interior of the box
or fire-place (see N° 28), and to the external part of this border plate, and also
to the sides of the box, lugs or projections may be added to fasten plates of
iron or copper to, by screws, the size of such plates being according to the
dimensions of the chimney, which may be ornamented by such plates in any
style of elegance or taste required. The border plate itself may be of iron or of
brass gilt or varnished, not being subject to be blackened by the smoke or coal
dust, which can never affect it. To procure suitable intensity of combustion
and of heat in the last-mentioned apparatus, a sloping grate of the kind herein-
before described may be inserted into the posterior part of the box resting upon
the horizontal grate; and joining to the superior edge of the back of the box, but
detached from that back at the bottom part of the sloping grate, like the other
sloping grates already described. Likewise two other sloping grates may be
placed in the sides of the box, joining at the top to the edges of the box, and
at the bottom to the bottom grate; the latter sloping grates inust not extend
the whole length of the inside of the box; it is enough that these grates aré
half or two-thirds of that length. To make the most of the heat which radiates
around all the apparatus described, a frame one foot high or more must be con-
structed, and a wide and thick platform put upon the frame; the box or fire-place
must be placed in the center of the platform, and then the other bottom plate
to the box may be dispensed with. The box must have its border plate fixed
around its superior edges, as before described. The apparatus thus placed on
a platform is at a suitable height for all domestic purposes. The boiler. may be
placed on the posterior surface of the border plate, making the conducting pipė
for the smoke and flame pass through the border plate and fit into the
vertical pipe within the boiler; that pipe rises a little above the boiler that it
may also fit into the iron case containing the oven, which may rest on the
boiler. The height of the frame for supporting the apparatus, and of the
frame for the boiler, and the oven at the top of the boiler; must be such
that the cook may perform the various operations with ease. If it is
desired to keep the whole of the border plate disengaged, a large frame
must be placed on the floor at the posterior part of the apparatus, the framė
being of the sanie. height as the posterior edge of the border plate.
The boiler is to be placed on this frame; and on the boiler the oven is
to be placed. The oven that is applied to each apparatus must be of a.size
in proportion to the quantity of fuel contained in the apparatus; the instertice
between the iron case and the oven that is. included within the case must be

page_text: two inches wide, or a little more. If it is required to keep the oven always
hot, even when the fire has decreased, then the interstice must be more than
two inches wide, and the case must be lined with tiles or brickwork within-
side;
these rofractory and slow conducting materials will keep in the heat a
long time, and the fire being kept up, though not so strong as at first, will
maintain more than sufficient lícat in the oven for baking pastry or roasting
meat. When two apparatus are to be joined side by side under one large
border plate, the boiler may be placed thereon, that boiler having in the inside
of it two vertical conducting pipes; or it is still better to place the boiler on
a large frame at the posterior edge of the border plate, as before stated, for a
single apparatus; or if the boiler has only one vertical pipe through it, the
apertures for the smoke and flame at the posterior side of each apparatus must
be adapted to the tivo branches of a forked pipe running into one pipe, the top
ond of which fits into the bottom of the vertical pipe of the boiler. The boxes
or fire-places of the apparatus may be constructed in any form or size,
besides those herein-before stated; but the capacity to contain coals must have
its limits, for if excessive, the grates and the iron plates and the internal
frames may be injured by excess of heat. The box must not be two small,
or it will be unsuitable, for it should contain a sufficient quantity of coals to
continue burning a long time. If the capacity is too small the fire will go
out when it becomes abated by two carly a consumption of the coals. The
horizontal grate N° 4, before tñentioned as being placed inside the box or
fire-place No 1, near to the bottom thereof, as well as the frame N° 3, to sup-
port the horizontal grate, may be dispensed with by making horizontal rows
of holes about one inch and a half diameter through two opposite sides of the
box, at three inches and a half above its base thereof, and at such distances
apart as to leave spaces of about one third or half an inch of solid metal
between the holes, and inserting into those holes cylindrical bars of wrought
or cast iron of the same diameter as the holes, and extending horizontally
across the inside of the box, in order to sustain the burning fuel in lieu of the
bars of the horizontal grate, which, as before mentioned, is laid aside. These
bars will resist the action of the heat for a long time, and when after much
use they become damaged at the part withinside the fire-place where the heat
is most considerable, they may be removed, and others applied in their stead.
It is not absolutely necessary to make holes through the sides of the box in
order to insert such cylindrical bars, for they may be lodged on two supports,
No 29, at the bottom part of the lateral sides of the interior of the box; or
instead of solid cylindrical bars I make use of hollow cylindrical tubes of cast
or wrought iron, through which the exterior air may pass in a current, which

page_text: produces the double effect of cooling and carrying off the excess of heat caused
by the combustion at the bottom of the box or fire-place, and consequently the
slackening of the burning of the fuel therein contained. Also the heated air
which issues from the open ends of those tubes will give heat to any articles
which are placed opposite thereto, and by rising up beneath the platform gives
heat thereto, and to any of the vessels that may be placed thereon, in order to
keep the contents thereof boiling, as before stated. To increase or diminish the
temperature of apartments which are warmed by my apparatus, the ordinary
chimney of the apartment, which is closed at bottom in order to cause a draft
or strong current of air through my apparatus, should have a valve or sliding
damper or ventilator applied in it. at the lower part of the chimney, where it
is shut up, so as to open a passage for air, and to open more or less passage at
pleasure, in order to draw the air from the apartment up the chimney, and
thus change the air and diminish the temperature of that which remains.
In building new houses, where it is intended to use my apparatus, I recommend
the following plan in lieu of the usual brick chimnies:-A niche or hollow
place should be left in the wall withinside the house, and extending up through
all the height thereof from the kitchen to the highest story; into this niche
in the wall, which may be one foot and a half wide and six or nine inches deep,
a hollow rectangular tube or funnel of cast iron should be adapted so as to
fill the niche, the said tube being made in convenient lengths, joined one to
another, end to end, so as to make a continuous funnel up from my apparatus
to the highest apartments, and the smoke pipe of my apparatus being joined
into the said cast-iron funnels (instead of being joined into the ordinary
chimney, as before directed), the smoke, licated air, and flame from the fire-
will ascend through the said metal funnels, and heat will pass through the
metal thereof, so as to give some warmth to the air contained in all the apart-
ments that are situated above that where my apparatus is placed, without the
necessity of making a separate fire in each one, and thus the danger of acci-
dents from fire will be avoided. In order to clean out the inside of these
iron funnels, small doors must be made in the front at suitable distances one
from the other; such iron funnels may also be substituted for the chimneys as
now constructed.
Having now described my apparatus, and some of the variations that
may be advantageously made in the construction thereof to adapt it
for different purposes, I do hereby declare that what I claim as my improve-
ments on or additions to fire-places is the internal arrangement of the
parts of my apparatus herein-before described. The object of that arrange-
ment being for the purpose of applying the known principle of supplying the

page_text: air which is to support the combustion of coals at the upper surface of 'the'
fuel with a descending current through the mass of burning fuel, by virtue of
which internal arrangement I am enabled to regulate the degree and rapidity.
of the combustion of the fuel, and apply the-heat evolved by the combustion
.so effected by the downward current to all domestic purposes, without allowing
smoke or smell or dust to escape into the apartment in which the apparatus is
placed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ange Fonzi, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
JOSEPH ANGE (L.s.) FONZI
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of March, in the year
of our Lord 1880, the aforesaid Joseph Ange Fonzi (through the interpretation
of John Farey, tlie said interpreter being first sworn that he had truly, dis-
tinctly, and audibly interpreted the contents of the Specification to the said
Joseph Ango Fonzi, and that he would interpret the acknowledgment about to
be made) came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
☐ eight hundred and thirty.