IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE COMBUSTION OF SMOKE PRODUCED IN THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ezra Milner, of Clayton, near Bradford, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR
FACILITATING THE COMBUSTION OF SMOKE PRODUCED IN THE FURNACES OF STEAM
BOILERS,'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ezra Milner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd October 1872.
I, EZRA MILNER, of Clayton, near Bradford, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE COMBUSTION OF SMOKE PRODUCED IN THE FURNACES
OF STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is by facilitating the combustion of smoke
produced in the furnaces of steam boilers to increase the heating power
obtained from the fuel consumed. For this purpose I form a retort or
enclosed chamber or small furnace in the passage or a part of the flue
space formed in the boiler for the smoke and products of combustion

page_text: from the main fire-place, and I generally form this chamber of fire-
brick or fire-clay, the object being to employ for the purpose material
adapted to receive and impart a high degree of heat. This heat by
acting upon the smoke and products of combustion in the flue passage
will not only facilitate the combustion of that smoke, but will also
increase the heat in such passages in the further progress of the pro-
ducts of combustion therein until they reach the outlet to the chimney
and economise fucl.
The boiler is formed as for two internal fire-boxes and flues, and I use
one of them as such in the ordinary way, but the other fire-box with
its flue is divided, and the small retort or such like chamber is fitted
air-tight at the front end thereof, and this retort or such like chamber
I heat to say a welding heat by a fire in a fire-place inside it.
The smoke and products of combustion from the ordinary fire-place
pass through, under, and over this retort from one to the other part of
the divided flue, and thence to the regular flues and to the chimney.
When two boilers or a double boiler is employed, one or one part
being over the other, the two parts are connected by a tube or flue
passage. The fire-box and flue of the upper boiler or upper portion are
used as an ordinary fire-place and flue, and I place the small retort or
heating chamber in the end of the lower boiler or part of boiler. The
smoke and heated products from the upper boiler or part boiler pass
along the flue thereof down to the lower one past and so as to be
thoroughly heated by the retort or small chamber, and thence by the
internal flue of that boiler or part boiler to other flues, and then to the
chimney in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ezra Miluer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EZRA 3
MILNER, of Clayton, near Bradford, in the County of York, send
greeting.

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Пer heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ezra Milner, Her special license
that I, the said Ezra Milner, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Ezra Milner, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, 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 MEANS FOR
FACILITATING THE COMBUSTION OF SMOKE PRODUCED IN THE FURNACES OF STEAM
BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ezra
Milner, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ezra Milner, 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, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is by facilitating the combustion of smoke
produced in the furnaces of steam boilers to increase the heating power
obtained from the fuel consumed. For this purpose I form a retort or
enclosed chamber or small furnace in the passage or a part of the flue
space formed in the boiler for the smoke and products of combustion
from the main fire-place, and I generally form this chamber of fire-brick
or fire-clay, the object being to employ for the purpose material adapted
to receive and impart a high degree of heat. This heat by acting upon
the smoke and products of combustion in the flue passage will not only
facilitate the combustion of that smoke, but will also increase the
heat in such passages in the further progress of the products of com-
bustion therein until they reach the outlet to the chimney and economise
fuel.
The boiler is formed as for two internal fire-boxes and flues, and I use
one of them as such in the ordinary way, but the other fire-box with
its flue is divided and the small retort or such like chamber is fitted

page_text: air-tight at the front end thereof, and this retort or such like chamber I
heat to say a welding heat by a fire in a fire-place inside it.
The smoke and products of combustion from the ordinary fire-place
pass through, under, and over this retort from one to the other part of
the divided flue and thence to the regular flues and to the chimney.
When two boilers or a double boiler is employed one or one part
being over the other, the two parts are connected by a tube or flue
passage. The fire-box and flue of the upper boiler or upper portion are
used as an ordinary fire-place and flue, and I place the small retort or
heating chamber in the end of the lower boiler or part of boiler. The
smoke and heated products from the upper boiler or part boiler pass
along the flue thereof down to the lower one, past and so as to be
thoroughly heated by the retort or small chamber, and thence by the
internal flue of that boiler or part boiler to other flues, and then to the
chimney in the ordinary way.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details referred to, but what I claim is, the
arranging steam boiler furnaces that the smoke and products of com-
bustion passing from the fire-place may be capable of being acted upon
by the heat of a retort or heated chamber within such flue, substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Ezra Milner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.