IMPROVEMENTS IN KITCHEN RANGES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Redmayne, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KITCHEN RANGES."
Sealed the 10th March 1876, and dated the 13th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Redmayne
at the Office of the Commissioners. of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th September 1875.
:
I, THOMAS REDMAYNE, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KITCHEN
RANGES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in improved methods of constructing and
arranging the parts of kitchen ranges, by which the direction of the
-flame and heated air is determined and regulated, and it is applicable to
o all kinds of kitchen ranges, but more especially to that kind well known
as the "Leamington,” kitchen range,

page_text: The first part of my Invention consists of an improved method of
constructing and arranging the parts of the fire-place by which the oven
at its side is heated. For this purpose I make an opening in the upper
part of the side or cheek of the fire-place through which the flame and
heated air from the fire pass over the top of the adjoining oven, but I
make the lower side of this opening incline downward towards the fire,
and I make the upper side of the opening consist of a plate projecting
downward and laterally for a considerable distance into the fire-place,
-and-provided_with_ends, so that the lower part of the opening thus
formed serves to collect the flame and hot air directly from the body-of-
the fire itself into which it projects.
I prefer to make the lower edge of the projecting collecting plate,
formed as described, terminate at about the level of the top of the fire
when the falling bars as ordinarily used are turned down.
Under the lower side of the opening formed as above described
another lateral opening from the lower part of the fire may be made in
the usual way, through which a separate current of flame and hot air is
directed and conducted down the side and under the bottom of the
oven, where it meets that first described, which has been brought over
the top and down the outer side of the oven. Or the two currents may
be conducted in any other desired direction round one or more ovens or
hot chambers, dampers for regulating them being arranged where
necessary.
I prefer to make the space between the inner side of the oven and
the fire-place into which the lower opening passes extend to the back of
the oven and beneath the bottom of the boiler which forms the back of
the fire-place. The whole of the inner side of the oven is thus heated,
and I provide suitable flanges or dividing plates which prevent the flame
and hot air from passing direct to the chimney, and which may also
serve to support.the_boiler.
Another part of my Invention consists of improved methods of con-
structing-and-arranging doors by which the flame-and-hot-air-from-the-
fire may be conducted directly to the chimney when an open fire is to
be used. I make a door turning upon a vertical hinge against the back
of the range, so that when turned out it extends vertically from the top
of the hot plate at one side of the fire-place to the top plate of the range

page_text: above, an opening in which leads directly to the chimney, and is closed
by a horizontal plate sliding laterally in guides in the top plate.
The hinged door is provided with a toothed segment which is fixed to
its upper edge and gears into a corresponding toothed rack which is
fixed to the sliding plate, so that when the door is brought forward the
sliding plate uncovers the opening to the chimney, and when the door is
folded back against the back of the range the sliding plate closes the
chimney. Another door, having its front edge hinged also vertically to
the side of an upper oven or to the end of the range, but extending only
a short distance down from the top plate, is brought out by a spring or
weight (or by hand) when the hinged door is opened, and it thus forms
a front or hood for the opening to the chimney, whilst it is pressed back
into its place when the hinged door is closed.
Sometimes instead of the toothed segment and rack described I
provide a transverse groove from front to back in the sliding plate, and
a corresponding pin working in it and fixed to the upper outer edges of
the hinged door, so that when the latter is opened the pin passes along
the groove, and at the same time opens the sliding plate.
Instead of the sliding plate described actuated in the methods
described, I sometimes use a plate balanced upon a horizontal hinge
and weighted, so that when the hinged door first described is opened the
plate falls open, but when the door is shut it at the same time presses
up and closes the plate.
Another part of my Invention relates to the sliding check of the fire-
grate, by which the size of the fire is increased or diminished as desired
in the usual way. Where an oven, or hot plate, or boiler is heated from
flame or hot air admitted through an opening in this sliding cheek
a hollow horizontal box is ordinarily attached to the cheek and slides
through a corresponding opening in the side of the fire-place.
In order to economize heat and to save weight, instead of using a
hollow box I use an angular plate having a front and bottom only, the
top and the back being formed by the hot plate of the range and the
front of the boiler respectively.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Redmayne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
REDMAYNE, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
--
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing-date-the-Thirteenth-day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Redmayne, Her
special licence that I, the said Thomas Redmayne, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Redmayne, 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 KITCHEN RANGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Redmayne, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Thomas Redmayne, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
-same-is. to-be-performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in-and-by-the-following-statement-and accompanying Drawings (that
.
This Invention consists=in=improved methods of constructing and
arranging those parts of kitchen ranges by which the direction of the
flame and heated air generated by them is determined and regulated.
It is applicable to all kinds of kitchen ranges as ordinarily con-
structed and used, but more especially to that kind well known as the a
"Leamington kitchen range."

page_text: The first part of my Invention consists of an improved method of
constructing and arranging the parts of the fire-place by which. the
oven at the side of the latter is heated. For this purpose I make an
opening in the upper part of the side or cheek of the fire-place next to
the oven, through which opening the flame and heated air from the
upper part of the fire pass over the top of the adjoining oven. I make
the lower side of this opening (which occupies the space between the
side of the oven and the side of the fire-place) incline downwards toward
the fire; and I make the upper side of the opening consist of a plato
projecting laterally downward for a considerable. distance into the fire,
and provided with ends so that the lower part of the opening thus
formed serves to collect the flame and hot air directly from the body of
the fire itself, into which it projects.
The lower edge of the projecting collecting plates or hood, formed as
described, preferably terminates at about the level of the top of the firo
when the falling bars as ordinarily used are turned down.
Below the lateral opening formed as above described in the side of tho
fire-place another lateral opening from the lower part of the fire-place
is made on the same side, through which a separate current of flame
and hot air is directed, and is then conducted downward between the side
of the fire-place and the oven, and thence under the bottom of the oven,
where it meets the current first described, which has been brought over
the top and down the outer side of the oven. Or this latter current
after reaching the bottom of the outside of the oven may pass under the
oven before it meets the second current. Or the two currents may be
conducted in any other desired direction, round one or more ovens or
hot chambers,. suitable dampers for regulating them being arranged
where necessary.
I prefer to make the space between the inner side of the oven and the
fire-place, into which the lower opening above described passes, extend
to the back of the oven and beneath the bottom of the boiler, which
forms the back of the fire-place (in the usual way). The whole of the
inner side of the oven is thus heated, suitable flanges or dividing plates
being provided, which prevent the flame and hot air from passing
direct to the chimney, and which may also serve to support the boiler.
I also make a third opening at the lower part of the back of the fire-
place, through which flame and hot air pass from the-lower part of the

page_text: fire into a box formed between the bottom of the boiler and a plate
fixed at a suitable distance below it, from which box the flame and hot
air pass through a lateral opening directly into a vertical flue arranged
above the back inner corner of the oven, into the lower end of which
vertical flue the two combined currents first described also pass, its
upper end being connected by any convenient means with the chimney.
The heated air passing directly into the fluc from the back opening last
described causes a strong upward draught in it, and thus promotes the
circulation of hot air round the oven by the openings first described.
In the accompanying Drawings, in Sheet I., Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4; 1
in Sheet 2, Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8; and in Sheet 3, Figures 9 and 10,
are in illustration of this part of my Invention.
Figure 1 is a front view, Figures 2, 3, and 4, cross sections of parts
of a kitchen range.
Figure 5 is a front view, Figures 7 and 8, cross sections, and Figure 6, 1
a separate view of the side of the fire-place in a kitchen range somewhat
differently arranged, and having a moveable cheek to the fire-place.
Figure 9 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 10 a cross section of a
kitchen range having a closed fire convertible into an open one, and
with two ovens.
2
a is the fire-place, 6 being the grate bars, and c the front bars; dis
the hood or opening collecting and conducting the hot air through the
opening e, over the oven f, down its outer side g, and then underneath
it is the lower lateral opening conducting the heated air down the
inner side of the oven at i, where it meets the first current, and the two 2
combined either pass into the vertical fluc (Figures 1, 2, and 3) or aro
led to the chimney, as shewn by the arrows in Figures 7, 9, and 11.
A back.opening--(Figures-1, 2, 5,-9,-and-10) leads into a box below-the
--boiler-mand-thence-by-a-lateral-opening n into the vertical flue k or the

page_text: the top of the oven, with a lateral opening into the lower part of the
fire, which conveys a current of hot air and flame down the inner side of
the oven, substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings.
Also, the opening into the lower part of the back of the fire com-
municating with a hollow box beneath the boiler at the back of the
fire, and thence laterally with a separate vertical flue between the inner
side of the oven and the end of the boiler, and leading to the chimney,
substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings.
Another part of my Invention relates to kitchen ranges in which it is
required to change the fire from an open to a closed one, and vice versa,
and consists of improved methods of constructing and arranging doors
by which the flame and hot air in a closed range may be conducted
directly to the chimney when an open fire is required.
I make a door turning upon a vertical hinge against the back of the
range, so that when turned out (or opened), it extends vertically from
the top of the hot plate at one side of the fire-place to the top plate of
the range above, an opening in which top plate conducts directly to the
chimney, and is closed when required by a horizontal plate sliding
laterally in guides formed upon or attached to such top plate.
The hinged door described is provided with a toothed segment, which
is fixed to its upper edge and gears into a corresponding toothed rack,
which is fixed to the horizontal sliding plate described, so that when the
vertical door is brought forward (or opened) the sliding plate uncovers
the opening to the chimney, and when the door is folded back (or closed)
against the back of the range, the sliding plate closes the opening to the
chimney. Another vertical door having its front edge hinged, also
vertically, to the side of an upper oven (where one is used) or to the end
plate of the range, but extending only a short distance down from the
top plate of the range, is brought out (or opened) by a spring or weight,
or by hand, when the hinged door is opened, and it thus forms a front
or hood for the opening to the chimney, and it is pressed back into its
place when the hinged door first described is closed.
Sometimes instead of the toothed segment and rack above described,
I provide a transverse groove or guide from front to back on the sliding
plate, and a corresponding pin working in it is fixed to the upper edge
of the vertical hinged door first described, so that when the latter is

page_text: In Sheets 2, 3, 4, and 5, Figures 5, 9, 12, 14, and 15 are in illustration
of this part of my Invention. w is the sliding cheek, actuated by a
rack and pinion in the usual way. The sliding box is formed of the
front plate y and bottom plate z only, A being an inclined plate directing
the flame and hot air upward, as described.
I claim the method of constructing and arranging the hollow box
attached to the sliding cheek of kitchen ranges with front and bottom
plates only, substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings.
Also, the inclined plate on the bottom of the box attached to the
sliding cheek of kitchen ranges, substantially as described and shewn in
the Drawings.
I claim the general construction and arrangement of the parts of
kitchen ranges, substantially as described and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Redmayne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.