IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THEIR FIRE-GRATES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, of Quai de l'Ecole,
No. 22, Paris, in the French Empire, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THEIR
FIRE-GRATES."
Sealed the 22nd March 1864, and dated the 28th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Joseph Joachin
Jean at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th September 1863.
I, LOUIS JOSEPH JOACHIN JEAN, of Quai de l'Ecole, No. 22, Paris, in the
French Empire, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN
THEIR FIRE-GRATES," to be as follows:-
The improvements which I introduce in the construction of steam boilers
are of two descriptions, in the first place I employ tubes arched or curved at
the upper part, and which may also be made undulating in their entire length
to prevent all possibility of rupture; in the second place I make use of a cir-
cular revolving fire-grate, which is self-supplied by means of a hopper placed
near the mouth of the fire-place. The hopper is furnished with a vertical
axle, having an up-and-down motion, and affixed to which are conical-shaped
pieces for the purpose of separating the coal, and allowing only a sufficient
quantity to fall at a time into a receiver, which throws it into the furnace by

page_text: means of a revolving fan. The hopper is supplied from time to time by the
stoker, and the up-and-down motion of the axle above mentioned is produced
by an eccentric put in motion by the machine, which also communicates a
rotatory motion to the fan and fire-grate by means of runners and pullies.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Joseph Joachin Jean in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JOSEPH JOACHIN JEAN, of Quai de l'Ecole, No. 22, Paris, in the French
Empire, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, Her special licence that I, the said
Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, 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 law-
fully 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THEIR FIRE-
GRATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis Joseph
Joachin Jean, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, 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 is to say:-
The present Invention relates to improvements in steam boilers, and in
their fire-grates; in the first case for the purpose of preventing ruptures from
expansion by heat, increasing the heating surface and the draught, I employ

page_text: for vertical boilers arched boiler tubes, the curve being at the top, or the tubes
may have an undulating form for a part or the whole of their entire length;
in the second case I make use of a circular rotatory self-feeding fire-grate, the
coal being supplied by a hopper placed near the mouth of the furnace. This
will be readily understood by aid of the accompanying Drawings, of which
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, at a scale of one-twentieth, of a boiler fitted with
arched tubes, and having a rotatory fire-grate; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section
following the line X, Y, of the Fig. 1; Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, represent the various
parts of the fire-grate and feeder at a scale of one-tenth; Figs. 4 and 5 show
the grate a, furnished with a gallery b, having an edge . The gallery can
be covered with iron to increase its durability. The openings are so arranged
h is a circular rest of iron or
as to admit the air without dropping the coal.
brickwork fixed to the body of the ash-box g, and forming a support to the
overlapping edge of what I have termed the gallery b; d is a circular gear-
work supporting the grate a, Fig. 1, and having a circular slide or crown e,
which rolls on the rollers f fixed to the body of the ash box. The gearwork d
Openings i are
is put in motion by an endless crew 8, Figs. 1, 3, and 9.
made in the body of the ash box, as shown Fig. 3, in order to increase the
combustion by admitting cold air underneath the grate. The feeder C¹ consists
of a hopper 1, having in the centre a vertical shaft 2, furnished with arms or
agitators 3. The shaft is set in motion by the gearwork 4 and wheel 5. At
the bottom of the hopper is a sort of drum, shown separately Fig. 6, having
one or more cavities of suitable size Z, so that when put in motion by the
wheel 5 becomes filled with coal from the bottom of the hopper, and as it
continues its revolution drops it on what I term the projector 7, its duty being
to throw the coal on the grate by means of wings j. Should the grate be of
small diameter an inclined plane may be substituted for the projector and
wings. The shafts 2, 9, and 10, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 6, as well as the shaft y
of the endless screw 8, Figs. 2 and 3, gear one with the other by means of
pullics, endless bands, chains, or cog wheels, motion being communicated to
them by any suitable means. The hopper 1, and the projector 7, form a single
apparatus C¹, furnished with small rollers, and running on rails s, so that it
can be drawn back when the furnace is cleaned. The fast-and-loose pullies k
and 1, Fig. 2, serve to transmit motion to the various parts. Fig. 7 is an
application of my system of fire-grate to a fixed machine; Fig. 8 shows the
same applied to a locomotive, and Fig. 9 represents the grate as applied to a
double furnace marine steam engine. A, Figs. 1 and 2, is the cylindrical body
of the boiler; A¹, steam generator; B, fire-box; C, vertical boiler tubes
arched at their upper extremity, and undulating the whole or a part of their

page_text: length, as shown Fig. 10; D is the outer skin of sheet or cast iron or brick-
work; E, partitions; G, chimney; F, air holes.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the peculiar arrangement of rotatory fire-grate, and the
arched and undulating or serpentine form of boiler tubes, as above described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings; at the same time I do not
confine myself to the exact details, as they may be varied without departing
from the principle of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Joseph Joachin Jean, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this
. day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
JOSEPH CLAES,
18, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Civil Engineer.
L. J. J. JEAN. (L.S.)