AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ECONOMIZING FUEL AND DIMINISHING THE PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FURNACES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Alfred Gibbs at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 9th August 1876.
JOHN ALFRED GIBBS, of Bow Road, in the County of Middlesex, Ironmonger.
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ECONOMIZING FUEL AND DIMINISHING THE
PRODUCTION OF SMOKE IN FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FURNACES."
My Invention has for its objects the economical combustion of coal and other
fuel, the prevention of the escape of smoke and unconsumed gaseous portions of
the fuel, and the proper diffusion of the heat arising from the combustion of the
same.
The said Invention is applicable to ordinary domestic fire-places and stoves, and
to other fire-grates and furnaces wherein the combustion of the fuel in the most
advantageous manner is an important object.
In ordinary register stoves and other fire-places, about one half of the fuel area,
that is to say, the back of the grate is comparatively useless, as the heat produced
by the fuel therein passes up the chimney, being carried in this direction by the
draft which rises through the bottom of the grate.
My said Invention, which is designed to obviate this difficulty is carried into
practise as follows, that is to say:-I construct an apparatus which consists of a
plate of iron or other suitable material formed to cover or close a portion of the
bottom or fuel area of the fire-grate, stove, or furnace to which it is applied, and
with a back of a curved or inclined shape closed at the top, and perforated or
otherwise provided with apertures for the admission of air into the fuel at the back
of the grate.
If the fire-place or stove is constructed for the purpose of my Invention the grate
bottom or fuel area may consist of a plate partially closed, and with a separate back
plate or false back constructed as above described.
In adapting my Invention to an ordinary household fire-place I prefer to form
the said plate to cover the front portion, that is to say, about one half of the surface
of the grate bottom. This plate according to my Invention is not made to close
entirely the front portion of the bottom of the grate, but is perforated or indented
or scolloped on its front edge to form a passage for a small quantity of air at the
front of the grate. This is an advantage which could not be obtained by the use
of a solid or entirely closed grate bottom or plate. The aforesaid back plate or

page_text: false back must be so formed and arranged that the air can enter freely into the
space behind it, and its peforations or openings will permit a current of air to pass
through, across, and over the fuel in the grate. These porforations or openings
may be plain holes or may represent names, descriptions, or the like.
My Invention affords the means whereby a fire-place or stove has its fire
receiving area arranged in the most advantageous manner, the same being filled
with a comparatively small bulk or quantity of coal or other fuel, and holding the
same in the position best adapted for throwing its heat outward from the front of
the grate; it entirely avoids the mean appearance produced by other similar
domestic fuel saving devices; it permits the fuel to be consumed evenly or uniformly
without showing black patches; it ensures by the draft from the back the diffusion
of the greater portion of the heat in the room or apartment instead of allowing it
to pass up the chimney; it allows small coal and other inferior fuel to be burned,
and affords many other advantages.