IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR HEATING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Musgrave and Thomas Foulkes Shillington,
both of Ann Street Iron Works, Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR HEATING."
Sealed the 13th February 1874, and dated the 20th August 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Musgrave and
Thomas Foulkes Shillington at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th August 1873.
We, JAMES MUSGRAVE and THOMAS FOULKES SHILLINGTON, both of
Ann Street Iron Works, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES AND
IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR HEATING," to be as follows:-
-
Our Invention relates to various improvements in the stoves commonly
known as the "Musgrave slow combustion stove," and to apparatus
employed in connection with the same,

page_text: In carrying our said Invention into practice we construct a water
base on which the stove is mounted, and which allows the said stove to
be used without danger on a wooden floor. This water base also serves as
an evaporating chamber in which cold air enters and combines with the
vapour of the water before passing through the heating chambers which
form a peculiar feature of these stoves.
When the aforesaid slow combustion stoves are used upon a fireproof
floor, and in other cases where it is not desirable to use the said water base,
we place below and connect with the usual iron base of the stoves an
evaporating pan for producing vapour to mix with the air.
We also provide our slow combustion stove with a grate having a
hinged bar to prevent the fire falling over the front of the grate, and
with an ash tray sliding below the grate whereby the ashes may be
removed easily without raising any dust.
66
In the said Musgrave slow combustion stoves" as formerly con-
structed, the supply of air to the firo is regulated by sliding the ash door
to and fro, but we now provide the said stoves with one or more
revolving perforated plates turning on centres on the door or other con-
venient part of the front of the stove, the said plates being provided
with a handle whereby they may be readily adjusted.
The door for supplying fuel to our improved stove is placed either in
front or on an inclined or sloping part at the junction of the front and
top of the said stove, and in connection with the said door we use tubes
for introducing fresh air, which mixing with the carbonic oxide gas
causes it to ignite within the stove.
Instead of the hot air chambers above mentioned as forming a
peculiarity of the aforesaid " Musgrave slow combustion stove," we in
some cases provide our improved stoves with hot water chambers to act
as boilers from which hot water may be supplied for heating, cooking,
or other purposes, but in this modification of our Invention the course of
the smoke is reversed and is made to pass in the first place underneath
or through the first boiler and then between the first and second boilers.
The said water chambers and boilers are so formed that the ashes fall
forward towards the front of the stove and do not obstruct the passage
for the smoke. With this arrangement besides obtaining the advantages

page_text: of the boilers as above described, we cause the smoke to pass downward
through the incandescent fuel.
To more effectually maintain the slow combustion we adopt an
improved form of eccentric slide or valve which is placed in the front or
side of the stove and controls the admission of air to the fuel chamber.
This slide or valve moreover permits the introduction of a rod or poker
for stirring the fire or removing obstructions.
When the aforesaid boilers are not required they may be replaced by
similarly formed partitions of iron lined with fire-bricks or with solid
blocks of fire-clay of suitable form.
As heretofore constructed the aforesaid slow combustion stove could
only be made to act as a close fire-stove, but by our present Invention
we are enabled to make it act with an open fire, so that the said stove
will form a substitute for an ordinary fire-place without the loss of its
slow combustion principle. We accomplish this result as follows :-
The stove is divided into two compartments, one of which contains the
fuel and the other receives the smoke in its passage to the chimney.
The communication between these two compartments is effected by
means of one or more openings provided with valves to control the draft
at pleasure.
The door through which fuel is supplied to the fire must be constructed
in such a manner that smoke or gases cannot escape into the apartment.
For this purpose we form around the same a space or chamber which is
covered by the same door that covers the said aperture, and which is in
communication with the chimney. The said door under ordinary
circumstances prevents the exit of smoke from the aperture, but if the
smoke should pass into the surrounding space it will be conducted there-
from to the chimney. We make the lower part of the front of this stove
with open bars partly fixed and partly moveable or altogether moveable,
these open bars resemble in appearance those of an ordinary fire-place;
above these bars we fix a canopy to prevent the escape of smoke into
the room. We fit a door in front of the said bars whereby the said
stove may be used as an open fire or a close fire-stove at pleasure.
The back of this stove is enclosed in an iron casing which forms a hot
air chamber, and also closes the space below the chimney. This
chamber serves to heat the air of the room or apartment in which the
stove is placed or for heating air brought from the outside of the said
•

page_text: apartment, or we may carry into practise this modification of our
Invention as follows:-We place the aforesaid smoke compartment in
the front or on one side or both sides of the fuel compartment, and make
the openings through which the smoke passes away from the fire to the
smoke compartments so low down that the part of the fuel which
remains above the level of these openings, although incandescent,
remains unconsumed until it falls down in front of the grate bars.
According to another part of this Invention we modify the aforesaid
close fire slow combustion stoves as follows:-Instead of making the
smoke and hot air chambers at the back of the stove as heretofore we ]
form a large reverberatory chamber above the fire, through which
chamber the gases and smoke revolve and give out their heat on their
passage to the chimney. This reverberatory chamber may be divided
into hot air and smoke chambers if desired, but is preferably made with-
out such divisions.
We form the external walls or casing of the said stove partly with
projecting ribs or gills and partly with V or U shaped corrugations. The
part of the stove formed with the said ribs or gills contains the fire, and
is lined with fire-clay blocks, but the corrugated part being above the
fire will not require to be so lined. By this construction a large amount
of heating surface is obtained combined with great strength and
durability.
Stoves when provided with external projecting ribs or gills are com-
monly known as "gill stoves." The usual method of constructing these
gill stoves is to fit them together in sections or plates and pass iron bolts
through the same to bind them together. This method of construction
does not provide for the expansion of the metal when heated, but
according to our present improvements we construct a "slow combustion
gill stove" as follows:-We use the aforesaid iron bolt, but each hole
through which the bolt passes is hollowed out at the side next the fire,
and the said bolt is exposed freely to the heat, thereby being heated and
lengthened before the sections or plates expand. This construction
prevents the bursting of the stove by the heat. We provide the said
stoves with the fuel door and ash door, as herein above described.
We also make the said stove "self regulating," as follows:- -We form
the openings for the admission of fresh air to the fire in the front plate
or side plates of the stove, and a sliding valve working on the face of

page_text: these openings serves to open or close them. One end of a copper rod
is made fast to the stove and its other end is attached to the said sliding
valve;
the rod is placed in a recess formed in one of the plates or walls
of the stove, and is thereby exposed to the heat of the fire. When the
fire burn's too briskly the said copper rod expands with the heat and
closes the regulating valve, but when the fire dies out and the stove
cools the copper rod contracts and the valve opens to admit more air to
the fire.
According to another part of our Invention we employ a new method
of fitting encaustic or earthenware materials to the metal body of the
stove. Instead of fitting the pieces of encaustic or earthenware against
an iron corner formed at the angles of the stove as heretofore, we fit upon
the stove a loose corner which slightly overlaps the carthenware pieces
and conccals their edges. This loose corner may be ornamented in
any suitable manner.
We also adopt an improved method of fixing underground stoves or
air warmers in combination with flucs and connections for the same for
distributing heated air through the different parts of a building.
According to this part of our said Invention this stove is fixed in a
chamber below or at the level of the floor in the usual manner. 'The
smoke is carried away from it by means of a pipe with a flat side, which
we place beneath the floor in a brick flue with the flat side uppermost.
The connection between the several lengths of this piping is made by a
cast-iron box, formed with flanges which are placed at the level of the
floor. Part of the top of this iron box is made movable to permit access
to the pipe for cleaning the same; the said flanges are perforated to let
the heated air escape from the brick flue or chamber which surrounds
the piping.
Part of the heat from the stove chamber travels along this
said brick fluc and escapes through the perforations in the flanges of the
above mentioned cast-iron boxes.
To prevent inconvenience if at any time the draft in the said vertical
flue should be sluggish we insert in or attach to the flue an improved
rarefier, which by the combustion of gas and atmospheric air combined
heats the pipe and causes a strong upward current. The burners for
consuming the gas are constructed to mix the same with the air, similiar
to those employed for heating baths and for other like purposes, but we
combine any convenient number of these burners in one frame and provide

page_text: the same with a valve or slide for admitting air to them; this valve is
so connected to the gas tap that the act of turning off the gas closes the
valve and prevents the admission of cold air to the flue, and vice versa.
We also construct a rarefier for this purpose which burns coal or coke.
This rarefier has a single chamber or fuel compartment, and acts upon
the slow combustion principle, as above described. The admission of
fresh air to the fire is regulated by means of the aforesaid contrivance
with the copper rod, but in this application of the said regulating con-
trivance it must be arranged to act so that when the fire in the rarefier
is burning briskly air is freely supplied to the same, but when the fire
dies out the valve or slide closes to prevent the admission of cold air to
the flue.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Musgrave and Thomas Foulkes Shillington
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
MUSGRAVE and THOMAS FOULKES SHILLINGTON, both of Ann Street
Iron Works, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said James Musgrave and Thomas
Foulkes Shillington, Her special licence that we, the said James
Musgrave and Thomas Foulks Shillington, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Musgrave
and Thomas Foulkes Shillington, our 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 STOVES AND IN
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR HEATING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said James Musgrave and Thomas
Foulkes Shillington, our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under our, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Musgrave and Thomas
Foulkes Shillington, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing forming a part of this
Specification :---
•
Our Invention relates to various improvements in the stoves com-
monly known as the " Musgrave slow combustion stove," and to
apparatus employed in connection with the same, as herein-after
described.
The manner in which we carry our said Invention into practise may
be fully understood by the aid of the accompanying Drawing which we
will now proceed to describe.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of one of the said stoves constructed with
a base A, which is cast hollow and is capable of holding water. The
stove is mounted on this base, as shewn, and the said base allows the
stove to be used without danger on a wooden floor. This water base
also serves as an evaporating chamber. It is provided with semi-
circular openings B to admit cold air, which passes over the water and
escapes through the air chambers of the stove.
When the aforesaid slow combustion stoves are used upon a fire-proof
floor, and in other cases where it is not desirable to use the said water
base, we construct the stovo as illustrated in Figure 2, that is to say, we
place below and connect with the usual iron base of the stoves an
evaporating pan A³ for producing vapor to mix with the air.
We also provide our slow combustion stove with a grate C, having a
hinged bar C¹ to prevent the falling of the fire over the front of the
grate. We also provide it with an ash tray C* sliding below the grate,
whereby the ashes may be removed easily without raising any dust.
Figures 3 and 4 show our improved ash doors. In the said "Musgravo
slow-combustion stoves" as formerly constructed, the supply of air to

page_text: the fire is regulated by sliding the ash door to and fro, but we now pro-
vide the said stoves with revolving perforated plates A², B³, turning on
centres on the door or other convenient part of the front of the stove,
the said plates being provided with a handle, whereby they may be
readily adjusted.
We prefer that these plates A2, B2, should be formed with teeth and
geared with the small central wheel or pinion C³, as shewn in Figure 4.
This wheel is connected with the index C³, which also serves as the
handle. This index is provided at the back. with a small V shaped stud,
which is arranged to take into notches D³, and thereby retain the index
and plates in their proper position.
The door D for supplying fuel to our improved stove is placed either
in the position shewn in Figure 1 or in that shewn in Figure 5. In
either arrangement we provide openings E in connection with tubes. I'
for introducing fresh air above the fuel to mix with the carbonic oxide
gas, and cause it to ignite within the stove.
Figure 5 is a vertical section illustrating a modification of our Invention,
wherein we provide our improved stove with hot water chambers *A*, B*,
for boiling water, and from which hot water may be supplied for
heating, cooking, or other purposes. In this modification of our
Invention the smoke is made to pass in the first place underneath or
through the first boiler, and then between the first and second boilers.
Owing to the sloping or inclined formation of the second boiler B* the
ashes fall forward towards the front of the stove and do not obstruct the
passage for the smoke, which is caused to pass downward through the
incandescent fuel.
•
Figures 6 and 6ª shew a front view and transverse section drawn to
an enlarged scale, of a contrivance whereby we more effectually maintain
a slow combustion in our improved stove. a is an improved eccentric
slide or valve, which is secured on the front or side of the stove and
controls the admission of air to the fuel chamber through the
apertures b, c; the said valve being adjusted by turning it on its centre
or pivot d to bring these apertures together or away from each other.
This slide or valve morcover permits the introduction of a rod or poker
through the said apertures for stirring the fire or removing obstructions
from the same.

page_text: When the boilers A*, B', are not required they may be replaced by
similarly formed partitions of iron lined with fire-bricks or with solid
blocks of fire-clay of suitable form.
Figure 7 is a front elevation, and Figure 8 a vertical section of our
improved open
"fire slow combustion stove." As heretofore constructed
the aforesaid slow combustion stove could only be made to act as a close
fire stove, but by our present Invention we are enabled to make it act
with an open fire, so that the said stove will form a substitute for an
ordinary fire-place without the loss of its slow combustion principle.
We accomplish this result as follows:-The stove is divided into two
compartments G; H. The first compartment G contains the fuel, and
the second H receives the smoke in its passage to the chimney. The
communication between these two compartments is effected by means
of an opening or openings I. provided with a valve or damper J
arranged to be opened or closed to regulate or control the draft.
The door K through which fuel is supplied to the fire, must be con-
structed in such a manner that smoke or gases cannot escape from the
stove into the room or apartment wherein it stands. For this purpose
we form around the door a space or chamber L, which is covered by the
door as shown in Figure 8, and on an enlarged scale in the sectional view
Figure 9, and which is in communication with the chimney through the
holes M. The said door under ordinary circumstances prevents the exit
of smoke from the aperature, but if the smoke should pass into the
surrounding space it will be conducted therefrom to the chimney. The
upper part of the said door is provided with a worm or screw 1, which
acting on a stud on the index 2, shown in Figure 7, causes the aforesaid
damper to open whenever the door is opened, and therefore allows any
smoke or gases to pass into the chimney, which would otherwise escape
into the room.
Figure 10 shews a simpler form of this stove also drawn to an enlarged
scale. In this modification the chamber surrounding the door K may be
cast in one piece.
In Figure 7 we have shown grate bars of the ordinary form; these bars
may be partly fixed and partly movable or altogether movable; above
these bars we fix an overhanging canopy O to receive the smoke and gas
that might otherwise escape into the room, but which are diverted by the

page_text: a hinged door Q in front of the aforesaid bars, whereby the said stove
may be used as an open fire or a close fire stove at pleasure. The back
of this stove is enclosed in an iron casing R, which forms a hot air
chamber, and also closes the space below the chimney. This chamber
serves to heat the air of the room or apartment in which the stove |
is placed, or for heating air brought from the outside of the said
apartment.
We modify this part of our Invention as shewn in Figures 11 and 12,
which are vertical and horizontal sections of a stove. We arrange the
fuel compartment A' in the centre of the stove with openings B³,
through which the smoke passes away from the fire into the flues C, and
thence through the smoke compartments D³ to the chimney. E', E³,
are two chambers into which air may be admitted to be heated.
According to another part of this Invention, we further modify the
aforesaid close fire slow combustion stoves as shewn in Figures 13, 14,
and 15, which are vertical and horizontal sections of the said stoves.
Instead of making the smoke and hot air chambers at the back of the
stove as heretofore, we form a large reverberatory chamber A° above the
fire, in which chamber the gases and smoke revolve and give out their
heat on their passage to the chimney. This reverberatory chamber may
be divided into hot air and smoke chambers if desired, but is preferably
made without such divisions.
Figure 14 is a horizontal section of the lower part of this stove in
which the fuel is placed. We line this part of the stove with fire-clay
blocks S, and construct its walls or sides, flat or plain inside, and with
projecting ribs or gills S¹ outside, and in combination with this peculiar
construction of the lower part we construct the upper or reverberatory
part of the said stove with walls S* of a V or U section, as shown in
Figure 15.
Figure 16 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one of our improved
slow combustion stoves arranged as a gill stove; Figure 17 shews a
portion of the same detached, and drawn to an enlarged scale. The
usual method of constructing these gill stoves is to fit them together in
sections or plates, and pass iron bolts through the same to bind them
together. This method of construction does not provide for the expansion
of the metal when heated, but according to our present improvements
we construct a "slow combustion gill stove" as follows:-We use the

page_text: aforesaid iron bolts, but each hole through which the bolt e passes is
made open at the side next the fire, as clearly shewn in Figure 17, and
the said bolt is exposed freely to the heat, thereby being heated and
expanded or lengthened before or as soon as the sections or plates ƒ of
the stove expand. This construction prevents the bursting of the stove
by the heat. We provide the said stoves with the fuel door and ash
doors, as herein above described.
We also make the said stove "self-regulating," as shewn in Figures 16
and 18, that is to say, we form openings for the admission of fresh air to
the fire in the front plate or side plates of the stove, and combine with
these openings a sliding valve T working on their face, and which serves
to open or close them. One end of a copper rod T is made fast to the
stove at g, and its other end is attached to the said sliding valve. The
rod T¹ is placed in a recess formed in one of the plates or walls of the
stove, similar to that of the bolt e, Figure 17, and is thereby exposed to
the heat of the fire. When the fire burns too briskly the copper rod T
expands with the heat and closes the regulating valve T, but when the
fire dies out and the stove cools, the said copper rod contracts, and the
valve opens to admit more air to the fire.
According to another part of our Invention, also shewn in Figures 14
and 15, we employ a new method of fitting encaustic or earthenware
materials to the metal body of the stove. Instead of fitting the pieces
of encaustic or earthenware against an iron corner formed at the angles
of the stove, as heretofore, we fit upon the stove loose corners / which
slightly overlap the earthenware pieces i and conceal their edges.
These loose corners may be ornamented in any suitable manner.
Figures 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21 illustrate our improved method of
fixing underground stoves or air warmers, in combination with flues and
connections for the same for distributing heated air through the different
parts of a building. According to this part of our said Invention the
stove is fixed in a chamber; below or at the level of the floor k in the
usual manner. The smoke is carried away from it by means of a pipe Co
with a flat side, and which we place beneath the floor in a brick flue Do
with the flat side uppermost. The connection between the several lengths
of this piping C is made by a cast-iron box E* formed with flanges, which
are placed at the level of the floor. Part of the top Fe of this iron box
is made movable to permit access to the pipe for cleaning the same.

page_text: The said flanges are perforated to let the heated air escape from the
brick flue or chamber D, which surrounds the piping. Part of the heat
from the stove chamber travels along this brick flue and escapes through
the perforations in the flanges of the above-mentioned cast-iron boxes.
To prevent inconvenience, if at any time the draft in the said flue
should be sluggish, we insert in or attach to the flue an improved
rarefier, as shown in Figures 22, 23, and 24, which, by the combustion
of gas and atmospheric air combined heats the pipe, and causes a strong
upward current. The gas is mixed with the air by means of burners,
like those employed for heating baths, and for other like purposes, but
we combine any convenient number of these burners in one frame 1, and
provide the same with a valve or slide for admitting air to them. This
valve is connected to the gas tap by an eccentric or other like device,
so that the act of turning off the gas closes the valve and prevents the
admission of cold air to the flue, and vice versa.
Figures 25, 26, and 27 show another rarefier for this purpose, and which
is constructed to burn coal or coke. This rarefier has a single chamber or
fuel compartment'm. The admission of fresh air to the fire is regulated
by means of a contracting and expanding metal rod », like the copper
rod above described; but in this application of the said regulating con-
trivance the rod must be arranged to act so that when the fire in the
rarefier is burning briskly air is freely supplied to the same, but when
the fire dies out the valve or slide o closes to prevent the admission of
cold air to the flue.
Having thus fully described our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be most conveniently and advantageously carried
into practise, we wish it understood that we claim, —
-
First. Constructing the stove with a hollow base for containing water,
-as herein described, and as shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawing, for the purpose specified.
⚫ Second. Constructing the stove with the evaporating pan in combina-
tion with the ordinary base, as herein set forth, and as shewn in Figure 2
of the Drawing, for the purpose specified.
Third. The improved grate constructed and applied to the said stove
in combination with the ash pan, and operating as herein set forth, and
for the purposo specified.

page_text: JAMES MUSGRAVE.
(L.S.)
THOS. F. SHILLINGTON. (L.S.)
· Witness present to the signature of
Tho. F. Shillington,
JOHN A. HANNA.