IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS AND IN THE FIRE-GRATES OF STEAM GENERATOR AND SOME OTHER FURNACES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO WATER HEATING APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Milburn, of 76, Church Lane, White-
chapel, in the County of Middlesex, and Henry Jackson, of 16,
Park Square, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS AND IN THE FIRE-GRATES OF STEAM
GENERATOR AND SOME OTHER FURNACES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO WATER
HEATING APPARATUS."
-
Sealed the 18th September 1874, and dated the 23rd March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Milburn and
Henry Jackson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd March 1874.
We, ROBERT MILBURN, of 76, Church Lane, Whitechapel, in the
County of Middlesex, and HENRY JACKSON, of 16, Park Square, Leeds,
in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS AND IN THE FIRE-GRATES OF
STEAM GENERATOR AND SOME OTHER FURNACES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO WATER
HEATING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates in the first place more particularly to such
steam generators as are provided with hanging return water tubes, as

page_text: for example to vertical boilers having water tubes fixed in the crown of
the fire-box and hanging downwards. We make such tubes of an
U shape, or otherwise so bend and form cach tube as that both ends can
be secured in the crown plate of the fire-box, and to promote the
circulation of water through such tubes we add an extension piece which
may conveniently be made of cast iron, and which is formed with a passage
which has the effect of an upward extension of one leg of the bent tube,
whereby upward and downward currents are determined within the said
tube. We prefer to curve the said passage so that the stream of water
issues therefrom horizontally, or nearly so, and to form the said extension
piece with a shield extending downward from the upper part of the
mouth to the crown plate. When so formed each extension piece may
be fixed in position by means of a single bolt or screw, or may be
otherwise secured. Tubes of the kind herein-before indicated and fitted
with the said extension pieces may also be employed in apparatus for
heating water.
In place of the ordinary baffler plate we employ a globular lump made
of fire-clay and suspended below the funnel.
A remaining part of our Invention relates to the fire-grates of the
furnaces of steam generators and may also be applicable to some other
furnaces, as for example to the furnaces of "coppers
" and stills.
:
Our improved grate consists of a number of rollers arranged side by
side and fitted to be revolved continuously or at intervals by means of
worm or other gearing, or by other means as may be suitable in each
case. The said rollers may be plain or serrated, and may be grooved
with air spaces or collars in one roller, may enter grooves in the adjacent
rollers, and each roller may consist of a number of discs or castings
threaded upon a shaft or bar. The effect of causing the said rollers to
revolve is to clear the air spaces and to feed the fuel forwards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 23rd September 1874.

page_text: anⱭ HENRY JACKSON, of 16, Park Square, Leeds, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Robert Milburn and Henry
Jackson, Her special licence, that we, the said Robert Milburn and
Henry Jackson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Robert Milburn and Henry Jackson, 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 Ircland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM GENERATORS AND IN THE FIRE-GRATES OF STEAM GENERATORS AND SONE
OTHER FURNACES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO WATER HEATING APPARATUS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Milburn and Henry
Jackson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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 I, the said Robert Milburn, for myself and
on behalf of the said Henry Jackson, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
-
- Our Invention relates in the first place more particularly to such
steam generators as are provided with hanging return water tubes, as
for example to vertical boilers having water tubes fixed in the crown of
the fire-box and hanging downwards. We make such tubes of an
U shape, or otherwise so bend and form each tube as that both ends
can be secured in the crown plate of the fire-box, and to promote the
circulation of water through such tubes we add an extension picce
which may conveniently be made of cast iron, and which is formed with a

page_text: passage which has the effect of an upward extension of one leg of the
bent tube whereby upward and downward currents are determined
within the said tube. We prefer to curve the said passage so that the
stream of water issues therefrom horizontally, or nearly so, and to form
the said extension piece with a shield extending downward from the
upper part of the mouth to the crown plate. When so formed each
extension piece may be fixed in position by means of a single bolt or
screw, or may be otherwise secured. Tubes of the kind herein-before
indicated and fitted with the said extension pieces may also be employed
in apparatus for heating water.
A remaining part of our Invention relates to the fire-grates of the
furnaces of steam generators, and may also be applicable to some other
furnaces, as for example to the furnaces of "coppers" and "stills."
Our improved grate consists of a number of rollers arranged side by
side and fitted to be revolved continuously or at intervals by means of 1
worm or other gearing or by other means, as may be suitable in oach
case. The said rollers may be plain or serrated, and may be grooved
with air spaces or collars in one roller, may enter grooves in the adjacent
rollers, and each roller may consist of a number of discs or castings
threaded upon a shaft or bar. The effect of causing the said rollers to
revolve is to clear the air spaces and to feed the fuel forwards.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we
will now refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, wherein Fig. 1
drawn about one-eighth of the full size represents a vertical section of
an upright boiler; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same. In 2
the said Figures the fire-box is fitted with return water tubes which are
bent to the form, as represented by Fig. 7, and each tube is secured by
its two ends to the fire-box crown.
The aforesaid extension pieces are shown at c, c, and are also repre-
sented on a larger scale at Figures 3, 4, and 5. Each extension piece
consists of a short pipe or curved mouth-piece which is secured in
position over one end of the water tube so as to act to determine an
upward current in one "leg" of the said water tube, as herein-before
mentioned. The extension piece is also formed with a curved shield *
which tends to prevent priming and to direct the issuing current of a
water towards the opening into the other leg of the water tube or into.

page_text: the leg of another tube through which the downward current. flows.
In the example the water tubes and extension pieces are so arranged as
that the upward current issuing from one tube is directed towards the
outer leg of the next adjacent tube, but this arrangement may be
varied. The whole of the extension pieces are retained in position by
means of a ring plate e which is formed in two parts which can be
bolted together so as to clip the smoke pipe f. The said ring plate
rests upon projections formed on the upper parts of all the extension
pieces. If considered to be advisable the said plate may be fitted with
screws so that each extension piece may be separately pressed against
the crown plate of the fire-box, or other suitable means may be employed
to secure the said pieces in position.
Fig. 6 represents a modification which may be made in the form of
the water tubes. A fire-clay ball d is suspended below the opening into
the smoke pipe as mentioned in my Provisional Specification, but since
the filing of the said Specification we have discovered that the use of
such ball was not so novel as we then supposed, and we therefore do not
now make any claim to the use of the said ball.
The manner in which the latter part of our Invention may be carried
into effect is indicated by Fig. 8. In this example a number of rollers
which for convenience of construction may be formed of cast-iron and
which are formed with collars are arranged side by side in such a
manner as that the collars on one roller enter spaces between the collars
on the next adjacent rollers, the spaces between the said collars being
proportioned to the width of such collars so that suitable air spaces are
left between the sides of the collars. The rollers are employed to con-
stitute a fire-grate and are caused to revolve in one direction or to revolve
to a greater extent in one direction than in the other, whereby the fuel is
carried towards the back of the furnace as it undergoes combustion.
Having now described and indicated the nature of our said Invention,
and means whereby the same may be carried into effect, we would in
conclusion have it to be understood that we claim―

page_text: And, lastly. The employment of revolving rollers or shafts to con-
stitute a fire-grate, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
set forth and indicated.
In witness, whereof, I, the said Robert Milburn, for myself and
on behalf of the said Henry Jackson, have hereunto set my hand 5
and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four.
Signed and sealed by the said.
.
Robert Milburn in the pre-
sence of
F. PRATT,
Clerk to Job Bro. & Co.,
46, Cannon St.,
London,
E. C.
ROBT. MILBURN. (L.S.)