IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS AND GRATES FOR FURNACES OR OTHER FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Simon Meroux, of St. Denis, France,
Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS AND GRATES
FOR FURNACES OR OTHER FIRE-PLACES."
Sealed the 2nd August 1858, and dated the 8th February 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Pierre Simon Meroux, at
the Office of the Commissioners of. Patents, with his Petition, on the
.8th February 1858.
I, PIERRE SIMON MEROUX, of St. Denis, France, Mechanic, do hereby,
declare the nature of the said Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-BARS AND
GRATES FOR FURNACES OR OTHER FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows:-.
The Invention relates to fire-bars and grates for large or small furnaces and
other fire-places, and consists in having cast, forged, rivetted, or otherwise.
affixed in a solid manner to the under side of the said bars, one or more large
blades projecting, downwards, and between which the air is caused to pass;
before coming in contact with the body of the bar and the fuel; each of the
said fire-bars may be divided longitudinally in two halves, each of which is:
provided with one or more of the above-mentioned: blades, and each end of
each bar, or of each half bar, is furnished with a collar; so as to cause the bars
or half bars to be kept apart at the required distance, thus forming suitable.
grooves between them for the air, ashes, cinders or clinkers, to pass through.

page_text: Grates may be formed of such bars or half bars laid side by side, or cast in
one piece according to the same principle. I prefer to have the upper surface
of each bar or half bar suitably curved in order to cause the ashes and cinders
more easily to fall off from them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Simon Meroux in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
SIMON MEROUX, of St. Denis, France, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Pierre Simon Meroux, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Simon Meroux, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Pierre Simon Meroux, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FIRE-BARS AND GRATES FOR FURNACES AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Simon Meroux, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Pierre Simon Meroux, 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:
The Invention relates to an improved construction of fire-bars and grates for
furnaces or other fire-placés. In the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 represents a
longitudinal or side elevation view of one of the said bars of which Fig. 2
represents a longitudinal sectional view taken over the middle of the breadth,

page_text: thus forming what I call a half bar; Fig. 3 is a plan view of several of these
bars, each of them formed of two half bars laid side by side, and thus forming
a grate, whereas Fig. 4 shows a vertical cross section of this grate over the
line X, Y, of Fig. 3. In the various Figures the same letters represent
corresponding parts. Each bar is formed either out of one piece or of two
inversely similar parts A and A', which I call half bars. Each of these half
bars is formed of what may be called the body B, or actual bar, and of a
projecting blade or cheek Ċ connected to the under side of the said body B,
and cast either in one piece with the latter or riveted, soldered, or tightly fixed
thereto in any other suitable manner, whereas each end of the body B is provided
with a projecting brim or flanch D, by means of which and of the tappits
E and E¹, the bars or half bars are kept apart at the required' distance, so as
to leave between each two adjoining bars or half bars suitable grooves g
through which the cinders may fall, and the air is admitted from underneath
to the fuel on the bars. The clieek or blade C has a tapering or knife-like
form, the thickness at the lower edge being about (more or less) of the
breadth of the body B, at the same time this cheek or blade C presents in
side view an irregular quadrilateral form as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; O is the
front, and P the back end of the bar, both ends being provided with brims or
flanches D, the under side of which is flat in order that the bars may lay
steadily on the cross bearers in a furnace in the same manner as is generally
practised with ordinary furnace bars. The tappits E descend to the bottom of
the blade C; the upper part of each half bar has a round form, in order to
prevent the ashes and cinders from remaining on the body B of the bar. The
effect of this arrangement is as follows:-The bars or half bars being laid in
the ordinary manner side by side in a furnace, with their end flanges resting
on the cross bearers of the furnace, and with the blades C underneath, a grate
being formed out of one or more pieces arranged according to the same
principle, the air required for the combustion of the fuel on the grate is
allowed to enter from underneath between the blades C, and in striking
against them will become heated by abstracting heat from the said blades,
which latter consequently will be cooled off in the same ratio as the air
becomes heated; but as the blade C and the body B of the bar form one solid
piece, the heat from this body B will be transmitted immediately to the blade
C, the result of which will be that the body B will lose in heat about the same
quantity as the feed air will have gained; I consequently obtain by this
arrangement a comparative coolness of that part of the fire-bar on which the
fuel lays, which latter is thus more effectually prevented from adhering thereto
than would otherwise be possible, while I-obtain at the same time the heating

page_text: of the feed air, which is a point constantly aimed at in order to obtain a more
perfect combustion of the fuel. It will be understood that my bars or half
bars, or the grates formed according to the same principle, may vary in size
and form, that they may be fixed or moveable, partly or entirely hollow, and
that the body of the bars and the blades or cheeks C may form either one
solid piece, or be soldered, rivetted, or fixed together in any suitable manner,
and that the said cheeks C may have any suitable form, and be provided with
proper perforations, indentations, grooves, or projections for increasing the
points of contact with and consequently the better heating of the feed air; that
further the body of the bars may have a square, rounded, or any other
suitable form, and that these grates and bars may be made use of for any
furnace or fire-place requiring a grate.
And having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
putting the same into practical effect, I claim the construction of fire bars or
grates provided at the under side with one or more projecting cheeks or blades
for suitably heating the feed air before the same arrives at the fuel on the said
bars or grates.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Simon Meroux, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. SOUTH.
MEROUX. (L.S.)