IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATES AND FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Hill at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st April
1878.
I, HENRY HILL, of No. 49, Shrubland Grove, Dalston, in the County
of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATES AND FIRE-PLACES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists essentially in making grates separate from their
fire-places, and in applying to the latter a reflector or reflectors so
arranged as to throw the heat of the fire into the room.
In grates of the ordinary construction the fire is enclosed at the back
and sides by iron plate, which being a rapid conductor of heat, absorbs
the heat from the burning fuel, thus causing the deadening of that
portion which is in contact with the iron. The loss of heat thus
occasioned is increased by a considerable portion passing up the
chimney.
Now the objects of my Invention are to remedy these defects, to
effect a more perfect combustion of the fuel, and to utilize to the utmost
the heat generated.

page_text: For these purposes I construct and arrange grates and fire-places as
follows: I make the grate by preference in the form of an open fire-
cage supported by legs, which grate is placed under the chimney, as in
the case of a grate of the ordinary form, but is separate from the back
and sides of the fire-place instead of being set therein. I apply to the
back and sides of the fire-place a reflector or reflectors made of polished
metal or of polished earthenware or other suitable reflecting substance
bent or cast into or built up in a concave or other suitable form, and I
fix in the lower part of the chimney where the register is usually
situated, and in substitution for the same, another concave or other shaped 1
reflector, so as to throw down into the room the heat which would
otherwise escape up the chimney. This reflector is formed with an
aperture through which the smoke passes as through an ordinary
register.
I further make the hearth of polished metal or of glazed tiles or of 1
other reflecting substance. The ash pan of the grate may be furnished
with inclined reflectors of the ordinary kind.
Instead of the grate being supported by legs, as herein-before
described, it may be supported by brackets or struts affixed to the back
or sides of the grate, being in this case also so arranged that the fire 2
shall not be in contact with the said back or sides, a space being left
between such back and sides and the said grate for the circulation of air.
By these arrangements the greater portion of the heat from the fire
striking on the reflecting surfaces is thrown forward into the room
instead of escaping up the chimney or being conducted away by the 2
ironwork, as is the case in ordinary grates and fire-places.
My Invention further consists in constructing the grate with a
sliding box fitting into the lower part of the frame of the said grate, so
as to be capable of being drawn forward, and replenished with fuel, and
then returned into the grate. Immediately above this fuel box is a
placed a false bottom on which fuel is kept burning, which false
bottom may be made to slide so as to let the burning fuel fall on
to the coal below.
Instead of charging the space below the false bottom described with
fuel by means of a sliding fucl box the said box may be dispensed with,
and the lower part of the front of the grate be furnished with a hinged
door, by opening which coal can be shovelled into the grate; and when

page_text: incandescent can be removed and placed on the top of the fuel in the
upper part of the grate, fresh coal being put into the said lower part,
and the door being closed the coal thus last introduced being ignited by
the heat from the burning fuel in the said upper part.
By the use of either of the grates herein-before described the fuel is
prevented from becoming dead at the sides thorough combustion taking
place throughout the entire mass, and very little smoke is given off, the
smoke and gas from the lower portion of the fuel passing through the
upper and incandescent portion, and being wholly or in great part
consumed, a greater amount of heat being thus obtained from a given
quantity of fuel than in grates of the ordinary construction.
My Invention is applicable to many kinds of existing fire-places.