AN IMPROVE- MENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Frankham, of Greenland Place, Judd Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES."
Sealed the 12th January 1855, and dated the 27th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Frankham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
July 1854.
I, SAMUEL FRANKHAM, of Greenland Place, Judd Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES" to be as follows:-
According to the present construction of furnaces, a large amount of heat is
wasted by radiation at the furnace door, and as a consequence the engine room
is unduly heated. To prevent this, and also to economise the heat and pre-
vent the rapid destruction of the doors, I propose to make the doors of
furnaces hollow, and to connect them by means of pipes with the boiler, or with
a water cistern. The doors I either suspend from a hollow pendent swinging
rod, or provide them with hollow hinges, such hinges being connected with the
stuffing box of a pipe in communication with the boiler, or with a cistern. A
circulation of water is kept up in the hollow door, and the water as it becomes
heated is allowed to pass away by any suitable contrivance to the boiler. I
prefer to use the hollow furnace doors for heating the water prior to its intro-
duction into the boiler.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Frankham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FRANKHAM, of of Greenland Place, Judd Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Frankham, Her special license that I, the said Samuel Frankham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Frankham, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Frankham, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Frankham, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):
It is well known that in the present construction of furnaces a large amount
of heat is wasted by radiation at the furnace door, and as a consequence the
engine room is unduly heated. To prevent this overheating, and also to
economise the heat thus wasted, and provide against the rapid destruction of
the furnace doors, I propose to make such doors hollow, and to connect them
by means of pipes with the furnace boiler, or with the water cistern which
supplies the boiler. These hollow doors I either supply with water through
hollow pendent swinging rods, which will in such case serve to carry them,
or provide the doors with hollow hinges, and connect the hinges with

page_text: pipes which communicate with the boiler, or with the cistern containing the
feed water.
The Figures in the accompanying Drawing will explain the two modes
which I adopt for carrying out the object of my Invention.
b
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of so much of an ordinary
waggon boiler and furnace as will serve to shew the application of a pair of
hollow hinged doors thereto; Fig. 2 is a front view of the same; and Fig: 3
is a plan view of the doors, one being in section, the better to shew its con-
struction. The doors a, a, are made of cast iron, and form water chambers for
the reception of water through their upper hinges b, their lower hinges c
being solid, as usual. Into each hinge 6 of the fire doors the end of a water
supply pipe & projects, and forms a hollow hinge pin for the door to turn on.
These pipes & lead upwards to a closed cistern e, which supplies the boiler with
water by means of the force pump of the engine in connection therewith. The
connection thus formed between the cistern e, and the fire doors by the
pipes d, d, will ensure a constant circulation of water in the fire doors, some-
what similar to that obtained in the ordinary system of hot water heating
apparatus. The water, when it has returned to the cistern in a heated state,
will flow down the pipe f into the boiler. By this arrangement the hollow
doors will afford an economical means of raising the temperature of the water
before it is supplied to the boiler, and will virtually form a part of the steam-
generating chamber itself.
Fig. 4 shews, in partial sectional elevation, another mode of carrying out my
Invention. In this arrangement, the hollow door g is affixed to a hollow pen-
dent rod h, supported by a bracket i, and connected by a stuffing box / with
the cistern which supplies the boiler with water. This pendent rod is rendered
capable of swinging in its bearings, for the purpose of allowing the door which
it carries to be drawn back readily from the furnace mouth, when it is required
to gain access to the fire-place.
•
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improvement in
the Construction of Furnaces," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would remark, that I am aware that it has been proposed to
apply hollow doors containing water to tubular boilers, and also to furnaces, as
screens, for the purpose of retaining the beat within the boiler or furnace. I
wish it therefore to be understood that I do not claim the use of such doors
irrespective of the appliances above described in connection therewith, for
ensuring a continuous circulation of water through them; but what I claim
under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, applying to steam boiler

page_text: furnaces hollow fire doors, as herein described, as a substitute for the ordinary
fire doors, such doors constituting in effect a supplementary steam generator in
connection with the ordinary or main steam boiler.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Frankham, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
SAMUEL FRANKHAM. (L.S.)