CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATE BARS, AND CERTAIN APPLIANCES TO THE SAME, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING THEM FROM WARPING OR TWISTING BY HEAT
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle'
Street, Holborn (City), London, and now of Paris, 29, Boulevart St.
Martin, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATE BARS,
AND CERTAIN APPLIANCES TO THE SAME, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING THEM
FROM WARPING OR TWISTING BY HEAT."-A communication.
Sealed the 22nd August 1854, and dated the 22nd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd June 1854.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn.
(City), London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATE BARS, AND CERTAIN APPLIANCES TO
THE SAME, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING THEM FROM WARPING OR TWISTING BY
HEAT, to be as follows:-.
Casting or otherwise securing to the under sides of grate bars hooks or
catches, through which one or more transverse bars are inserted, the said
transverse bar or bars serving to hold or confine every bar of the grate in its

page_text: place, while cach one is allowed to expand and contract independently of the
others; also in confining the transverse holding bars within the aforesaid
catches or hooks on the grate bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London,
and now of Paris, 29, Boulevart St. Martin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, 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 Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my execu-
tors, 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 of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GRATE BARS, AND CERTAIN
APPLIANCES TO THE SAME, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING THEM FROM WARPING OR
TWISTING BY HEAT," (a communication,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 nature of this Invention consists in casting or otherwise securing to the

page_text: under sides of grate bars hooks or catches, through which one or more trans-
verse bars are inserted; the said transverse bar or bars serving to hold or
confine every bar of the grate in its place, while each one is allowed to expand
and contract independently of the others. It further consists in certain means
of effectually confining the transverse holding bars within the aforesaid catches
or hooks on the grate bars.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates several modes of carrying out the
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, of a grate,
having only one catch a on every grate bar b. These catches are cast with
the grate bars, and the bars being all cast from one pattern the catches will all
range in line when the bars are in place, so that the holding bar c may pass
through the whole series. The holding bar c fits tightly between the bottom of
cach grate bar and its catch, and prevents any movement up or down and any
twist. The grate bars are intended to be supported at their ends on bridge
pieces in the usual way. The holding bars need not extend beyond the sides
of the grate, as they need no support except that of the catches a, a. The
above is the simplest application of my Invention, and in many cases where
short grate bars are used it will be effective.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a transverse section, through the
centre of a grate, having two catches a, on every grate bar b, the said catches
being turned from each other. The two holding bars c, c, are fitted and in-
serted in a similar manner to that before described; but in order to obviate
any tendency of the holding bars to escape laterally from the catches, one or
more pairs of hooks d, d, are applied, to confine them within the catches.
These hooks are made with lugs e, e, to receive a bolt f, by which they may be
drawn together to bring the the holding bars c, c, into their places. One pair
only of these hooks d, d, may be employed at about the centre of the grate,
or a pair near each end of the holding bars, or as many pairs as may be
found desirable, at equal distances from each other.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 6 a top view, of a grate, having
hooks a', a', substituted for the catches a, a; and Fig. 7 is a transverse section
of one of the grate bars b, b, of the said grate. The hooks only differ from the
catches, inasmuch as their extremities are turned upwards, as represented at
a, a. By employing the hooks a', a', on the grate bars, the hooks d, d, may
be dispensed with; but two holding bars c' and c² are required for each series of
hooks, owing to the impracticability of inserting the holding bar longitudinally
when the grate bars are in their place, and of inserting it laterally when it is of

page_text: proper size to fill the space within the hooks. The holding bar c' is made as
large as it is capable of, being inserted between the bottom of the grate bars
and the points a*, a*, of the hooks a', a', and when it is inserted it is forced
down to the bottom of the hooks, and the space between it and the bottom of
the grate bars. is filled by the smaller bar . The bar c is kept in place by one
or more screws g, which screw into the bar c' from the bottom, and have their
points protruding through it, and entering notches or recesses in the bar c
Fig. 8 is a side view, and Fig. 9 a top view, representing a further means of
security against the warping or twisting of the grate bars; viz., tenons h, h,
Fig. 9, cast or otherwise attached to one bar, to enter mortices i, i, in the next
one; but this is seldom necessary. The catches a, a, or the hooks a', a', may
be made square, round, or angular, and the holding bar around or underneath
which they pass should be of corresponding form. The hooks or catches have
been described as cast with the grate bars, but it may be possible to attach
them otherwise. The holding bar is better if made of wrought iron, but may
be of cast iron. The hooks or catches may project sufficiently far below the
bottom of the grate bars to prevent them or the holding bar being acted upon
by the extreme heat to which the grate bars themselves must be subjected.
Fastenings between the holding bar and the hook or catch on the grate bar,
such as are represented in Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive, are not found in all cases
to be necessary, as the difference of expansion of the metals by the heat
of the fire acting upon one, and the draft acting upon the other, holds them
sufficiently firm; but where this difference of expansion is insufficient, some
means of fastening the holding bar analogous to those described must be
adopted.
ד-
The advantages which this mode of constructing and staying the grate bars
possesses over that in which the grate bars are cast in sections with permanent
braces between them are, first, that a grate bar, if broken or otherwise injured,
may be removed and replaced by a new one; second, the spaces between the
grate bars for the draft may be varied, by shifting the said bars on the hold bar
or bars; third, it is not necessary to close up any part of the draft space between
the grate bars, so that facility may be afforded for pricking or raking the fire
the whole length of the grate bars. This method of staying the grate bars also
serves to prevent any of the grate bars dropping down if one of their ends
should slip or be drawn from the end support.
I claim, first, forming one or more catches a, or hooks a', on the under side
of each of the grate bars, and passing through or over the said catches or hooks
a holding bar, to prevent twisting and warping, substantially as described.

page_text: Second, the employment of hooks d, d, or what are equivalent, the screws
9, 9, or of other analogous devices, for the purpose of preventing the holding
bar or bars working out of the catches or hooks on the grate bars, substantially
as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November.
in the year of our Lord 1854.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)