IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES FOR FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES FOR
FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES."-A communication.
Sealed the 5th October 1858, and dated the 7th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1858.
1, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES FOR
FURNACES, STOVES, AND OTHER FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the construction of fire-grates for
furnaces, stoves, and other fire-places, consists in the employment as a fire-
grate for furnaces, stoves, or other fire-places of a series of flexible bars com-
posed of chains, metal rope, or linked rods, or other metallic combination,
arranged side by side, and attached securely by their ends at the back and
front or sides of the fire-box or furnace, with sufficient slackness to permit
them to swing or be shaken, either by the movement of the furnace, as in the
running of a locomotive, or by suitable mechanical means, for the purpose of
causing them to work against or relatively to each other in such a manner as
to prevent the adhesion of "clinkers" to them, and to cause the ashes and dirt
from the fire to work down between and through them, and thus make their
escape from the fire.

page_text: If it be considered desirable, the chains or ropes may be connected together
laterally at intervals, in order to prevent them from yielding to too great an
extent laterally, and thereby forming too wide a passage between them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, 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
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Edward Newton, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES FOR FURNACES, STOVES, AND
OTHER FIRE-PLACES," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instru-
ment 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in the construction of fire-grates. for
furnaces, stoves, and other fire-places consists in the employment as a fire-
grate for furnaces, stoves, or other fire-places of a series of flexible bars com-

page_text: posed of chains, metal rope, or linked rods, or other metallic combination,
arranged side by side, and attached securely by their ends at the back and
front or sides of the fire-box or furnace, with sufficient slackness to permit
them to swing or be shaken, either by the movement of the furnace, as in the
running of a locomotive, or by suitable mechanical means, for the purpose of
causing them to work against or relatively to each other in such a manner as
to prevent the adhesion of "elinkers" to them, and to cause the ashes and
dirt from the fire to work down between and through them, and thus make
their escape from the fire.
If it be considered desirable, the chains or ropes may be connected together
laterally at intervals, in order to prevent them from yielding to too great an
extent laterally, and thereby forming too wide a passage between them.
In the accompanying Drawings, which form part of this Specification, Fig. 1
is a longitudinal vertical section of a locomotive fire-box with a chain grate
constructed to the present Invention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of
the fire-box taken above the grate; Fig. 3 is a plan of a portion of a chain.
grate having the chains constituting the bars arranged somewhat differently
to those represented in Fig. 2.
Similar letters of reference indicate corre-
sponding parts in all the Figures.
The flexible bars A, A, represented in the Drawing, consist of chains of
the kind most commonly used for general purposes, viz., composed of oval
links, this kind of chain being as well suited to constitute the bars as any
other method of constructing them. The links at the extremities of the chain
are hitched on to pins a, a, which are secured in two bars of angle iron B, B,.
that are rivetted to the front and back of the fire-box, and the length of the
chains is such as to leave them slack enough to sag down to a slight extent, as
shown in Fig. 1. The pins a, a, at each end of the fire-box, are arranged in
zig-zag lines, as shewn in Fig. 2, in order to bring the links of each chain
which occupy a vertical position between horizontal links of the next chains
on either side of it. The pins a, a, may, however, be arranged in straight lines,
as shown in Fig. 3, which brings the horizontal links of the several chains
opposite each other, as shown in that Figure; but I prefer the arrangement
shewn in Fig. 2. The chains should be close or nearly close together, as if
the links of the chains are made of suitable size, there will be always sufficient
space between and within them for draft, and for the escape of ashes, dirt,
and other refuse matters. In case of the bars being composed of metallic ropes,
these ropes should be formed with loops at their ends, to be hitched on to
pins a, a, arranged in straight lines at the ends or sides of the fire-box, the
pins being so arranged, according to the thickness of the ropes, as to leave

page_text: suitable spaces between the ropes for supplying air to the fire, and for the
escape of ashes and dirt from the fire.
If linked rods are employed for the bars, that is to say, if the bars are com
posed of rods linked together, the links at the extremities of the bars are
made with eyes to hitch on to pins a, a, like those before described. The
linked rods or metal ropes used as bars are made long enough to sag down
slightly, or hang slack between the pins, in the same manner as the chains are
represented in Fig. 1.
When the grate composed of flexible bars is applied to a locomotive fire-
box, for which the Invention is particularly well suited, no mechanical means
of shaking or moving them to cause the breaking up of clinker and escape of
ashes and dirt from the fire is necessary, as the bars will derive a sufficient
shaking movement from the inevitable jarring of the locomotive whilst it is
running; but for stationary engines it will be necessary to agitate the flexible
bars from time to time, by striking them below with a stoking iron, or by
some mechanical means arranged below the grate for that purpose..
Having now described the Invention of improvements in the construction
of fire-grates for furnaces, stoves, and other fire-places, and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not mean or
intend to confine myself to the use of the particular kind of chain shown for
the flexible grate bars, nor to the construction of such bars in any particular
manner to render them flexible; but what I claim as new and desire to
secure by Letters Patent as aforesaid is, the employment as a fire-grate of
a series of flexible bars composed of chains, metallic ropes, linked rods,
or other flexible metallic combination, arranged side by side, and attached
to the ends or opposite sides of the fire-box or furnace, substantially as
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)