IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING, PARTS OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Alfred Varley and Cromwell
Fleetwood Varley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 5th December 1863.
We, SAMUEL ALFRED VARLEY, of 66, Roman Road, Islington, in the County
of Middlesex, and CROMWELL FLEETWOOD VARLEY, of Beckenham, in the
County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING, PARTS OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention, which is based upon our Patent, No. 2858, November
22, 1860, consists in economically heating by gas conservatories, forcing
houses, or other places where equable temperature is required, in removing
the deleterious effects of gas, in the construction of the self-acting thermometric
valve, whereby economy, durability, portability, and simplicity are combined,
and in the form of gas burner or furnace by which the formation of soot is
prevented and more perfect combustion is secured.
The economy of the heating is effected in several ways. By the improved
form of boiler used by which almost every particle of heat given out by the
combustion of gas is utilised; by consuming gas only when the temperature
of the atmosphere in the place heated is lower than required, which is effected
by the self-acting thermometric valve; by the form of burner in which the
gas is first mixed with a sufficient quantity of air to ensure the combustion of
the carbon as well as the gas.
The improved boiler consists of two or more water casings placed within
each other, with a sufficient space between them. The gas furnace is placed

page_text: inside the boiler, and is almost completely surrounded by water, the
respective water casings being connected together. The products of com-
bustion pass up the interior of the water casing and down outside it; where
there are more than two casings it passes alternately up and down between
the different casings and then out. The "up" cast hot water pipe is attached
to the top of the casings, and the "down" cast near to the bottom of them.
The pipe supplying the air and the pipe that carries off the products of
combustion are both of them carried outside the building, so that the chamber
in which the gas is consumed is entirely insulated from the atmosphere of the
room. The inlet for fresh air and the outlet for the products of combustion
are placed near together, and by this means the wind never blows the gas out.
The boiler absorbs nearly all the heat generated by the gas, the remainder is
taken up either by making the heated air from the chimney pass around the
tubes conducting the air and gas to the burner, or by making it pass through
a tube in the room to be heated before being discharged.
The improvements in our regulator are mechanical, and consist, 1st, in
preventing the mixture of the spirit and the mercury during carriage, either
by connecting the two through a small aperture, which we prefer to make of
platina or iron amalgamated, this aperture being generally placed in the plug
of a tap, or by inserting a film of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable
material between the mercury and the spirit; by these improvements the fluid
and sliding joints employed in our former Invention, vide our Patent, No. 2858,
anno 1860, are entirely got rid of; these were found to require too much
attention for general adoption, and the stuffing boxes were found to get out of
order and to permit the escape of gas. We determine the temperature at
which the main supply of gas shall be cut off by screwing in a plunger
through a stuffing box, which is always below the surface of the mercury.
An index is attached to the apparatus connected with the screw to shew the
temperature when the gas will be cut off. Through the upper part of the
valve there is an inlet and outlet passage for the gas, the former descending
lower than the outlet; the expansion of the fluid in the bulb by the heat of
the room or chamber forces up the mercury and cuts off the gas. Through
the inlet and outlet passages there is a tap or taps to close up the apparatus
during carriage.
Our gas burner or furnace is a cylinder or cone of perforated metal or
gauze or both combined, with a non-perforated top, the gauze and metal
consist of two or more layers. The lower portion stands in a well, generally
made of cast iron, in which there are several gas jets; a tight joint is made
between the well and the lower portion of the perforated cylinder, either by

page_text: lead or in the same way as the joints of hot water pipes are made tight. In
this sway a cylinder is obtained hermetically sealed at bothe ends. Over the
small jet which we employ for lighting the gas when turned on we place a
piece of spongy platina, this renders the small burner safer, as should it go
out from an accident it is immediately re-lighted.
An important application of this Invention is to astronomical clocks to keep
the pendulum and pivots of the clock at one uniform temperature;
this greatly
assists the maintenance of uniform time, for, however well the pendulum may
be compensated, change of temperature affects the thin rod long before it affects
the massive bulb; the oil of the clock is also kept at a more uniform state of
fluidity.