IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING HEAT FOR HEATING, COOKING, VENTILATING, AND LIGHTING
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Ritchie at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
November 1874.
I, CHARLES RITCHIE, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING HEAT FOR HEATING, COOKING, VENTILATING, AND
LIGHTING," to be as follows:-
My present Invention is based in part on that which is described in my
Letters Patent, No. 3227, A.D. 1873, and effects the various results above
named, and some of the arrangements hereafter described may be used
in combination with those above referred to in the said Letters Patent,
and some otherwise.
Firstly, and by way of illustration, I prefer to adopt (though I do
not limit myself thereto) the temple-like form illustrated in the
Drawing of my Letters Patent above named (but not necessarily with a
rounded form), and for the purpose of heating water for warming a room
or chamber, and for a supply of hot water or for cooking purposes, I
prefer to construct the arrangements in my stove somewhat similarly to
to those shown in Fig. 4, but in this case the heated products from the

page_text: heater are deflected upon the lower chamber and made to circulate round
and upon the surfaces of the pipes or ducts, and partially upon the upper
chamber containing water. In some cases, however, I place the flame
below the bottom compartment or chamber containing the water and
sometimes otherwise, the heated products circulating round the same
and upon the water pipes, and the upper compartment containing
water and within the pipes, ducts, or chamber or chambers of the
apparatus which circulate the heated products. In each of the above
arrangements the products of combustion may be or not conveyed into
a chimney flue.
In some cases circulating hot-water pipes are extended from the
sides or side of the apparatus for diffusing heat into a room or
chamber.
Some of my arrangements admit of easily disconnecting the parts so
that in case of accidents- or need of renewal of any part the same can
be remeded, and in some of my stoves the outer case, though surrounding
the water compartments and repeating the temple-like form or the form
which may be adopted, can be a distinct member of the apparatus, and in
some cases not coming practical into actual contact with the interior
parts of the apparatus, but being as it were an cover or enclosing case.
A screen or cover in some cases is made to run round or close upon the
open space round the column-like pipes of the said temple-like stove, the
form of which is convenient for lighting the gas burners when these are
used as the source of heat, and to avoid accumulation of gas in the
passages of the stove at the time of ignition, and for other reasons, I
sometimes provide a lid or cover to open and close upon the chamber
containing the burners, and which lid or cover may be made to become
an efficient radiator of heat into the room or chamber.
In cases when the above described screen is used to form an oven,
and when the deflected gas flame is also adopted, arrangements can be
also provided for causing the flame to burn perpendicularly at will, and an
opening in the lower plate of the top chamber may be made to carry
off the products of combustion and the steam arising within the oven or
cooking chamber into a chimney flue. The steam from the hot-water
chamber can also can be conveyed to the flue by suitable means.
Secondly, in illustration of my present improvements in connection
with the said temple-like stove, though they are not confined thereto, I
arrange to convey outer air, or it may be the air of a room, through a

page_text: pipe or pipes for supplying combustion into the compartment containing
the heater, and from whence the heated products arise through a pipe,
pipes, or ducts into a compartment above, and then descend through
a pipe, pipes, or ducts, and pass out through a pipe or duct into the
outer air, so as that an adjustment of outer atmospheric pressure is
obtained both at the inlet and outlet of the stove for avoidance of
extinguishment of the flame and the steady maintainence of tho desired
course of the heated products. Diaphragm arrangements create a
separate chamber or compartment for the heater, and for the course of
the heated products.
In some cases fresh outer air is brought through the ascending or the
descending or through both portions by pipes or ducts into the room or
chamber for ventilating purposes; or the air of the room or chamber may
be made to circulate through the stove by these means.
An opening in the stove above or at the side of the burners may be
arranged for lighting them with avoidance of explosion of gas in the
passages of the apparatus at the time ignition, and a plate or slab of
terra cotta or similar substance may be placed above the flamės, and
sometimes a heating chamber is arranged above the burners,
For diffusing heat in a room or chamber, I have a shaft or main pipe
or cylinder divided by diaphragm arrangements, from which shaft, pipe,
or cylinder I lead branch pipes which communicate above or between
the diaphragms, so that the heat from the heater strikes against the
diaphragm immediately above it, which action efficiently causes the air
above such diaphragm to expand and to draw round and through the
branch pipes the said heated products. Any suitable number of
diaphragms and branch pipes may be provided.
In some cases where gas is the source of heat in the apparatus
(and sometimes of light), I prefer to deflect the pipes so as to prevent all
or most of the deleterious products of combustion from entering the room
or chamber, which products then either fall when cooled to the lower
portion or portions of the apparatus, or are condensed, and arrangements
are made for their removal. Sometimes I combine the heating of water.
with this apparatus.
The foregoing system can be applied to stoves wherein coal or other
similar fuel is employed, and the smoke be partially consumed in its
passage over the lower and upper surfaces of the lower diaphragm.

page_text: In some of my lighting or lighting and heating apparatus constructed
on principles the same as shewn in Fig. 11 in the Patent aforesaid
(and wherein the light is placed high in the apparatus), I adapt the same
so as to bring up heated air to the burners to support combustion, and
sometimes I adapt the apparatus so as to prevent the deleterious products
of combustion or most of them from entering the room or chamber. The
form of apparatus I in such cases prefer to adopt is a single stem or
pillar-like pine supporting the lighting portion thereof. The air to
support combustion ascends upon a downward pipe enclosed therein, and
which conveys the downward current of the heated products which can
be carried from the room or chamber, or be allowed to enter the same
by a returning upward pipe denuded, however, of much that is dele-
terious in them, which becomes cooled and falls to the to the bottom
of the apparatus, or is condensed in its passage round and through the
same.
Sometimes I arrange for the supply of a stream of cold air to pass
over the lower or condensing portions of the apparatus, and in some cases,
as for shop windows, this long stem or pillar arrangement may be lowered
through a floor or the show board of a shop window. When fresh air
is desired to be supplied to the burner I provide for the same and
arrange to modify the pressure of outer air upon the flame. When the
above-named stem or pillar arrangement is short (and in some other
cases), I sometimes use plates or pieces in the lower portion of the
apparatus for lengthening the passages and condensing the vapours
arrising in the products of combustion, especially when they are not
carried into the outer air by a chimney flue.
.
In some of my gas stoves I cause the flames to pass over an arrange-
ment of twisted wire, iron shavings, and asbestos, and when modified this
arrangement becomes suitable to my stoves wherein coal or such like fuel
is used. The said arrangement prevents the fuel from massing together,
admits air through it, produces a bright effect, improves combustion,
and gives out more heat. I consider the same is suitable of application
in stoves other than those of my Invention.