IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES, STOVES, AND FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Tildesley, of Willenhall, in the County
of Stafford, Manufacturer, and James Bird, of the same Place,"
Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF FURNACES, STOVES, AND FIRE-PLACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Tildesley and
James Bird at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 23rd January 1868.
We, MATTHEW TILDESLEY, of Willenhall, in the County of Stafford,
Manufacturer, and JAMES BIRD, of the same Place, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES, STOVES, AND FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows"
(that is to say):
This Invention has for its object the construction of furnaces, stoves,
and fire-places generally in such manner that the air may come in
contact with the fire and a draught may be created upon all sides of

page_text: the fire and at the bottom, the top alone being closed, by which
construction we obtain perfect smoke consuming fires. We provide
the front of the furnace or fire-grate with sloping bars, by preference
from front towards the back, and these bars may be either parallel
with each other or formed tapering, that is to say, with larger spaces
or openings between them at their bottom ends, or the bars may run
longitudinally from side to side, and they are supported either between
iron castings or columns or by suitable brickwork piers, in which
case are formed air flues or draught holes, which passing up on either
side supply air to each side of the fire through vertical or nearly
vertical side gratings or fire-bars which are fixed or connected to the
front bars or set in the brickwork; these side gratings may also be
shaped slanting from front to back, where they are connected at their
wider ends to a back grate or set of bars placed vertically or nearly
so with a space behind it for the free admission of air from underneath
the furnace or fire-place; a moveable flat bottom grate is also provided
so as to be capable of being opened to remove the cinder from the
furnace or fire-place; above the vertical back grate and bridge an
opening is formed in the brickwork through which the flame passes
into the heating chamber of the furnace which is in communication
with a flue stack of sufficient height for the requisite draught. The
top of the furnace or fire-place is provided with a fire-brick arch
spanning the width, a longitudinal opening or space being left in the
front for the feeding of the fire, which space is kept always sealed or
packed with fuel, and this feed opening may be furnished with a
hopper or cover so that no air may play upon the top of the fire at
this part. A furnace thus constructed will burn any slack, small coal,
or other description of fuel, the immense draught produced or brought
to bear upon all sides of the fire and at its bottom part creating a heat
that will effectually consume all smoke which usually passes through
into the flues, the combustion produced therefrom into the heating
chamber of a furnace being a brilliant and clear gas fire free from
smoke and smell.
Instead of the arrangement already specified we propose in some
cases to make our furnaces or other fire-grates of a taper form widening
towards the bottom or towards the top, which form may be either
round, oval, square, oblong, or polygonal sided in plan; this form we
secure in a slanting position from front to back, the one half or segment
of the bottom being furnished with an open draught grate, the fuel

page_text: being fed into the fire from the top as before specified. Or by another
arrangement we form the fire-grate or bottom bars in a V form sloping
from the sides inwards as well as from front to back of the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATTHEW
TILDESLEY, of Willenhall, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
and JAMES BIRD, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird,
Her special license that we, the said Matthew Tildesley and James
Bird, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 CON-
STRUCTION OF FURNACES, STOVES, AND FIRE-PLACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 we, the said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object the construction of furnaces, stoves,
and fire-places generally in such manner that the air may come in
contact with the fire and a draught may be created upon all sides of
the fire and at the bottom, the top alone being closed, by which con-
struction we obtain perfect smoke consuming fires. We provide the
front of the furnace or fire-grate with sloping bars, by preference from
front towards the back, and these bars may be either parallel with
each other or formed tapering, that is to say, with larger spaces or
openings between them at their bottom ends, or the bars may run
longitudinally from side to side, and they are supported either between
iron castings or columns which also support and carry vertical or
nearly vertical side gratings or lateral fire-bars which are fixed or
connected to the front bars or set in the brickwork. These side gratings
or lateral fire-bars may also be shaped slanting from front to back
where they are connected at their wider ends to a back grate or set of
bars placed vertically or nearly so with a space behind it for the free
admission of air from underneath the furnace or fire-place; a moveable
flat bottom grate or set of bars is also provided so as to be capable of
being opened to remove the cinder from the furnace or fire-place;
above the vertical back grate and bridge an opening is formed in the
brickwork through which the flame passes into the heating chamber
of the furnace which is in communication with a flue stack of sufficient
height for the requisite draught. The top of the furnace or fire-place
is provided with a fire-brick arch spanning the width, a longitudinal
opening or space being left in the front for the feeding of the fire,
vhich space is kept always sealed or packed with fuel, and this feed
opening may be furnished if necessary with a hopper or cover so that
no air may play upon the top of the fire at this part. A furnace thus
constructed will burn any slack, small coal, or other description of
fuel, the immense draught produced or brought to bear upon all sides
of the fire and at its bottom part creating a heat that will effectually
consume all smoke which usually passes through into the flue, the
combustion produced therefrom into the heating chamber of a furnace
being a brilliant and clear gas fire in some cases entirely free from
smokę and smell, in other cases to a very great extent free from smoke
or smell.
Instead of the arrangement already specified we propose in some
cases to make our furnaces or other fire-grates of a taper form widening
towards the bottom or towards the top, which form may be either

page_text: round, oval, square, oblong, or polygonal sided in plan; this form we
secure in a slanting position from front towards the back, the one half
or segment of the bottom being furnished with an open draught grate,
the fuel being fed in to the fire from the top as before specified. Or
by another arrangement we form the fire-grate or bottom bars in a
V form sloping from the sides inwards as well as from front towards
the back of the furnace.
We will now proceed to describe our Invention more fully in detail
by aid of the Drawings hereunto attached and the letters and figures
marked thereon.
Referring to Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a furnace
constructed in accordance with our improvements, which we have
shewn for the sake of illustration as applied to the heating of a steam
boiler; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a transverse
section taken upon the line (A., A,) of the plan and looking into the
heating chamber.
Figure 4 (Sheet 2) represents the parts of the furnace in sectional
plan, and Figure 5 is a longitudinal section upon the line (B, B,) of
Figure 4.
We provide the front of the furnace with ordinary sloping bars (a)
which extend from the front towards the back with sufficient incline,
for instance at the angle shewn at (a) Figure 5. These bars (a) may
be either parallel with each other or formed tapering, that is, with
larger spaces or openings between them at their bottom ends, or the
bars may be made to run longitudinally from side to side. The bars (a)
are supported or held in position upon cross bearers or axes (c) which
are carried by suitable iron castings (6) and supports or standards (6').
(d) are the side gratings or lateral fire-bars, which may be formed solid
with the castings (6) or may be attached thereto as desired, in either
case we secure the forward ends of the castings (6) to the supports
or standards (61), and build in with the brickwork of the furnace the
other ends of the. side gratings (d) or castings (b) as indicated in dotted
lines. The lateral fire-bars (d) are shewn in the Drawings as being
exactly vertical, but they may be formed so as to slant from front to
back or to any desired angle, or from bottom to top or from top to
bottom. (e) is the back grate or back end vertical set of bars being
held within grooves or recesses in the side gratings at (e¹) with a clear
space behind it from the under side for the free admission of air to

page_text: the fire at that part, and if necessary this back set of bars may have
a sliding action up and down within the grooves or recesses (e¹) so as
to be opened or closed for enabling the clinker or cinder to be readily
removed from the bottom of the grate, such opening and closing
motion may be given to the back grate, or set of bars (e) from the
action of a crank arm and lever handle (f) or by any other suitable
means. (g) is the bottom set of bars, grate or grid, which may be
capable of being opened for the removal of cinder or clinker by means
of a forward or sideways sliding action of such grate or grid upon
flanges or within grooves, and it may also have a rocking or shaking
motion by means of a crank and lever arm (h), and this motion we
purpose using with the front sloping bars by forming a connection
between the bearers or axes (c) by means of a crank and crank
arms (,), which are secured on the square ends of the bearers (c)
so that the motion of the lever handle (h) will impart a simultaneous
rocking motion to the front bars (a) and bottom bars (9); to this
motion we lay no claim, and use it merely for the purpose of aiding
the passage or descent of the fuel to the fire. Above the back set of
bars or grate (e) is formed the bridge (k), and above this bridge is
an arched opening or mouth as usually employed through which the
flame passes into the heating chamber, and in order to obtain a
reverberatory traverse of the flame we sometimes form a second arch (¹)
so that the flame will travel in the direction of the arrows Figure 5,
this second arch ensuring the combustion of any trifling smoke which
may have escaped over the bridge (k). The top of the furnace or
fire-place is furnished with a fire-brick arch (1) spanning the width
and supported by the brickwork jambs (), which are built upon the
castings (6) and side grates (d), or the fire-brick arch (1) may be built
upon the flanges of the side castings or grates (6) and (d) without the
brickwork jambs (F). (m) is an opening or feeding space for the
passage of the fuel, and this space we keep always sealed or packed
with the fuel, so that the use of a cover or hopper as contemplated
in our Provisional Specification we find unnecessary as no air can
possibly play upon the fire at this part. The fire-brick arch (1) is
shewn in the Drawings as adapted to the shape of the boiler, for other
furnaces or fire-places the outline of such arch will be somewhat varied,
and in applying our Invention to a Cornish or flue boiler we propose
inserting about half of the length of the furnace or cradle form of the
fire-grate into the flue of the boiler, allowing sufficient space around

page_text: the sides from the outside for the free admission of air to the fire at
such parts. (n) is a fire-guard or slide provided with balance weights
and chains (n). The remaining portions of the Drawings are ordinary
mechanical details of which further mention is unnecessary.
Instead of the arrangement already specified we propose in some
cases to make our furnaces or other fire-grates of a taper form in plan
widening towards the bottom or towards the top, which form may
be either round, oval, square, oblong, or polygonal sided; this form
we secure in a slanting position from front towards the back, the one
half or segment of the bottom being furnished with an open draught
grate and the fuel being fed into the fire from the top as before specified,
or in some instances a modified form of our furnace or grate may be
formed with one solid cheek or side and one open one for the admission
of air, which arrangement may be desirable in certain conditions; or
by another arrangement we form the fire-grate or bottom bars in a
V form sloping from the sides inwards as well as from front towards
the back of the furnace. Furnaces constructed as herein described
will burn slack, small coal, or other descriptions of fuel, and the main
object of our Invention is to provide a furnace or fire-place which
shall have a draught brought to bear upon one or both sides and the
back end of the fire as well as at its bottom or under side, no air being
admitted above the fuel, thus creating an intense heat towards the
bridge which will be sufficient at the point of combustion to consume
all smoke which usually passes through into the stack or flue, the
combustion produced in the heating chamber being a brilliant and
clear gas fire free from smoke and smell in most cases.
Having thus described the nature and object of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same may be carried into effect, we
wish it understood that we do not intend to limit ourselves to the
precise details herein described and illustrated, nor do we claim any
of the mechanical parts apart from the general arrangement or com-
bination of the whole; but that which we do claim is, the construction
of furnaces, stoves, and fire-places generally by the combination or
arrangement of the various mechanical parts or their mere equivalents,
substantially in manner as herein more fully set forth and specified,
by which air may be brought into contact with the fire or through
the fire upon one or both sides, the back end and bottom or under

page_text: ide of such furnaces, stoves, or fire-places, the top portion only being
closed and packed, and no air admitted but through the ignited fuel.
In witness whereof, we, said Matthew Tildesley and James Bird,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.