IMPROVEMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE FURNACES OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Atterbury, of West Bromwich, in the
County of Stafford, Furnace Builder, and James Boyle, of
Handsworth, near Birmingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
59
Scaled the 2nd June 1876, and dated the 6th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Atterbury
and James Boyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th December 1875.
We, GEORGE ATTERBURY, of West Bromwich, in the County of
Stafford, Furnace Builder, and JAMES BOYLE, of Handsworth, near
Birmingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE FURNACES OF STEAM ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object the creating of a draught in
furnaces or boilers of steam engines whereby we are enabled to burn in
ordinary furnaces not only the coal as now adopted, but slack and
small coal.
The means we prefer to adopt are as follows:-On the shaft, axle, or
other convenient part of the engine we attach or secure a box, in which

page_text: box radiating from the shaft or axle we fix an arm or arms, at the
extremity or extremities of which fans or blades for creating a draught
are placed. From the box a pipe conveys or pipes convey the draught
to (or under as preferred) the fire-box or furnace of the engine. The
air enters the box by suitable orifice or opening left in side of same.
The engine shaft or axle as it rotates drives the fan or fans, and the
draught created by the same is conveyed by the pipe or pipes aforesaid
to the furnace where the blast acts on the fuel.
•
It will be seen that by adopting these arrangements, as for instance
to locomotives, the box is fitted on one of the axles, and this box in
which the fans work is secured by straps to the frame, the pipes con-
veying the blast proceeding from the said box to or under the fire-box
of the locomotive.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Atterbury and James Boyle in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
ATTERBURY, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Furnace
Builder, and JAMES BOYLE, of Handsworth, near Birmingham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said George Atterbury and James
Boyle, Her special licence that we, the said George Atterbury and
James Boyle, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said George Atterbury and James Boyle, our 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
CONNECTED WITH THE FURNACES OF STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Atterbury and James Boyle,

page_text: our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 calender months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE that we, the said George Atterbury and James
Boyle, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object the creating a draught in furnaces
or boilers of steam engines, whereby we are enabled to burn in ordinary
furnaces not only the coal as now adopted, but slack and small coal.
The means we prefer to adopt are as follows:-On the shaft, axle, or
other convenient part of the engine we attach or secure a box, in which
box radiating from the shaft or axle we fix an arm or arms, at the
extremity or extremities of which fans or blades for creating a draught
are placed. From the box a pipe conveys (or pipes convey) the draught
to (or under as preferred) the firc-box or furnace of the engine. The
engine shaft or axle as it rotates drives the fan or fans, and the draught
created by the same is conveyed by the pipe or pipes aforesaid to the
furnace where the blast acts on the fuel.
It will be seen that by adopting these arrangements, as for instance
in locomotives, the box is fitted on one of the axles, and the box in
which the fans work is secured by straps to the frame. The pipes con-
veying the blast proceed from the said box to or under the fire-box of
the locomotive.
Having now described and ascertained the nature and object of the
said Invention, and incidentally intimated in what manner the same is
to be performed or carried out in practice, we will now proceed (aided
by the accompanying Drawings) to further and particularly describe
and ascertain in what manner the same is to be performed or carried out
in practice, that is to say: —

page_text: enclosing fan; D, main pipe; E, branch pipes; F, tuyeres which
convey the blast into the furnace; G, valve for regulating the blast.
In applying our Invention to locomotives we place the fan which is
enclosed in box C on the axle B of the tender nearest to the engine,
and the blast is conveyed by pipe D to and into the branch pipes E, and
thence by tuyeres F into the furnace of the boiler, the blast being
regulated by the cock or valve G.
It is evident as the axle B turns it carries with it the fan enclosed in
box C, and the blast thus created is conveyed by the pipes, as before
described, and by this means fine slack can be burnt instead of coal as
ȧt present.
In fitting our Invention to marine engines the fan is fixed at the
nearest and most convenient place to the boiler furnace on the shafting
of the engine, and the blast is conveyed to and into the furnace, as
before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or put
in practice, we hereby declare that we claim the said Invention of
"Improvements Connected with the Furnaces of Steam Engines," sub-
stantially as the same is herein-before set forth and described and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Atterbury and James
Boyle, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six
Witness,
MR. G. ATTERBURY. (L.S.)
JAMES BOYLE.
(L.S.)
SAMUEL GREEN,
West Bromwich.
Witness to the signature of James Boyle,
A. J. WALTER,
Soho Road,
Handsworth.