AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OR CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE USED FOR PREVENTING SMOKE AND EFFECTING ECONOMY OF FUEL
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Titus Higginbotham, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENT OR CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE USED FOR PREVENTING
SMOKE AND EFFECTING ECONOMY OF FUEL."
Sealed the 19th May 1868, and dated the 26th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Titus Higgin-
botham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th November 1867.
I, CHARLES TITUS HIGGINBOTHAM, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN
IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OR CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE USED FOR PRE-
VENTING SMOKE AND EFFECTING ECONOMY OF FUEL," to be as follows, that is
to say:
This Invention which relates to an improved arrangement or construction
of fire-bars and furnaces, by means of which the escape of smoke is prevented
and a consequent or proportional economy in-fuel is obtained, consists in using

page_text: fire-bars having a hollow web, or partly hollow and partly tubular web, which
bars may or may not also have in addition to the hollow or tubular web
certain lateral openings through which air may pass into the overlying stratum
of fuel. Accross the inner end or side of the furnace a hollow bridge or chamber
is formed, the ends of the bars passing into the hollow bridge or chamber
through its front wall or side, the bars thereby constituting air passages into
the chamber. As the air passes through the bars its temperature is raised,
and it consequently passes as hot air into the chamber, from which it escapes
through one or more suitably formed openings, and mixing with the gases
escaping over the bridge from the incandescent fuel causes their complete
combustion and therefore prevention of escape as smoke. By preference a
double set of bars is used, and the bridge is built hollow from the bottom
upwards, the top of the opening being covered with slabs of fire-clay or by
brickwork, and the openings through which the heated air escapes are situated
at an angle directed towards the flues, that is, inward from the furnace proper.
To incrcase the effect of the furnace a jet of steam may be introduced in the
neighbourhood of the bridge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Titus Higginbotham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
TITUS HIGGINBOTHAM, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Titus Higginbotham, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Titus Higginbotham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Titus Higginbotham, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
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
"AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OR CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES TO BE USED FOR

page_text: PREVENTING SMOKE AND EFFECTING ECONOMY OF FUEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Titus Higginbotham, 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 Charles Titus Higginbotham, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention, which relates to an improved arrangement or construction
of fire-bars and furnaces by means of which the escape of smoke is prevented
and a consequent or proportional economy in fuel is obtained, consists in using
fire-bars having a hollow web or partly hollow and partly tubular web, which
bars may or may not also have in addition to the hollow or tubular web certain
lateral openings through which air may pass into the overlying stratum of
fuel. Across the inner end or side of the furnace a hollow bridge or chamber
is formed, the ends of the bars passing into the hollow bridge or chamber
through its front wall or side, the bars thereby constituting air passages into
the chamber. As the air passes through the bars its temperature is raised,
and it consequently passes as hot air into the chamber, from which it escapes
through one or more suitably formed openings, and mixing with the gases
escaping over the bridge from the incandescent fuel causes their complete
combustion, and therefore prevention of escape as smoke. By preference a
double set of bars is used, and the bridge is built hollow from the bottom
upwards, the top of the opening being covered with slabs of fire-clay or by
brickwork, and the openings through which the heated air escapes are situated
at an angle directed towards the flues, that is inward from the furnace proper.
To increase the effect of the furnace a ject of steam may be introduced in the
neighbourhood of the bridge.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now
proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under
which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference
being had for the sake of more complete elucidation to the letters and figures
upon the explanatory Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended,
that is to say:-

page_text: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the furnace end of a boiler fitted with
grate bars and bridge according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse
section on the line a, 6; Figure 3 is an enlarged section of one of the fire:
bars; and Figure 4, a sectional plan of the same. The grate bars a are put
into the boiler in two lengths, and are supported at the front and centre of the
furnace where the grate bars meet on cross bars supported on the side of the
flue; the innermost end of the grate bars are built into the bridge, as shown
on Figure 1. The top of the grate bars a are solid and may be of any
desired form on the surface, but instead of the bars being formed with one
central rib, as in the usual mode of construction, a web or rib b is formed at
each side of the bar extending throughout its entire length, leaving an air
space or channel between the webs, as shown on Figures 2 and 4. The air
passes into the air channel between the webs, as indicated by the arrows on
Figure 1, and escapes by the small holes c formed in each web into the space
between the fire-bars and thence into the furnace. In this manner the heat
which has been abstracted from the furnace by the fire-bars is in turn ab-
stracted from the bars by the air as it passes along the channels and returned
to the fire to assist in the combustion of the gases, which would otherwise in a
great degree pass into the chimney. In order to still further effect the com-
bustion of the gases passing over the bridge the bridge d is built hollow,
as shown on Figure 1, and a part of each of the inner set of fire-bars is
nade tubular by a bottom piece e connecting the webs at the under side of the
bar. Through the tubular part of the air passes into the hollow bridge d, and
thence by a hollow frame or tube g into the flue at the back of the bridge, as
indicated by the arrows on Figure 1.
Another part of this Invention consists in employing a jet of steam behind
the bridge to increase the draught of the furnace and induce a sufficient
current of air to pass in by the tube 9 in the bridge d; h is the steam pipe
conducting steam from the steam space of the boiler furnished with a cock i
conveying the steam to the transverse arms k, which are perforated at the
back side through which the steam escapes as may be required, and assists in
effecting the combustion as well as in increasing the draught.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, I may explain that I lay no claim to have invented every separate
detail, but what I do consider as novel and original and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is, the general arrangement and combination constituting the improved

page_text: furnace, as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Titus Higginbotham, have here-
unto set my band and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
CHARLES T. HIGGINBOTHAM. (L.S.)