Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Burning Petroleum, Naphtha, and other Liquid Fuels in Steam Boiler Furnaces.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1893
[Communicated from abroad by Tomaso G. B. DE FERRARI DI G. B.,
of Genoa, in the Kingdom of Italy.]
Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Burning Petroleum,
Naphtha, and other Liquid Fuels in Steam Boiler Furnaces.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co.,. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to apparatus for burning petroleum, naphtha and other
liquid fuels in steam boiler furnaces.
For burning liquid fuels, more especially petroleum, in order to heat steam
boilers, use has heretofore generally been made of burners formed of tubular
devices designed to inject the liquid fuel into the furnace, which does not enable
such fuel to be completely burnt. By my improved apparatus the petroleum
or other fuel is prevented from being burnt in the form of jets thrown at a
certain pressure into the free space of the furnace, being caused to enter the
same in a very finely divided state, not merely at a slight pressure, but almost
sucked or drawn in by means of an incombustible spongy material, such as
asbestos, sands, earths or other suitable substances, acting somewhat similarly to
wicks, which renders the combustion perfect. The improved apparatus is
constructed so as to enable the same to be applied to any furnaces which are
already in common use.
This apparatus comprises a grate made of one or more juxtaposed or adjacent
cases filled with the above-mentioned spongy materials, each separately or if
necessary mixed and suitably arranged. Into these cases which act as burners
the liquid fuel is conveyed in the manner hereinafter described. The air intro-
duced is distributed in a suitable manner by deflectors, so that this grate designed
for petroleum or other liquid fuel will produce a perfect combustion. At the
same time the grate is so constructed that it may at will be easily and rapidly
substituted for or replaced by the grates used for burning coal in the furnaces
ordinarily employed.
In the accompanying drawings, the improved apparatus is represented only by
way of example, as the construction of the same may be varied to suit any type
of furnace, without departing from the nature of my invention.
Figures 1, 2 and 24 illustrate an elementary mode of applying a grate which,
as shown, consists of a single case, but may also be composed of several cases.
Figures 3, 34, 3B and 4 represent a mode of applying to the furnace of an ordinary
marine boiler a grate which, as shown, has four burner cases, two and two
coupled symmetrically, but a greater or smaller number of cases may be used
their arrangement being varied according to the type of boiler employed.
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a steam boiler furnace provided
with a grate for liquid fuel to replace the grate used for burning coal, which as is
well known, is usually composed of a series of adjacent bars. Figure 2 is a
perspective view of the improved grate without asbestos or other spongy material,
showing the perforation of a second bottom employed for supporting the asbestos,
and below which the liquid fuel arrives. Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical
section of the grate containing asbestos and filled with petroleum.
Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of a marine boiler of the ordinary
construction, showing the application of the improved grate for burning petroleum,
substituted for the grate previously used for burning coal, from which it has only

page_text: been necessary to remove a portion of the bars on both sides, leaving a great
number of the intermediate bars in their place. Figures 34 and 3B show a front
view and plan of the regulating and distributing cock for the passage of the
petroleum to the grate. Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section on the line x-x
of Figure 3.
The elementary form of the burner case is constructed of sheet iron and provided
with arms d by the aid of which it may be substituted for the ordinary bars
these arms bearing upon girders which are either already existing or specially
provided in the furnace. Figures 2 and 24 show the second or upper bottom of
perforated sheet metal, and a number of vertical channels a made of appropriate
form which traverse the bottom and the bottom 6 and the upper orifice of which
extends to the same level as the edge of the case. Above the upper bottom 6 the
case is provided up to its edge with spongy material, preferably asbestos forming a
kind of wick. The petroleum or other liquid fuel enters the case at a slight
pressure through the pipe G terminating a little above the bottom f, fills the lower
part of the case and passing through the holes of the upper bottom b rises by reason
of its ascensional force and the capillarity of the said material, undergoing combus-
tion in a very finely divided state on a level with the edge of the case. The air is
allowed to circulate all around the case by leaving a certain length of the arms d
free so that the flames are entirely surrounded with air for effecting the complete
combustion.
In Figure 1 A. is the furnace having a grate provided with a burner case and
placed upon girders E; B is the space for the boiler, C the flue or passage for the
products of combustion; D is the door of the furnace and F the door of the ash
pit. Of these two doors the latter, when the grate is employed for burning
petroleum remains constantly closed, and the second serves only for the entrance of
air for the combustion for the natural as well as artificial draught. The pipe G
for supplying the grate receives the petroleum from the funnel J provided at various
heights with overflow pipes H H, through which the excess of petroleum is
conducted to a reservoir for returning it by means of a pump P either to the
principal reservoir or to a small feed reservoir R, which supplies the funnel J by
means of the pipe n provided with the regulating cock r.
In Figures 3 and 4 which as above stated represents sections of a marine boiler
is shown a mode of applying the invention by means of four burner cases coupled
two and two and arranged symmetrically at A' and A³ at a certain inclination
relatively to the vertical axis of Figure 4. These cases bear longitudinally against
the side of either of the two chambers C₁ C³ provided below the level of the
ordinary bar grate or in the ash-box which is divided into three compart-
ments CCC by the inclined partitions P3 P3. The plane of the ordinary grate
is left free at the two sides to a certain width, and its central part is covered by a
plate P of sheet iron bearing upon girders U U, the latter being in their turn
supported by cross bars B B which are used in the ordinary construction of the
furnaces and ordinarily support the bars. Upon the same girders U U rests the
longitudinal cover P' curved as shown in Figure 4 and forming both a partition and
a deflector. In the upper front part of this cover P2 is formed the opening O'
establishing communication between the upper and lower spaces F1 and F2 into
which the furnace A is divided by the said cover P.
The feed of petroleum takes place through the pipe T, Figures 3 and 3B, having
at its end a regulating and distributing three-way cock R which connects the said
pipe T with the two pipes T¹ T3, each of which is subdivided into two smaller
pipes t¹t leading each to one of the burner cases to pass lengthwise through the
same in proximity to the bottom. The said pipes t¹ are finely perforated through-
out the portion contained in the burner cases so that the latter are suitably supplied
with petroleum whether they are made of the form shown in. Figures 3 and 4, or
in Figures 2 and 2^, or of any other suitable form. The petroleum comes from a
reservoir provided with overflow pipes and arranged at such a height that the

page_text: petroleum in the case will by its own pressure reach only up to a certain height. The
capillarity of the asbestos or other spongy material will then cause it to rise, in a
state of extreme division, up to the level of the edge of the case where it is
lighted and burns by reason of the supply of air.
The quantity of air necessary for the combustion will reach the flames in the
first place through the two openings O³ ³ provided in the front wall of the ash
box and opening directly into the two combustion chambers C' C³, and in the second
place through the two partitions P3 P3 appropriately perforated at their upper part
and more particularly near their rear extremity. These two air currents are
supplied through the door O¹ at the centre of the front wall of the ash box, and
are heated as they pass through the central compartment C² of the ash-box in
contact with the plate P¹. This preliminary heating of the air renders the
combustion more perfect.
The openings O¹ 03 03 are formed in a plate which may be readily substituted
for the ordinary door of the ash-box. As regards the door 0 of the furnace
which is necessary for heating with coal when the latter is used, it is kept tightly
closed during the heating by means of petroleum so as not to cool the products of
combustion, nor to augment the volume of the same by the access of a quantity of
air which would not only be useless but deleterious.
The passage of the products of combustion is indicated by arrows in Figures 3, 4.
Leaving the combustion chambers C₁ C³ they pass directly upwards into the
space F between the curved cover or deflector P2 and the upper interior wall of
the furnace, where they are conducted to the front part; then they descend through
the opening O to pass between the cover P2 and the plate P¹ that is to say into the
compartment F which they traverse the entire length to its rear wall which is
left open; through the latter they enter the ordinary chamber D' and through the
ordinary boiling tubes they return to the front into the smoke chamber D' at the
lower end of the chimney through which they escape as usual.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. For heating steam boilers by means of petroleum, naphtha or other liquid
fuel the employment of apparatus which comprises a grate having burner cases
provided up to their edges with asbestos, sand, earth or porous materials which
absorb and draw to the surface of the cases the liquid fuel which arrives in the
said cases either beneath the perforated second bottoms, or in perforated pipes,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Second. For heating steam boilers by means of petroleum, uaphtha or other
liquid fuel, the employment in the furnace of a conduit for the preliminary
heating of a portion of the air necessary for the combustion, a grate having
burner cases A which are arranged at the lower part and laterally below inclined
and perforated plates P³, a lower central compartment C³ for the arrival of a
current of air which is heated in contact with the plate P arranged on a level
with the bars and forming a partition between the said lower central compart-
ment C2 and the upper central compartment F2 limited above by the curved
plate P2 forming a cover or deflector, in such a manner that the combustion of
the petroleum is effected at the surface of the burners by the aid of a first
direct air current coming through the doors of the combustion chambers CC³,
and of a second current of air supplied by the lower central compartment C
provided with its own door and traversing the lateral perforated plates P3 of
the said compartment, and that the burnt gases pass upwards from the furnace,
surrounding the upper central compartment F', traverse the space F in their
return to the front of the furnace descend through O' into the upper central
compartment F which they traverse coming in contact with the plate P₁, for

page_text: heating the air, substantially as and for the purposes set forth, with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Dated 15th day of October 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.