IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND OTHER COM- PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Joseph Mackie, of St. Peter's Terrace,
Kensington Park Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND OTHER COM-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Joseph Mackie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1867.
I, SAMUEL JOSEPH MACKIE, of St. Peter's Terrace, Kensington Park Road,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND
OTHER COMBUSTIBLE FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to insure the better combustion of petroleum
and other combustible fluids by means of hollow moveable bars sometimes
having porous or perforated wicks; these bars may be made to replace the
fire-bars of ordinary furnaces, so that such furnaces may be made to consume
liquid fuels supplied through the hollows in the bars, or fixed bars may be

page_text: used. Sometimes I use a dish-shaped or a cylindrical hollow vessel, it need
not be of metal, in place of an ordinary shaped bar, and I apply to them
wicks or other similar agents for the purpose intended. And at other times
I make such bars also to have a central cavity or slot for the admission of air
or steam.
Where a porous floor is employed for burning petroleum or other liquid
fuel, as has beretofore been proposed, I arrange the porous floor so that there
shall be open spaces or perforations for the admission of air or steam
through it.
And I also in some cases form a grate of a number of cells, into which
I put wicks, or of a number of porous or perforated cells, so as to produce a
battery of burners, each somewhat similar to an Argand lamp or Bunsen
burner, in which air or steam, or both combined, are the means of supporting
combustion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Joseph Mackie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
JOSEPH MACKIE, of St. Peter's Terrace, Kensington Park Road, Bayswater,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Joseph Mackie, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Joseph
Mackie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other's as I, the
said Samuel Joseph Mackie, my 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR BURNING PETROLEUM AND OTHER COMBUSTIBLE
FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Joseph Mackie, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: 5
'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 Samuel Joseph Mackie, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists, first, in burning petroleum and other combustible
fluids in furnaces by means of hollow moveable bars having porous or
perforated wicks. These bars may be made to replace the fire-bars of ordinary
furnaces; or in place of moveable bars, fixed hollow bars may be used.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a bar such as I prefer; a is the bar it
is made of sheet iron about th of an inch thick, and the bar may conveniently
be from 5 to 12 inches in depth. b is a wick fitted into the bar and closing it
at the top from end to end. I prefer to produce this wick by mixing fire-clay
with as much tow, hair, or other fibre as can be worked into it without des-
troying its cohesion, then moulding the mixed clay to the form of the wick and
burning it. In the burning the vegetable fibre is destroyed, and numerous fine
channels for the oil are left in the wick, or similar passages may be produced
by means of needles whilst the clay is plastic. The bars are coupled together
with pipes on the under side or in other convenient position, and from them a
pipe passes to the oil cistern. A stop-cock regulates the flow of the oil from
the cistern to the bars, and I apply a gauge glass between the stop-cock and
the bars to indicate the head or pressure tending to force the oil through the
wicks to guide the furnace man in the regulation of the furnace.
making the bars of wrought iron they may be made of cast iron.
cases I supply.some of the bars, it may be every alternate bar, with water in
place. of with oil. By the heat of the fire the water evaporates and supplies
steam to the fire; by this means the formation of smoke is prevented:
Sometimes I make such bars to have a central cavity or slot for the admission
of air or steam. Figure 1* shows one of the water bars.
In place of
In some
Figure 2 is a portion of a plan, and Figure 3 a transverse section of such
a bar, a is the bar, and 6 the wick as before. The bar as will be seen is made
double, and the two parts may be connected together by transverse bars, also
having wicks.
c is a steam pipe with nozzles upon it rising up in the spaces
in the bar; the same spaces also serve for the passage of air to the flame.
Where an intense fire is desired oxygen may be supplied through these

page_text: openings. A regulating cock is applied to the steam pipe; or in place of
this arrangement I employ an intermediate water bar as already mentioned,
and whether water or steam be used I apply an index in connection with the
supply valve or cock to show accurately the extent to which the valve or cock
is open, in order that the supply of water or steam may be regulated in
accordance with that of the oil, and as practice may show to be most
advantageous. It is not essential that wicks should be employed; the bars
may simply be perforated on their surfaces. Where a porous floor is employed
for burning petroleum or other fuel, as has heretofore been proposed, -I,
according to my Invention arrange the porous floor with open spaces or per-
forations for the admission of air or steam through it.
Figure 4, is a section of a porous floor thus arranged for burning petroleum
or other fuel. a, a, are bearers on which the floor is carried; b is a plate
resting on these bearers; c, c, are porous blocks, by preference made of fire-
clay and fibre as already described, or they may be made of coke, a coke-like
composition; c, c¹, are spaces beneath these blocks to which the petroleum or
liquid fuel is supplied; d, d, are short pipes or passages passing between the
blocks c, and through the plate b; these passages serve either for the admission
of air to the fire, or they may, as is shown at d¹, be connected with a steam
pipe and furnished with a rose-like nozzle. Usually I apply steam in this
manner at one or more places in the porous floor or grate, and the other
passages d are employed for the admission of air.
Also according to my Invention, I, in some cases form a grate of a number
of cells, into which I put wicks so as to produce a battery of burners, each
somewhat similar to an Argand lamp burner or to a Bunsen burner.
Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of such an arrange-
ment. a, a, are the wick holders connected together by pipes; b, b, and c, are
the main pipes by which the oil is supplied; d are the wicks, by preference
of clay prepared as already described, they are made most conveniently of
cylindrical form, but they may be of other form and a small jet of steam may
if desired be introduced at the centre of each.
In place of employing wicks and wick holders as above described, porous or
perforated cells may be employed; a longitudinal section of this arrangement
is shown at Figure 7. a, a, are. metal cups connected together by the oil
pipes b, b, and c, c, are the cells set into the cups a; these cells may
conveniently be made of clay prepared as already described. In each of these
cases the fire may be urged or intensified by arranging a perforated pipe over
the bars or porous floor or burners, and running from front to back of the

page_text: furnace. A small stream of rock oil is admitted to the pipe and blown
through it into the furnace by the steam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Joseph Mackie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
SAMUEL J. MACKIE. (L.s.)