IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING THEM WITH FUEL
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dennis Hall, of Wharton Grove, Winsford, in the
County of Cheshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING THEM WITH
FUEL"
Sealed the 1st January 1869, and dated the 2nd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dennis Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1868.
I, DENNIS HALL, of Wharton Grove, Winsford, in the County of
Cheshire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING
THEM WITH FUEL," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The improvements which constitute this Invention relate more par-
ticularly to furnaces for salt pans, but may also be applied to steam
boilers and other furnaces generally.
The object of my Invention is to make provision for feeding the said
furnaces with fuel by mechanical appliances, and thus to save the

page_text: manual labour consequent from the ordinary plan of feeding by a shovel
or other similar means.
In carrying out my Invention at the mouth of the furnace I make
a number of openings one above another, dividing them by hollow
blocks through which air may pass into the fire. In front of and
above the said openings I provide a hopper or fuel container, the fuel
in which falls upon the outer ends of the hollow blocks before mentioned.
The blocks increase in length towards the bottom in step-like arrange-
ment so that the fuel in the hopper rests upon their outer ends. In
the spaces between the blocks I fit plates of iron in an inclined or
vertical position, which close the openings, and are fitted with rods
jointed respectively to a lever or levers for pushing them through the
spaces between the blocks, which spaces they are made to travers.
To feed the furnace with fuel the lever rods and block plates are drawn
backwards, when the coal or other fuel will fall upon the projecting
ends of the blocks behind the said block plates, which latter upon being
moved forward push the fuel into the fire or furnace. The block plates
answer the double purpose of doors and fuel 'feeder's.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Dennis Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on thie
2nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENNIS
HALL, of Wharton Grove, Winsford, in the County of Cheshire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
'Letters Patent, bearing date the 'Second day of July, in the year of
our Lord' One thousand eight hundred' and 'sixty-eight, 'in 'the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, "Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Dennis Hall, Her special licence that I, the
said Dennis 'Hall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, 'the said Dennis Hall, 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,
'

page_text: and Isle, of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION, OP=
FURNACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING THEM WITH FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Dennis Hall, my executors.
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under 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 calendar months next and immediately, after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Dennis Hall, 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:-
The improvements which constitute this Invention relate more par-
ticularly to, furnaces for salt pans, but may also be applied to steam
boiler and other furnaces generally.
The object of my said Invention is in whole or in part to dispense
with fire-bars and the ordinary grates, and to make provision for feeding
the said furnaces with fuel by mechanical appliances, and thus to save
the manual labour consequent from the ordinary plan of construction
and mode of feeding by a shovel or other similar means..
In carrying out the said improvements, instead of fitting the furnaces:
with the ordinary bars, firing door, and open ash-pit, I close the ash-..
pit with a door made to fit the open space above or mouth of, the furnace.
with transverse cast-iron shelves, plates, or fire-brick blocks. These-
shelves,, plates,. or blocks, increase in length or project one beyond the
other into the furnace from top to bottom in step-like arrangement and?
divide the opening into a number of spaces. In these spaces I place
vertical or inclined perforated box plates or box grates,, which are made.
to fill the spaces and to move backwards and forwards by push rods.
fitted inside for giving the required motion thereto by hand or other.
power. These grates are made in the form of a box with one side
out, the opposite side being the grate.. The fuel which is supplied from.
a hopper at the top of the furnace falls and rests. upon the plates or
blocks and is pushed off from one on to another by the motion of the
pusher plates or grates and is thus removed from step to step from
the top to the bottom of the furnace, where the ashes. fall through
an opening into a receptacle in the ash-pit. This receptacle is moveable

page_text: and mounted upon wheels so that it can be run in and out as required
through the door or doors before-mentioned which close the opening
to the ash-pit. When charging or feeding the furnace the pushers are
drawn back and the coal or other fuel in the hopper falls upon the upper
plate or block, and is thence pushed off from block to block or from step
to step in succession or simultaneously (falling partially upon and
partially behind the clear fire next below), the smoke or other crude
products of combustion having thus to pass through or over the clear
fire or incandescent heat, and are more perfectly consumed or intensely
rarefied and thus increase the heating power of the fuel or furnace.
The necessary quantity of oxygen is supplied through the perforated
pusher plates or grates and through the shelves, plates, or blocks, the
latter being made hollow for that purpose. Instead of dividing the
mouth of the furnace by blocks or slabs the required divisions may
be effected by solid or hollow bars of metal or other suitable material
of a rectangular or other form, laid side by side longitudinally and
supported upon transverse bearings, or be made self-supporting by
arching them. Arches may also be used in place of any of the arrange-
ments herein described for effecting the required divisions of the furnaces.
The push rods which work the pushers can either be worked by hand
separately or may be fitted with suitable mechanical media for moving
the pushers simultaneously, alternately, or separately as the particular
circumstances may require. The plan which I propose is to connect
the outer end of each rod to a lever with a coupling and uncoupling
joint or draw pin so as to work one or more of the pushers at the
same time either by hand or otherwise. For removing clinkers from the
blocks the pushers may be armed with points or cutters, and for
cleaning the bars the latter may be made to slide or reciprocate one
between the other; the formation of clinkers thereon or their adhesion
thereto will thus be prevented. The pushers when made to fit and
fill the openings will operate as blowers.
The accompanying Drawings are intended to illustrate the form and
mode of constructing the improved furnaces, the details being varied
according to the use for which the same may be intended.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.

page_text: or brine pans, but shews the push rods and mechanism removed;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the centre of the furnace at
the line A, B, Figure 1.
The following reference applies to both Figures where the index letter
is repeated :-
a is the brine pan or boiler; b, the furnace boiler; c, the blocks or
plates by which the furnace is divided into upper and lower fuel tiers
or steps; d, d, fuel on the blocks; e, moveable box grates which close
the spaces between the blocks; f, pusher rods for moving the grates,
which are here shewn as drawn back for a charge; g, a lever to which
the outer ends of the pusher rods are coupled; h, the hopper for con-
taining and supplying the fuel; i is a rod which is jointed to a cross
bar ij, reciprocating bars the ends of which are connected to the
cross bar and moved by the lever g. These bars are formed with
inclines or curves projecting from their bearing surfaces in order to
cause them to rise and fall at the same time as they move backwards
and forwards. k, intermediate bars, which may either be fixtures or
made to reciprocate also if desired; 1, transverse bearers; m, the ash-pit
closed in front and made partially air-tight; n, ash waggon or receptacle ;
o, iron doors which close the opening or archway o'; p, flue or channel
for the heat from the furnace to pass or circulate in contact with the
heating surface of the pan or boiler; q, q, the ordinary line or angle
of the surface of the fire and fuel; r, a fire-plate fitted under the inner
edge of the first block above the bottom or grate intended to be moved
forward from time to time to maintain the edge of the step c as it is
impaired by the intense action of the fire in which it is here enveloped
when the furnace is in operation; s are metal plates or brackets built
in the brickwork for supporting the ends of the blocks c. The space
between the grate j, k, and the fire plate r is left open for the air to
pass through the incandescent fire at the bottom of the furnace; this
and the other air spaces are marked with an arrow thus ☑>
The action of the furnace is as follows:-The coal previously crushed,
or which may be of the small kind, or other fuel is put into the
hopper which may be made of a sufficient capacity to contain
one day's supply (more or less), and as the fire burns down the lever g
is drawn back to the position shewn at Figure 2, when the coals
in the hopper will fall upon the upper block which forms the bottom

page_text: of the space or division d, and upon again pushing the lever forward
the partially consumed fuel at & will be carried over the point c
to d, and that at over the point D on to the top of the box of the
pusher f, the pushers being then in the position shown by the dotted
lines, and when the pushers are drawn back will fall to a partially
upon and partially behind the clear fire, and so on as often as the lever
is moved, which may be done at certain intervals of machinery in con-
nection with a steam engine, or by weights raised by hand or in any
convenient way, a hand pusher being occasionally passed through
the space under the plate to clear the bottom plate or grate of ashes,
and thus the heat of the furnace will be uniformly maintained and
without hand labor after it has been charged and the fire lighted
at d; when lighting the spaces are filled up with fuel and then ignited
fuel put in in front.
Figure 3 shews the mode of forming the blocks when made of
fire-clay and supported by an iron traverse plate.
Figure 4 shews the mode of forming the blocks cither of firc-clay
or cast-iron and supporting them in the same way. t, one of the blocks,
and the supporting plate, being air spaces.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 shew the mode of forming the blocks when
intended to be self supporting and when the arch principle is adopted,
in which case u, u, may be air spaces if required; v is a fire-plate of
cast-iron placed over the arch when made of ordinary fire-brick.
Drawing B.-This Drawing shews the mode of adapting the improve-
ments to steam engine boilers and to furnaces generally.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a Cornish boiler, and Figure 2 is a
longitudinal section through the centre of the furnace and boiler at
the line A, B, Figure 1. In this case, instead of forming a fire-grate
inside the boiler in the usual way, I leave the centro tube entirely
open and construct the furnace in the position here shewn, and cause
the heat from the fire to act directly upon the whole of the interior
surface of the centre tube and at the same time upon a considerable
portion of the external surface of the boiler, around and under which
I leave an open space for that purpose, and support the boiler upon
centre and side pillars instead of the usual seating.
The details of construction are similar to those before described in
reference to Drawing A, except that the push rods are moved by the

page_text: suspended lever or levers which terminate with a segmental rack in
gear with the pinion & turned by the lever handle c.
Having thus explained the nature of my said improvements, and
illustrated and described the modes of applying the same in practice,
I hereby further declare that what I desire to secure by the before-
mentioned Letters Patent is, the construction of furnaces for salt-making
boilers or brine pans, as also for steam engines, gas ovens, and other
furnaces, in the form and manner shewn upon the Drawings, or in a
form and manner analogus thereto, and supplying such furnaces with
air and fuel, and operating in the manner illustrated and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dennis Hall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of
our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.