Year: 1897

page_text: HENRY SIMCOCK, Engineer, Lodge View, Birch, near Heywood, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
The object of this invention is to insure more economical use of fuel for generat-
ing steam in land or marine boilers.
To do this I propose the following novel arrangement.
I employ a special fluted hollow grate bar running the full length of the furnace
as required.
The said bar will be of cast iron or other suitable metal having a oval shaped
hole cast through it from end to end, the thickness of the bar being such as is
found most suitable & so arranged that when two or more such bars be put side by
side to form the required width of grate surface, a space between them for the
necessary quantity of air to pass through is allowed for the fire side, this is arranged
by casting nugs or projecting pieces on the sides of each bar.
The front end of the said grate bar i.e. the one nearest the furnace doors, will
be made of such width for a distance of about 9" inches in length equal to the
widest part of the bar, this will be such that when a number of bars are placed
together side by side a flat surface will be formed to substitute what is known in
ordinary fire grates as dead plates.
The same thing applies to the back end of the said grate bar for a distance of
about 4" inches, to act as a shelf to allow the fires at back to die down as air cannot
get to this part of the fire.
Both ends of the said grate bar will be carried by suitable bearers secured to the
furnaces of the steam boiler.
The front end of the said bars forming the fire grate is connected to the front
bearer in a suitable manner & the said bearer is connected to a furnace frame pro-
vided with a hinged fire door.
The bottom side of the hinge on the said fire door is provided with a suitable
projection or cam so arranged that when the said door is opened for firing pur-
poses the said cam pushes forward a perforated slide placed underneath the bottom
side of the fire door, on the furnace frame.
The said perforated slide is so arranged that when the fire door is opened, the
perforations come opposite the open ends of the grate bars so as to allow air to pass
through the hollow passage in the said bars.
A special appliance in the form of two hollow metal balls fixed on a lever is made
to regulate the return motion of the said slide & so close the ends of the said grate
bars.
The said balls will be placed one at each end of the lever & be fulcrumed about
the centre of the lever & fixed to the said furnace frame below the fire door.
The said balls will be charged with a quantity of quick silver & so arranged with
a special slotted quadrant acting a pin secured to the said slide that when the said
door is opened the balls will be pulled over through the action of the aforesaid cam.

page_text: The said quick silver will flow from one ball to the other through an arrange-
ment of two tubes & when regulated will overturn the said lever by gravitation
for any length of duration, as is required, & pull back the said slide.
In case of bad natural draught a forced draught apparatus will be fixed in the
form of two steam jets, one on each side the said fire door & the introduction of the
steam will be regulated by the aforesaid cam on the fire door, the said cam working
a piston valve by means of a lever.
The said piston valve will be connected to both the said steam jets by a copper
pipe fixed outside the aforesaid furnace frame.
At the back end of the aforesaid grate bars will be provided a special form of
fire bridge.
The said fire bridge will consist of a cast iron sleeve fitting over the back end
of the said grate bars.
The back end of the said sleeve is blanked up with a suitable horizontal damper
plate swivelled, & controlled from the front end of the furnace by suitable levers &
rod passing underneath the grate bars.
The said sleeve will be a convenient height above the level of grate bars to form
the fire bridge & be so arranged that the air passing through the said hollow grate
bars will pass out at the top of the said sleeve & thus unite with the gasses passing
over the bridge.
The said bridge sleeve will be protected from the fire by a suitable strong cast
iron angle shield plate fixed on the top of the said sleeve, one end resting on the
back end of the grate bars. The horizontal distance between the said shield plate
& the sleeve being about 4 inches.
The back bearer carrying the back end of the said grate bars has fixed to it a
suitable hinged door to block up the passage underneath grate bars & also allow of
easy access to the back side of the said fire bridge for cleaning out purposes.
The improvements affected by this invention are:-
1. Better method of introducing hot air for smoke prevention & improving com-
bustion & thus be more economical in the consumption of fuel.
2. Better method of applying forced draught.
3. No brickwork required in fire bridge.
4. The fire bridge and grate bars expand & contract together & facilitate easy
inspection for cleaning purposes.
Dated this 14th day of August 1897
improved Furnace Fittings for Steam Boilers.
I, HENRY SIMCOCK, of Lodge View, Birch, near Heywood, in the County of
Lancaster, 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 will be illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings
of which:
Fig. 1 is an outside elevation of my improved furnace fitting mechanism applied
to an ordinary furnace of a steam boiler and showing perforated slide, with hollow
balls & cam on fire door fixed in position, and
Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same at right angles to the plan of Fig. 1,
and showing fire bars, front & back bearers & firebridge.
. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the firebridge sleeve, and

page_text: Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the same,
Fig. 6 is an outside elevation of the firebars, and
Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of the same through X Y Fig. 6.
is a top plan view of the firebar.
Fig.
Fig. 8 is an outside elevation of the perforated slide.
Fig. 9 is an outside elevation of the front bearer and
Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of the same at right angles to the plane of Fig. 9.
Fig. 11 is a top plan view of the front bearer.
Fig. 12 is an outside elevation of the back bearer and
Fig. 13 is a top plan view of the same.
Fig. 14 is an outside elevation of the hollow balls and lever mechanism, and
Fig. 15 is a sectional elevation of the same through S T Fig. 14.
Fig. 16 is a top plan view of the same.
My invention relates to furnace fittings for ordinary steam boilers when fired
or stoked by hand, both for boilers having internal wrot iron or steel furnaces or
outside brick furnaces, and consists of special hollow metal grate bars with
bearers, firebridge, furnace frame and door and perforated slide with mechanism
for regulating same in the form of hollow metal balls with levers, valves, tubes and
chain, and in case of bad natural draught I adopt a special forced draught.
Figs. 2, 6, 6 and 7, represent my special hollow grate bar A the hole A¹ extends
the whole length of the bar, the end A2 butts against the furnace frame P and
connects to the front bearer K and the end A³ fits into the firebridge sleeve B see
Figs. 1 and 2.
The underside of said grate bar at the end A2 has a projection A* which fits
inside the opening of bearer K see Fig. 2.
The body of the said grate bar A is made of less section than at the ends A³
and A³ except in 1 or more places as A5. This all-ws a space to be formed between
the grate bars when 2 or more such bars are placed side by side.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, show my special firebridge which consists of a sleeve
casting B having a perforated grid D at top, and a horizontal swivel damper plate C
the said damper plate C being swivelled to the sleeve casting B by 2 centres or
pins C and connected to a rod C4 (supported horizontally underneath the grate
bars A and terminating at the front end of furnace by a handle C5) by an angle
bracket and hinged connecting rod C³.
The said sleeve casting B is attached to the end A³ of the grate bars A by 4 or
more set screws B¹.
The sleeve casting B if necessary will be protected on the fire side by a cast iron
angle plate B see Fig. 2 or fire clay slab.
Figs. 2, 9, 10, and 11, represent my special front bearer K having an opening K¹
to receive the projection A on the grate bars A. Figs. 6 and 7.
ends K which when fitted to the internal furnace of steam
slotted K³ to fit on studs secured to the said internal furnaces.
to be further secured to the furnace frame P.
To have flanged
boilers will be
The said bearer
Figs. 2, 12, and 13, represent my special back bearer L which has a deep flange L¹
blocking up the whole space of the furnaces underneath and beyond the grate
bars A.
The said bearer L to be provided with a hinged door L³ which can be opened
from the front end of the furnace and underneath by a chain L³ working over a
small pulley suspended from the grate bar A which is in the centre of the furnace.
Figs. 1, 2, and 8, represent my special perforated slide, the perforations H¹ being
practically the same size as the hole A¹ in the grate bars A, Figs. 6, 64, and 7, the
number of perforations H¹ being equal to the number of grate bars A necessary
to form the whole width of the furnace, and the distance between the perforations
to be equal to the distance between the holes A¹ in any 2 adjacent grate bars A.
The said slide H to be placed on the outside of furnace frame P opposite the

page_text: ends A³ of the grate bars A and supported by two slides H2 fixed to the frame P
the said furnace frame P being perforated in a similar manner to the said slide H
so as to coincide with the holes in the grate bars A.
i
Figs. 1, 14, 15 and 16 represent my special mechanism for regulating the motion
of the slide H and consists of two hollow metal balls G and G connected by a
lever working on a pin G8 the said pin G8 being attached to the furnace frame P
at G. The balls are further connected by 2 tubes G¹ and G³ having respectively
.2 valves G and G5 one of which valves to act as a stop valve by means of a screwed
spindle and seating, and the other, valve to act as a back pressure valve. On the
pin G8 will be fixed if required an angle lever Go having a slot G7, the said angle
lever Go so placed that the end G12 will come in contact with projection E¹ on the
fire door E when the said door E is opened.
The slot G7 is fitted with a pin H³ connected to the slide H in order that when
the lever is moved the slide H is likewise moved through a certain distance.
The slide H will be further provided with a bracket H+ so placed as to come in
contact with a cam F on the bottom side of the hinge on the door E.
The said hollow balls G and G will be partially filled with quick silver, and the
flow from one ball to the other will be regulated by the stop and back pressure
valves G and G5.
One of the said balls G will be connected by a chain G working over a
pulley Go to the fire door E in such a manner that when the said fire door E is
closed the ball G will be so raised that quicksilver will flow from it to the ball G
by means of one of the tubes G¹ G³.
The action of this mechanism will be as follows, when the said fire door E is
opened by the boiler attendant during the process of stoking, the ball G is
lowered by means of the lever Go or the bracket H by one or both of which coming
in contact with the door E so that the quick silver in the ball G will flow into the
ball G quickly by means of the tube which has the back pressure valve fitted in
as well as the other tube. When the fire door E is closed after stoking, the ball Ga
is lifted by means of the chain Gu into such a position that the quick silver will
flow back again into the ball G which, when it has received more than half the
amount of quick silver, will by the action of gravitation, fall down, thereby
moving the slide H by means of the pin H³.
The motion of the slide will by so regulated by the bracket H4 as to be equal
to about half the distance between two adjacent perforations H¹. When the ball G
has descended as described the slide H covers the holes A¹ in the grate bars A.
The improvements in the furnace fittings herein before described are amongst
other things, allowance for the grate bars to expand and contract during use,
also economy in fuel on account of air being allowed to pass through the holes A¹
in the grate bars A and unite with the gases over the firebridge B by means of
the perforated grid D thus improving combustion, the air being prevented from
passing through the bars when combustion is completed by means of the slide H
closing the ends of the grate bars A. The time for combustion or time set for the
balls G and G to actuate the slide H will be regulated by the aforesaid stop valve
on one of the tubes G G³.
In case of bad natural draught I employ a special forced draught arrangement,
consisting of a tube N Fig. 1, both ends of which as N2 will be provided with a
steam jet projecting through the furnace frame P into the furnace, one on each
side of the fire door E.
Steam will be admitted to the tube N by the tube N¹ leading from an equilibrium
valve, which valve will be regulated by a lever fixed to the bracket H' so that steam
will be admitted if required only during the time of combustion.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination, arrangement and construction of hollow grate bars in which

page_text: air passes through for combustion, substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated by Figs. 2, 6, 6, and 7, of the drawings.
2. The combination, arrangement and construction of firebridge, with the
mechanism for connecting to the grate bars, mixing hot air with the gases for com-
bustion and easy arrangement for cleaning, substantially as herein before described
and illustrated by Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the drawings.
3. The combination, arrangement and construction of the bearers for support-
ing the grate bars and allowing for easy cleaning and erection, substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated by Figs. 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, of the
drawings.
4. The combination, arrangement and construction of the mechanism for regu-
lating air to pass through the grate bars, substantially as and for the purpose
hereinbefore described and illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, 8, 14, 15; and 16, of the
drawings.
5. The combination, arrangement and construction of the mechanism for admit-
ting forced draught, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
Fig. 1 of the drawings.