IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE GRATES, CHAIRS, OR BASKETS OF FIRE-PLACES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Godfrey Gray, of Sudbury, in the County of
Suffolk, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE
GRATES, CHAIRS, OR BASKETS OF FIRE-PLACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Godfrey Gray at the
"IMPROVEMENTS
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd January 1880.
JOHN GODFREY GRAY, of Sudbury, in the County of Suffolk.
IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE GRATES, CHAIRS, OR BASKETS OF FIRE-PLACES."
The objects of this Invention, which relates to certain improvements in or appli-
cable to the grates, chairs, or baskets of fire-places, are to regulate the draught so
as to effect the complete combustion of the fuel, to obtain the maximum effect as
regards the radiation of heat into the chamber required to be warmed, and to very.
greatly reduce the consumption of fuel.
My Invention consists in the application to the grates, chairs, or baskets of
existing fire-places of (or in the construction of such parts of fire-places with) an
adjustable back draught plate in lieu of the usual solid back, or fixed back pierced
with draught holes or openings.
In adapting my improvements to existing fire-places I provide small racked bars
or equivalent details which fit from the front to the back at the inner sides of the
chair, grate, or basket, and which are provided to allow of the said back draught
plate being adjusted as required to any desired inclination, leaning from such racks
or other supporting details in a rearward inclined position with its upper edge
bearing against the back of the grate, preferably about the level of the front top
bar, though it may be arranged higher or lower, and thus dividing the fire place
into a frout combustion chamber and a rear air chamber, the relative sizes of which
can be altered at pleasure.
By this arrangement I obtain a considerable air-space, the size of which may be
adjusted as desired by shifting the back draught plate, and to which air passes
from the ash-pit through the grate hars, and thence into the body of the fire
through suitable draught openings made in the plate, and which openings I make
either vertically, horizontally, or oblique, and with suitable projecting vanes or
plates which catch the ascending air and deflect it into the body of the fire, thus

page_text: promoting the complete combustion of the fuel, preventing smoke, and causing a
more efficient radiation of the heat into the room.
When constructing fire-places with the above described adjustable back draught
plate I may in some cases dispense with the usual back plate altogether. I can
also make openings in the top of the said plate to assist the draught in chimneys
requiring such aid. I make the bottom of the plate of such a curvature as will
allow of the poker being readily passed thereunder to rake out any ashes which
may fall through the draught openings.
By the application of these improvements I am enabled to lessen the consumption
of fuel by lessening the space the fuel can occupy, taking up a part of the usual
grate space by the air space, and thus prevent the useless consumption of fuel in the
lower and back parts of the grate, and from which no useful effect is derived, and
this I effect without lessening, but increasing, the cheerful aspect of the fire and the
radiation of heat therefrom.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Godfrey Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
July 1880.
JOHN GODFREY GRAY, of Sudbury, in the County of Suffolk.
"IMPROVEMENTS
"
IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE GRATES, CHAIRS, OR BASKETS OF FIRE-PLACES.'
The objects of this Invention, which relates to certain improvements in or appli-
cable to the grates, chairs, or baskets of fire-places, are to regulate the draught so
as to effect the complete combustion of the fuel and prevent the undue formation
of smoke, to obtain the maximum effect as regards the radiation of heat into the
chamber or room required to be warmed, and to very greatly reduce the consump-
tion of fuel.
My Invention consists in the application to the grates, chairs, or baskets of
existing fire-places of, and in the construction of such parts of fire-places with, an
adjustable back draught plate to be used in lieu of the usual solid back or fixed
back pierced with draught holes or openings.
My Invention is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings
in Figures 1 to 3, which respectively represent a section from back to front, and a
section from side to side of an ordinary fire-grate, chair, or basket as adapted with
my adjustable back draught plate, and a section from back to front of another fire-
place constructed and adapted according to another modification of my Invention.
In adapting my Invention to existing fire-places I provide small racked bars 1,
or equivalent details such as bars 2, perforated with holes and fitted with removable
pegs 3, which fit from the front to the back close to the inner sides 4 of the chair,
grate, or basket 5, and are provided to allow of the improved back draught plate 6
being adjusted as required to any desired inclination, leaning from such racks or
other supporting details in a rearward inclined position with its upper edge against
the back of the grate, preferably about the level of the top front bar, as shown
most clearly in Figure 1, though it may be arranged higher, as shown in Figure 3, or
lower; thus dividing the fire-place into a front combustion chamber 7 and a rear
air chamber 8, the relative sizes of which can be altered at pleasure.
By this arrangement I obtain a considerable air-space, the size of which may be
adjusted as desired by shifting the position of the draught plate 6 either in the
rack or its equivalent, or by means of a shifting top plate 9, and to which space
air passes from the ash-pit through the bottom grate bars, and thence into the
body of the fire through suitable draught openings 10 made in the plate, and which
openings I make either vertically, horizontally, or obliquely, the plate also being.
adapted with one or more projecting vanes or plates 11 which catch the ascending
air and deflect it into the body of the fire, thus promoting the complete combustion
of the fuel, preventing smoke, and causing a more efficient radiation of heat into
the room.
When constructing fire-places with the improved back draught plate 6 I in some
cases dispense with the usual back plate altogether, as shown in Figure 3, and in lieu
of having the rear air-chamber 8 continuous, as illustrated in Figure 1, I can partition
it into two or more chambers without interfering with the adjustability of the
plate 6. These chambers may be formed by slide plates 12, carried by the plate 6,
and working in slots 13 in the wall or back 14 of the fire-place, or by metal plates
fitted to the back of the plate, or in any other suitable manner; and each of them
may be supplied with air from any available source by means of pipes 15 or other
suitable means which lead thereto, and are provided with any suitable means of
controlling or completely shutting off the supply of air to the chambers, so that the
draught is under complete regulation. The lowest chamber is supplied with air
from the ash-pit through the bottom grate-bars, and the front portion of the grate
may be closed by means of a plate 16.

page_text: In either of the above arrangements the bottom edge 17 of the back draught
plate 6, which may be either made of cast iron or of fire-brick, is made of such a
curvature or other shape as will allow of a poker being readily passed thereunder
to rake out any ashes which may fall through the draught openings 10.
By the application of the above described improvements I am enabled to lessen
the consumption of fuel by lessening the space the fuel can occupy, taking up a
part of the usual grate space by the air space, and thus prevent the useless con-
sumption of fuel in the lower back part of the grate, and from which no useful
effect is derived; and this I effect without lessening, but increasing, the cheerful
aspect of the fire and the radiation of heat therefrom.
Having now described the nature and objects of my said Invention, together
with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
The novel and peculiar application to the grates, chairs, or baskets of fire-places
of, and also the construction of fire-places with, an adjustable back draught plate
pierced with draught holes or openings and otherwise adapted, substantially as
herein before described, to be used in lieu of the usual solid back or fixed back
pierced with draught holes, substantially as and for the purposes herein before
described, and as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Godfrey Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
J. G. GRAY. (L.S.)