AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROMOTING COMBUSTION OF FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES AND OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROMOTING COMBUSTION OF
FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES AND OTHER FURNACES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Clark Fisher, of Trenton, in the State of
New Jersey, United States of America.
Sealed the 18th September 1866, and dated the 1st August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st August 1866.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROMOTING COM-
BUSTION OF FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES AND OTHER FURNACES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to effect a rapid and at the same time an
economical combustion of coal and other fuel in steam boiler and other
furnaces; also to effect the consumption of smoke and gas in furnaces in a
more perfect manner than heretofore. It consists in forcing upward by means
of a fan, blower, or pump one or more jets of cold air into the chimney or
smoke pipe of a furnace. By thus introducing the air under pressure into the

page_text: chimney at a point which is above the heating surface a partial vacuum will
be created in the fire-chamber, and the air from the fire-room will be made to
circulate through every part of the chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the. said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Edward Newton, 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
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROMOTING COMBUSTION OF FUEL IN STEAM BOILER
FURNACES AND OTHER FURNACES," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing bereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :
:-
The object of this Invention is to effect a rapid and at the same time an
economical combustion of coal and other fuel in steam boiler and other

page_text: furnaces; also to effect the consumption of smoke and gas in furnaces in a
more perfect manner than heretofore. It consists in forcing upward by
means of a fan, blower, or pump one or more jets of cold air into the chimney
or smoke pipe of a furnace. By thus introducing the air under pressure into
the chimney at a point which is above the heating surface a partial vacuum
will be created in the fire-chamber, and the air from the fire room will be
made to circulate through every part of the chamber.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section
taken through one form of steam boiler and furnace baving the present
Invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through Fig. 1,
taken in the vertical plane indicated by the line x, x; and Fig. 3 is a front
elevation; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section taken in a vertical plane through
a boiler and its furnace, shewing a method of employing steam to force air
upward in the smoke pipe.
.
The principle of the Invention consists in forcing air into a smoke pipe or
chimney at a point which is above the furnace or heating chamber, and at a
velocity which is considerably greater than that which would be obtained by
a natural draft, thus obtaining not only the required velocity or force of air,
but also obtaining air in such quantity as will by its friction on the sur-
rounding column of air in the chimney or smoke pipe induce an accelerated
upward current, and thus draw into the furnace chamber a sufficient supply
of air to promote a free and perfect combustion of the coal and smoke therein.
To effect this object I employ a fan A, Fig. 2, which is enclosed within a case,
and which receives a rapid rotary motion. From the fan case a pipe or
conduit B is carried upward and through the wall of the chimney or smoke
pipe C of the furnace D, and its upper end terminates in a contracted nozzle a
which is directed upward in or nearly in a parallel line with the axis of the
chimney, and which is located above the furnace chamber, so that the air
shall not by its cooling effect, carry off the heat below. This pipe B is con-
tracted at its discharge end for the purpose of obtaining greater velocity of
air, which combined with quantity of air produces the beneficial results above
set forth. By thus forcing air in jets into the chimney of a furnace the
chimney will be kept at a comparatively low temperature above a certain
point, and hence is secured safety from fire where chimneys or smoke pipes
pass up through the decks of vessels or through roofs of buildings. It is not
only found by forcing air under pressure into chimneys above the furnaces
thereof that the combustion in the furnaces is more complete; but it is also
found that bituminous or other soft coal can be burned very successfully and
economically with little or no escape of smoke and gas.

page_text: Instead of employing a blast fan or air engine for forcing air into the smoke
pipe or chimney C the same result will be obtained by employing steam for
forcing air through a nozzle h into the chimney. This plan is shewn in Fig. 4,
in which G is a steam pipe communicating with the boiler in any suitable
manner, and leading through the wall of the chimney C, and also through the
wall of the air nozzle h; this steam pipe is directed upward for a short
distance in the nozzle h, and when steam is allowed to escape through the
pipe G, either continuously or intermittently, air will be drawn in through the
lower end of the pipe in large quantities, and will be forcibly ejected into the
chimney.
Attempts have been made to promote combustion in furnaces by a con-
trivance which would draw the heated air out of the lower part of the chimney
and force it in again at a point higher up, with a damper between, smoke jacks
or fans have also been placed in chimneys and driven by engines. Steam has
also been directed into chimneys through nozzles, as in the case of locomotive
and other engines; but to none of these plans do I lay any claim.
Having described the Invention that has been communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I claim, as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent
as aforesaid, the employment of fans or other suitable air engines having pipes
leading from them into the chimneys, and directed upward; also the force of
steam for the purpose of promoting the combustion of fuel in furnaces by
forcing air or air and steam into the chimneys at points which are above the
heating surfaces at a greater velocity than that which would result from
natural draft, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)