IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jervis Tucker, late Captain R.N., of Sheerness,
in the County of Kent, now Rear-Admiral R.N., residing at Paris, and
George Blaxland, Superintending Engineer of H.M. Dockyard, Sheerness,
in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Jervis Tucker and
George Blaxland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 25th August 1857.
We, JOHN JERVIS TUCKER, Captain R.N., of Sheerness, in the County of
Kent, and GEORGE BLAXLAND, Superintending Engineer, of H.M. Dockyard,
Sheerness, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES," to be as
follows:-
The object of our Invention is to improve the combustion of the gases
evolved from the fuel supplied to furnaces, and the transmission of the heat
thus obtained to the substance or substances to be heated; and our Invention
consists in placing within the furnace a series of hanging and rising (or
complete) blocks or bridges, composed of fire-clay or other suitable material;
such blocks or bridges being placed at suitable distances apart, and perforated
with numerous holes, or not, as may be required, and in providing for the
admission of the oxygen of the atmosphere to the aforesaid gases by means

page_text: of perforations or apertures formed through the bridge which supports the fire
bars, and below the level of the fire bars, or otherwise. On the fire of the
furnace being lighted, the blocks or bridges before described are gradually
heated until they become incandescent, the gases of the fuel then impinging
upon them mixed with the oxygen of the atmosphere become ignited, and
intense heat is produced, which heat is prevented by the blocks or bridges
from escaping too readily through the flue, and consequently becomes taken
up by the surfaces of the steam boiler or other vessel exposed to the fire of the
furnace.
We are aware that blocks of fire-clay have before been used in the con-
struction and fitting up of furnaces, and we therefore lay no claim to the mere
employment of that or similar material; but what we consider as new, and as
our Invention is, the employment of a series of hanging and rising (or
complete) blocks or bridges of such material, arranged in connection with
apertures for the admission of atmospheric air, as before described. By this
arrangement more perfect combustion and more rapid evaporation of water
into steam may be obtained in steam boilers without the use of tubes, than
have heretofore been obtained with them, and the arrangement is also
attended by the additional advantage of non-production of smoke.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Jervis Tucker and George Blaxland in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
JERVIS TUCKER, late Captain R.N., of Sheerness, in the County of Kent, now
Rear Admiral R.N., residing at Paris, and GEORGE BLAXLAND, Superintending
Engineer, of H. M. Dockyard, Sheerness, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Jervis Tucker and George Blaxland, Her special licence that
we, the said John Jervis Tucker and George Blaxland, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Jervis Tucker
and George Blaxland, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-

page_text: after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Jervis Tucker and George Blaxland, or one of
us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of our or 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 we, the said John Jervis Tucker and George.
Blaxland, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the.
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The primary objects to be attained in and in connection with steam boiler
and other furnaces are, first, the generation from the fuel consumed in such
furnaces of as large an amount of heat as it is possible for it to evolve; and,
secondly, the transfer to the substance or substances to be evaporated or
heated of as large a portion of the heat generated as it is possible to extract
from the products of combustion before they pass away into the atmosphere.
It is with the first of these objects in view that the various smoke-preventing
furnaces now known have been contrived, for as the combustion of the fuel
is improved, and the heat generated thereby increased, the quantity of
smoke (properly so called) emitted from the furnace is proportionately
diminished; and it is with the second of these objects in view that multi-
tubular steam boilers have been very extensively employed. Now; most of
the smoke-preventing apparatuses hitherto contrived have been either com-
plicated and expensive in their construction, or troublesome in their operation;
and most of the multitubular boilers hitherto used, especially those applied to
high-speed marine engines, have been found to entail great expense upon their
owners in consequence of the rapidity with which their tubes and tube plates
are destroyed by the action of the furnace flame. It appeared to us, there-
fore, highly desirable so to construct furnaces, and adapt them to steam boilers
and other heating apparatuses, that both the heat generated from the fuel,
and the portion of that heat which is transmitted to the water or other sub-
stance shall be comparatively great, while the expense incurred in fitting and
working the said furnaces shall be comparatively small.

page_text: This end we have attained by our Invention, which consists in placing
within the furnace a series of hanging and rising or complete blocks or
bridges, composed of fire-clay or other similar and suitable material; such
blocks or bridges being placed at suitable distances apart, and perforated or
not with numerous holes, as may be required, and in providing for the
admission of the oxygen of the atmosphere to the gases evolved from the fuel
by means of perforations or apertures formed through the bridge which
supports the fire bars, and below the level of the fire bars, or by other suitable
means. On the fire of the furnace being lighted, the blocks or bridges before
described are gradually heated until they become incandescent, the gases
evolved from the fuel then impinging upon them mixed with the oxygen of
the atmosphere become ignited, and intense heat is produced. This heat is
prevented.by.the.blocks or bridges from escaping too readily through the flue,
and consequently becomes taken up by the surfaces of the steam boiler or
other vessel exposed to the fire of the furnace.
We are aware that blocks or slabs of fire-clay have before been used in the
construction and fitting up of furnaces, and we, therefore, lay no claim to the
mere employment of that or similar material; but a series of hanging and
rising or complete blocks or bridges of such material has not, we believe,
before been used after the manner of our Invention, and it is in this that both
the novelty and the utility of our Invention consist. We entirely dispense
with the use of numerous tubes or groups of tubes in the boilers to which our
improved furnaces are applied, and we have found from experiment that both
the combustion of the fuel and the evaporation of the water are improved by
the substitution of our Invention in any given case.
Our Invention is also attended by the additional advantage of non-production
of smoke. In some cases we find it advantageous to form the heating surface
of the boilers or other vessels to which our improved furnaces are applied
either wholly or partially of corrugated metal; but this we do not claim as
part of our Invention, as corrugated metal has before been applied to the same
purpose.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed we have represented the manner in
which our improvements may be applied to the furnaces of various forms of
steam boilers.
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a transverse section
of a cylindrical boiler with an internal furnace, in which a series of four fire-
clay blocks or bridges is introduced. A, A¹, are the hanging, and B, B¹, the
rising bridges. The fire bars C are supported by the first rising bridge B,
as shewn, and this bridge is perforated for the admission of air below the level

page_text: of the fire bars, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1, and by the
circles in Figure 3, which is a view of the bridge B detached. D is a per-
forated pipe entering from the back of the furnace. Through this pipe a
second supply of atmospheric air enters to the gases between the bridges
A¹, B. The remaining parts of the boiler being of the usual construction,
require no description. Figures 4, 5, and 6 are views respectively similar to
Figures 1, 2, and 3, and of a similar boiler. In this case, however, we have
introduced a third hanging bridge A", and a third rising bridge B", and have
extended the perforated pipe D farther forward. Figures 7, 8, and 9 are
views also respectively similar to Figures 1, 2, and 3, but in this case we have
introduced four hanging bridges A, A', A", A, and four rising bridges
B, B, B, B. Figures 10, 11, and 12 are views likewise respectively
similar to Figures 1, 2, and 3, and here we have two hanging bridges A, A¹,
and one rising bridge B, in combination with three complete bridges E, E¹, E",
each of which is perforated with numerous holes, as shewn in Figure 11.
Figures 13, 14, and 15 are views respectively similar to Figures 4, 5, and 6,
with the exceptions that the heating surface of the boiler is formed of
corrugated iron, as shewn at F, F, in Figure 13, and that the pipe D is
omitted. Figures 16, 17, and 18 are views respectively similar to Figures
7, 8, and 9, with the exceptions just mentioned. Figures 19, 20, and 21 are
views respectively similar to Figures 16, 17, and 18, but with four complete
bridges E, E, E", and E, substituted for the hanging and rising bridges
A¹, A, and B', B. It will be observed, that in order to ensure better
contact of the gases with the heated bridges, the perforations in E, E¹, and
E, E, are made at different levels. In Figures 22 and 23 we have
represented a longitudinal and transverse section respectively of a cylindrical
boiler, with two sets of internal furnaces one above the other. In this boiler
the number of furnaces is greater than usual, as we have found it advantageous
in some instances to increase their number and diminish their dimensions.
A, A¹, A", A, are the hanging bridges of fire-clay, and B, B¹, B", B₁, are
the rising bridges of the same material. In Figures 24 and 25 we have
represented a longitudinal and transverse section respectively of a marine
boiler with three internal furnaces and return flues above. Each furnace is
furnished at the back with a rising block or bridge A of fire-clay or fire-brick,
which extends up to the crown of the flue, and against which the gases evolved
from the fuel impinge. In each upper flue four hanging bridges A, A', A", A¹¹¹,
and three rising bridges B, B¹, B", are placed. The foregoing are some of the
readiest methods of applying our improvements to steam boilers, but we do not
limit ourselves to the arrangements shewn, as the number and disposition of

page_text: the blocks or bridges employed, and the method of introducing air between
them, may both be greatly varied. In all cases the said blocks or bridges may
be fixed in the furnaces by means of pins projecting from the furnace surface,
or bands of metal attached to the said surface, or in any other suitable
manner; but in the experiments we have made we have found it only
necessary to fix them in place by means of ordinary fire-clay.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim the employ-
ment in steam boiler and other furnaces of a series of hanging and rising or
complete blocks or bridges composed of fire-clay, or other similar and suitable
material, such blocks or bridges being placed at suitable distances apart, and
perforated or not with numerous holes, together with means for admitting
atmospheric air between or among the bridges or blocks, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Blaxland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
GEORGE BLAXLAND. (L.S
(L.S.)