IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SMOKE IN FURNACES AND IN EFFECTING A MORE PERFECT COM- BUSTION OF FUEL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ralph Peacock, of New Holland, in the County
of Lincoln, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR PREVENTING SMOKE IN FURNACES AND IN EFFECTING A MORE PERFECT COM-
BUSTION OF FUEL."
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 20th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Peacock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
April 1858.
I, RALPH PEACOCK, of New Holland, in the County of Lincoln, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING SMOKE IN FURNACES, AND IN EFFECTING A MORE
PERFECT COMBUSTION OF FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application and use of a self-acting furnace
door valve or sectional screw-bladed disc, for the purpose of regulating the
supply of atmospheric air requisite for the proper combustion of the coal at
the various periods after coaling, such valve regulating itself to the demand of
the furnace. The door is formed with an internal chamber, the outer plate
having a circular orifice, with a flange projecting round it, and fitted with the
sectional screw-bladed disc valve revolving on an axis. In the orifice of the
outer plate the blades are placed angling or forming the section of a screw,
the inside angle or screw section being exposed or open to the current of the
draught in the furnace, which is communicated with through one or a

page_text: series of perforated plates forming the inner plates of the air chamber, and
causing the disc to revolve and draw into the chamber or chambers above
named as much air as the power of the draught is equal to. At the end of the
chamber are one, two, three, or four perforated plates, the number of which
vary according to the length of chimney and power of draught, and are
the full size of the door, and serve to supply or distribute the air to the
furnace amongst the gases. The disc varies its number of revolutions ac-
cording to the power or pressure of draught on the inside area of the screw
bladed disc; when the draught is strongest, which is immediately after coaling,
the disc valve makes the most revolutions, and as the fuel on the bars burn
away the draught decreases in power or pressure, and the disc revolves slower,
consequently admits a reduced quantity of air through its oblique openings in
proportion to the demand of the furnace. By this application the disc valve
becomes a self-acting self-regulator to the furnace.
The same modification of door and sectional screw-bladed disc can be
introduced in the bridge and in the ash-pit. When the mouth of the furnace
is not constructed large enough to admit a disc of sufficient size to admit the
requisite amount of atmospheric air, the self-regulating disc valves being made
to work together or separately, the disc valve can be applied to the mouth-
piece of the furnace front or frame on each side of the furnace door; when
the door is too small to adinit of a valve, and air chamber of sufficient size, or
one on each side of the furnace may be used, with communicating air chamber
and disc valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Peacock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
PEACOCK, of New Holland, in the County of Lincoln, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ralph Peacock, Her special license that I, the said Ralph Peacock,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ralph
Peacock, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR PREVENTING SMOKE IN FURNACES, AND IN EFFECTING A MORE PERFECT
COMBUSTION OF FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Ralph Peacock by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Ralpli Peacock, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
screw,
My said Invention consists in the application and use of a self-acting and self-
regulating furnace door valve in the form of a sectional screw-bladed disc, for
the purpose of regulating the supply of atmospheric air to furnaces, and thereby
ensuring the proper combustion of the coal at the various periods after coaling,
such valve regulating itself to the supply of air which the furnace demands.
The furnace or fire-door is formed with an internal chamber, the outer plate
of such chamber having a circular orifice with a flange projecting round it,
and in which orifice the sectional screw-bladed disc valve revolves on an axis.
The blades of the valve are placed at an angle, thus forming the section of a
the inside angle or screw section being exposed or open to the current
of the draught in the furnace, which is communicated with through one or
more perforated plates forming the inner plates of the air chamber, and
causing the disc to revolve and draw into the chamber or chambers above
named as much air as the power of the draught is equal to. These perforated
plates are situate at the end of the chamber next the furnace, and their
number is varied according to the length of the chimney and to the power of
draught, and are the full size of the furnace door, thus serving to supply and
distribute the air into the furnace amongst the gases. The disc-varies its
number of revolutions in any given time, according to the power or pressure of
the draught on the inside area of the screw blades; when the draught is
strongest, immediately after cooling the disc valve makes the most revolutions,
but as the fuel on the bars burns away the draught decreases in power or
pressure, and the disc valve revolves slower, and consequently admits a reduced
quantity of air in proportion to the demand of the furnace. By this applica-

page_text: tion the disc becomes self-acting and the furnace self-regulating as regards the
supply of atmospheric air.
The same modification of door and sectional screw-bladed disc may be intro-
duced in the bridge and in the ash-pit, where the mouth of the furnace is.not
constructed large enough to admit of a disc of. a sufficient size to pass from
one hundred to three hundred and fifty cubic feet. of atmospheric air to each
pound of coal, or a total area of. from two and a half. inches to six square
inches for each square foot of fire-grate surface of the furnace, these self-
regulating disc valves working either together or separately. These valves.
may be applied to the mouthpiece of furnace fronts or door frames when the
door is too small to admit of a valve of sufficient size, or a valve may be placed
on each side of the furnace with a communicating chamber between, similar
to the air chamber of the door..
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
now proceed to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall refer to the
several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same letters
of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a front elevation of a
furnace door fitted with my improved disc valve; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
section of the same, and Figure 3 is a back elevation, shewing the perforated air
distributing plate. A is the disc valve composed of a number of screw blades
a, a, fitted to a central boss 6, which is free to turn loosely on the stud pin B.
carried by the cross bars C; this valve rotates freely within a circular opening
in the furnace door D, and draws the air into the chamber or space E left
between the furnace door and the perforated plate F, through the perforations
in which it injects the air in the form of a number of small jets into the body
of the furnace.
In Figure 4 the disc valve A is represented as being applied not only to the
fire-door as in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but also on either side of the mouthpiece
as at A¹, A. This Figure also illustrates the mode of applying the valve to
the front of the ash-pit, as shewn at A".
Figure 5 represents a partial front elevation and transverse section of another
mode of disposing the perforated air distributing plates, and Figure 6 is a.
corresponding longitudinal vertical section of the same. In this arrangement
the valve is placed in the door, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but the door,
which is made double so as to form an air chamber E, communicates at the
bottom with an opening made in the dead plate G, which is in the form of a
box having a grating or series of perforations F formed on its upper side for
admitting the air into the furnace, as shewn by the arrows.

page_text: Figure 7 is a longitudinal vertical section of an arrangement, shewing the
mode of applying the disc valve A for regulating the supply of air to the
bridge of the furnace, which bridge is perforated as shewn at F for the
purpose of distributing the air throughout the furnace and flue. In this
arrangement a tube or covered passage I must be employed for conducting
the air direct from the valve, which is placed beneath the ash-pit, to the
hollow perforated bridge.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of my said Invention. But 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,-
First, the general constructions and arrangements of apparatus for regulating
the supply of air to furnaces, and effecting a more perfect combustion of fuel
as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of a self-acting and self-regulating screw
bladed disc valve, in combination or not with one or more perforated plates or
gratings, for the purpose of regulating the supply of atmospheric air to
furnaces as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Peacock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
RALPH PEACOCK. (L.S.)