IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dray, of Farningham, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PLACES."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 25th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1861.
I, WILLIAM DRAY, of Farningham, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows:-
The chief object of my present Invention is to effect the burning of smoke,
and it consists in the construction and employment of spherical, circular, or
other suitably shaped grates capable of being revolved or turned on pivots,
gudgeons, or otherwise, so as to cause the whole or the greater part of the
gases evolved from a fresh supply of fuel after the fire has been once lighted,
to pass through the incandescent fuel.

page_text: t
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Dray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DRAY, of Farningham, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth-year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me;
the said William Dray, Her special licence that I, the said William
Dray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Dray, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Dray, 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 Dray, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
The chief object of my present Invention is to effect the burning of smoke,
and it consists in the construction and employment of spherical, circular, or
other suitably shaped grates, capable of being revolved or turned on pivots,
trunnions, gudgeons, or otherwise, so as to cause the whole or the greater
part of the gases evolved from a fresh supply of fuel, after the fire has been
once lighted, to pass through the incandescent fuel.
To illustrate one method of carrying my Invention into effect, I have shown
a fire-place in front elevation and vertical section at Figures 1 and 2 respec-
tively, with the grate made circular. a is the grate, supported by trunnions
or pivots, which are free to revolve when required in bearings or sockets b, b

page_text: c, c, are doors or gratings at top and bottom of the grate by which fuel is fed
in. To supply fuel to the fire, open one of the doors c, c, throw in the fuel,
close the door, and turn the grate so that the incandescent fuel lies beneath
that just supplied.
Figure 3 is a front elevation of a fire-place where the grate is made oblong,
being somewhat similar in shape to grates as usually constructed; it is
mounted on trunnions, and free to revolve in bearings in a similar manner to
the one just illustrated.
Figure 4 is a front elevation of a fire-place where the grate is made egg-
shaped, the method of feeding and its action is similar to those before
described.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the shapes of grate shown, nor to the methods described of suspending the
same; but what I claim as my improvements in fire-places is, the construction
and employment of grates capable of being revolved, or turned substantially
in manner and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
WILLIAM DRAY.
(L.S.)