IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE DRAFT IN CHIMNIES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGÈNE
ABLON, of Panton Street, Haymarket, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date 'at Westminster, the Eighth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto nic, the said
Eugène Ablon, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Eugène Ablon, my exors, adiiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Eugène Ablon, my exors, adiñiors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE
DRAFT IN CHIMNIES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER ENGINES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Eugène Ablón, should cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Eugène Ablon, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained

page_text: in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:
Figure 2.
Figure 3,
In the
The Invention consists of improvements in apparatus for accelerating the
draft in the chimnies of locomotives, and maintaining a powerful and constant
draft of air in the chimney, the apparatus operating by the action of the escape
of steam from the locomotive. But in order that the Invention may be more
fully understood, I will proceed to describe the Drawing, in which Figure 1 is
a plan in section of a portion of the front part of the locomotive, with the
apparatus applied taken in the direction of the line A, B, of
Figure 2 is a vertical section through the line C, D, of Figure 1.
an elevation representing part of the front of the locomotive.
different Figures the same parts are marked with the same letters wherever
they occur. E, E, E, E, is the smoke box. F, F, F, F, the chimney. The
front of the locomotive carries the apparatus, which is composed of a pipe of
copper or other suitable material, through which the air passes; it is composed
of two parallel and vertical branches H, H, H', H', joined at the upper part
by the semicircular part H. The branch H, H, is enlarged at its opening G
up to the part H³. The other end of the tube penetrates into the smoke box
E, E, E, E, at H, and is connected to the other branch H', H', by means of
the curved part H, in the interior of the smoke box; that part of the pipe
through which the air passes is of a conical form, as shown at H°, and rises up
in the chimney in the centre by means of the conical parts H', and parts H®, Ho.
The part of the pipe H, H, is fixed to the chimney F, F, F, F, by means of
collars a, a. K is the pipe for the escape of the steam from the boiler of the
locomotive, and which pipe enters into the tube H, so that the steam from the
tube K, and air from the tube H, are caused to act together at the part e, e,
on the part II". The opening b, b, of the escape pipe K being circular, to
ascertain its surface and its diameter b, b, it is necessary to measure the size of
one of the cylinders of the engines in cubic inches; and by deducting the
cube of the piston measured in the same way, the number of cubical inches
remaining being divided by three hundred and ninety-four, the quotient of
that division will indicate the number of square inches that the opening b, b, of
the escape pipe K should have. The diameter b, b, of the opening of the
escape pipe K is to the diameter b', d', of the cylindrical part H, as four is to
five. The height b', 6", of that cylindrical part is equal to five times the
diameter b', d'. The diameter b', d', of the part He is to the diameter of the
part e, e, as five is to seven; and its height b, d', is equal to the diameter b, b,
of the opening of the escape pipe K. The details which have just been given
may be modified as follows:-The diameter b', d', of the cylindrical part H³,

page_text: remaining the same, the diameter b, b, of the opening of the escape pipe K
may be increased an eighth, that is to say, that it can be done, that the
diameter b', d', be to that b, b, as ten is to nine; but then the height b, d, of
the trunk conical part He should be equal to the half of the diameter b', d', of
the cylindrical part H°. The diameter of the pipe through which the air
comes into the smoke box is the same as that of that cylindrical part H. The
working of the apparatus is as follows:-The locomotive engine being put into
motion, the steam from the boiler passes through the escape pipe K into the
cylindrical part Hº of the pipe G, H, H, H, H², H', H', H, H, H, H', H³, H,
and produces in it a powerful suction of air which flows into that pipe through.
its mouth G, and its acquired speed remains in it constant on account of its
inertia, and although the action of the escape of steam be intermittent. Then
a powerful current of air, mixed with steam, escapes in the chimney F, F, F, F,
by the opening b", d", and produces a powerful uninterrupted draft. The
pipe through which the air passes may be arranged in any other form around
the chimney, and may enter into the smoke box by one of its lateral sides of
entering by the front. It may also be formed of two parallel branches, laid
horizontally on the flanks of the locomotive, and united near the fire box by a
semicircular part, and enter into the smoke box by the front or by one of its
lateral sides. I prefer that the branch of that pipe admitting the air should
have an enlarged entrance.
The Figure 2 shows that the air pipe is formed of three parts joined
together by the bolted flanges g, 9, and h, h; those h, h, embraces the thickness
of the iron plate of the smoke box.
'
I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein given, so long as the character of the Invention be retained.
But what I claim is, the mode of arranging apparatus whereby currents of
steam and air are brought to act together in the chimnics of locomotives and
other engines, so as to accelerate the draft therein.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugène Ablon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
Taken and acknowledged by Eugène
Ablon (party hereto), at Paris, in the
Republic of France, this Twenty-seventh
day of September. 1848, before me.
EUGENE (L.s.) ABLON.

page_text: This is the Specification referred to in the affidavit of William Henry
Ritchie, sworn before me this 7th day of October, 1848.
J. JEFFERSON.
William Henry Ritchie, of the Patent Office, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with
the manner and character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her
Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris, in the Republic of France. And this
deponent further saith, that the signature, "Thomas Pickford," set, subscribed,
or written in the margin of the Specification hereunto annexed marked A,
and dated the Twenty-seventh day of September last past, and purporting to
be executed by Eugène Ablon, of Panton Street, Haymarket, whereby it is
stated that the said Specification was acknowledged by him, the said Eugène
Ablon, before the said Thomas Pickford, on the said Twenty-seventh day of
September, at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting of the said
Thomas Pickford.