IMPROVEMENTS IN- CHIMNEYS, FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FLUES FOR WARMING AND VENTILATING APARTMENTS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Egan Rosser, of Northumberland Street,
Strand, in the City of Westminster, Warming and Ventilating Engineer,
"and Josiah George Jennings, of Palace Road, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Sanitary Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN-
CHIMNEYS, FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FLUES FOR WARMING AND VENTILATING
APARTMENTS."
Sealed the 2nd November 1868, and dated the 23rd May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Egan Rosser and
Josiah George Jennings at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd May 1868.
We; SAMUEL EGAN ROSSEB, of Northumberland Street, Strand, in the City
of Westminster, Warming and Ventilating Engineer, and JOSIAH GEORGE
JENNINGS, of Palace Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Sanitary
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CHIMNEYS, FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FLUES FOR WARMING AND VENTILA-
TING APARTMENTS," to be as follows:-
We do away with the funnel-shaped throats or gathering wings with which
the chimneys of open fire-places are now generally constructed, and put the
chimney into more direct communication with the fire, thus avoiding ono
principal cause of uncertainty of draught, and greatly lessening, if not entirely
doing away with the liability to a return of smoke into the apartment. The
body of the chimney or smoke flue whereby the smoke and other products of

page_text: combustion are carried off, may be as large or larger in its sectional area as or
than those ordinarily constructed, but we form the entrance thereto technically,
known as the throat, and the outlet therefrom or chimney top of considerably
diminished area, and connect such entrance and exit openings with the body
of the chimney or flue by progressively increasing the area of the passage
from the entrance to the body of the chimney or flue, and in like manner
diminishing the upper part of the chimney or flue from the body thereof to
the exit opening. Such expanding throats with the corresponding terminals
or chimney tops may be constructed in brickwork as part and parcel of the
chimney, or they may be formed with fire-tiles, fire-clay, earthenware, iron, or
any other suitable material, and built or otherwise fixed in or joined to the
flue. By this arrangement wo cause the smoke and heated products of
combustion to enter and leave the chimney or flue at a velocity considerably
greater than that at which they travel through the intermediate distance or
body of the flue. In order to protect the chimney top or terminal from the
unfavorable action of the wind, we mount it when made of earthenware, iron,
slate, tile, or other thin substance with a deflector similar to that shewn in the
Drawings appended to the Specification of the Patent Number 566, granted
March 1st, 1862, to Josiah George Jennings, and also when the whole of the
chimney top is constructed in some solid material, such as stone, we give to
the exterior a similar outline. As is consequence of the exclusion from the
chimney of a large quantity of cold air (generally conducted into it by the
funnel-shaped entrance or "gathering wings ") we obtain therein a temperature
of considerable elevation, we propose to utilize a portion of the heat thus
conserved by forming air chambers or casings around the throat of the flue or
chimney, or at the back of the fire, as circumstances may render most
convenient, and to form the same either in fire-brick or other suitable
material. This (which we do not claim as novel except as used in combination
with the forin of entrance and body of chimney or flue before mentioned, and
except as regards warm air passages or ducts formed or placed in the chimney
openings at the back of, but independent of, the stove itself,) we prefer to
accomplish, according to the Patents Number 2522 of 1857, and Number 566
of 1862, granted to Josiah George Jennings, and we propose to convey fresh
air to such chambers or casings by means of fire-brick ducts constructed at
the back of the fire, and formed either of perforated fire-bricks built into the
work and bonded together in the ordinary way as part of the chimney opening
or fire-place, or otherwise by means of channeled or grooved fire-clay slabs,
the air passages of which communicate with corresponding orifices in a
foundation box of iron, earthenware, or fire-clay, into which the fresh air is

page_text: brought in any convenient manner. The fresh air supplied to and warmed in
the chambers or casings aforesaid may either be discharged immediately into
the apartment or conveyed to a greater height in the same or carried to others
by air flues formed in earthenware, iron, or other suitable material.
"
In applying our Invention to stoves and stove grates, we in some cases
construct the fire-places or stoves of fire-brick, or otherwise partly of fire-brick
and partly of metal, and introduce therein the expanding throat, so connecting
the stove grate or fire-place with the body of the flue that the chimney shall
be brought down into the stove. The opening whereby the smoke and
products of combustion enter the chimney or flue is situated immediately over
or at the back part of the fire, so as to leave only a small space by which air
can enter the throat or chimney from the room or apartment. The length of
the throat or opening into the throat whereby the grate communicates with
the chimney will ordinarily be the same or nearly the same as the width of
the back part of the fire, and its width such as to make its area considerably
less than that of the body of the chimney or flue with which it communicates,
but in some cases we substitute for the opening described a series of, say,
three or four, or it may be a greater or less number of vertical slits or vents
formed in the back of the stove or grate, and which slits or vents open into or
communicate with the expanding throat before mentioned. In order farther
to promote the combustion of the fuel we construct air passages or channels
from the lower part of the front of the fire-place, passing under or around the
part in which the fire is made to air chambers formed in the divisions between
the before-mentioned slits or vents, and we perforate the walls of such chambers
forming the linings of such slits or vents with small holes, through which the
air after having been heated in its course through the passages in and about
the stove is drawn into the fire or fire-place at points contiguous to the throat
of the chimney to such vents, or through the cheeks of the fire-place. Other
wise we take the supply of air for combustion from a chamber or chambers at
the back part or sides of the stove, admitting it into the fire-place through
perforations, in the same manner and situated as above described. By this
arrangement we prevent the formation of smoke, and effect the combustion in
the fire-place or 'vents of a large proportion of combustible gases which would
otherwise pass wastefully away. In some cases we surround the throat of
the flue within the body of the stove with air chambers or flues, into which air
is conducted by suitable channels communicating with the external-air or with
the air of the same 'or any adjacent apartment. The air'so introduced having
become heated, to a moderate and wholesome degree in its passage through
and about the stove is discharged into the room through warm air openings

page_text: either in the front of the stove, or it may be carried up by flues, channels, or
spaces (surrounding or partly surrounding the chimney) and discharged into
the room through suitable apertures at a higher level, or otherwise it may be
directed into an adjoining apartment, or into rooms on an upper floor or floors
for the purpose of warming and ventilating them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Egan Rosser and Josiah George Jennings in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
EGAN ROSSER, of Northumberland Street, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Warming and Ventilating Engineer, and JOSIAH GEORGE JENNINGS, of Palace
Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Sanitary Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen, Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Egan Rosser and Josiah George Jennings, Her special licence
that we, the said Samuel Egan Rosser and Josiah George Jennings, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel
Egan Rosser and Josiah George Jennings, our 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CHIMNEYS, FIRE-PLACES, STOVES, AND FLUES FOR WARMING
AND VENTILATING APARTMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Samuel Egan Rosser and Josiah George Jennings, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing, under our, 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 we, the said Samuel, Egan Rosser and Josiah
George Jennings, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-

page_text: We do away with the funnel-shaped throats or gathering wings with which
the chimneys of open fire-places are now generally constructed, and put the
chimney into more direct communication with the fire, thus avoiding one
principal cause of uncertainty of draught, and greatly lessening, if not entirely
doing away with a liability to a return of smoke into the apartment.
The body of the chimney or 'smoke flue whereby the smoke and other
products of combustion are carried off may be as large or larger in its sectional
area as or than those ordinarily constructed, but we form the entrance thereto,
technically known as the throat, and the outlet therefrom or chimney top of
considerably diminished area, and connect such entrance and exit openings
with the body of the chimney or flue by progressively increasing the area of
the passage from the entrance to the body of the chimney or flue, and in like
manner diminishing the upper part of the chimney or flue from the body
thereof to the exit opening. Such expanding throats with the corresponding
terminals or chimney tops may be constructed in brickwork as part and parcel
of the chimney, or they may be formed with fire-tiles, fire-clay, earthenware,
iron, or any other suitable material, and built or otherwise fixed in or joined
to the flue. By this arrangement we cause the smoke and heated products of
combustion to enter and leave the chimney or flue at a velocity considerably,
greater than that at which they travel through the intermediate distance or
body of the flue. In order to protect the chimney top or terminal from the
unfavorable action of the wind, we mount it when made of earthenware, iron,
slate, tile, or other thin substance with a deflector similar to that shewn in the
Drawings appended to the Specification of the Patent Number 566, granted
March First, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, to Josiah George
Jennings, and also when the whole of the chimney top is constructed in
some solid material such as stone, we give to the exterior a similar outline.
As in consequence of the exclusion from the chimney of a large quantity of
cold air (generally conducted into it by the funnel-shaped entrance or "gather-
ing wings") we obtain therein a temperature of considerable elevation. We
propose to utilize a portion of the heat thus conserved by forming air chambers
or casings around the throat of the flue or chimney, or at the back of the fire,
as circumstances may render most convenient, and to form the same either in
fire-brick or other suitable material. This (which we do not claim as novel
except as used in combination with the form of entrance and body of chimney
or flue, before mentioned, and except as regards warm air passages or ducts
formed or placed in the chimney openings at the back of, but independant of,
the stove itself) we prefer to accomplish according to the Patents Number
2522, of 1857 and Number 566 of 1862, granted to Josiah George Jennings;

page_text: and we propose to convey fresh air to such chambers or casings by means of
fire-brick ducts constructed at the back of the fire, and formned either of per-
forated fire-bricks built into the work, and bonded together in the ordinary
way as part of the chimney opening or fire-place, or otherwise by means of
channelled or grooved fire-clay slabs, the air passages of which communicate
with corresponding orifices in a foundation box of iron, earthenware, or fire-
clay, into which the fresh air is brought in any convenient manner.
The fresh air supplied to and warmed in the chambers or casings aforesaid
may either be discharged immediately into the apartment or conveyed to a
greater height in the same or carried to others by air flues formed in earthen-
ware, iron, or other suitable material.
In applying our Invention to stoves and stove grates, we in some cases con-
struct the fire-places or stoves of fire-brick, or otherwise partly of fire-brick and
partly of metal, and introduce therein the expanding throat, so connecting the
stove, grate, or fire-place with the body of the flue that the chimney shall be
brought down into the stove, and form a part thereof. The opening whereby
the smoke and products of combustion enter the chimney or flue is situated
immediately over or at the back part of the fire, so as to leave only a small
space by which air can enter the throat or chimney from the rooni or apart-
ment. The length of the throat or opening into the throat whereby the grate
communicates with the chimney will ordinarily be the same or nearly the same
as the width of the back part of the fire and its width such as to make its
area considerably less than that of the body of the chimney or flue with which
it communicat's, but in some cases we substitute for the opening described a
series of, say three or four, or it may be a greater or less number of vertical
slits or vents formed in the back of the stove or grate, and which slits or
vents open into or communicate with the expanding throat before mentioned.
In order farther to promote the combustion of the fuel, we construct air passages
or channels from the lower part of the front of the fire-place, passing under or
around the part in which the fire is made to air chambers formed in the
divisions between the before-mentioned slits or vents, and we perforate the
walls of such chambers, forming the linings of such slits or vents with small
holes, through which the air, after having been heated in its course through
the passages in and about the stove, is drawn into the fire or fire-place at
points contiguous to the throat of the chimney to such vents or through the
cheeks of the fire-place. Otherwise we take the supply of air for combustion
from a chamber or chambers at the back part or sides of the stove, admitting
it into the fire-place through perforations in the same manner, and situated
as above described. By this arrangement we prevent the formation of smoke,

page_text: and effect the combustion in the fire-place or vents of a large proportion of
combustible gases which would otherwise pass wastefully away.
In some cases we surround the throat of the flue within the body of the
stove with air chambers or flues into which air is conducted by suitable
channels communicating with the external air, or with the air of the same
or any adjacent apartment. The air so introduced having become heated to
a moderate and wholesome degree in its passage through and about the stove,
is discharged into the room through warm air openings either in the front of
the stove, or it may be carried up by flues, channels, or spaces (surrounding
or partly surrounding the chimney,) and discharged into the room through
suitable apertures at a higher level; or otherwise it may be directed into an
adjoining apartment, or into rooms on an upper floor.or floors for the purpose
of warming and ventilating them.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1, is a vertical section (taken parallel with the front) of a
fire-place and chimney constructed with gathering. wings a in the ordinary.
manner; Fig. 2, another vertical section of the same taken at right angles to
the foregoing; and Fig. 3 a horizontal section thereof through the line A, B,
of Fig. 2. By these Figures it will be seen that in fire-places and chimneys,
as usually constructed, the entrance to the chimney is funnel-shaped, and that
its form favours the admission of cold air or comparatively cold air to mix
with and be carried upward by the heated air and gases ascending from a fire
placed in the opening 6 benenth.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are corresponding views of a fire-place and chimney con-
structed according to .our said Invention, in which the gathering .wings
marked a in the preceding Figures are dispensed with, and the throat or
entrance c into the chimney d is formed of considerably diminished area at it's
lower extremity, and gradually expands or increases in size until it.arrives at
the full area of the body d of the chimney, which terminates in a top e,
gradually diminishing in area to the exit opening, and protected by a deflector f
from the unfavourable action of the wind, as shewn.
Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are again similar views of a fire-place and the lower part
of a chimney, varying somewhat from the foregoing, as the smoke and heated
gases in this arrangement pass from the fire-place to the expanding throat c
through a series of louvre-formed openings 9 situated at the back of the fire-
place beneath the throat.
g
Figs. 10, 11, and 12 (Sheet 2) are corresponding views of a fire-place and
chimney, in which a series of duèts or channels h formed in fire-brick, and

page_text: supplied with fresh air by means of an opening i (communicating either with
the external atmosphere or with another apartment) are carried up at the
back of the fire-place, and after passing into a chamber ; surrounding tho
throat c, issue into the apartment to be heated by openings k, as indicated by
arrows.
Figs. 13, 14, and 15 are like views of a fire-place and part of a chimney,
in which the products of combustion, as in the arrangement represented at
Figs. 7, 8, and 9. pass from the fire to the entrance of the throat by
louvie-formed openings g, and fresh air, admitted at i, passes upward by
suitable channels or ducts h formed in fire-clay or other suitable material
to the throat, and thence at each side of the flue to the openings k, whence it
issues into the apartment.
Figs. 16 and 17 are views of the fire-clay or other lining or piece built into
the brickwork, and forming the throat c and parts of air ducks h; and Figs. 18
and 19 are like views of the fire-clay or other lining or pieco built into the
brickwork, and forming the top of the air channels or ducts with outlet
openings to the apartment.
Figs. 20, 21, and 22 are respectively a front elevation, a vertical section at
right angles through the centre of the same, and a sectional plan thereof. In
this case the opening into the throat c is situated immediately above the back
part of the fire-grate L. This back is formed of fire-clay or other suitable
inaterial, and is grooved at the back, as seen at Fig. 22, so that when placed
in a recess, as shewn, these grooves will form passages, ducts, or channels,
whereby air admitted as before at i, may be guided upward to and around the
throat casing, and may issue thence through openings k formed in the front
part of the stove or grate into the apartment, as shewn.
Fig. 28 (Sheet 3) is a front elevation; Fig. 24, a vertical section taken at
right angles thereto through the centre of the same; Fig. 25, a horizontal
section through the line A, B, of Fig. 24; and Fig. 26, a horizontal section
through the line C, D, of Fig. 24. In this case fresh air is admitted, as
before, through an opening or openings i situated at the lower and back part
of the wall containing the grate l, and is conducted upward by channels or
ducts (formed in fire-clay or other suitable material) partly at each side
and partly at the back of the grate, and which communicate with openings k,
whereby the air issues into the apartment to be heated.
Figs. 27 and 28 are views similar to Figs. 23 and 24 of a warm air and
ventilating fire-grate with smoke-consuming fire-back, Fig. 29 being a hori-
zontal section of the same through the line I, K, uf Fig. 28; Fig. 30, a like
section through the line L, M; Fig. 31, a like section through the line E, F ;

page_text: and Fig. 32, through the line G, H. In this arrangement; as in preceding
ones,. fresh air is admitted through the opening i, and passes upward through
ducts h formed in the fire-clay or other suitable material of, the stove to a
warm air chamber m, whence it issues through a grating or openings-k into the
apartment.
The fire-clay back of this stove or grate is formed (as shewn at Figs. 27,
28, and 29) with projections n standing forward into the fire space, and which
are hollow or formed at the back with vertical chambers or cavities o, from
which holes communicate with the fire, as shewn; thus a portion of the fresh
air passing in by the opening i is conducted by the chambers or cavities o and
holes communicating with them into the fire, where it greatly assists
combustion, and in consuming gases which would otherwise pass wastefully
away.
Figs. 38 and 34 are again respectively a front elevation and a vertical
section taken at right angles through the centre of the front elevation of a fire-
grate and part of a chimney constructed with ventilating and smoke-preventing
arrangements according to our Invention. In this case. the stove or grate is
represented as constructed partly of fire-clay or other like material and partly
of iron, the mouth or opening into the expanding throat c being situated at
the back of the grate slightly above the level of the topmost bar, and formed
in or as a part of the stove itself. Fresh air, in this arrangement, is admitted
by an opening or openings i to a chamber situated immediately at the back
of the part of the stove containing the fire, and thence passes upward around
the throat c and out through openings k into the apartment. Air to assist the
combustion of the fuel is admitted by openings p to the passages formed in
the projections n, which are perforated with small holes whereby it issues into
the fire in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 84.
Figs. 35 and 36 are horizontal sections of the stove, Fig. 85 being taken
through the line N, O, and Fig. 36 through the line P, R.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be performed, we would
have it understood that, without limiting ourselves to the precise details repre-
sented, we claim,―
Firstly, the formation of the throat or passage or entrance from the stove,
grate, or fire-place into the flue or chimney with an opening at the stove,
grate, or fire-place considerably less in area than the body of the flue or
chimney, from which opening such throat, passage, or entrance progressively
increases in area, until its area becomes equal to that of the chimney or flue,
substantially as described.

page_text: Secondly, the foundation box of iron, earthenware, or fire-clay, with orifices
corresponding with the air passages in the stove for the purpose of admitting
air to the same.
Thirdly, the construction of stoves, grates, or fire-places with the expanding
throat as described contained therein.
Fourthly, the construction of stoves with vertical slits or vents formed in
the back of the stove or grate, and which slits or vents open into or commu-
nicate with the expanding throat before-mentioned, and with or without air
chambers formed in the bodies of the divisions.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Egan Rosser and Josialı
George Jennings, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
first day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
W. LLOYD WISE,
Chandos Chambers,
Adelphi, W.C.
SAMUEL EGAN
(L.S.) ROSSER.
JOSIAH GEORGE (L.s.) JENNINGS.