IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE PLACES FOR DWELLING HOUSES." AND CONNECTED WITH
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Ingram, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE PLACES FOR DWELLING HOUSES."
AND CONNECTED WITH
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Ingram at the
'Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd May 1881.
MATTHEW INGRAM, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster.
IN AND CONNECTED WITH FIRE PLACES FOR DWELLING HOUSES."
"IMPROVEMENTS
The object of my Invention is to make a smoke consuming fire place, and also to
provide passages for ventilating rooms and heating air.
I make a fire place with bars at the front, in which coal is placed as usual at the
back of the fire place, by preference near the bottom; I make an opening or
openings which communicate with a flue or passage (which serves as a combustion
chamber) parallel with the back and with the bottom of the fire place, through
which the products of combustion pass almost to the front of the fire place, and
then again to the back, where they enter a vertical passage communicating with
the chimney; the air is drawn in at the top and front of the fire place, and the
make
products of combustion pass from the back of the fire place to the flue."
use of an ordinary register above the fire place, which is opened when lighting the
fire and closed when the fire is properly lighted.
I form
I make the bottom of the fire place with the ordinary bars if desired, but I
prefer to use solid metal or firebrick. I close the space below the fire place by à
door at the front, which may be opened for cleaning or other purpose.
passages-parallel with the sides and back of the flue and chimney, to which I admit
air froin outside near the basement or other part of the house, which air becomes
heated, and is allowed to escape into an upper room or rooms; the vitiated air may
be drawn from any part of the house into the combustion chamber through a flue
or passage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Matthew Ingram in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd November 1881.
MATTHEW Ingram, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster..
IN AND CONNECTED WITH FIRE PLACES FOR DWELLING HOUSES."
6
IMPROVEMENTS
The object of my said improvements is to construct stoves, grates, and kitchen
ranges in such a manner as to enable coke, anthracite, and common or inferior coal
to be used, consuming their own smoke; also to prevent downdraught and to heat
the room or rooms by means of hot air, and to properly ventilate such room or
rooms.
The stoves constructed in accordance with my said Invention I call "kaio-
kapnos stoves, and I make such kaio-kapnos stoves both hygiastic and non-
hygiastic. The hygiastic stoves are constructed with air-chambers at the sides,
into which air-chambers the external air is drawn through suitable flues, which
chambers become heated by the fire, and in which chambers gills or bafflers are cast
or fitted, in order to compel the air to take a zigzag course, and thereby more
effectually to absorb heat from the heated air chamber. This heated air may pass
directly into the room through suitable openings in the upper fascia of the stove,
or such heated air may, by suitable flues, be carried into another. room or other
rooms for heating such room or rooms. Non-hygiastic stoves have no side flues.
Whereas I have stated in my Provisional Specification that "I make the bottom
of the fire place with the ordinary bars if so desired, but I prefer to use solid
metal or fire brick," I have however since found that in practice solid bottoms
should in all cases be adopted, as fire bars are unsuccessful in attaining the desired
result.
My said improved stoves are constructed with a valve or register above the fire,
through which the products of combustion are allowed to pass into the chimney or
flue until the flue becomes sufficiently heated to produce the necessary draught,
after which the register is closed, and the products of combustion then pass down-
wards through an opening at the back of the fire to the underside of the solid
bottom, thence passing forwards to nearly the front of the stove. The front of
the stove below the front. bars being closed by a suitable door, the products of
combustion then pass backwards again into and up a vertical or nearly vertical
flue, and thence into the chimney.
The enclosed space below the. fire is utilised as a combustion chamber, where any
smoke which may have escaped from the fire becomes entirely consumed. In
order to effect this a sliding valve or a "hit and miss" grid is provided in the door,
by opening which (more or less) a regulated quantity of air is admitted, which,
mixing with the current of heated gases, infames the smoke and thereby causes its
complete combustion."
In adapting my said improvements to kitchen ranges, I sometimes fit the boiler
at the back of the fire, and cast or construct it of such a form that the plates
thereof are in contact with the back of the fire and with the current of heated gases,
as herein after described in the Drawings. In other cases the back of the kitchen
range may be formed of fire-clay or metal, and the boiler otherwise placed or
entirely omitted as desired.
The door in front of the combustion chamber may be opened when desired for
the purpose of clearing away any ashes-or dust that-may happen-to-be-carried.
over with the current of heated gases.
The vitiated or foul air from any room or rooms may be caused to enter the
combustion chamber by a suitable Hue or flues, and thereby ventilate and purify
such room or rooms.

page_text: The word stove" as used herein is intended to include all kinds of domestic fire
places, and the several parts of the stoves may be constructed of various suitable
materials, such as fire clay, cast iron, malleable iron, or other suitable material, and
ornamented with artistic tiles and designs in porcelain, terra cotta, metal, or
otherwise.
And in order that my said improvements may be more clearly understood
reference is made to the accompanying Drawings, in which similar letters in the
several Figures refer to similar or corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one form of my said improved stoves, and Fig. 2 is
a sectional elevation of the same." Ordinary front bars are fitted at a, as shewn, to
keep the fuel in its place. A solid bottom is fitted, formed as shewn in Fig. 2, of
fire clay (by preference) or of any other suitable material. Under this bottom is
a space which is enclosed by the door d. This door is used for clearing away
ashes and dust before lighting the fire. This door is also fitted with an air valve c
of the grid or "hit and miss" form, but any other form of valve may be fitted for
the purpose. The space below the fire is divided by a diaphragm e which supports
the lower end of the fire clay back f A register or opening is fitted above the fire
at g, which is closed after the fire is lighted, and the air in the chimney has become
sufficiently warm to create a current. This register may be circular, square, or of
any other suitable form. An additional opening or valve is made at ½, Fig. 2,
which may be opened or closed as desired, or may be a fixed opening. This valve
is for the purpose of taking away any smoke that may fail to pass through the fire
into the combustion chamber when the register is closed.
Before lighting the fire the register g is opened, and the fire is allowed to burn
for a short time. When the flue has become sufficiently warm to ensure a suitable
current or draught, the register g is closed; this causes the products of combustion
to descend from the back of the fuel, as shewn by the arrows in Fig. 2, passing
under the plate c, and then upwards into the back flue, as also shewn by the
arrows. The force of this current can be regulated by the throttle valve i which is
in connection with a suitable handle of any convenient formn in front of the stove.
There is also at the front of the stove a suitable handle fitted to the spindle of the
register g of any convenient form. The means whereby these valves are actuated
may be varied as circumstances may require. The arrangement in the Drawings
represents one spindle passing through the other, with two concentric handles at k.
The foregoing description will sufficiently illustrate the general principle upon
which my said improved stoves are constructed. In adapting the same to kitchen
ranges, I sometimes fit the boiler o in the manner shewn in Fig. 3, and thereby
nake room for an oven on each side of the fire, the other arrangements being
analogous to those already described as to Figs. 1 and 2.
Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line x, x, of Fig. 2, of my non-hygiastic
stove, and Fig. 5 is a similar horizontal section of iny hygiastic stove. The side
flues are fitted or constructed with gills or baffle plates, as shewn (in sectional
elevation) in Fig. 6.
The external air is drawn through a suitable flue or cold air passage to the
lowest part of the stove at m, Fig. 6, from whence it gains access to the side flues
or hygiastic passages 1, Figs. 5 and 6. The upper ends of the side air-heating
flues terminate in some cases in a space above the stove opening at n, Fig. 1,
which is made of open ornamental work for that purpose, or with valves opening
into the room, in order to let the warm air enter the room and prevent draughts
from windows and doors. In other cases these flues may be made to warm bed
rooms and other rooms by means of suitable connections or flues leading thereto.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be carried out in practice, I wish it
to be understood that what I claim and desire to be secured to ine by the herein
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The general construction, combination, and arrangement of parts together

page_text: respectively forming my improvements in and connected with fire places and stoves,
substantially as and for the purposes herein before described and shewn on Drawings,
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Ingram, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
MATTHEW INGRAM. (L. s.)