CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS AND TO FURNACES CONSTRUCTED FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WIGSTON, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
:
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of August, in the fourth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Wigston, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said William Wigston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Wigston, my executors, administrators, and
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE
FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS AND TO FURNACES CONSTRUCTED FOR OTHER PURPOSES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William
Wigston, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wigston, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of "Certain
Improvements in Apparatus for Consuming Smoke, which Improvements are
applicable to the Furnaces of Steam Boilers and to Furnaces constructed for
other Purposes," to consist in the construction and arrangement of certain
apparatus for the purpose of regulating the supply of atmospheric air to
furnaces of steam boilers, and to furnaces constructed for other purposes, by
means of which the smoke is consumed, without materially affecting the
regular draft or current of air by which the combustion of the fuel in such
furnaces is maintained; and the manner in which the same is to be performed
and carried into effect will be more clearly seen by reference to the annexed
Drawings, in all which, various views and sections, letters and figures of
reference, are used, the same letters and figures of reference denoting the same
parts throughout the whole of the Drawings. But before I commence my
description of the annexed Drawing I shall briefly describe the action of
atmospheric air in consuming the smoke of furnaces, and the objections to the
admission of atmospheric air for this purpose, which objections it is the object of
my Invention to remove. The supply of atmospheric air which passes through
the bars of a furnace for heating boilers or similar purposes depends on the
power of the chimney, size of flues, and other circumstances; but let this be
arranged as it may, and effectual draft for a fire in a state of active combustion,
which proves quite sufficient for its support, will not be found sufficient when
fresh fuel is added to the furnace; and hence, a considerable portion of the
vapour and gas which is disengaged from the coal, together with small particles
of carbon, are carried up the chimney in the form of smoke. Various con-
trivances have been applied for obviating the nuisance arising from the smoke
of furnaces of this description, the most successful of which have consisted
either in supplying the fresh coal in small quantities, so that the combustion
was more rapid and effectual, or in supplying the furnace with an additional
current of atmospheric air at the period at which the fresh coal was placed on
the furnace. This latter method of consuming the smoke by the admission of
atmospheric air has been long practiced; but as it is only required at the period
at which the fresh fuel is placed on the furnace, any neglect of the servant or
fireman who attends to the furnace may allow the additional supply of atmo-
spheric air for consuming the smoke to continue longer than required, or limit
the admission of air, when it is required. This neglect would either create
smoke, for want of a supply of air, or, after the smoke is consumed, let down
the temperature of the furnace, by a superabundance of cold air going into the
furnace when it was not required. These objections, which entirely depend

page_text: on the attention of the servant or operative, it is the object of my Invention to
remove beyond his care, so that he cannot proceed to supply his furnace with
fuel without bringing into action the smoke-consuming apparatus, which
supplies the required amount of atmospheric air to consume the smoke, and
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a steam boiler and furnace to
which my improved apparatus for consuming smoke is applied. In this
Figure, A represents the boiler; B, the furnace; a, b, b, b, the flue, the course
of the smoke being shewn by the direction of the black arrows towards the
chimney C. D represents an air chamber for the purpose, containing a
quantity of air, which is heated by its contiguity to the furnace B, so that when
air is admitted from this chamber to the furnace, for the purpose of consuming
the smoke, it goes into the furnace at a considerably higher temperature than
the surrounding atmosphere. This chamber D is connected with the external
atmosphere by the air flue d, d, d, which can be opened or shut by elevating
or depressing the cone E. This cone is suspended from a rod or chain
attached to its point or apex, which when sufficiently elevated completely shuts
the circular opening by which the air flue d, d, d, is supplied from the external
atmosphere. Now, supposing the supply of air to the chamber D to be cut
off by elevating the cone E, and the fuel in the furnace to be ignited, the
smoke from the furnace would proceed through the flues b, b, b, and up the
chimney C, in the usual manner; but as soon as the cone E is depressed, so
as to allow a fresh supply of air to rush into the chamber D, the heated air
which it has before contained will flow out at the horizontal opening, indicated
by the red arrow, and thereby supply the furnace with the additional quantity
of air required for the combustion of the gas and carbonacious matter con-
tained in the smoke. As already explained, the extra supply of air is requisite
while the smoke exists, but would be detrimental as soon as the furnace
became clear, so that it is requisite to the complete action of this apparatus
that the cone E gradually shut off the supply as the smoke gradually decreases,
which, together with the depressing of the cone for the purpose of opening the
flue when the fresh fuel is placed on the surface, I effect in the following
manner: Figure 4 represents an enlarged section of the cone E, and ap-
paratus by which its position is regulated. In this Figure F represents an
inverted vessel similar to a gas-holder, and f,f,f,f, a metalic tank partly filled
with water, the surface of which is shewn by the horizontal dotted line. The
vessel F is suspended by the same rod or chain which supports the cone E,

page_text: the upper part of which chain passes over pulleys G, G, as seen at Figures 1
and 2; and the cone E, along with the vessel F, are held at their greatest
elevation by a counterweight g, attached to the opposite extremity of the
chain which supports them. At the top of the vessel F is placed the stop-
cock H and an hydraulic valve I, the construction of which will be seen at
Figure 4, where the water line which seals the joint is shewn in dotted lines,
and a spiral spring for the purpose of assisting in the opening of the valve is
delineated. By referring to Figure 2, it will be observed, that the counter-
weight g, which supports the cone E and vessel F, rests on the tail end of a
small lever h, which forms part of a toothed sector vibrating on a common
centre ¹h. This toothed sector gears into another bevil sector, which is cast
upon the face, and forms part of the door K of the furnace. Thus it is
impossible for the fireman to open the furnace door for the purpose of adding
fresh fuel, which would generate smoke in ordinary furnaces, without vibrating
the lever h, which elevates the counterweight 9 and depresses the cone K
and inverted vessel F; the depressed cone K allowing air to flow into the
chamber D, and thence into the furnace, as, already described, and the
hydraulic valve I allowing the air contained in the upper part of the vessel F
to escape at the same time. In this position, it is clear that the vessel F and
cone K cannot rise to shut off the supply of air to the chamber D, without at
the same time overcoming the atmospheric pressure on the upper surface of
the vessel F, for which the weight g is not sufficient, It is therefore neces-
sary to adjust the opening of the cock II that the requisite supply of air to the
interior of the vessel F may be admitted, and the gradual elevation and gradual
closing of the circular opening for admitting air to the flue d, d, d, by means
of the cone. E be regulated. The period of time required for the complete
consumption of the smoke caused by a fresh supply of fuel to the furnace will
be ascertained by a little experience, and it is only required to adjust the
cock H, so that the rising of the cone E and the shutting off the supply of air
to the chamber D terminate at the same time as the smoke ceases to be
created. The cock H being properly adjusted, the key by which it is adjusted
may be removed, so that the fireman has no controul over the apparatus.
There is a short space of time between the fireman opening the furnace door
and putting on the fuel, in which the admission of air from the chamber D is
not required; and although this is not of any great importance, it may be
obviated by the arrangement shewn at Figure 3, where the cone and vessel F
are suspended from a lever L, which vibrates on its centre 7. From the
site end of this lever L, to which the cone is suspended, is placed a perpen-
dicular bar M, having a joint opening outwards at m. In this arrangement,
oppo-

page_text: when the fireman opens the fire door the small projection from upper edge of
the door, as shewn in the Drawing, bends the bar at M at the joint m, which
again falls into its perpendicular position as soon as the door is wide open,
without affecting the cone E in any way; but as soon as the fireman has
placed the fuel on the furnace he cannot shut the door without removing the
lower part of the bar M, which he elevates by hand, and thus depresses the
opposite end of the lever L and the cone E, producing similar effects at those
already described in the former arrangement. In the apparatus already
described for regulating the motion of the cone E, the variation of speed is
wholly dependent on the adjustment of the cock H, by which the air is
admitted into the vessel F; but a similar effect may be produced by the appa-
ratus shewn at Figure 5. In this Figure, N represents a vessel open at the
top, and having two large valves opening inwards, as seen also in plan at
Figure 6; this vessel N is placed in a tank of water, similar to f, ff, and
suspended by the rod and counterweight, in every respect similar to the
inverted vessel F, already described. Now, as soon as the fire door is opened
and the vessel N depressed, in the manner already described, the water in the
external tank f. f, will flow in by the two valves in the bottom of the vessel
N; and the progressive rise of this vessel for the purpose of regulating the
cone motion is adjusted by the opening of cock O, which allows the water to
flow. out at any speed which may be required, and thereby regulates the motion.
of the cone beneath, which is connected, as already described. The duration
of the supply of air to the furnace in both the arrangements already described
depends on the adjustment of the cocks H and O, the counterweight q being
always the same; but it is equally susceptible of variation by varying the
shape of the cone itself, which being formed more taper, or having its upper
part cylindrical, would vary the amount of air admitted, as well as the period
of its duration; but these variations of construction must depend on the nature
of the furnace to which my Invention is to be applied. I prefer the cone form,
from its property of regularly decreasing the amount of air admitted to the
furnace as the smoke to be consumed decreases; this as well as other minor
arrangements must depend on the judgment of the parties who apply my
Invention. For applying my Invention to furnaces, in which the supply of fuel
depends on a feeding apparatus attached to an engine or other moving power,
I make the opening action of the cone E dependent on the strap or moving
power which drives the feeding apparatus, so that as soon as the supply of fuel
commences, the cone is depressed, and the supply of air commences; but as
soon as the feeding ceases, the supply of air gradually decreases also. The
application of my Invention to furnaces supplied with fuel by apparatus of this

page_text: nature enables me to keep more fuel on the bars of the furnace without the
fear of creating smoke, and thereby renders the heat generated more regular
than is usual in furnaces fed by machines.
Having described the nature and construction of my certain improvements
in apparatus for consuming smoke, I hereby declare that I do not claim any
separate or well-known part of such apparatus; but I do claim as of my
Invention that arrangement of parts, as herein-before described, by which the
requisite supply of air is regulated for consuming the smoke of furnaces simul-
taneously with the feeding of the furnace or the supply of fuel, which causes
the production of the smoke; and such my Invention being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, entirely new and never before in use in that part of His
said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same; and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without
reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; therefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wigston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.