IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OPEN AND CLOSE STOVES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE IN PART TO KITCHEN RANGES AND BOILER FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Steven, of "The Milton" Foundry, Glasgow,
in the Kingdom of Scotland, Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OPEN AND CLOSE STOVES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
ARE APPLICABLE IN PART TO KITCHEN RANGES AND BOILER FIRE-PLACES."
Sealed the 27th May 1856, and dated the 11th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Steven at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
February 1856.
I, THOMAS STEVEN, of the Milton Foundry, Glasgow, in the Kingdom of
Scotland, Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OPEN AND CLOSE STOVES, WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE APPLICABLE IN PART TO KITCHEN RANGES AND BOILER FIRE-PLACES,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain means of economizing the consumption of
fuel employed for heating apartments and for cooking. To effect this object,
where register stoves or open fire-places are used, I fit to the stove a coal box,
the bottom of which slides in vertical guides, for the purpose of raising the
level of the burning fuel as it is reduced by consumption. This movement I
effect by means of a lever, which enters holes in the front of the coal box, and.
the varied position of the bottom I retain by means of a rack and click, or their
equivalent. The sliding bottom is composed of two gratings, one of which is

page_text: capable of sliding over the other, and thereby of contracting or expanding the
passage for the ascending current of air as required. The back flue of the
register stove I propose to carry up in a tubular form behind the stove, and to
fit a damper to the top of the flue, which damper or sliding shutter I operate
by means of a screw and nut, or by a lazy tongs arrangement of levers.
When applying my improvement to a cooking range, I propose to close in
the fire by doors, which I provide with air holes governed by ventilators, the
object being to supply the air for combustion chiefly from the front and above
the level of the fire. The arrangement of double grating for regulating the
admission of air to the fuel I propose to use in close stoves and in furnace
fire-places, fitting the same in such manner as to permit of the removal of the
grating at pleasure, in order to facilitate the discharge of the ashes from the
fire-place. In close stoves and furnaces, I contract the area for the fuel
towards the lower end of the fire-place, and when the ashes are to be discharged
I slide the grating on one side or draw it to the front; the ashes will then fall
into the ash-drawer or pit, as the case may be. The fire-place I make deep,
and, by preference, cylindrical, and I surround it, in the one instance, with fire
brick, or a sand, or hot air space, and in the other, with a water space (for the
generation of steam). The air for keeping up combustion I admit chiefly
through holes made in the casing at or near the upper part thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters' Patent; filed
by the said Thomas Steven in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, THOMAS
STEVEN, of "The Milton" Foundry, Glasgow, in the Kingdom of Scotland, Iron-
founder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Steven, Her special license that I the said Thomás
Steven, my executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others as I; the
said Thomas Steven, 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,

page_text: the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
.CONSTRUCTION OF OPEN AND CLOSE STOVES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE IN
PART TO KITCHEN RANGES AND BOILER FIRE-PLACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Steven, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Thomas Steven, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly. described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the 'Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention of improvements in the construction of open and close stoves
relates to certain means of economizing the consumption of fuel employed for
heating apartments, and is also applicable in part to kitchen ranges, and to
furnaces or fire-places for other purposes. To effect the economization of fuel
according to my improvements, where register stoves or open fire-places are
used, I employ various contrivances, according to the particular form of stove
or fire-place to which my improvements are applied. These plans are shewn
in the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a front elevation
of a register stove, having a coal box fitted thereto, the bottom of which
slides in vertical guides, for the purpose of raising the level of the burning fuel
as it is reduced by consumption. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the
stove, shewing the internal arrangement of the parts and the mode of operating
.them.
a, a, is the fixed part of the coal box; b, b, is the moveable bottom on which
the fuel rests. This moveable bottom is raised when required by means of a
common poker or other lever, which may be inserted under the moveable
bottom for this purpose by passing it through one of the holes made in the front
of the coal box at c, for the purpose of admitting air to the-fuel. The moveable
bottom when raised is held securely in any given position by means of the
rack and click d, or other equivalent contrivance.
In order to facilitate the setting of the stove, I connect the front or face
plate of the stove to the back part of the stove by means of screws, so that the
front may be removed when the stove is required to be set, and the workman
lil then be enabled to build up round the back and sides of the grate with
greater facility than heretofore, and when the grate is set the front plate may
be screwed on in its place.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 represent also another improvement, which consists in
carrying up the back flue e, e, of the register stove higher than usual, viz, to a
height nearly even with the lintel of the fire-place. The flue e is made in a
tubular form at the back of the stove, and a damper or sliding shutter f
is fitted to the top of the flue, which damper or sliding shutter f, I operate
by means of a screw and nut g, or, if preferred, by a lazy tongs arrangement of
:levers.
Fig. 3 is a sectional view of another register stove, in which two other
improvements are shewn, the first of which consists of a double bottom com-
posed of two gratings, as seen in the detached plan and sectional views,
Figures 4 and 5. One of these gratings is capable of sliding over the other,
which is stationary, and thereby contracting or enlarging the passages for the
ascending currents of air through the fuel, as required. The moveable part g
of the double grating is moved by means of a handle g*. The front bars i, i,
of the stove are bevilled inside, in order to prevent the ashes from lying
thereon, the peculiar form of the bar having a tendency to throw any ashes
that may fall on the bars into the grate. h is a moveable door, which is hinged
to the sides of the cases, or mounted on suitable pins or pivots. By moving
the door to or fro on its pin or pivot, the passage of the smoke and gases from
the fire will be more or less contracted, and the door may be held in any
required place by means of the weighted lever j, which is made to rest on the
top edge of the door h and prevent it from falling forward or backward. In
fixing register stoves, I prevent any access of air to the chimney, except through
the register, by closing the edges round the face plate by means of a rectangular
frame composed of angle iron, one edge of which will enter between the edge
of the front plate of the stove grate and the marble sides of the fire-place, and
the other part of the frame will rest upon the face of the front plate, to which
it will be screwed, a layer of putty or cement being placed between the two
plates to form an air-tight joint.
Fig. 6 is a plan view, and Fig. 7 a transverse vertical section of another
form of register stove, in which the back of the fire-place is formed of a
large fire brick k, k, made concave, and domed above with a confined concave
vertical passage or flue, whereby the smoke and gases escape from the fire.
The fire brick back k is extended up nearly as high as the under side of the
lintel of the fire-place, and is enclosed behind by a fluted or corrugated iron
back 1, 1, leaving a space all round, into which air from the ash-pit or elsewhere
is admitted through holes in the bottom, as indicated by the arrows, and shewn
at m, m. The air thus admitted circulates in the space between the two backs
k and 7, and after becoming warm is allowed to issue from the space through

page_text: the holes n, n, in the face plate of the store grate. The double grating fire
bars and the inclined front bars are also shewn in these Figures. The
corrugations I prefer to project forwards to the brick back as high as the fire,
(see Fig. 6) and then to fall back and leave a chamber space above that
point.
Fig. 8 is a front elevation, and Fig. 9 a sectional view of a kitchen range with
some of my other improvements adapted thereto. The grate bars o, for support-
ing the fuel, are placed at the bottom of a dish-shaped vessel or hopper p, with
inclined sides, as shewn in Fig. 9, and also by dots, in Fig. 8. This grating
forms the bottom of the fire-place, and is moveable like the bottom of the coal
box in Figures 1 and 2. The grating o and the hopper p may be raised or.
lowered, as required, by means of the rack and pinion p, or in any other
convenient manner. The ash pan is seen at q. The oven is warmed or heated
by the hot gases, and smoke passing through an opening at the top of the side
of the fire-place, as usual, but the operation of heating the oven is much
facilitated by causing a portion of the heat from the fire-place to pass through
the long vertical openings r, r, at the side of the fire-place. The flue of the
range is placed at the back, so as to be out of the way, and admit of saucepans
and vessels being placed on the top of the range, as shewn in Fig. 10, which
is also a sectional view of a kitchen range, in which a coal box or chamber
with a moveable bottom is employed, as in Figures 1 and 2.
When a saucepan or vessel is placed on the top of the range for the purpose
of heating the contents, as before mentioned, and as shewn in Fig. 10, I
provide a metal cover or envelope s, s, which is made to entirely enclose the
vessel, and prevent any loss of heat by radiation, any steam or gases that may
gain admittance being allowed to escape through an opening t above. The
lower part of the chimney, shewn in Fig. 9, is closed by the metal plate u, as
must be the case with all ranges of this construction, and through this plate u
the flue of the range passes. Two, three, or more openings, provided with
conical covers v, are made in the plate u, for the purpose of allowing any steam
or gases from the range to escape up the chimney.
The fire-place in both the ranges, shewn in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, are provided
with doors, so that by closing or opening these latter the fire may be made an
open or close one when desired. In Figures 8 and 9 the fire door is hinged to
the lower part of the grate, and when folded down is supported by a horizontal
bar or bars, which are drawn out from the front of the stove and hold the door
in a horizontal position, so that a saucepan may be placed thereon if required.
These doors have holes or openings made in them, for the purpose of admitting
air to support combustion; and in order to regulate the quantity of air that

page_text: may be admitted, I adapt ventilators or shutters to these holes or apertures,
.so that they may be more or less closed. By this arrangement or construction
of parts, I am enabled, by closing the ventilators and shutting the fire and
ash-pit doors, to exclude the air, and thereby check, and, if required, entirely
stop the combustion of the fuel, as may be found desirable when no cooking is
going on.
Fig. 11, Sheet II., is a vertical sectional view of a close stove constructed
according to my improvements. Fig. 12 is a plan view of the same, the lid or
cover of the stove being removed in order to expose the internal arrangement
to view. The fire-place is constructed of fire brick, as shewn at v, v, an
opening being made at bottom to receive the grating or fire bars, which,
being placed at the bottom, leave a kind of recess or well, as is shewn. The
smoke and heated vapours pass from the fire in the direction of the arrows,
and after circulating round the space between the inner and outer case, will
warm the latter and radiate heat into the apartment, after which the smoke
will pass into the flue. Sometimes I enclose the fire brick fire-place v, v, in a
corrugated iron casing, so made that some of the corrugations will touch the
fire brick; by so doing the inner case may be dispensed with, sufficient space
being left by the corrugations of the metal to allow of the circulation of the air
between it and the fire brick. The ash-pit is provided with a ventilator to
regulate the quantity of air admitted below the fire, and the fire bars or
grating are made moveable, so as to be slidden back by means of the rod and
handle w when it is required to empty the fire-place.
Fig. 13 is a sectional view of a furnace or fire-place for heating a steam
boiler. The improvement consists in the employment of a deep fire-place in
which the heat may be intensified, and in the application thereto of the hopper-
shaped grating, also shewn and described in reference to former Figures. In
order to assist in the consumption of the gases evolved from the fuel, air tubes
may be introduced above the fuel, or boles made in the fire door or other
convenient part, of the fire-place, for the purpose of admitting either cold or
warm air, as may be considered desirable.
I would observe, that my main object, in constructing the closed places, for
whatever purpose they may be employed, is to arrange and construct the parts
in such a manner that the quantity of air to support combustion may be
regulated with great nicety, as may be found advisable.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in the construction of
open and close stoves, and in kitchen ranges and boiler fire-places, and shewn
the best means with which I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect,
I claim, in conclusion,―

page_text: First, the use and application of the coal box, as shewn, with its moveable
bottom for raising the fuel.
I also claim the use and application, to the purposes set forth, of the hopper
or dish-shaped bottom of the fire-place, as shewn in Figures 8, 9, 11, and 12,
and also the double grating with fixed and moveable parts, as shewn in
Figures 3, 4, and 5, whereby the ventilation may be regulated, and which
double grating may be drawn out or on one side, as shewn in Fig. 11, when
required to empty the ashes from the fire-place.
I further claim the arrangement and construction of the parts of the flue of
the register stove, shewn and described in reference to Figures 1 and 2, and
also Figures 6 and 7.
I claim particularly carrying up the flue to the level or nearly so of the lintel
of the fire-place, whereby the draught is considerably improved. In combina-
tion with the above, I claim the damper or shutter or door for regulating the
draught.
In reference to kitchen ranges, I claim the arrangement and construction of
the parts, as shewn and described, whereby the consumption of the fuel may be
regulated by opening or closing the doors of the fire-place and ash-pit, or the
ventilating holes made therein.
Lastly, I claim the construction of close stove shewn in Figures 11 and 12,
and of the steam boiler furnace or fire-place shewn at Fig. 13.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Steven, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness.
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
THOMAS STEVEN. (L.S.)