IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Brown Wilson, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES."
Sealed the 22nd August 1865, and dated the 11th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Brown Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th March 1865.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The first part of this Invention relates to a new method of construction,
particularly applicable to cupolas, blast, and other furnaces.
According to one modification the gases are taken off at or about the point
where the blast is at present injected, and carried upward through channels
left in the brickwork of the furnace, on the top of which a chimney or duct
of any required height may be constructed.
Under another modification of this part of the present Invention a chimney
may be built in the centre of the furnace, and the gases are drawn off near to
its bottom, the fuel and air for combustion being at the top. In some cases
it may be found necessary to admit air through the sides at different heights,
according as the circumstances of the operation going on may require. In
the case of melting brass and other metals a chamber is sometimes arranged
below the fuel chamber for the purpose of holding the pots, and in which
chamber the heat is maintained by the combustion of the inflowing gases.

page_text: The second part of this Invention relates to certain improvements in fire-
places, and consists in constructing them of fire-clay in one or more pieces.
This part of the present Invention is based upon another Invention for
which Letters Patent were granted unto the said Edward Brown Wilson on
or about the 16th day of January 1864, and numbered 128. In the present
instance the gas exit is arranged about the level of the fire-bars, the gases
are thence taken off by side flues leading round to the front of the grate, and
by preference these are continued to the centre of the chimney, at which point
a damper may or may not be placed. The bottom may be either solid or per-
forated, and if perforated an ash-pan is placed below, from which part side or
back ducts may be made leading into the flues, thus giving a complete down-
ward current. In addition to the making of fire-places in fire-clay, they may
be made in any other suitable material, but by preference the former is
employed. The gases are sometimes taken off in a pipe or in pipes, and when
the flees are formed in the fire-clay or other material the lower part of the
front of the fire-place is perforated as well as the upper part, for the purpose
of heating the air for ventilating and heating the room in which it is placed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Brown Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BROWN WILSON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Fer reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Brown Wilson, Her special license that I, the said
Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators,
or 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 FURNACES AND FIRE-PLACES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, by an

page_text: 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 Edward Brown Wilson, 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 accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates, firstly, to a new method of construction,
particularly applicable to cupolas, blast, and other furnaces.
According to one modification the gases are taken off at or about the point
where the blast is at present injected, and carried upward through channels
left in the brick work of the furnace, on the top of which a chimney or duct of
any required height may be constructed.
Under another modification of this part of the present Invention a chimney
may be built in the centre of the furnace, and the gases are drawn off near to
its bottom, the fuel and air for combustion being at the top. In some cases
it may be found necessary to admit air through the sides at different heights,
according as the circumstances of the operation going on may require. In
the case of smelting brass and other metals a chamber is sometimes arranged
below the fuel chamber for the purpose of holding the pots, and in which
chamber the heat is maintained by the combustion of the inflowing gases.
The second part of this Invention relates to certain improvements in fire--
places, and consists in constructing them of fire-clay in one or more pieces.
This part of the present Invention is based upon another Invention for
which Letters Patent were granted unto me on or about the 16th day of
January 1864, and numbered 128. In the present instance the gas exit is
arranged about the level of the fire-bars, the gases are theuce taken off by
side flues leading round to the front of the grate, and by preference these are
continued to the centre of the chimney, at which point a damper may or may
not be placed. The bottom may be either solid or perforated, and if per-
forated an ash pan is placed below, from which part side or back ducts may
be made leading into the flues, thus giving a complete downward current. In
addition to the making of fire-places in fire-clay, they may be made in any
suitable material, but by preference the former is employed. The gases are
sometimes taken off in a pipe or in pipes, and when the flues are formed in
the fire-clay or other material the lower part of the front of the fire-place is

page_text: perforated as well as the upper part, for the purpose of heating the air for
ventilating and heating the room in which it is placed.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the system, mode, or manner in or
under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect,
reference being had to the several Figures upon the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings which I have hereunto appended, and in which similar parts are
indicated by corresponding letters of reference, that is to say :--
Figure 1 is a vertical section, through its central line, of a furnace for
the melting of metals, constructed in accordance with the first part of this
Invention ; the remaining Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 are herein-after more
particularly referred to.
In Figure 1 the furnace proper is marked A, and around its lower portion
several openings B are formed, through which air is admitted into the charge
and fuel; in the brick sides of the cylinder several ducts C are formed, and
these communicate with the upper exterior ducts D, all of which are united
in a central chimney E. The top of the furnace may or may not be
covered; in the adoption of a cover or not the ducts being regulated according
to circumstances, and the nature of the materials which are being treated in
the furnace. When used as a cupola for melting pig iron, or as a smelting
furnace for reducing ores, a tap hole F is placed at the bottom. The arcbed
ducts over the top of the furnace, and leading from the ducts in the brick work
to the central cbimney, may be made of cast iron, as shown in the Drawings,
and made in one or in separate pieces, or they may be constructed by building
flying buttresses and uniting them with a central chimney, and even the whole
of the ducts with the chimney may be made in one or more pieces of fire-clay.
The furnace may be found in some cases better adapted for the conducting of
various operations with the top closed, in which case tiers of holes of any
convenient number are formed in the brickwork, as shown by red lines, through
which the air passes and escapes by means of the vertical ducts; and for
some purposes the interior of the furnace will be found more useful if tho
inner cone is formed as shown by red lines.
I now proceed to describe the second part of my Invention, which has
reference to certain improved arrangements or modes of constructing fire-
places.
Figure 2 represents a front elevation of one form of fire-place constructed
in accordance with this Invention.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 are transverse sections of certain modifications of fire-
grates constructed in accordance with this Invention.

page_text: In Figure 2 the front of the grate, marked A, is made, with the exception
of certain slight details, in the ordinary manner, but instead of forming it
only in cast or wrought iron, I prefer to make it of fire-clay. From the sides or
back of the grate B flues lead to vertical ducts, shown at Figure 2 in dotted
lines a, a, a, which again, connected by horizontal portions 61, 62, communicate
by the central duct c to the chimney. The front A of the fire-grate may
be made to form the radiating or front surface of the flues, or cast iron or
other flues or ducts made separate from the front of the grate may be employed,
in which case I prefer to form openings d, d, at the bottom, and e, at the top,
the cold air getting in through the openings d, d, and issuing to the apartment
in a heated state through the top opening e.
The three sections, Figures 3, 4, and 5, exhibit the general arrangement
of the flues and the grate more clearly, the arrows indicating the direction of
the draft. The fuel being laid upon the grate the products of combustion
pass partly and principally over the back f, and partly through the fire-bar
openings g, and pass thence in the direction of the arrows to the flues. The
lower part of the grate is made air-tight by means of the drawer h, into
which any products of combustion that are not carried away otherwise fall,
and are removed when required by withdrawing the drawer.
One very important feature of this Invention consists in forming the body,
back, and flues of the grate all in one piece of fire-clay or other suitable
material in such manner that when attached to an iron or other front the grate
only requires to be placed in the locality of a draft to insure its action, it is also
obvious that the front of the grate may be formed in one piece with the back
and flues. The top of Figure 4 may be actuated as shown in red lines.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the several
modifications under which it may be used or practically carried into effect, I
would observe- in conclusion that I do restrict myself to the precise details
herein-before described and referred to, as many variations may be made
therefrom without deviating from the main features thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of August One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
EDWP. B. WILSON. (L.S.)