IMPROVEMENTS IN FUR- NACES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lee Stevens, of Kennington, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUR-
NACES,"
Sealed the 13th January 1853, and dated the 27th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lee Stevens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th October 1852.
I, JOHN LEE STEVENS, of Kennington, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNACES" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employing of revolving bars in com-
bination with fixed bars, which revolving bars have inclined or screw
surfaces, and are to be used in pairs between fixed bars, each of a pair
of such revolving bars being caused to move in opposite directions from
its fellow; and, combined with such arrangement, the use of a set of
fixed bars at the further end or back of the first-described combined set
of bars; and so that the fuel, being moved by the revolving bars

page_text: towards the back of the furnace, may be more or less supported by and
travel on the affixed bars between each pair of revolving bars, and may
be pushed on or against the terminating or back set of fixed bars by the
fresh supply of fuel placed upon and continually and gradually carried
onward by the motion of the revolving bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lee Stevens in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN LEE STEVENS, of Kennington, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Lee Stevens, Her special licence that
I, the said John Lee Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Lee Stevens, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lee Stevens, 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 John Lee Stevens, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):

page_text: This Invention consists in the employing of revolving bars in com-
bination with fixed bars, which revolving bars have inclined or screw
surfaces, and are to be used in pairs between fixed bars, each of a pair
of such revolving bars being caused to move in opposite directions from
its fellow; and, combined with such arrangement, the uso of a set of
fixed bars at the further end or back of the first-described combined set
of bars; and so that the fuel, being moved by the revolving bars towards
the back of the furnace, may be more or less supported by and travel on
the fixed bars between each pair of revolving bars, and may be pushed on
or against the terminating or back set of fixed bars by the fresh supply
of fuel placed upon and continually and gradually carried onward by the
motion of the revolving bars.
Figure 1, is a longitudinal, and Figure 2, a transverse section; and
Figure 8, is a plan of the said Invention. A, the revolving fire-bars,
and B, the fixed bars combined therewith; C, the set of fixed bars used
in further combination with the bars A, and B; D, the indicated motion
of the revolving bars; E, angle pieces extending the length of the
bars A, to prevent the fuel from lodging against the sides of the
furnace.
And Figure 4, is a mode, among others, that will occur to practical
men, by which motion can be given to the revolving bars through the
medium of mechanical or manual power.
The double furnace arrangements at a, b, and c, it is not necessary
for me to describe herein, the same being included in the Specification
of my Patent for "Improvements in Furnaces," dated the First of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
I prefer in all cases that the combination of bars A, and B, shall be
placed horizontally, and that the set of bars C, shall incline downwards
from the level of the former in the ratio of about one in twelve, so that
the fuel from the bars A, and B, may the more readily descend towards
the termination of the bars C.
I am aware that the idea of using revolving bars of such a
form is not new; bars of that configuration having been proposed by
Mr. Samuel Hall, in the Specification of his Patent of the Twentieth
of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, although im-

page_text: practicable of use in the manner therein described by him; and I do not
therefore claim the exclusive use of such bars.
But what I do claim is, the use of revolving bars used in pairs
between fixed bars, each of a pair of such revolving bars being caused
to move in an opposite direction from its fellow in the manner previously
described; and, in combination with such arrangement, the use of a set
of fixed bars at the further end or back of the first-described combined
set of bars, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lee Stevens, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
than
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
J. LEE STEVENS. (L.S.)