AN IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING THE WASTES OR RESIDUES OF WOOD OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE TO STEAM BOILERS AND OTHER INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Schacher and Louis Ferct, of Boulevard
•
de Strasbourg, No. 23, at. Paris, Engineers, for the Invention of
" AN IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING THE WASTES OR RESIDUES OF WOOD
OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE TO STEAM BOILERS AND OTHER
INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 31st October 1873, and dated the 26th August 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Schacher and
Louis Feret at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 26th August 1873.
We, CHARLES SCHACHER and LOUIS FERET, of Boulevard de Stras-
bourg, No. 23, at Paris, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING THE WASTES OR
RESIDUES OF WOOD OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE TO STEAM BOILERS
AND OTHER INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Our new construction of furnace is intended to burn completely and

page_text: at a high temperature all kinds of wood waste, and the fragments or even
the powders of all sizes and shapes of woody vegetable substances, such
as fragments of logs, the irregular pieces left when cutting up wood, the
waste from saw mills, shavings, chips, sawdust, the remains of dyewood
after use, the megass from sugar cane, peat waste, and in general all
woody waste or fragments whatever, either in the dry, damp, or green
state, without appreciable smoke.
Our Invention consists in a furnace without a grate, and with a
peculiar radiating arrangement for supplying the draught.
space
.
The furnace properly so called is of brickwork, and is in the form of
an urn without feet, or other support, or a grate. Its height, breadth, and
interior will be more or less great according to the quantity, the
form and the quality of the vegetable combustible to be consumed as
well with regard to the calorific effect desired to be produced. In the
centre of the bottom of the furnace proper an injection of air forced by
a fan or other means is led by a pipe of any form under a series of con-
centric truncated cones, of which there may be any number, and which
are surmounted by a perfect cone. These cones are laid one upon the
other in such a manner as to leave between each of them an annular
space sufficient for the passage of the air and for its continuous escape
through radiation from the top to the bottom. The intervals between
the cones are also variable according as a greater or less quantity of air
is necessary in order to completely consume the various kinds and forms
of vegetable combustibles.
At the same time that the air is injected the vegetable combustible
matters are regularly introduced into the furnace by a conduit fed either
manually or by a mechanical feeder, and are projected upon the point of
the upper cone, which distributes them throughout the furnaces as well
through their natural fall as by the escape of the air through the annular
spaces left between the truncated cones; the forced air therefore imparts
to the fragments of combustible a continuous agitation in the middle
of the flames until their complete combustion. A fire-bridge permits
the passage through its upper orifice of the flames and inflamed frag-
ments. A second and hanging fire-bridge compels the flame to traverse
the small half-consumed fragments in the space between the two fire-
bridges

page_text: This complete and furnivorous combustion depends therefore, 1st, on
the amount of combustible sent through the conduit; 2nd, on the
quantity of air injected by the pipe; 3rdly, on the orifice and the form
of the fire-bridge for the escape of the flame thus produced; and 4thly,
on the orifice and the form of the hanging fire-bridge, which forming an
obstacle to the flame utilizes the oxygen in it to complete the combustion
of the little fragments contained in the space between the two fire-
bridges. This obstacle to the progress of the flame also allows of the
excess of air which the flame still contains to burn the remainder of the
smoke which remains mixed with it.
According to circumstances any other form of injection of the air than
the circular one can be given to the furnace, to the distributing cones,
and to the orifices for the escape of the flame; for example, an oval, a
square, or a more or less prolonged rectangular form. And similarly
when a great amount of heat is required to be produced several series of
air injectors can be arranged in the same furnace.
For the heating of boilers a third fire-bridge can be arranged towards
the middle of the length of the boiler, and the flames are made to follow
the course of ordinary flues until they reach the chimney which gives
issue without any signs of smoke to the products of combustion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
.filed by the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
SCHACHER and LOUIS FERET, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23, at
Paris, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret,

page_text: Her special licence that we, the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Charles Schacher and Louis Ferct, our 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 thercin 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 "AN IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING THE
WASTES OR RESIDUES OF WOOD OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE TO
STEAM BOILERS AND OTHER INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst :
others) that we, the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret, or one of us,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
'one of our or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our new construction of furnace is intended to burn completely and
at a high temperature all kinds of wood waste and the fragments or
even the powders of all sizes and shapes of woody vegetable substances,
such as fragments of logs, the irregular pieces left when cutting up
wood, the waste from saw mills, shavings, chips, sawdust, the remains of
dyewood after use, the megass from sugar cane, peat waste, and in
general all woody waste or fragments whatever, either in the dry, damp,
or green state without appreciable smoke.
Our Invention consists of a furnace without a grate and with a
peculiar radiating arrangement for supplying the draught.
The furnace A, properly so called, is of brickwork and is in the form
of an urn without feet or other support as a grate. Its height, breadth,
and interior space will be more or less great, according to the quantity,

page_text: the form, and the quality of the vegetable combustible to be consumed
as well with regard to the calorific effect desired to be produced. In the
centre of the bottom of the furnace proper an injection of air forced by
a fan or other means is led by a pipe B of any form under a series of
concentric truncated cones C, D, of which there may be any number,
and which are surmounted by a perfect cone E. These cones are laid
one upon the other in such a manner as to leave between each of them
an annular space sufficient for the passage of the air and for its
continuous escape through radiation from the top to the bottom. The
intervals between the cones are also variable, according as a greater or
less quantity of air is necessary in order to completely consume the
various kinds and forms of vegetable combustibles.
At the same time that the air is injected the vegetable combustible
matters are regularly introduced into the furnace by a conduit G, fed
either manually or by a mechanical feeder, and are projected upon the
point of the upper cone E, which distributes them throughout the
furnaces as well through their natural fall as by the escape of the air
through the annular spaces left between the truncated cones; the forced
air therefore imparts to the fragments of combustible a continuous
agitation in the middle of the flames until their complete combustion.
A fire-bridge H permits the passage through its upper orifice of the
flames and inflamed fragments. A second and hanging fire-bridge I
compels the flame to traverse the small half-consumed fragments in the
space between the two fire-bridges.
This complete and furnivorous combustion depends therefore, 1st, on
the amount of combustible sent through the conduit G; 2ndly, on the
quantity of air injected by the pipe B; 3rdly, on the orifice and the
form of the fire-bridge H for the escape of the flame thus produced;
and 4thly, on the orifice and the form of the hanging fire-bridge I, which
forming an obstacle to the flame utilizes the oxygen in it to complete
the combustion of the little fragments contained in the space between
the two fire-bridges H and I. This obstacle to the progress of the flame
also allows of the excess of air which the flame still contains to burn
the rest of the smoke which remains mixed with it.
According to circumstances any other form of injection of the air
than the circular one can be given to the furnace, to the distributing

page_text: cones, and to the orifices for the escape of the flame; for example, an
oval, a square, or a more or less prolonged rectangular form. And
similarly when a great amount of heat is required to be produced several
series of air injectors can be arranged in the same furnace.
For the heating of boilers a third fire-bridge K can be arranged, as
shown in the Drawing, towards the middle of the length of the boiler,
and the flames are made to follow the course of ordinary flues until they
reach the chimney which gives issue without any signs of smoke to the
products of combustion.
Experiments undertaken with a view to ascertain the amount of
calorific power produced by this new furnace have proved the economy
resulting from its use. Thus one kilogramme of ordinary dry wood has
produced 8 kilogrammes of steam, that is to say, as much heat as the
same weight of oil; one kilogramme of green wood has produced 7
kilogrammes of steam, whilst in ordinary furnaces one kilogramme of
ordinary dry wood only gives a little more than two kilogrammes of
steam. Our furnace therefore produces two and a half times the amount
of heat obtained from ordinary wood furnaces, and enables the dimensions
of the grates and boilers used for the production of a given amount of
calorific or steam power to be greatly reduced. But its merit resides in
its power of burning effectively all the waste of dry or green wood
vegetable remains and woody matters, as well as all residues of peat and
tannėries.
The introduction of our furnace into the collieries would be attended
with considerable advantage since in it effective combustion can be
maintained with such fuel only as megass or cane trash without the
addition of oil, the consumption of which at the present time is very
considerable and costly.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,—
Firstly. The improved furnace as herein-before described, and as
shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification'
thereof.
Secondly. The arrangement for the introduction of draught into the
furnace, consisting in the combination of the pipe B with the superposed

page_text: hollow cones C, D, E, substantially in the manner herein-before described,
and as shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whercof, we, the said Charles Schacher and Louis Feret,
have hereunto set 'our hands and scals, this Fourth day of
January, One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness;
ALBERT CAHEN,
Civil Engineer,
of 32, Boulevard Magenta,
at Paris.
CH. SCHACHER. (L.S.)
L. FERET.
(L.B).