IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACE GRATES AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jeremiah Head, of the Newport Rolling Mills,
Middlesborough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACE GRATES AND APPARATUS
OR APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 1st January 1869, and dated the 4th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jeremiah Head at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th July 1868.
I, JEREMIAH HEAD, of the Newport Rolling Mills, Middlesborough,
in the North Riding of the County of York, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE GRATES
AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES TO BE USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to that class of grates known as step
grates, that is, in which the grate bars are arranged upon an inclined
plane.

page_text: By my Invention each bar is supported upon two or more shanks
or levers which can be projected downwards at right angles to the
bar. These levers or shanks if of wrought iron are (by preference)
suaged down somewhat smaller at the upper end and inserted into
holes cast or otherwise made in the bar, which is by preference cast
iron, but may be of other material; they can be further secured by
wedging or rivetting if desired, or they may be cast upon the bar.
A few inches below the bar I can have a hole made in the shank
through which a bolt or pin is inserted attaching it to the frame here-
after described, and which carries the weight of the bar, leaving it
free to turn upon it in an arc of a circle. A few inches below this
hole in the shank another hole can be provided containing another
bolt which attaches the extremity of a shank to a long flat bar
connecting the extremities of all the shanks. I support the bars,
by preference, upon a carriage or bogie formed of a piece of iron and
supported upon two wheels which run upon light rails near the floor
of the ash-pit or upon the floor of the ash-pit itself. The wheels are
placed so that when the grate is at its proper inclination they are
nearly in the line of its centre of gravity. The frame can be continued
outside the furnace and be connected by a long bolt running through
a wooden strut; the attendant can take hold of this wooden strut and
raise or lower or draw in and out or otherwise manipulate the whole
frame carrying the grate. The bars are supported on the frame by the
bolts or pins which are inserted in the upper pin holes. The grate bars
and frame can be made entirely independent of the furnace itself, but
when it is in position it is held fast by a catch attached to the end plate
of the furnace; the outer and any other pair of shanks are to be formed
at the end to receive a socket lever. By working this up and down,
and by means of the connection obtained by the flat bar, a simultaneous
motion is given to all the bars similar to that of a venetian blind; each
end turns upon its own pin and moves in an arc of a circle. The effect
of this motion is to raise and let fall the coal and gradually work it
downward and forward as it burns to the inner or lower end of the
grate; the clinkers and ashes which accumulate there fall below through
a gap purposely left there into the ash-pit, which gap can be temporally
widened by withdrawing the whole grate backwards upon the wheels.
In some cases I dispense with the wheels, still fixing the bars in the
manner described to a frame which draws in and out of the furnace and
is independent of it except as regards the catch spoken of before. In

page_text: either case the above described bars are attached as herein set forth to
two slanting bars secured in any convenient way to the inside of the
furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jeremiah Head in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEREMIAH
HEAD, of the Newport Rolling Mills, Middlesborough, in the North
Riding of the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jeremiah Head, Her
special licence that I, the said Jeremiah Head, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jeremiah
Head, 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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE GRATES AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES TO BE USED
THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Jeremiah Head, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, 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 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 Jeremiah Head, 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 :-
My Invention has reference to that class of grates known as step

page_text: grates, that is, such as have the grate bars arranged one above the other
upon an inclined plane.
By my Invention each bar is supported upon two or more shanks or
levers which can be projected downwards at right angles to the bar.
These levers or shanks, if of wrought iron, recommend should be
swaged down somewhat smaller at the upper end, and inserted into
holes cast or otherwise made in the bar, which should be, as I prefer, of
cast iron, but may be of other material. They can be further secured
by wedging or rivetting if desired, or they may be cast upon the bar as
hereafter described. A few inches below the bar I can have a hole
made in the shank through which a bolt or pin is inserted attaching it
to the frame hereafter described, and which carries the weight of the
bar leaving it free to turn upon the pin or bolt in an arc of a circle. A
few inches below this hole in the shank another hole can be provided,
containing another bolt which attaches the extremity of a shank to a
long flat bar connecting the extremities of all the shanks. In most
cases, however, I prefer to cast the bars with shanks and projecting
pins or centres all in one casting. The upper pins rest in notches in the
frame for easy removal, and the connecting bars hook on to the lower
pins. The bars I prefer to support upon a carriage or bogie formed
of a piece of iron and supported upon two wheels (though more than
two may be used if desired) which run upon light rails near the floor
of the ash-pit, or upon the floor of the ash-pit itself. The wheels
are placed so that when the grate is at its proper inclination they
are nearly in the line of its centre of gravity. The frame can be
continued outside the furnace, and be connected by a long bolt
running through a wooden strut or otherwise. The attendant can take
hold of this wooden strut, and raise or lower or draw in and out or
otherwise manipulate the whole frame carrying the grate. Except
when the bars are cast with shanks having projecting pins cast in one
piece therewith, as herein-before described, the bars are supported on
the frame by the bolts or pins, which are inserted in the upper pin holes.
The grate bars and frame can be made entirely independent of the
furnace itself, but when it is in position it is held fast by a catch
attached to the end plate of the furnace. The outer and any other pair
of shanks are to be formed at the end to receive a socket lever. By
working this up and down and by means of the connection obtained by
the flat bar, a simultaneous motion is given to all the bars similar to
that of a venetian blind. Each end turns upon its own pin and moves

page_text: in an arc of a circle. The effect of this motion is to raise and let fall
the coal, and gradually work it downward and forward as it burns to
the inner or lower end of the grate. The clinkers and ashes which
accumulate there fall below through a gap purposely left there into the
ash-pit, which gap can be temporally widened by withdrawing the whole
grate backwards upon the wheels; or as I prefer, I have an ash-plate to
receive the clinkers and ashes before falling below, as aforesaid. In
some cases I dispense with the wheels, still fixing the bars in the
manner described to a frame which draws in and out of the furnace,
and is independent of it except as regards the catch spoken of before.
In other cases the above described bars are attached, as herein set
forth, to two slanting bars secured in any convenient way to the inside
of the furnace

page_text: the coals are shot and by which the furnace is charged; h', h¹, hopper;
'm, m, steam pipe referred to above; the other parts of the furnace being
those generally in use need no description.
Figs. 3 and 4 longitudinal view and end view of a bar; the letters
referring to the bar in Figs. 1 and 2 represent the same parts in
Figs. 3 and 4.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I
hereby declare that I claim the Invention, the nature whereof is set
forth in the outset of this Specification by the words preceeding the
words Description of the Drawings, it being understood that I do not
claim the mere mechanical details of construction except for the purposes
of the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jeremiah Head, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 31st day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
THо. C. HUTCHINSON,
Middlesbrough.
JEREMIAH HEAD. (L.S.)