IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER REFUSE."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Brierley Denham Healey, of Blackburn, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER REFUSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Brierley Denham Healey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th June 1880.
BRIERLEY DENHAM HEALEY, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER
REFUSE."
This Invention has reference to a modified form of the gas producer or furnace
shewn and described in the Specification of the Patent for applying heat to steam
boilers, No. 2748, A.D. 1870, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, and the
modified form of said furnace hereinafter described is applicable for the destruction
of town and other refuse, or for converting refuse into clinkers, the heat passing
from the furnace being available for generating steam or drying sludge, or other
purposes of a similar nature.
I am aware that a Patent has been granted to Alfred Fryer, No. 3125, A.D. 1876,
bearing upon the subject of the present Invention. My furnace is more readily
erected and less costly to work, besides being so constructed that the nuisance
arising from the fumes which escape from the refuse under treatment is reduced
to a minimum, the fumes being caused to pass over the fire grate before escaping to
the atmosphere.
The furnaces may be erected either as single or double fires, and in blocks of
four single or four double fires with the chimney flue running between them, each
furnace or fire having a connection with the chimney flue and a damper. Some of
the furnaces may be provided with special charging holes over the fire grates,
through which to put deseased meat or beddings or other like things which have to
be destroyed, but every furnace is provided with charging holes at the top of the
inclined grate through which the refuse is charged.
The incline of the furnace for destroying ordinary street or ashpit refuse is set at
an angle of 35° to 45°, as may be required, and the angle may be altered without

page_text: rebuilding the furnace or uncovering the roof, so that it may be made to suit one
class of refuse when started, and altered readily to suit another class whenever
necessary. This arrangement ensures the easy gravitation of the refuse under
treatment, and saves the greater part of the labour usually expended in helping the
refuse forward and down the inclines of existing destructors. As the lower layer
forms into clinkers, the upper layer slides forward and down the inclined grate,
the clinkers being withdrawn through step grates or horizontal bars, and not
through doors for that special purpose.
When the refuse is very small and liable to choke the fires or prevent them from
doing full work, I enclose the grates by placing hinged doors in front, and use
steam blowers for forcing the fires of the kind shewn and described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me A.D. 1872, No. 85, and for wet
refuse I add drop arches so arranged that the heat escaping from the furnace
impinges upon and is conducted through them to act upon the wet refuse on the
incline.
The fumes from upper part of furnace pass under a drop wall or midfeather
arranged at a suitable height to allow the refuse to be destroyed upon the fire
grate, and at a suitable distance from the back wall to allow the proper amount of
flue area.
These drop walls or midfeathers may be carried up to the main arches or
to the drop arches to suit the arrangement of the furnace, that is to say, to work
wet, dry, or fine refuse.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Brierley Denham Healey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1880.
BRIERLEY DENHAM HEALEY, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER
REFUSE."
This Invention has reference to a modified form of the gas producer or furnace
shewn and described in the Specification of the Patent for applying heat to steam
boilers, No. 2748, A.D. 1870, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, and the
modified form of said furnace hereinafter described is applicable for the destruction
of town and other refuse, or for converting refuse into clinkers, the heat passing
from the furnace being available for generating steam or drying sludge, or other
purposes of a similar nature.
I am aware that a Patent has been granted to Alfred Fryer, No. 3125, A.D. 1876,
bearing upon the subject of the present Invention. My furnace is more readily
erected and less costly to work, besides being so constructed that the nuisance
arising from the fumes which escape from the refuse under treatment is reduced to
a minimum, the fumes being caused to pass over the firegrate before escaping to the
atmosphere.
The furnaces may be erected either as single or double fires, and in blocks of
four single or four double fires with the chimney flue running between them, each
furnace or fire having a connection with the chimney flue and a damper. Some of
the furnaces may be provided with special charging holes over the firegrates,
through which to put diseased meat or beddings or other like things which have
to be destroyed, but every furnace is provided with charging holes at the top of the
inclined grate through which the ordinary town or ashpit refuse is charged.
The incline of the furnace for destroying ordinary town or ashpit refuse is set to
an angle of about 35°, and the angle may be readily altered without rebuilding the
furnace or uncovering the roof, so that it may be made to suit one class of refuse
when started, and altered whenever necessary. This arrangement ensures the easy
gravitation of the refuse under treatment, and saves the greater part of the labour
usually expended in helping the refuse forward and down the inclines of existing
destructors. As the lower layer forms into clinkers, the upper layer slides forward
and down the inclined grate, the clinkers being withdrawn through step grates or
horizontal bars, and not through doors for that special purpose.
When the refuse is very small and liable to choke the fires or prevent them from
doing full work, I enclose the grates by placing hinged doors in front, and use
steam blowers for forcing the fires of the kind shewn and described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me A.D. 1872, No. 85, and for wet
refuse I add drop arches so arranged that the heat escaping from the furnace
impinges upon and is conducted through them to act upon the wet refuse on the
incline.
The fumes from upper part of furnace pass under a drop wall or midfeather
arranged at a suitable height to allow the refuse to be destroyed upon the firegrate,
and at a suitable distance from the back wall to allow the proper amount of flue
area.
And in order that this Invention may be better understood, I will now explain
it with reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings. The reference numbers
where repeated on the different Figures indicate corresponding parts on each of the
Figures. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a pair of furnaces built back to back
with a flue between them having drop walls over the front of step grates; Figure 2

page_text: is a transverse section on line 1, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a
pair of furnaces with drop arches built at an angle nearly or quite parallel with the
inclined grate; Figure 4 is a transverse section on line 2, Figure 3; Figure 5 is a
plan of a pair of furnaces; Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of a pair of furnaces
with tubulous boilers 13x set between the drop walls and the chimney flue 7 over
the firegrates; Figure 7 is a plan of a block of four furnaces with boilers attached;
Figure 8 is a plan of a block of four furnaces with chimney in the centre; and
Figure 9 is a front elevation at 3, Figure 6, also of the front of Figures 1 and 3.
The Drawings shew the furnaces as being built in "blocks," back to back and
side by side, and bound together with suitable channel irons and tie rods above the
ground level, but I prefer the furnaces to be built below the ground level, and in
"ranks" side by side, in which case the usual elevated platform is not required for
charging the refuse at the top of furnaces. In the first or "block" arrangement,
the caves are arched towards the front of the furnaces, and open at one end for
getting out the clinkers; and in the second or "rank" arrangement, the cave
arches are about three feet long turned the same way as the main arches, and the
walls which support them act as buttresses in front of the furnaces. Where the
furnaces can be built in a recessed part of suitably sloping ground the caves are
open at the front, the upper level of furnaces being made to suit an inclined road
leading upward, whilst another inclined road leads down to the caves. Both of
these roads are very short, and the gradient is easy owing to the full height of my
furnaces being only ten feet or thereabouts.
Where other forms of furnaces are used in preference to mine, they may be built
below the ground level and have similar caves for getting out the clinkers, the
object of this part of my Invention being to save the cost of erecting the usual
platform from which the refuse is charged to the furnaces, and to reduce the cost of
working by having to raise the clinkers instead of raising the refuse, the latter
losing about two-thirds of its weight in the furnace.
Where only a single row of fires is built the chimney flue is at the back, and the
bottom of same is about one foot below the furnace flue outlets.
The ordinary refuse is charged through the holes 1, falling upon the plates 2,
below which are the angular grate bars 3 and the horizontal grate bars 4. The
inclined front of each furnace is supported on step bearers 5, in which step bars are
fixed as required when clinkering. The products of combustion escape through
outlets 6 to the chimney flue 7. The lever 8 is used for altering the angle of the
inclined front. The pall gear 9 may be used at discretion for jerking the refuse down
down the incline instead of pushing it down with bars. Where the angular grate
bars are in two lengths I use a hollow bearer 10 with a tie bolt through it from
side to side of inclined framing. The charging holes 11 are for diseased meat,
beddings, or other bulky things to be put through. The angle of the incline may
be varied, as shown by dotted lines over 2, on Figures 1, 3, and 6, and below 2, on
Figure 1, the top of the inclined front being attached by bolts to the lintels in any
convenient way. The drop walls 12, in Figures 1 and 6, and drop arches 12*, in
Figure 3, cause the fumes from upper layer of refuse to pass over the firegrate
before escaping to the chimney flue. The drop arches 12*, shewn by dotted lines
on Figure 1, allow the heat from fires to pass upwards and over the refuse upon the
drying zone 2 before it passes to the outlet, in which arrangement the fumes from
upper layer descend into the back of the furnace and impinge upon the drop arches
over the highly heated parts of the furnace.
It is obvious that the tubulous boilers, as shewn at 13*, may be adapted to any
of the modifications shewn and described herein, or they may be built immediately
behind the furnace, and they may be vertical or horizontal boilers.
The chimney may be built centrally for rows or blocks of furnaces as part of the
main structure, or at a distance from the furnaces; and it may be built round or
square, but of sufficient height to ensure a good draught.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner it is to

page_text: be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details shewn on the accompanying Drawings and described herein, but what I
claim is,―
First. Constructing destructor furnaces in such a manner that the fumes given
off from the upper portion of the refuse are caused to descend into the lower portion
of the furnaces, where they are brought into contact with the highly heated
Burfaces of the furnaces.
Secondly. Constructing destructor furnaces below the general ground level in
"blocks" or in "ranks," in such a way that they do not require the usual elevated
platform, which is necessary when the furnaces are erected above the ground level,
as hitherto practised.
Thirdly. Constructing destructor furnaces with movable inclined grates, inclining
from front to back or from back to front, with or without the horizontal grates at
the foot thereof, as herein described and delineated or any mere modification of the
same.
Fourthly. Constructing destructor furnaces with tubulous boilers built in the
main structure over the fires, or partly over and partly behind, so as to utilize
the heat before it passes to the chimney flue.
In witness whereof, I, the said Brierley Denham Healey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
HENRY THOMPSON,
of 157, Duke's Brow,
Blackburn.
B. D. HEALEY. (L.S.)

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Brierley Denham Healey, of Blackburn, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER REFUSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Brierley Denham Healey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th June 1880.
BRIERLEY DENHAM HEALEY, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER
REFUSE."
This Invention has reference to a modified form of the gas producer or furnace
shewn and described in the Specification of the Patent for applying heat to steam
boilers, No. 2748, A.D. 1870, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, and the
modified form of said furnace hereinafter described is applicable for the destruction
of town and other refuse, or for converting refuse into clinkers, the heat passing
from the furnace being available for generating steam or drying sludge, or other
purposes of a similar nature.
I am aware that a Patent has been granted to Alfred Fryer, No. 3125, A.D. 1876,
bearing upon the subject of the present Invention. My furnace is more readily
erected and less costly to work, besides being so constructed that the nuisance
arising from the fumes which escape from the refuse under treatment is reduced
to a minimum, the fumes being caused to pass over the fire grate before escaping to
the atmosphere.
The furnaces may be erected either as single or double fires, and in blocks of
four single or four double fires with the chimney flue running between them, each
furnace or fire having a connection with the chimney flue and a damper. Some of
the furnaces may be provided with special charging holes over the fire grates,
through which to put deseased meat or beddings or other like things which have to
be destroyed, but every furnace is provided with charging holes at the top of the
inclined grate through which the refuse is charged.
The incline of the furnace for destroying ordinary street or ashpit refuse is set at
an angle of 35° to 45°, as may be required, and the angle may be altered without

page_text: rebuilding the furnace or uncovering the roof, so that it may be made to suit one
class of refuse when started, and altered readily to suit another class whenever
necessary. This arrangement ensures the easy gravitation of the refuse under
treatment, and saves the greater part of the labour usually expended in helping the
refuse forward and down the inclines of existing destructors.
As the lower layer
forms into clinkers, the upper layer slides forward and down the inclined grate,
the clinkers being withdrawn through step grates or horizontal bars, and not
through doors for that special purpose.
When the refuse is very small and liable to choke the fires or prevent them from
doing full work, I enclose the grates by placing hinged doors in front, and use
steam blowers for forcing the fires of the kind shewn and described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me A.D. 1872, No. 85, and for wet
refuse I add drop arches so arranged that the heat escaping from the furnace
impinges upon and is conducted through them to act upon the wet refuse on the
incline.
The fumes from upper part of furnace pass under a drop wall or midfeather
arranged at a suitable height to allow the refuse to be destroyed upon the fire
grate, and at a suitable distance from the back wall to allow the proper amount of
flue area.
These drop walls or midfeathers may be carried up to the main arches or
to the drop arches to suit the arrangement of the furnace, that is to say, to work
wet, dry, or fine refuse.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Brierley Denham Healey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1880.
BRIERLEY DENHAM HEALEY, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR TREATING TOWN AND OTHER
REFUSE."
This Invention has reference to a modified form of the gas producer or furnace
shewn and described in the Specification of the Patent for applying heat to steam
boilers, No. 2748, A.D. 1870, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, and the
modified form of said furnace hereinafter described is applicable for the destruction
of town and other refuse, or for converting refuse into clinkers, the heat passing
from the furnace being available for generating steam or drying sludge, or other
purposes of a similar nature.
I am aware that a Patent has been granted to Alfred Fryer, No. 3125, A.D. 1876,
bearing upon the subject of the present Invention. My furnace is more readily
erected and less costly to work, besides being so constructed that the nuisance
arising from the fumes which escape from the refuse under treatment is reduced to
a minimum, the fumes being caused to pass over the firegrate before escaping to the
atmosphere.
The furnaces may be erected either as single or double fires, and in blocks of
four single or four double fires with the chimney flue running between them, each
Some of
furnace or fire having a connection with the chimney flue and a damper.
the furnaces may be provided with special charging holes over the firegrates,
through which to put diseased meat or beddings or other like things which have
to be destroyed, but every furnace provided with charging holes at the top of the
inclined grate through which the ordinary town or ashpit refuse is charged.
The incline of the furnace for destroying ordinary town or ashpit refuse is set to
an angle of about 35°, and the angle may be readily altered without rebuilding the
furnace or uncovering the roof, so that it may be made to suit one class of refuse
when started, and altered whenever necessary. This arrangement ensures the easy
gravitation of the refuse under treatment, and saves the greater part of the labour
usually expended in helping the refuse forward and down the inclines of existing
destructors. As the lower layer forms into clinkers, the upper layer slides forward
and down the inclined grate, the clinkers being withdrawn through step grates or
horizontal bars, and not through doors for that special purpose.
When the refuse is very small and liable to choke the fires or prevent them from
doing full work, I enclose the grates by placing hinged doors in front, and use
steam blowers for forcing the fires of the kind shewn and described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me A.D. 1872, No. 85, and for wet
refuse I add drop arches so arranged that the heat escaping from the furnace
impinges upon and is conducted through them to act upon the wet refuse on the
incline.
The fumes from upper part of furnace pass under a drop wall or midfeather
arranged at a suitable height to allow the refuse to be destroyed upon the firegrate,
and at a suitable distance from the back wall to allow the proper amount of flue
area.
And in order that this Invention may be better understood, I will now explain
it with reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings. The reference numbers
where repeated on the different Figures indicate corresponding parts on each of the
Figures. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a pair of furnaces built back to back
with a flue between them having drop walls over the front of step grates; Figure 2

page_text: is a transverse section on line 1, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a
pair of furnaces with drop arches built at an angle nearly or quite parallel with the
inclined grate; Figure 4 is a transverse section on line 2, Figure 3; Figure 5 is a
plan of a pair of furnaces; Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of a pair of furnaces
with tubulous boilers 13* set between the drop walls and the chimney flue 7 over
the firegrates; Figure 7 is a plan of a block of four furnaces with boilers attached ;
Figure 8 is a plan of a block of four furnaces with chimney in the centre; and
Figure 9 is a front elevation at 3, Figure 6, also of the front of Figures 1 and 3.
دو
The Drawings shew the furnaces as being built in "blocks," back to back and
side by side, and bound together with suitable channel irons and tie rods above the
ground level, but I prefer the furnaces to be built below the ground level, and in
"ranks" side by side, in which case the usual elevated platform is not required for
charging the refuse at the top of furnaces. In the first or "block" arrangement,
the caves are arched towards the front of the furnaces, and open at one end for
getting out the clinkers; and in the second or "rank arrangement, the cave
arches are about three feet long turned the same way as the main arches, and the
walls which support them act as buttresses in front of the furnaces. Where the
furnaces can be built in a recessed part of suitably sloping ground the caves are
open at the front, the upper level of furnaces being made to suit an inclined road
leading upward, whilst another inclined road leads down to the caves. Both of
these roads are very short, and the gradient is easy owing to the full height of my
furnaces being only ten feet or thereabouts.
Where other forms of furnaces are used in preference to mine, they may be built
below the ground level and have similar caves for getting out the clinkers, the
object of this part of my Invention being to save the cost of erecting the usual
platform from which the refuse is charged to the furnaces, and to reduce the cost of
working by having to raise the clinkers instead of raising the refuse, the latter
losing about two-thirds of its weight in the furnace.
Where only a single row of fires is built the chimney flue is at the back, and the
bottom of same is about one foot below the furnace flue outlets.
The
The ordinary refuse is charged through the holes 1, falling upon the plates 2,
below which are the angular grate bars 3 and the horizontal grate bars 4.
inclined front of each furnace is supported on step bearers 5, in which step bars are
fixed as required when clinkering. The products of combustion escape through
outlets 6 to the chimney flue 7. The lever 8 is used for altering the angle of the
inclined front. The pall gear 9 may be used at discretion for jerking the refuse down
down the incline instead of pushing it down with bars. Where the angular grate
bars are in two lengths I use a hollow bearer 10 with a tie bolt through it from
side to side of inclined framing. The charging holes 11 are for diseased meat,
beddings, or other bulky things to be put through. The angle of the incline may
be varied, as shown by dotted lines over 2, on Figures 1, 3, and 6, and below 2, on
Figure 1, the top of the inclined front being attached by bolts to the lintels in any
convenient way. The drop walls 12, in Figures 1 and 6, and drop arches 12*, in
Figure 3, cause the fumes from upper layer of refuse to pass over the firegrate
before escaping to the chimney flue. The drop arches 12×, shewn by dotted lines
on Figure 1, allow the heat from fires to pass upwards and over the refuse upon the
drying zone 2 before it passes to the outlet, in which arrangement the fumes from
upper layer descend into the back of the furnace and impinge upon the drop arches
over the highly heated parts of the furnace.
It is obvious that the tubulous boilers, as shewn at 13*, may be adapted to any
of the modifications shewn and described herein, or they may be built immediately
behind the furnace, and they may be vertical or horizontal boilers.
The chimney may be built centrally for rows or blocks of furnaces as part of the
main structure, or at a distance from the furnaces; and it may be built round or
square, but of sufficient height to ensure a good draught.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner it is to

page_text: be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details shewn on the accompanying Drawings and described herein, but what I
claim is,
First. Constructing destructor furnaces in such a manner that the fumes given
off from the upper portion of the refuse are caused to descend into the lower portion
of the furnaces, where they are brought into contact with the highly heated
surfaces of the furnaces.
Secondly. Constructing destructor furnaces below the general ground level in
"blocks" or in "ranks," in such a way that they do not require the usual elevated
platform, which is necessary when the furnaces are erected above the ground level,
as hitherto practised.
Thirdly. Constructing destructor furnaces with movable inclined grates, inclining
from front to back or from back to front, with or without the horizontal grates at
the foot thereof, as herein described and delineated or any nere modification of the
same.
Fourthly. Constructing destructor furnaces with tubulous boilers built in the
main structure over the fires, or partly over and partly behind, so as to utilize
the heat before it passes to the chimney fluc.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Brierley Denham Healey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
HENRY THOMPSON,
of 157, Duke's Brow,
Blackburn.
B. D. HEALEY. (L.S.)