improved means or Apparatus for Applying and Regulating the Heat of Gas Flames in Gas Cookers, Boilers, Ovens, or Heaters.
Year: 1886

page_text: improved means or Apparatus for Applying and Regulating
the Heat of Gas Flames in Gas Cookers, Boilers, Ovens, or
Heaters.
J, HENRY THOMAS KIRBY, of 4 Market Street, Leicester, Dental Surgeon, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
According to my invention I apply the heat of gas flames to the heating of
cooking apparatus, boilers, ovens or heaters, by causing the gas flaines to heat an
enclosed or practically enclosed liquid medium such as water, (as distinguished
from a gaseous medium such as steam or air) which in its turn is made to circulate
in contact with and to impart its heat to chambers, receptacles or pipes containing
the substance to be cooked or heated, or passing through spaces or chambers con-
taining the said substances, such heating medium being caused by its expansion or
contraction, due to greater or less heating, to automatically regulate the action of
the gas flames so as to insure that the heating shall not be carried beyond a definite
point.
The mode in which the medium is heated by the gas flames and is made to
impart its heat to the substances under treatment, and the mode in which the
expansion of the medium is made to regulate the action of the gas flames may be
greatly varied. Thus as regards the heating action of the medium, it may, in the
case of a cooking oven, be contained in a space or spaces between an inner and
outer shell surrounding the cooking chamber or chambers, pots or spaces, and the
gas flame or flames may be applied either to the lower or to any convenient part of
the outer shell itself or to a separate receptacle connected by pipes or passages
thereto. Or in the case of a heater for heating a supply of water or other liquid,
the medium may be contained in a simple heater or boiler traversed by a coil of
pipes or passages or it may be so formed that the part to which the gas flames are
applied is to a certain extent separate from but connected by tubular or other
passages with another part which contains coils of pipes or circuitous passages
through which the liquid to be heated is made to flow, so that the medium on
receiving heat from the gas flames in the first named part (which is by preference
formed so as to expose a comparatively thin stratum of the medium to the gas
flames) is made to pass thence through one or more passages to the part containing
the pipes or passages through which the liquid to be heated flows, and after giving
P 0.77

page_text: off its heat to this liquid, the medium flows back through another passage or
passages to the part heated by the gas Bame. With this arrangement the hot
products of combustion from the burners are by preference led by directing plates
or flues in such a manner as first to pass in contact with the tube or tubes or
passages through which the medium passes from the first to the second chamber,
then to pass in contact with the second chamber, and lastly to pass in contact with
the tube or passage leading the medium back to the first chamber.
Or again, the medium may be contained in a coil of pipes to which the heat of
the gas flames is applied, a part of such coil being made to pass into a receptacle
containing the substance to be heated, or the heated coil may be connected to a
tubular conduit within which or enclosing which is a second tube or set of tubes,
through which the liquid to be heated flows. The circulating medium and the
liquid to be heated being by preference made to flow in contrary directions so as
to cause the heat to be transmitted in the most effective manner.
With regard to the mode of effecting the regulation of the action of the gas
flames by the expansion or contraction of the medium, according to one arrange-
ment, this is effected by providing in connection with the receptacle containing
the medium, a vessel containing a piston, plunger diaphragm or float which is
connected to a valve or cock on or in connection with the gas supply pipe, so that
as by the expansion of the medium, on being heated to a certain degree, the piston,
diaphragm or float is made to rise, it effects the closing more or less of the valve
or cock so as to reduce the gas flame, while on the heat of the medium being
again reduced the contraction thereof will cause the piston, diaphragm or float to
fall again and thus increase the gas flame. In order to render the apparatus
perfectly safe against any accidental getting out of order of the piston &c. I in
some cases provide, either the gas pipe leading to or that leading from the
regulator, with a trap into which the medium, when expanded beyond a certain
point owing to undue heating, finds its way, and so entirely cuts off the supply of
gas to the burners. When using a piston or plunger for effecting the regulation,
this may itself carry a plug on its end to fit the end of the gas pipe or it may be
formed with a cavity so as to act as a slide valve for establishing or restricting the
communication between the gas supply pipe, opening into the side of the cylinder,
and the pipe leading the gas to the burners, also opening into the side of the
cylinder. Or the gas may be led from the cavity in the piston up through a
channel in the same to a burner or series of burners carried by the piston itself;
by this arrangement the advantage will be gained, that when the gas supply is
more or less restricted by the rising of the piston, the burner or burners will
themselves be raised in proportion to the reduction in size of the gas flames, and
thus the flames will always be more or less maintained at the most advantageous
distance from the surface to be heated thereby but the raising and depressing of
the burners may be effected in a great variety of ways, for example According
to another modification the piston of the above described arrangement may be
stationary, and the cylinder be made to move upon it according to the expansion
or contraction of the medium; in this case the cylinder may actuate a lever
carrying the burner or burners, so as to raise or lower these, and the pipe carrying
the burner or burners may be pivotted to a tubular link connected to the gas
supply pipe by means of a pivot constituting a cock so that by the motion of the
burners the cock is more or less opened or closed.
According to another arrangement of the regulator, the medium in expanding or
contracting is caused to rise and fall in a closed chamber into which the gas supply
pipe may descend to a certain level, the gas entering the chamber being led by
another pipe to the burners, thus on the medium rising in the chamber to the level
of the orifice of the inlet pipe, it will either cut off the gas supply to the burners
altogether, or by preference, the inlet pipe is provided with a small lateral slit or
bole, through which sufficient gas will issue when the orifice of the pipe is closed,
to prevent the gas flames from being entirely extinguished. This arrangement
may also be reversed so that the outlet instead of the inlet pipe projects and is

page_text: used for regulating or extinguishing the gas. Or in place of this arrangement, the
gas pipe may be provided with a by-pass leading to a small igniting jet that is
thus kept constantly burning so as to automatically light the heating burners
again when the gas is turned on after being cut off by the regulator or by band.
According to another arrangement of the regulator, there may be a resistance,
such as a spring or weight acting on a piston or diaphragm opposed to the expan-
sion of the medium, and the receptacle thereof may be provided either with or
without the above device for providing room for great expansion with a device
similar to any suitable known form of pressure gauge, whereby on an increase or
decrease of pressure of the medium taking place, due to the increased or decreased
resistance to its expansion, such variation of pressure will cause the pressure gauge
device to actuate the cock or valve of the gas supply pipe.
In all cases where a portion of the medium is exposed in the regulating chamber,
and the liquid is of a kind, such as water, that will evaporate under heat, I prefer
to cover the surface of the medium with a lighter liquid, such as oil, that does not
evaporate at moderate temperatures, and the passage leading to the regulating
chamber should be carried downwards first, to a level below the burner or burners
to prevent the hot medium from ascending.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.

page_text: I, HENRY THOMAS KIRBY, of 4 Market Street, Leicester, Dental Surgeon, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
According to my invention I apply the heat of gas flames to the heating of
cooking apparatus, boilers, ovens or heaters, by causing the gas flames to heat an
enclosed or practically enclosed liquid medium such as water, (as distinguished
from a gaseous medium such as steam or air,) which in its turn is inade to circulate
in contact with and to impart its heat to chambers, receptacles or pipes containing
the substance to be cooked or heated, or passing through spaces or chambers
containing the said substances, such heating medium being caused by its expansion
or contraction, due to greater or less heating, to automatically regulate the action
of the gas flames so as to insure that the heating shall not be carried beyond a
definite point.
The mode in which the medium is heated by the gas flames and is made to
impart its heat to the substances under treatment, and the mode in which the
expansion of the medium is made to regulate the action of the gas flames may be
greatly varied. Thus, as regards the heating action of the medium, it may, in the
case of a cooking oven, be contained in a space or spaces between an inner and
outer shell surrounding the cooking chamber or chambers, pots or spaces, and the
gas flame or flames may be applied either to the lower or to any convenient part
of the outer shell itself or to a separate receptacle connected by pipes or passages
thereto. Or, in the case of a heater for heating a supply of water or other liquid,
the medium may be contained in a simple heater or boiler traversed by a coil of
pipes or passages, or it may be so formed that the part to which the gas flames are
applied is to a certain extent separate from but connected by tubular or other
passages with another part which contains coils of pipes or circuitous passages
through which the liquid to be heated is made to flow, so that the medium on
receiving heat from the gas flames in the first named part (which is by preference
formed so as to expose a comparatively thin stratum of the medium to the gas
flames) is made to pass thence through one or more passages to the part containing
the pipes or passages through which the liquid to be heated flows, and after giving
off its beat to this liquid, the medium flows back through another passage or
pas-ages to the part heated by the gas Hame. With this arrangement the hot
products of combustion from the burners are by preference led by directing plates
or flues in such a manner as first to pass in contact with the tube or tubes or
passages through which the medium passes from the first to the second chamber,
then to pass in contact with the second chamber, and lastly to pass in contact with
the tube or passage leading the medium back to the first chamber.

page_text: Or again, the medium may be contained in a coil of pipes to which the heat of
the gas flames is applied, a part of such coil being made to pass into a receptacle
containing the substance to be heated; or the heated coil may be connected to a
tubular conduit within which or enclosing which is a second tube or set of tubes,
through which the liquid to be heated flows, the circulating medium and the
liquid to be heated being by preference made to flow in contrary directions so as to
cause the heat to be transınitted in the most effective manner.
With regard to the mode of effecting the regulation of the action of the gas
flames by the expansion or contraction of the medium, according to one arrange-
ment, this is effected, by providing in connection with the receptacles containing
the medium, a vessel containing a piston, plunger, diaphragm or float which is
connected to a valve or cock on or in connection with the gas supply pipe, so that
as by the expansion of the medium, on being heated to a certain degree, the piston,
diaphragm or float is made to rise, it effects the closing more or less of the valve or
cock so as to reduce the gas flame, while on the heat of the medium being again
reduced, the contraction thereof will cause the piston, diaphragm or float to fall again
and thus increase the gas flame. In order to render the apparatus perfectly safe
against any accidental getting out of order of the piston &c, I in some cases provide
either the gas pipe leading to or that leading from the regulator with a trap into which
the medium, when expanded beyond a certain point owing to undue heating, finds
its way, and so entirely cuts off the supply of gas to the burners.
When using a
piston or plunger for effecting the regulation, this may itself carry a plug on its
end or it may be formed with a cavity so as to act as a slide valve for establishing
or restricting the communication between the gas supply pipe, opening into the side
of the cylinder, and the pipe leading the gas to the burners, also opening into the
side of the cylinder. Or the gas may be led from the cavity in the piston up
through a channel in the same to a burner or series of burners carried by the piston
itself; by this arrangement the advantage will be gained, that when the gas supply
is more or less restricted by the rising of the piston, the burner or burners will
themselves be raised in proportion to the reduction in size of the gas flames, and
thus the flames will always be more or less maintained at the most advantageous
distance from the surface to be heated. thereby; but the raising and depressing of
the burners may be effected in a great variety of ways, for example, according to
another modification the piston of the above described arrangement may be
stationary and the cylinder be made to move upon it according to the expansion
or contraction of the medium; in this case the cylinder may actuate a lever
carrying the burner or burners, so as to raise or lower these, and the pipe carrying
the burner or burners may be pivotted to a tubular link connected to the gas
supply pipe by means of a pivot constituting a cock, so that by the motion of the
burners the cock is more or less opened or closed.
According to another arrangement of the regulator, the medium in expanding or
contracting is caused to rise and fall in a closed chamber into which the gas supply
pipe may descend to a certain level, the gas entering the chamber being led by another
pipe to the burners, thus on the medium rising in the chamber to the level of the
orifice of the inlet pipe, it will either cut off the gas supply to the burners altogether,
or by preference, the inlet pipe is provided with a small lateral slit or hole, through
which sufficient gas will issue when the orifice of the pipe is closed to prevent the gas
flames from being entirely extinguished. This arrangement may also be reversed
so that the outlet instead of the inlet pipe projects and is used for regulating or
extinguishing the gas. Or, in place of this arrangement, the gas pipe may be
provided with a by-pass leading to a small igniting jet that is thus kept con-
stantly burning so as to automatically light the heating burners again when the
gas is turned on after being cut off by the regulator or by hand.
According to another arrangement of the regulator, there may be a resistance,
such as a spring or weight, acting on a piston or diaphragın opposed to the expan-
sion of the medium, and the receptacle thereof may be provided either with or
without the above device for providing room for great expansion with a device.

page_text: similar to any suitable known form of pressure gauge, whereby on an increase or
decrease of pressure of the medium taking place, due to the increased or decreased
resistance to its expansion, such variation of pressure will cause the pressure gauge
device to actuate the cock or valve of the gas supply pipe.
In all cases where a portion of the medium is exposed in the regulating chamber,
and the liquid is of a kind, such as water, that will evaporate under heat, I prefer
to cover the surface of the medium with a lighter liquid, such as oil, that does not
evaporate at moderate temperatures, and the passage leading to the regulating
chamber should be carried downwards first to a level below the burner or burners
to prevent the hot medium from ascending.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a vertical section shewing combined a
gas cooker, boiler, oven or heater with automatic regulation according to my
invention. A is a vessel filled with water or other liquid heated by a burner B.
Leading from the vessel A is a descending and ascending vertical pipe C in which
there is a float D having a stem marked with a graduated scale connected through
a lever and rod E with the gas cock F.
The
The height of the liquid in C is first determined by the stop cock N, then as the
liquid in A is heated or cooled it expands or contracts, and the level in the pipe
being thus raised or lowered, the float by its ascent or descent closes or opens more
or less the stop cock F so as more or less to reduce or increase the flame.
float D may be fixed higher or lower by the set screw G, giving more or less room
for the liquid in A to expand before it closes the gas cock, thus the maximum
degree of heat in A may be limited with precision as desired, according to the
graduated scale on the float stem. By causing the pipe C first to descend, and by
making its descending part large enough to hold all the hot liquid forced from A
by expansion, the liquid in the ascending pipe is kept cool, and there is therefore
no loss of heat by its exposure. A small pipe from the top of the vessel A. having
a stop cock P allows escape of air so that no irregularity of action need be caused
by the presence of air or gas in A. Also if steam or vapour is generated in A, on
again condensing, the liquid can freely return and refill it. If however a piston
or diaphragm is used in place of a float, the vessel A will be hermetically sealed
thereby and then, if so arranged, a known quantity of air may remain, but nothing
must be allowed to escape from the vessel whilst it is hot or a vacuum would
follow on cooling again.
By a coil H situated in and heated by its contact with the liquid contained in
the vessel A, any fluid caused to pass through H is rapidly heated and the liquid
in A being thus contracted by its loss of heat increases the gas flame in proportion,
but on fluid ceasing to pass through H the liquid in A again becomes expanded
and the flame is thereby reduced; thus the heat from the gas is proportioned to
the heat carried off in the fluid heated. Also the water or liquid in A heats the
chamber K and may communicate with pipes J, or may be made to circulate
through a coil or sheaf of pipes to increase its heating surface. In this chamber,
which may be varied in form, and material to suit any purpose, some kinds of
cooking, boiling, heating and warming may be done, and as the heat transmitted to
it can be accurately regulated from the lowest degree, a uniform temperature may
be maintained in any object placed within it.
By carrying the pipe C higher so that the increased vertical column of liquid
which it may then contain augments the pressure in A, great heat may be attained,
and the boiler K may be made steam tight instead of having a loose cover, as
shewn in the drawing, so that in it steam may be generated and used either for
power or other purposes. In such a boiler danger from overheating is avoided and
the boiler will not be injured even if it becomes dry. Water or other liquids may
also be raised to a high temperature enclosed in a vessel thus heated, without loss
from evaporation and with great safety, as all the heat passes first into the
regulator and accurately adjusts the flame before it can pass on to heat the water
or liquid.

page_text: Although, as represented in the drawing, the coil H and the chamber K may be
combined so that both are heated by the same regulating liquid contained in the
vessel A, they may be advantageously divided and constructed as distinct apparatus,
each of thein having a separate vessel A, then the use of one heater cannot
interfere with the other by carrying away too much heat as may be the case when
they are combined.
In Fig. 2 the gas burner B is balanced by the weight Z and pivotted on the
swivel joint Q, and the arm of the gas cock F is connected to it by the short
rod R, so that as the rod E worked by the float by its descent or ascent causes the
flame to diminish or increase, the burner B is also caused to rise or fall in propor-
tion to the size of the flame, thus it may always be kept at the distance from the
surface it heats best suited to the size of the flame.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In combination with a gas cooker, boiler, oven or heater, a vessel containing
liquid heated directly by gas and arranged to impart heat to the contents of the
cooker, boiler, oven or heater, the said vessel being provided with apparatus which
according as the liquid is more or less expanded by heat or contracted by cooling,
causes more or less reduction or increase of the gas supply, thus effecting automatic
regulation of the heat substantially as herein described.
2. In combination with a gas cooker, boiler oven or heater the heat of which is
automatically regulated, the arrangement of burner whereby its distance from the
surface heated by it is varied by the regulating apparatus to suit the variation of
the gas supply, substantially as berein described.
Dated this 4th day of November 1880.
ABEL & INRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.