IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOILERS AND FURNACES, STOVES, OB HEATING APPARATUS
Year: 1868

page_text: Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th June 1868..
I, FRANCIS JOSEPH DRECHSLER, of Saint John's Wood, in the County-
of Middlesex, do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOILERS AND FURNACES, STOVES, OB
HEATING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
I use a number of superposed heating surfaces proceeding from the
furnace or fire and carrying the heat through the same in a serpentine
or zig-zag course. The bottom of the furnace I would in some cases
construct of an inverted funnel form, but the form must depend upon
the particular use for which the same may be required. The door can
be hinged so as to completely enclose the furnace or stove when for
horticultural, domestic, or similar purposes, allowing the apparatus to
assume the character of an open grate when desired, and I prefer to

page_text: have a fuel feed hole at top with a lid or cover, which may be made to
fit into a trough containing water or liquid or sand to hermetically
seal the same.
An extra chimney should be provided for the better
carrying off smoke and gases, and such extra chimney should have its
exit in the ordinary chimney at a point above the damper. This extra
chimney may in some cases commence in a receiver placed just above
the door of the furnace or fire-place. The whole should be inclosed
with an inner shell, and the space between this shell and the external
shell should allow of the circulation of the water therein, thus forming
what may be termed water jacketting; and the door of the furnace
or fire-place may be provided with water jacketting in a similar way,.
in which case the hinges may be constructed with hollow passages:
communicating with the boiler, or a safety valve pipe may be fitted to
the door. The bars of the furnace or fire-grate may be of the moveable
kind if desired. Where ignited gas is the combustible used instead of
a furnace or fire-place a receptacle for the gas burner or burners may
be substituted. The aforesaid heating surfaces of the boiler are passages.
or flues proceeding from the furnace or fire-place carried through the
boiler one above the other, and should be of as nearly the same area as
the interior of the boiler as the preservation of water space will allow,
the heat thus proceeding in a serpentine or zig-zag direction and
operating equally over all the areas, thence passing into the smoke-box
or chimney; and when the boiler forms part of a cooking, heating, or
drying or other similar apparatus, the distance between the flues and
water spaces must be arranged so as to leave room for air-oven, drying
chamber, or other such like appliance. Each of the heat passages or
absorbers should be constructed in two parts with flanges, so that the
one may be fitted within the other, and then they can be secured by
rivetting or otherwise, as may be required. Although I have mentioned
the inverted funnel shape as being in some cases desirable, yet for
locomotives and many other purposes the furnace or fire-place may be
of any ordinary or suitable form and character. Round the outside of
the boiler I can have apertures into the spaces for the purpose of
cleaning the boiler from the incrustation in the water spaces and from
the soot in the flues; these flues and water spaces being in straight
horizontal lines the cleaning of them is easy. All these holes can be
closed up by screws passing through the outer shell, serving. the purposes
of bolts to fix the heating surfaces to the outer shell. The beat being

page_text: spread very equally over the surfaces to be heated the boilers will be
preserved from the effects of unequal distribution of heat and pressure.
The heat passing in a zig-zag motion from one section of the boiler to
another until the caloric is absorbed no external arrangements will be
required to use up waste heat.