IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FUEL TO FURNACES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Apperly, Cloth Manufacturer, and William
Clissold, Engineer, both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
FUEL TO FURNACES."
Sealed the 30th April 1858, and dated the 2nd November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Apperly and
William Clissold at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 2nd November 1857.
We, JAMES APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and WILLIAM CLISSOLD, 'En-
gineer, both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR
FEEDING FUEL TO FURNACES," to be as follows:
Our Invention of improved means of feeding fuel to furnaces consists in
adapting to the fire-places of furnaces a 'moveable frame, or plate, or chamber,
which is capable of being moved into and out of the furnace, immediately above
This
the fire bars, through a suitable opening made in or above the door.
frame, plate, or chamber is first filled or charged with an even layer of coal, and
then thrust into the fire-place immediately above the incandescent fuel, on to
which the fresh fuel is thrown or dropped, either by tipping the frame, plate,
or chamber on one side, or by opening apertures in the bottom of the frame
and allowing the fuel to drop through. As the object of the Invention is to
spread the fuel as evenly as possible over the fire bars, it is advisable that an
even layer should be placed on the frame before passing it into the furnace;
this
may be effected either by hand or by mechanical means; for instance, the
coal may be supplied from a hopper above the frame, and so contrived as to

page_text: drop a regular and uniform quantity on to the latter as it travels either
forward or backward.
The particular form or construction of the apparatus must depend in a great
measure upon the construction of furnace to which it is to be applied, as it is
evident that the same form of apparatus could not so conveniently be adapted
to a Cornish or locomotive boiler as to a waggon boiler, in which the furnace
is usually placed beneath.
The form of apparatus which will perhaps be found most generally useful is
that of a rectangular frame, provided with moveable bars to support the fuel,
the bars being made and worked something in the manner of the laths of a
Venetian blind, so that they may all be suddenly brought into a vertical
position, or nearly so, and the fuel allowed to fall through on to the burning
fuel beneath.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Apperly and William Clissold in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st May 1858.
! TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and WILLIAM CLISSOLD, Engineer, both of
Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Apperly and William Clissold, Her special license that we, the
said James Apperly and William Clissold, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold,
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
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 "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND
APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FUEL TO FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and;

page_text: 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 William Clissold, on behalf of myself
and of the said James Apperly, 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, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
:―
Our Invention of "Improved Means for Feeding Fuel to Furnaces" relates
to the adaptation to the fire-places of furnaces of a moveable frame, plate, or
chamber, which is capable of being moved into and out of the furnace, above or
at the side of the fire bars, through a suitable opening or openings made in or
above or at the side of the door. This frame, plate, or chamber is first filled
or charged with an even layer or uniform supply of coal, and is then thrust
into the fire-place above the level of the incandescent fuel, on to which the
fresh fuel is thrown or dropped, either by tipping the frame, plate, or chamber
on one side, or by opening apertures in the bottom of the frame and allowing
the fuel to drop through. As the object of the Invention is to spread the fuel
as evenly as possible over the fire bars, it is advisable that an even layer or
uniform supply should be placed on or in the frame or chamber before passing
it into the furnace. This operation may be effected either by hand or by
mechanical means; for instance, the coal may be supplied from a hopper above
the frame or chamber, and so contrived as to drop a regular and uniform
quantity on to the latter as it travels either forward or backward.
The particular form or construction of the apparatus must depend in a great
measure upon the construction of furnace to which it is to be applied, as it is
evident that the same form of apparatus could not with like convenience be
adapted to a Cornish or locomotive boiler and to a waggon boiler in which the
furnace is situate beneath the boiler.
One form of apparatus consists of a rectangular frame provided at the
bottom with bars to support the fuel. These bars may be made moveable
and worked something in the manner of the laths of a Venetian blind, so that
they may all be suddenly brought into a vertical position, or nearly so, and the
fuel allowed to fall through on to the burning fuel beneath; or an under frame
may be adapted beneath the bottom plate and made moveable bodily, so that
when drawn back a few inches it will leave the spaces between the bars in
the first frame open, so as to allow the fuel to fall through on to the fire
beneath.
In order, however, that our improvements may be clearly understood, we

page_text: have shewn in the accompanying Drawings, some, arrangements of parts
whereby, the object of our Invention may be effected..
:
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 2, of
a boiler and, furnace with one form of our improvements adapted thereto;
Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Our improvements are shewn in the
Drawings as applied to cylindrical boilers, but the arrangement shewn in
Figures 1 and 2 is the one we prefer to adapt to a waggon, boiler. a, a, is
the boiler; b, b, the fire bars which support the incandescent fuel; c is the
fire door; d, a moveable frame or plate, which may be moved into or out of
the furnace above the burning fuel, a, suitable opening being, made above-the
fire door for the purpose., Immediately above, the fire door, and com-
municating with the upper, surface of the moveable, frame d, is a hopper e,
which is kept supplied with fuel, and as the frame d travels forward into the
furnace, it carries in from the hopper a thin layer of fuel, as. shewn in Fig. 1.
In order to support the framed while being moved in or out of the furnace, it
is made to run on guides f, f, attached to the sides of the fire-place. The
frame d is provided with a moveable plate g, whereby, the openings through
the plate or frame d are closed while the frame is travelling in, but when the
frame has been thrust in to its full extent the end of the plate 9 is brought up
against a stop, whereby it is pushed back, and the fuel will then be allowed to
fall through on to the fire below, as shewn in the Drawing. When the
frame dis drawn out again, the openings therein must, be again closed by
pushing back the plate 9 into its original position by means of, the bar. or
handle g. The frame & remains out of the fire-place in the position shewn
by dots in the Drawing until a fresh supply of fuel is required for the fire,
when the same operations again take place.
Fig. 3 is an end elevation of another arrangement, intended to be applied
more particularly to cylindrical or other boilers where a sufficient height of
fire box to receive the arrangement shewn at Figures 1 and 2 cannot be
obtained; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section taken in the line A, B, of
Fig. 3. The boiler is shewn at a, a, and, the fire bars at b, b. In this
instance, however, the fire bars, instead of being arranged in a flat plane, as in
Fig. 1, are arranged in a concave form, as shewn by.dots in Fig. 3, so as to
give greater room in the fire-place, and instead of the moveable, frame d of
Fig. 1, we adapt to each side of the furnace a moveable chamber or trough
d, d, of a cylindrical or other convenient shape; these chambers or troughs
are made to run on guides f, f, at the sides of the fire bars, and as they are
moved into the furnace they are supplied with fuel from the hopper e, in the
same manner as is described in reference to Figures 1 and 2. When the

page_text: chambers or troughs d* have been pushed into their full extent, they are
tipped over or turned on one side by means of the handles h, h. By so doing
the fuel will be tipped or thrown out of the chambers or troughs d* on to the
fire, and the fire bars 6 being arranged in a concave form, the fresh fuel will
roll over towards the central part of the fire, and in so doing will become
spread pretty evenly over the surface thereof.
An obvious modification of the arrangement shewn in Figures 3 and 4 is
shewn in Figures 5 and 6, Fig. 5 being an end elevation of the boiler and fire
door of the furnace, and Fig. 6 a longitudinal vertical section, taken in the
line E, F, of Fig. 5. In this instance, instead of the chambers or troughs d*
being moveable, they are fixed below the supply pipes of the hopper e, from
whence the fresh fuel will descend into the chambers d*, as in Figures 3 and 4.
The fuel is from time to time thrust into the furnace by means of a moveable
detached plunger i, shewn detached in Fig. 7. The fixed chambers d* are
calculated to hold enough for one charge, and by thrusting the plunger i into
the open ends of the chambers d*, the fuel will be pushed forward along the
sides of the fire, and will roll over towards the centre thereof, as in Figures 3
and 4.
If the height of the fire box should be sufficient, it may not be necessary
to arrange the fire bars in a concave form, as shewn in the Drawing, but
they may be laid flat, as shewn in Fig. 2, but it will then be necessary to
stoke the fuel, so as to spread it evenly over the surface of the fire bars.
.
Having now described our Invention of "Improved Means of Feeding Fuel
to Furnaces," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we would observe, in conclusion, that what we consider to be new, and desire
to secure by Letters Patent as aforesaid, is the mode of and apparatus for
feeding fuel to furnaces herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clissold, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM CLISSOLD. (L.S.)