IMPROVE- MENTS IN STOVES AND FIRE-GRATES FOR USE IN DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Kirk, of Workington, in the County of
Cumberland, Iron Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STOVES AND FIRE-GRATES FOR USE IN DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER
BUILDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Kirk at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th May 1873.
I, PETER KIRK, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland, Iron
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
** IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES AND FIRE-GRATES FOR USE IN DWELLING HOUSES AND
OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as follows:-
-
My Invention relates to the stoves and fire-grates principally em-
ployed to warm the air in dwelling houses and other buildings, and has
for its principal object to reduce the consumption of fuel in such stoves
or grates.

page_text: In a fire-grate constructed in manner according with my said In-
vention a revolving piece having end flanches constitutes the back and
sides, or partly forms the back and sides of the said grate. The said
piece is fitted to be revolved by means of a key or lever, or other
suitable appliance, and a loose bottom is so connected with the said
piece as that when the said piece is revolved the said loose bottom is
drawn upwards and moves with the said revolving piece. The said loose
bottom is or may be formed as a curved grating, and a second grating
is or may be fixed below the said revolving piece, so that the bars of the
loose grating occupy the spaces between the bars of the fixed grating
when the said loose grating is in its lowest position. A hopper to con-
tain fuel is fixed or formed behind and partly above the said revolving
piece, the arrangement being such as that the fuel from the said hopper
falls by gravitation into the space enclosed by the said revolving piece.
and the said loose grating, or the said two gratings. When the said
revolving piece is caused to rotate the fuel is brought forwards into the
fire-grate by the united action of the said revolving piece and tho afore-
said loose bottom, and is delivered at the bottom or back of the fire,
thereby promoting economy in fuel in manner as is now well under-
stood.
In order to obtain convenient access to the hopper I may in some
cases convey away the heated gases from the fire-place by means of side
flues, and I may make such flues of metal or of a good heat-conducting
material in order that they may assist in the warming of the room or
building.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Kirk in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
KIRK, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland, Iron Manu-, 3
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-tlirec, in the thirty-.
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give. 3

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Peter Kirk, Her special license that I,
the said Peter Kirk, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Peter Kirk, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
3 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 STOVES AND FIRE-
GRATES FOR USE IN DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER BUIDINGS," upon the condition
0 (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Kirk, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Peter Kirk, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to the stoves and fire-grates principally em-
ployed to warm the air in dwelling houses and other buildings, and has
for its principal object to reduce the consumption of fuel in such stoves
or grates.
In a fire-grate constructed in manner according with my Invention,
a revolving piece having end flanches constitutes the back and sides, or
partly forms the back and sides of the said grate. The said piece is
fitted to be revolved by means of a key or lever, or other suitable
appliance, and a loose bottom is so connected with the said piece as
that when the said piece is revolved the said loose bottom is drawn
upwards and moves with tho said revolving piece. The said loose
bottom is or may be formed as a curved grating, and a second grating
is or may be fixed below the said revolving piece, so that the bars of
the loose grating occupy the spaces between the bars of the fixed
grating when the said loose grating is in its lowest position. A hopper
to contain fuel is fixed or formed behind and partly above the said
revolving piece, the arrangement being such as that the fuel from,
the said hopper falls by gravitation into the space enclosed by the said

page_text: revolving piece and the said loose grating, or the said two gratings.
When the said revolving piece is caused to rotate the fuel is brought
forwards into the fire-grate by the united action of the said revolving
piece and the aforesaid loose bottom, and is delivered at the bottom or
back of the fire, thereby promoting economy in fuel in manner as is now
well understood.
In order to obtain convenient access to the hopper, I may in some
cases convey away the heated gases from the fire-place by means of side
flues, and I may make such flues of metal or of a good heat-conducting
material in order that they may assist in the warming of the room or
building.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood, I have supplied,
to accompany this Specification, a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the
manner in which I prefer to apply the said Invention in the constuction
of a fire-grate suitable for use in the warming of a room in a dwelling
house.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings, Fig. 1, drawn about one-
sixth of the full side, is a vertical transverse section of the said grate,
and Fig. 2 is an outside end view thereof; Fig. 3 is a vertical section on
the line A, and Fig. 4 a horizontal section on the line B in Fig. 1.
"
In the said Figures a is the aforesaid revolving piece; b is the
hopper; care the ordinary front bars; and d is the "chimney piece'
or "mantle piece," which may be of any ordinary or suitable form and
construction, or may be dispensed with if not required.
The piece a, which for convenience I will herein-after style the barrel,
is in the example formed of cast iron with a central cylindrical part,
and two circular end flanches, and is fitted to be revolved on a pipe e
which is in communication with air ducts, one of which conveys air
into the interior of the said barrel, the other duct conveying the said
air to any desired point of delivery. This arrangement may be varied
or the said pipe may be dispensed with, and a rod be substituted
therefor, or the said barrel may be formed or fitted with gudgeons to
work in bearings, as may be desired, as the said pipe is not a necessary
feature in my Invention. Below the barrel a is fixed a curved grating f
which is formed to admit a movable bar g between each of its bars.
The bars 9 are connected together by rods at h and i, and are fitted to
slide to-and-fro in an endwise direction. I may dispense with the

page_text: grating and use only the movable bottom, either close or perforated, or
formed of bars as in the example, but I consider the arrangement as
shown to be the most suitable. The rod his jointed at each end to a
link which is hinged to a lever k which is mounted on the pipe e,
there being a lever and link at each end of the grate. In the example
the side castings 2 of the grate front are made to fit between the end
flanches of the barrel a and a back m, which may be formed partially or
wholly from fire-clay, is secured partly to the said sides and partly to the
hopper, When so constructed and when a comparatively small fire is
in the grate the appearance is the same as in the case of an ordinary
fire-grate. The hopper 6 is formed with a hinged lid n to which is
hinged the "register" o, and the said hopper is supplied with fuel
through the opening presented when the lid n is raised, but this arrange-
ment may be varied, and the capacity of the hopper may be increased,
as for example, in some cases the hopper may be supplied with fuel
through an opening in the back wall p, or in the side of a projecting fire-
place or stove, or from an upper room or through an opening otherwise
situated above the "throat" of the chimney. The levers k, k, are each
formed with a socket into which a poker or other suitable bar or instru-
ment may be inserted as indicated at v, there being openings fitted with
hinged doors seen at r, r, in Fig. 5, through which openings the poker
or bar may be passed. When one of the levers k is moved upwards by
means of the poker or bar the movable grate is raised until the outer
bars marked press against the flanches of the barrel, as seen in Fig. 3.
This rising movement of the said grate has the effect of gripping the
fuel between the said grate and the barrel a. The upward movement of
the said lever being continued, and the said grate being prevented from
approaching the said barrel more nearly, the said grate is caused to
revolve to some extent around the pipe e, and the outer bars being in
contact with the flanches of the barrel as aforesaid, the said barrel is
also caused to revolve and the portion of fuel gripped between the
movable grate and the barrel is thereby moved upwards and towards the
fire in the fire-grate. The lever k being then depressed the grate g is
lowered until its upper surface is a little below that of the fixed grate f
and the projecting arm S, which is formed on or which moves in unison
with the lever k, then acts upon the rod i to move back the grate 9 into
its former position; the fuel moved towards the fire as aforesaid re-
maining partly upon the fixed grate f and partly in the lower part of
the fire-grate. By repeating the upward and downward movements of

page_text: the lever k as much fuel as may be required may be fed from the hopper
into the lower part of the fire-grate. It may be of advantage to fix the
two levers k, k, upon the tube or upon a shaft substituted therefor,
and to arrange the said tube or shaft to be capable of being revolved in
the ends of the aforesaid air ducts or in suitable bearings in order that
the said levers may act upon both ends of the rod h to raise the movable
grato g.
Fig. 6 illustrates a modification which may be made in the arrange.
ment as already described. In this example the fuel is introduced into
the hopper through an opening which is closed by the door t, and the
gases from the fire pass through two side flues u, u, which are in com-
munication with the chimney. The said flues are formed of metal or
other heat-conducting material, and may project from the wall so as to
assist in the warming of the room. When this arrangement of the flues
is used I do not confine myself to the position of the opening t.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which I propose to carry it into practical effect, I would in
conclusion have it to be understood, that I do not confine myself to the
precise details as herein set forth, but that I claim as my Invention,—
First. The hopper to contain fuel situated behind the fire, substantially
as herein-before set forth and indicated.
Secondly. The method of transferring fuel from the said hopper to the
fire, substantially as herein-before set forth and indicated.
And lastly. When the said feeding hopper is employed the construction
and arrangement of the flues, substantially as described when referring
to Fig. 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Kirk, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.