IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOKE BURNING APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE FIRE-PLACES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane; in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical,
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOKE BURNING
APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE FIRE-PLACES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER
ENGINES." A communication from abroad by Carl Andreas David
Wilhelm Michelssen, Carl August Sieber, and Johann Heinrich
Glamann all of Hamburg North Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th July 1874.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SMOKE BURNING APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE FIRE-PLACES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND
OTHER ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates mainly to the fire-places of that class of boilers
which is provided with tubular flues for conducting the flame and. heated.
gases through the water space of the boiler to the combustion chamber.

page_text: beyond, and it is intended to supply heated air more or less compressed
to the top of the fire chamber, and to baffle the flames so as to ensure a
thorough mingling of the gases of combustion with the air supplied to
the fire chamber.
15
In applying the Invention to a locomotive engine a shallow air
chamber is made below the ash-box, and [extending from front to rear
thereof. This chamber is closed at its opposite ends by valves which
are alternately opened to admit air thereto. The sides of the chamber
are tapered outwards to facilitate the passage of air thereto.. Standing
up from this chamber in front of the grate, and about on level with
the fuel on the grate, is a flattened tubular channel of cast iron or fire-
clay about equal in breadth to the fire-place, and terminating at top in
a broad vertically contracted orifice, which serves to direct a broad
stream or streams of air into the fire. The progress of the locomotive
will cause air to enter the chamber, and pass up the tubular channel or
blast pipe; and out into the fire chamber as a stream or streams of heated
air, the heat being taken up by the air in its progress to the fire.
Facing the vertical air channel is a deflector extending across the fire
chamber, and so placed as to intercept the flame and gases passing to
the fire tubes, and to cause them to pass over or under the same.
This deflector consists by preference of a curved block of fire-clay
formed with feet which rest on supports provided at the end or sides of
the fire chamber, and thus the flame and gases are free to circulate
over and around the deflector.
When the engine is moving with its front end forward the front air
valve is kept open; but when the engine is reversed the back valve is
open, and the other valve is then closed to retain the air in the air
chamber.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
ány 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOKE BURNING APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO
THE FIRE-PLACES OF LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER ENGINES," being a communication
to me from abroad by Carl Andreas David Wilhelm Michelssen, Carl
August Sieber, and Johann Heinrich Glamann, all of Hamburg, North
Germany, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 Drawing.
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that:
is to say):-
i
This Invention relates mainly to the fire-places of that class of boilers'
which is provided with tubular flues for conducting the flame and heated
gases through the water space of the boiler to the combustion chamber
beyond, and it is intended to supply heated air more or less compressed
to the top of the fire chamber, and to baffle the flames so as. to ensure a;
thorough mingling of the gases of combustion with the air supplied to;
the fire chamber, and thereby to effect an economy in the consumption:
of fuel.

page_text: .
:
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn in several views the
manner of applying the Invention to a locomotive engine, Fig. 1 being
a partial longitudinal sectional elevation of the fire-place end of the
engine; Fig. 2, a sectional plan of the same taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section taken in the line 3, 4, of
Figures 1 and 2, and looking towards the fire chamber door; and Fig. 4,
a similar section to Fig. 3, but looking in an opposite direction.
A is the fire chamber; B, the grate; C, the ash-pit or box; D, the
fire tubes; E, E, the shell of the boiler; and F, the water spaces.
Below the ash-box and extending from front to rear thereof is a shallow.
air chamber G made of thin sheet iron, and strengthened by angle iron..
This chamber is closed at its opposite ends by valves 9, 9', which are
alternately opened to admit air thereto. The sides of the chamber are
tapered outwards towards the ends thereof, as shewn by dots in Fig. 2,
to facilitate. the admission of air to the chamber. Connected with this
chamber, and standing up therefrom in front of the grate B, and at,
about a level with the fuel on the grate is a flattened tapering tubular
air channel of cast iron or firc-clay H. This air channel is about equal
in breadth to the fire-place, and it terminates in an inclined top that
stands immediately below the fire-door, and serves both to guide the
feed of fuel down on to the grate and protect the front wall of the fire
chamber from the action of the burning fuel.
The air channel near the top of the casting takes a bend inwards at
nearly a right angle, and it then contracts vertically into a horizontal
opening in length nearly equal to the full breadth of the casting,
which thus constitutes a blast pipe that will direct a broad stream or
streams of air to the fire in a line parallel with the surface of the grate
or nearly so. The forward progress of the running locomotive will cause
air to enter the chamber G by the open valve 9, and pass up the tubular
channel or blast pipe H, and out into the fire chamber A as a stream or
streams of heated air, the heat being taken up by the air in its progress
to the fire.
Facing the vertical air channel H is a deflector I, which extends
across the fire chamber, and is so placed as to intercept the flame and
gases passing to the fire tubes D, and to cause them to play over or
under the deflector I. This deflector consists by preference of a curved
block of fire-clay formed with feet, which rest on supports i provided at

page_text: the end or sides of the fire chamber, and thus the flame and gases are
free to circulate over and around the deflector.
When the engine is moving with its front end forward the front air
valve g is kept open, and the back valve g¹ closed; but when the engine
is reversed the back valve g¹ is to be opened, and the front valve closed
to retain the air in the air chamber. This may readily be done by the
attendant by means of rods connected with the valves, but not shewn in
the Drawing.
For strengthening the broad mouth of the air channel H, and enabling
it the better to resist the action of the fire it is provided with internal
supports at equal distances apart, as shown at Fig. 3.
I would remark that although I have described the Invention as
applied only to a locomotive engine, yet it will be obvious that it is
equally applicable to traction and to portable engines, and indeed to the
fire-places of other tubular boilers where similar conditions of heating and
baffling of the flames are required. When however the Invention is
applied to the boilers of stationary engines obvious modifications will
be desirable in the means for supplying the air to the air channel or
blast pipe.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Smoke Burning Apparatus applicable to the Fire-places of Loco-
motive and other Engines," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement above described for supplying
heated air to fire-places, and baffling the flames before they leave such
fire-places in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
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