A Furnace for and Process of Burning Wet and Offensive Substances.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov., 1887
Specification Accepted, 6th Dec., 1887
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Furnace for and Process of Burning Wet and Offensive
Substances.
I, ANDREW ENGLE, of Baxter, Iowa, one of the, United States of America, inventor,
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:
This furnace is suitable for use in performing this process of so volatilizing and
burning night soil, urine, and other wet and offensive substances, as to cause those
substances themselves to furnish fuel for their own evaporation and combustion.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the furnace. Figure 2 is a perpendicular
longitudinal section of one form of the furnace, drawn on the line x, x, of Figures 3
and 4. Figures 3 and 4 are perpendicular lateral sections of that form of the furnace
on the lines y, y, and z,, respectively, of Figure 2. Figure 5 is a perpendicular
longitudinal section of another form of the furnace drawn on the line y, y, of Figure 6;
and Figure 6 is a perpendicular lateral section of that form of the furnace, on the
line,, of Figure 5. Figures 7 and 8 are an elevation and a longitudinal central
sectional view, respectively, of the super-heater. Figures 9 and 10 are a central
vertical sectional, and a plan view, respectively of the separator.
1 first describe the first form of furnace, and its mode of operation.
The brick work, which comprises the body of the furnace, is represented by the
numeral 1. The oven 2 is preferably constructed of brick, and the oven 3 is preferably
constructed of iron. These ovens are preferably placed parallel to each other, and the
fire-place 4 is placed in front of them both. Openings O and O', in the brick walls
which support the oven 2, give passage to the flames under that oven, when the
valve 5 is open and the valves 6 and 7 are both closed; and corresponding openings,
in the corresponding walls which support the oven 3, give passage to the flames under
that oven, when its corresponding valves are in corresponding positions. The pipes 8
and 9 lead from the rear end of the oven 2 toward the fire-place 10; the first mentioned
pipe opening below, and the other opening above that fire-place. The boiler 11 is
above the fire-place- 10, and the retort 12 is placed within that boiler, and preferably
nearest its upper side. The pipe 13 extends from the retort 12, through the wall of
the boiler, and thence downward to a place adjacent to the fire place 10, where it is

page_text: '
provided with the super-heater 14, so fixed thereto as to be readily removable and be
readily replaced by a new one when it has been injured by the fire.. The pipe 13 may
be provided with a valve, if desired, and, in that case, another pipe should run through
the wall of the boiler 11, from the retort 12, and be provided with a safety valve, like
the safety valve 15, which, in all cases, is inserted in the wall of the boiler. The 5
pipe 16 may extend from the retort 12, through the wall of the boiler 11, and may
communicate with a sewer, cess pool, or other receptacle of offensive liquids, and, if
it is employed, should be provided with the valve 17. The smoke-pipe 18 extends
upward from the rear end of that part of the furnace which encloses the boiler 11 and
the retort 12. The floor 19 is appurtenant to two adjacent privy-closets, one of which 1
is provided with the seat 20-and-the-separator 21, and the other..one of which is
provided with a corresponding seat and separator, not shown in the drawings. The
large pipes 22 and 23 extend downward, from the two seats, respectively, to the
oven 2, and are provided with the valves 24 and 25, respectively, and with openings 26
and 27, respectively, communicating with the ventilating pipe 28, which latter dis-1
charges into the smoke-pipe. The two separators are fixed within the pipes 22 and 23,
respectively, immediately below the seats; and those separators drain into pipes 29
and 30, respectively; and those pipes unite in the pipe 3.1. The latter passes through
the wall of the boiler 11, and discharges into the retort 12.
=
A branch pipe 32 extends from the pipe 31 to the oven 3. The valves 33 and 342
aro-so placed-in-the pipes-31 and 32, respectively, as to direct the discharge of tho
pipe 31, into the oven 3 or the retort 12, or into both of those receptacles, as may be
desired. The opening 35, provided with the horizontal door 36, gives entrance for
garbage to the oven 2, from the outside of the furnace.
The mode of operation is as follows. When the seat 20 is occupied, the night soil.
drops down the pipe 22, into the oven 2, lodging temporarily upon the valve 24, if
that valve is closed at the time; while the urino passes through the corrugated and
perforated separator 21, into the pipe-29, and thence runs partly into-the oven B, and
partly into the retort. 12. When enough night-soil and urine have accumulated to
make a burning expedient, the boiler 11 is supplied with water and the valve 5 is
opened, and the valves 6 and 7 are closed, while the corresponding valves of the
oven 3, are correspondingly managed; and the valves 17, 24, 25, 33, and 34, are
closed, and the door 36 is shut down, while the doors of the ovens 2 and 3 are partly
open. Then a fire is made on the fire-place 4, and another fire is made on the fire-
place 10. The flames from the fire on the fire-place 4 pass under and around the
ovens 2 and 3, and the matter in those ovens is partly evaporated into steam and
partly volatilized into gases, by the resulting heat. That steam and those gases,
having no other egress, pass out of the doors of the ovens, and into the flames above
the fire-place 4, where they are partly consumed. The unconsumed particles pass,
with the smoke from the fuel on the fire-place 4, through the opening which is
furnished with the valve 5, and thence upward through the fire-place 10, and the
fire that is thereon. During their passage through that fire, all the unconsumed
particles of matter undergo combustion, and thus increase the heat in that part of
the furnace. In the meantime, that heat is passing through the walls of the
boiler 11, and through the walls of the flues therein, and through the water it con-
tains, and through the walls of the retort 12, into the interior thereof, thus volatalizing
the contents therein contained. The steam and gases, thus produced, pass through
the pipe 13, into the super-heater 14; and, when they issue thence, aro consumed
in the fire above the fire-place 10.
When the foregoing operation has gone far enough to reduce the night-soil in the
oven 2 to a dry condition, the valve 5 is closed and the valve 6 is opened. Thereupon
the flames pass from the fire-place 4, into the oven 2, and ignite the contents thereof,
and those contents burn till they are substantially consumed, and if any light particles
escape combustion in the oven, they are burned in passing through the fire on the
fire-place 10. If, during this burning, it becomes expedient to increase the draft, the
valve 7 may be opened; and, to increase the draft still more, the valve 6 may be closed.
Then the smoke from the firo in the oven 2, instead of passing through the fire on the

page_text: fire place 10, is projected against and around the super-heater and into the flames
which surround it, where that smoke and its accompanying unconsumed gases, are
completely burned up. The flames from the fire-place 4, may in like manner be sent
through the oven 3, when the contents thereof have boen evaporated down to a dry
residuum; and that residuum thus be, in like manner, consumed. Thus the burning
continues till the whole of the night soil in the oven 2, and the whole of the urine
in, the oven 3, has been burned up with fire, and until only a little dry sediment
remains in the retort 12. When the furnace cools down, that sediment may be
removed through the aperture in the end of the retort, which is disclosed to view by
removing the plate 37.
The boiler 11 may be used to supply steam for warming apartments or for other
purposes, or it may be employed only as a water-jacket for the retort 12; in which
latter case it requires no other outlet than the safety valve 15, and no inlet other than
any convenient means of originally supplying it with water.
The ovens may both be provided with drain pipes having cocks, and the retort 12
may be partly or wholly discharged through the pipe 16, according as that pipe is
located in the wall of the retort.
The oven 3 may be omitted from the furnace, and the whole of the urine be sent
from the pipe 31 into the retort 12; or the retort and its water-jacket, together with
the pipes 13 and 16 and the super-heater 14, may be dispensed with, and the whole of
the urine be sent into the oven 3; or, if that oven is also omitted, then into the oven 2,
which, in that case, should be constructed of iron.
So also the valve 6 may sometimes be omitted, with the pipe leading thereto, and
the function thereof be substantially performed by the valve 7 and the pipe which
leads to it; and, in other cases, the latter valve and pipe may be dispensed with, and
their functions be substantially performed by the former instrumentalities.
The second form of the furnace differs from the first form in not having the oven 3,
or the pipe 32, leading to that oven; and likewise differs in having the additional
fire-place 40, with an ash-pit 41 under it, and with the additional doors 42 and 43,
leading to that fire-place and that ash-pit respectively, and also in having the pipe 44,
furnished with the valve 45, and extending from the flue under that ash-pit to the
pipe 9, above that fire-place."
The mode of operation when the fire-place 40 is used, is modified as follows:
A fire is made on the fire-place 40, at the same time that other fires are made
on the fire-places 4 and 10, and the flames from the fire on the fire-place 40 pass
over the wet and offensive substances in the oven 2, driving before them the steam
and gases arising therefrom, out of the door of the oven, and into the flames above
the fire-place 4, where the flames from the fire-places 4 and 40 meet and mingle,
after which they pass forward, as in the first form of the furnace. This operation
may continue till the substances in the oven 2 are reduced to a dry condition, when
the valve 5 is closed and the valve 6 is opened. Thereupon the flames will pass from
the fire-place 4, into the oven 2, and ignite the contents thereof, and drive the
products of the resulting combustion into and through the flames on the fire-
place 40, and thence they pass into and through the flames on the fire-place 10.
Or the valve 5 may be closed and the valve 6 be opened, before the substances in the
oven 2 are entirely dried; and in that case the flames from the fire-place + will
drive the steam and gases arising from those substances, into the flames on the fire-
place 40, until those substances are dry enough to ignite. The pipe 44 may some-
times be used to convey a portion of the products of combustion which would otherwise
pass through the fire-place 10, into the pipe 9, and thence into the flames above the
fire place 10.
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. The combination of the oven 2, provided with an opening in the front and a
valve in the rear thereof; with the fire-place 4, provided with an outlet under the

page_text: oven, and with the valve 5 closing that outlet; all arranged and operating together
substantially as described.
2. The combination of the oven 2, provided with an opening in front; the fire-
place 40, in the rear of the oven, and connected therewith, and provided with a valve
rearward thereof; the fire-place 4, provided with an outlet under the oven, and
with the valve 5, closing that outlet; all arranged and operating together substantially
as described.
3. The combination of the oven 2, provided with an opening at the front; and a
valve in the rear thereof; the fire-place 4, provided with an outlet under the oven,
and with the valve 5 closing that outlet; and the fire-place 10, placed in the rear of
the valve 5, and above its level; all substantially as described.
4. The combination of the oven 2, provided with an opening in front; the fire-
place 40, in the rear of the oven, and provided with a valve rearward thereof; the
fire-place 4; provided with an outlet under the oven, and with the valve 5 closing
that outlet; and the fire-place 10, placed in the rear of that valve; all substantially
as described.
5. The combination of the fire-place 10; the boiler 11; the retort 12 in the boiler;
the pipe 13; and the superheater 14; all substantially as described.
6. The combination of the oven 2; the fire-place 4; the fire-place 10; and the
boiler 11; all substantially as described.
7. The combination of the oven 2; the fire-place 4; the fire-place 10; the boiler 11;
the retort. 12 in the boiler; the pipe 13; and the super-heater 14; all substantially as
described.
8. The process of burning wet and offensive substances, which consists; first, in
volatilizing their liquid constituents by means of heat, generated outside of the
receptacle of those substances, and conducted into that receptacle through the walls
thereof; and second, in conducting its resulting vapors out of that receptacle and
into and through fire exterior thereto; and third, in burning the dry residuum of thoso
substances in their place of sedimentary deposit in that receptacle; all substantially as
described.
Dated this 20th day of September 1887.