IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COM-
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Manningham, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COM-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd January 1874.
I, SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Manningham, in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME,"
be as follows:-
to
The object of my improvements is to obtain more perfect combustion
in furnaces, and also by that means to use shale and other inferior
materials for fuel which are not now commonly used.
I make the grate bars hollow and have them pierced with holes at
suitable distances, through these grate bars I force a current of air.

page_text: (under a considerable pressure) which acts upon the fuel on the bars
and creates rapid combustion.
Sometimes I mix steam with the air, and in that case the steam forces
the air into the furnace without much pressure, or steam only may be
used.
The air is first forced into a receiver by an air pump, and from thence
conducted to the hollow grate bars.
When shale or other inferior materials are used for fuel alone or
mixed with coal I prefer to blow the furnaces with the gases obtained
from the oils distilled from shale or petroleum or other mineral oils, also
other inflammable gases may be used.
The vessel containing the oil is heated by preference in a steam or
water bath, and the gases thus obtained (that is the vaporized oil) are
conveyed by pipes to the hollow bars. I prefer to combine the hydro-
carbon gases thus obtained from the mineral oils with atmospheric air or
steam, or all three combined together.
When mixed with steam the oils may be fed into a steam chamber or
pipe and vaporised and forced through the hollow bars into the furnace
by the steam. The mineral oils may also be used as above described in
furnaces where coal alone is used.
The hydrocarbon gases may also be fed into furnaces through a
suitably perforated chamber at the bridge either in combination with
steam, or air, or otherwise.
I sometimes prefer to use tubes placed below the grate bars. These
pipes are pierced with holes and placed about two or three inches below
the bars and between the spaces in the bars so as to act directly on the
fuel on the grate.
When shale is used as fuel it should be broken into small pieces:
This may be done either at the time of its being fed into the furnaces or
before, and I prefer to mix it with coal in about equal quantities.
I would remark that hydrocarbon gases may be mixed with air or
steam before being fed into the furnaces as described, or they may be
mixed at the point where they act upon the fuel by having each
alternate pipe or bar charged with gas, or steam, or air as may be
required.

page_text: The air and gases are passed through meters when it is desired to
regulate their mixture in proper proportions..
I would also remark that the tubes or pipes may be placed across the
grate bars, that is, at right angles thereto instead of parallel, and the
grate bars should be tubular and filled with water, or they will be liable
to be fused by the intense heat.
nied by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister in the Great Seal Patent-
Office on the 21st July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Manningham, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-:
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said
Her
special license that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Cunliffe Lister, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL AND IN APPARATUS
FOR THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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

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 Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 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 thereof, that is to say:—
The object of my improvements is to obtain more perfect combustion
in furnaces, and also by that means to use shale and other inferior
materials for fuel which are not now commonly used.
I make the grate bars hollow and have them pierced with holes; at
suitable distances through these grate bars I force a current of air
(under a considerable pressure) which acts upon the fuel on the bars
and creates rapid combustion.
The air is first forced into a receiver by an air pump, and from thence
conducted to the hollow grate bars.
I would state that I am aware that perforated fire-bars have before
been used, and that air has either been allowed to be drawn up through
such openings or has been forced through them by means of a fan, but
by neither of these methods is there a sufficient current of air maintained
through the perforations to keep them open for the passage of air, but
such perforations have quickly become closed. By the employment of
air pumps to force the air as herein described into receivers, and allowing
the air to flow from the receivers to the bars a continuous and powerful
stream of air is always maintained issuing from the perforations, whereby
the perforations of the bars are kept open and perfect combustion is
obtained.
Sometimes I mix steam with the air, and in that case the steam forces
the air into the furnace through the perforated fire-bars. To effect this
I prefer to employ jets of steam to carry in air into a receiver, from
which the mixed steam and air are allowed to pass to the perforated
fire-bars.
When shale or other inferior materials are used for fuel alone or mixed
with coal I prefer to blow the furnaces with the gases obtained from the
oils distilled from shale or petroleum or other mineral oils, also other
inflammable gases may be used.

page_text: The vessel containing the oil is heated by preference in a steam or
water bath, and the gases thus obtained (that is the vaporized oil) are
conveyed by pipes to the hollow bars. I prefer to combine the hydro-
carbon gases thus obtained from the mineral oils with atmospheric air or
steam, or all three combined together.
When mixed with steam the oils may be fed into a steam chamber or
pipe and vaporized and forced through the hollow bars into the furnace
by the steam. The mineral oils may also be used as above described in
furnaces where coal alone is used.
I would state that I am aware that it has before been proposed to
blow inflammable gases or vapors into furnaces in a great variety of
ways, I do not therefore make any general claim to the introduction of
inflammable gases or vapors into a furnace, but so far as regards this
part of my Invention I claim only the introduction of such vapors or
gases into furnaces through hollow perforated fire-bars upon which shale
or other inferior solid fuel may be supported. Or the shale or other fuel
may be supported upon ordinary grate bars, and the inflammable gases
or vapors be introduced into the furnace through perforated pipes
placed about two or three inches below the bars and between the spaces
in the bars so as to act directly on the fuel on the grate, or perforated
pipes similarly placed two or three inches below the bars may be used
for conveying air from a reservoir of air under pressure into the lower
part of a furnace.
When shale is used as fuel it should be broken into small pieces.
This may be done either at the time of its being fed into the furnaces or
before, and I prefer to mix it with coal in about equal quantities.
I would remark that hydrocarbon gases may be mixed with air or
steam before being fed into the furnaces as described, or they may be
mixed at the point where they act upon the fuel by having each
alternate pipe or bar charged with gas, or steam, or air, as may be
required.
The hydrocarbon gases may also be fed into furnaces through a
suitably perforated chamber at the bridge either in combination with
steam, or air, or otherwise.
The air and gases are passed through meters when it is desired to
régulate their mixture in proper proportions.

page_text: I would also remark that the perforated tubes or pipes may be placed
across the grate bars, that is, at right angles thereto instead of parallel,
and the grate bars should be tubular and filled with water, or they will
be liable to be fused by the intense heat.
•
The bridge is made of metal and connected with the boiler by pipes.
In this water chamber are placed pipes through which the air, gas, or
steam passes or is forced into the furnace.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.