IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE COMBUSTION OF VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS APPLICABLE FOR VARIOUS HEATING PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th October 1880. A. com-
munication from abroad by Louis André de Coster and Thomas B. Oakley,
both of Paris, France.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE COMBUSTION
OF VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS APPLICABLE FOR VARIOUS HEATING PURPOSES."
[A communication from abroad by Louis André de Coster and Thomas B. Oakley,
both of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for producing a high degree
of heat by the combustion of volatile hydrocarbons, applicable for heating canters,
soldering tools, branding irons, and other purposes.
Each complete apparatus comprises an air supply, a carburetter, a burner, and
the tool or instrument to be heated, and the Invention relates principally to the
carburetter which forms the handle of the apparatus, and is provided with a flame
regulator, and also to a combustion chamber which may or may not form part of
the burner, and whereby the combustion of the gaseous mixture is effected and
maintained without employing an auxiliary flame or other means for relighting the
combustible mixture in case of extinction. It is well known that the flame
produced by the combustion of a mixture of air with volatile hydro-carbons is
very easily extinguished, and it has therefore been necessary hitherto to employ
auxiliary means of maintaining the combustion.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood, will proceed to
describe it with reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1
represents a longitudinal section of the entire apparatus; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
and transverse section on a larger scale of the flame regulator; Figures 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, show various kinds of instruments or tools combined with the combustion
chamber; Figures S, 9, and 10, show different kinds of burners provided with
the combustion chamber; Figures 11 and 12 show the apparatus adapted for
heating the copper-bit of a soldering tool.
As seen in Figure the handle a, a, forms the carburetter, the handle thus
supplying a constant heat which continually restores that lost by evaporation of
the volatile liquid. The handle a, a, is filled with sponge b, b, or other absorbent
material which is pressed outwards against the sides of the chamber a by a spiral

page_text: spring c. To the rear end of the handle a, a, is fitted an air inlet tube d provided
with a cock e. To the other end of the carburetter is fixed a funnel f, f, at which
the spirit is introduced closed by a screw plug g having a washer h, both the
burner and tool being fixed in this plug; i is a tube forming a continuation of d
enclosed within another tube j also fixed in the rear end of the handle and closed
at the inner end. This tube j has a lateral orifice made in a flattened or grooved
end of the tube which fits in a sheath k attached to the plug g and provided with
a corresponding orifice m. The air enters the carburetter through the orifice d as
indicated by the arrows where it becomes carburetted.
The combustible mixturo then enters the tube k through the several openings n
as shown, and passes thence to the burner as hereinafter described. In order to
vary the composition of the combustible mixture the plug g and tube / attached
thereto are slightly turned to bring the orifice m more or less opposite to 7, so
that a portion of the air will not enter the carburetter but will pass along the
grooved or flattened part of tube j directly into tube . The combustion chamber
maintains the gases in combustion with perfect regularity for an indefinite
time. The combustion is maintained by contact with a concave metallic surface
which may either be a chamber in the base of the tool or instrument to be heated,
or a tube of variable length surrounding the burner tube. The burner, while
exceedingly simple, enables the most perfect results to be attained without the
necessity of employing an auxiliary lighting frame, or a metallic or other substance
rendered incandescent by the absorption of the gases to maintain the combustion
of the mixture.
As seen in Figure 1, the inflammable gas issuing from pipe enters the burner
tube o which is enclosed in a larger tube p, to whose extremity is fixed the tool or
instrument, which may be of any of the various forms illustrated in Figures
3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The tube pis provided with a lateral opening g for lighting, and with a
sheath 8 for closing said orifice after the flame has been regulated in the manner
above described. The gases of combustion escape at the open rear end of tube p,
as shown at t, Figure 1. The tube p thus forms a combustion chamber, which is
completed by the hollow form of the base of the tool in which the flame spreads
in the direction of the arrows so as to ensure the rapid heating of the instrument.
In Figures 8, 9, and 10, the tube o and combustion chamber p are so arranged as
to produce a blow pipe flame which may be used for any purpose required.
In Figure 8 the tube o is furnished with an annular plug u of wire cloth or a cap
of copper or iron wire to ensure the intimate mixture of the air and vapor, but
this may be dispensed with. In Figures 9 and 10, there are simply holes in the
end of tube o.
In Figures 11 and 12, the burner fitted with an annular plug V of wire cloth is
applied to heat a copper bit fixed between the jaws y of a holder.
Z is a screw
plug removable to permit of cleaning and repairing the plug V. The copper bit X
may also be hollowed at the rear to form a combustion chamber as above described
for the tools r.
The two parts of the apparatus, that is to say, the carburetter forming the
handle and provided with the flame regulator, and the burner with combustion
chamber, may be employed separately according to purpose to which they may be
applied.