IMPROVEMENTS IN STOVES;
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SEARLE, of Bath, in the County of Somerset, Doctor of Medicine, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of August, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Searle, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Searle, my exors, admors,
or assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Searle, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STOVES;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Charles Seale, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Searle, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
in illustration thereof (that is to say):-
The chief and distinguishing characteristic of my improvements in stoves
consists in certain means herein-after described of concentrating, embodying,
or storing up in the niass of absorbent material of which the stove may be
constructed, or which may be appended thereto or form a part thereof, the
caloric or heat generated by the combustion of the fuel in the fire-grate or
chamber, and which result is effected by conducting or allowing the flame and
heated gases issuing from the furnace or fire chamber to pass through
a per-
forated or tubulated mass of burnt clay, fire brick, stone, sand, or other
material of absorbent nature, and possessing the necessary capacity for caloric,
which intervenes or is situated intermediately between the fire chamber or
grate and the flue or chimney, instead of, as in stoves of the ordinary con-
struction, permitting the heated gases to escape into the flue without being
thus deprived in their passage thereto of their caloric, by passing through any
such intervening heat absorbing material to which they are subjected in stoves
of my improved construction.
The principle of my stove, being that of a heat accumulating and retaining
mass, involves in its construction the necessity of its being a solid, as far as is
compatible with its fulfilling the other essential purposes of its construction.
It is accordingly intended, par distinction, to denominate a radiating stove
constructed upon these improved and other, as herein-after specified, philo-
sophical principles, a heat condenser or solid stove, making the same of stone,
brick, pottery ware, or other suitable substance, and enclosing it or not in a
case of iron, porcelain, or the like, as may be found convenient.
The essential construction of my improvement consists, however, as afore-
said, in there being a heat retaining mass in connexion with the fire chamber,
through which or between the parts whereof the heated gases have to pass in
their passage to the flue, instead of and in contra-distinction to the more or
less hollow cylinders or vessels now in use as the connecting medium between
the fire chamber and flue.
In addition to the improvement already pointed out, my Invention embraces
another in the construction of the furnace or fire chambers of stoves, which
has for its object the retaining and embodying in the substance of the
furnace or material of which the fire chamber is constructed the greatest

page_text: amount of heat possible, with the view of imparting to the containing fuel and
maintaining therein the highest possible temperature in aid of the process
of combustion; it being a fact well known to chemists, that the general
increment of heat evolved in circumstances of a high temperature is much
greater than under other conditions, gaseous combinations at lower tempera-
tures taking place without affording an equal amount of heat; flame, also the
product of a high temperature, consisting in reality of gaseous matter red hot
or in a state of incandescence. And this improved construction is further
adopted with the view of maintaining a fire by the combustion and expenditure
of the smallest possible quantity of fuel, it being a fact that combustion may
be maintained by the agency of heat extrinsically applied, when it would be
otherwise extinguished, the amount of heat developed under circumstances
of a very limited consumption of fuel not being equal to the perpetuation of
the process. To carry out these several intentions in the construction of the
furnace or fire chamber, I hold solidity of substance, isolation from surrounding
conducting media as far as can be accomplished, with confinement of space or
closeness of the fuel chamber, to be the three essential objects to be accom-
plished the first to absorb and retain as much of the heat developed by the
fire as possible; the second to prevent its conduction and escape; and the last
to concentrate its operation upon the fuel in aid of its more perfect combustion
with the development of flame and the greatest amount of heat. To fulfil
these several objects, the substance of my furnace or fire chamber consists of
fire brick, as being the best absorbent and least conducting material available,
of two inches or more in thickness, though it may be made of less; of cylin-
drical or conical shape (though occasionally square or polygonal), with the
summit closed, and as solid in substance as the sides, but perforated with
numerous small holes, from an eighth part to a quarter of an inch in diameter
I think the best, but they may be made larger, for the conduction and escape
of the gases from the fire, and with an iron grating necessarily at the bottom,
accessible to the air, and doorway in the side for the admission of the fuel.
This is the form of my improved furnace, of which in general I prefer the use,
and which in addition to those already enumerated possesses the following
marked and peculiar advantages, namely, that the smoke and gases in their
escape from the fire chamber having to pass through the small apertures in
the substance of the top, which in due time becoming of a red heat are thus
in consequence wholly consumed or otherwise become intensely heated.
some cases, however, it may be more convenient to allow the gases from the
fire chamber to escape through small perforations or apertures in the sides of
the furnace, instead of through the summit as aforesaid, which will necessarily
In

page_text: filfil the same purpose.
Another form of fire chamber I employ may be
denominated a magazine furnace, in which the summit is without apertures,
the
gases from the fire passing off through the tubulated sides of the chamber
by openings in the interior circumference communicating therewith. The
combustion in this arrangement is carried on in the lower part of the chamber
more particularly, the upper fulfilling the purpose of a magazine or store of
fuel. The furnace in this case is in general of larger dimensions, but in all
As a
other respects it is the same as that with the perforated summit.
security from smoke whilst lighting, although not indispensible, a valvular
opening of an inch or more in area may be made in the top or side,
holding communication with the flue, which may be opened or not as found
necessary. Or the same purpose may be fulfilled by rendering the top of the
furnace moveable at pleasure, and were this arrangement adopted in the
furnace with the perforated summit, and a small cleft or fissure left unenclosed
between the cover and the top edge of the cylinder or body for the passage of
the flame and heated gases, the small holes or perforated apertures might be
dispensed with in the summit. The moveable cover might supersede also the
necessity for the fuel supplying opening or doorway in the side of the furnace,
although this or other opening would appear desirable to admit a sight of the
fire within, protecting necessarily the same from the admission of air by a door
or covering of glass or talc in the exterior covering.
In addition to these forms of fire-chambers, or rather method of construct-
ing them, they may be made of two cylinders or vessels of any shape, one
within the other, the gases from the fire being allowed to escape between the
two by one or more openings of communication with the interior one contain-
ing the fuel, the summit of which is closed. Or the current of the gases
issuing from the fire may be made to descend through the body of the ignited
fuel and grate, and up between the two cylinders or vessels, by admitting the
air into the fire chamber above the fuel, instead of from below the grate.
Having now detailed the principles of my improved construction of stoves,
with their furnaces or fire chambers, in order to carry out these principles,
I claim in both cases the exclusive right or privilege to construct or make
them of any shape or size I please, or of any substance or material whatever
that I may find most suitable, and either as a whole or in such parts as I may
find most convenient to the end in view. The perforated mass of the stove or
heat retainer through which the gases issuing from the fire chamber have
to pass in their passage to the flue, I propose ordinarily making of slabs or
discs of burnt clay or brick of the size of the body of the stove or cylinder
which has to contain them, when a cylinder or covering is so employed, in

page_text: substance of two inches and a half, a little more or less, in thickness, per-
forated with from twelve to twenty holes, more or less, in number, and of one
inch, more or less, in diameter, according to the size of the stove and purpose
intended. Or otherwise the mass may be made up of any number of smaller
parts, with intervening spaces for the passage of the gases of combustion,
instead of the perforations aforesaid. Or slabs of soft stone or brick, square
or of any other shape, may be employed, allowing the gases either to pass
through perforated openings or apertures in their substance, or to circulate
between them in their passage to the flue, the arrangement of the slabs being
in accordance with these intentions. Or instead of these or any such like
arrangement the body of the stove may consist of a hollow cylinder of iron or
vessel of any appropriate shape and material, filled and packed with sand, clay,
or other suitable absorbent material, perforated and traversed with tubes of
metal or pottery of suitable dimensions, that is, of one inch, more or less, in
diameter. In this arrangement, as well as that of the perforated slabs.or discs,
a solid mass of not less than two feet in thickness is considered desirable, and
more when it can be conveniently adopted. The number of the slabs or discs
employed will necessarily therefore be proportionate to the thickness of the
substance of them respectively. On one face or surface of each slab or disc,
although not indispensable, I have thought it desirable to dish out or excavate
a part of its substance, leaving thereby a raised border of half an inch or more
in depth round the margin of each, that when the several slabs or discs are
united or placed upon each other or horizontally arranged, in both cases so
that the perforations may form continuous tubes, there may be an intervening
space between them for the admission and circulation of the heated gases.
A series of hollow cones or cylinders of pottery or brick might also be
arranged one within the other, so as to fulfil the purpose of the slabs or discs,
the gases from the fire being allowed to pass between them. Or a tubulated
cylinder filled with tallow or oil or other fluid possessing a great capacity for
caloric might be employed for the same purpose.
I have now, in conclusion, but to add that the principles here developed and
intended to be carried out in the construction of stoves for warming buildings
by radiation and conduction, I consider applicable also and intend to apply to
the construction of other stoves or apparatus, such, for instance, as are em-
ployed for cooking, as well as for other useful and economical purposes to
which they may be adapted.
In further explanation of the description already given, and in illustration
thereof, and of the method of constructing radiating stoves upon the aforesaid
improved and philosophical principles, and which I propose calling solid stoves

page_text: or heat condensers, I have hereunto annexed a Drawing of the elevation and
section of two stoves constructed upon these principles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Searle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

page_text: Fig. 5. Represents a Vertical Section of Fig. 4. a. Ash pit. b. Furnace with
tubulated sides for the conveyance of the gases from the fire into the cham
ber above. A Section of two of the tubes and the mouths of five others are
represented. Substance of Furnace.d.Lower gas chamber._e_Body of
sand or clay constituting the heat retainer, traversed by metal tubes and
supported by iron plate as represented with descending flue.g.from upper
gas chamber f. h. Packing of sand or clay.
c. substance of Furnace._d_lower gas chamber intermediately situated between
the furnace and the heat retainer._e_composed of twelve discs of brick, arran
ged one upon another, the perforations in each corresponding forming unitedly
tubes of two feet and a half in length for the passage of the heated gases throu
them in their ascent from the lower to the upper Chamber-f, from which the
flue g arises opening into the Chimney. h. packing of sand or clay between
the Furnace and the outer Cylindrical Case of Iron to aid in the preservation
of the heat of the Furnace and to moderate the heat of the surface of the Stone