IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Birkbeck, of the Firm of Tongue and
Birkbeck, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agents and Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE."-A communi-
cation from abroad by M. Etienne Deshurand, Ironfounder, and
Madame Anais Lemercier, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 7th November 1862, and dated the 15th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Birkbeck
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th May 1862.
I, GEORGE HENRY BIRKBECK, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, of 34,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents and Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus applicable to
furnaces or fire-places for the consumption of the smoke arising from the
combustion of the fuel consumed therein. For this purpose the grate. or fire-
bar surface is formed with a hollow or recess (by preference of a curved or
concave form), but it may be of conical, or pyramidal, or other suitable shape
if desired, commencing from and in the "dead" plate, and inclined from the
frout upwards towards the back of the furnace or fire-place. This hollow

page_text: channel or passage is prolonged outwards from the front of the furnace,
forming a conduit or conductor, and it is furnished with a receptacle made of
sheet iron, which receives and retains the fuel till required to supply the fire,
the fuel being fed or pushed forward therein, and fed into the furnace by
means of a piston actuated by a screw or otherwise. The unignited fuel as it
is forced forward into the furnace, is caused to pass underneath the ignited or
incandescent fuel, and as the smoke and gases are generated they become
ignited and consumed; the fuel, by the hollow or recess being conical or
inclined, is gradually distributed over the surface of the fire-bars. In large
furnaces two or more feeding channels or passages, and apparatus to force and
conduct the fuel into the furnace, may be employed if required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Birkbeck, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY BIRKBECк, of the Firm of Tongue & Birkbeck, of 34, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agents and
Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Henry Birkbeck, Her special licence that I, the said George Henry
Birkbeck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Henry Birkbeck, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE," a communication to me
from abroad by M. Etienne Deshurand, Ironfounder, and Madame Anais
Lemercier, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Henry Birkbeck, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 manuer the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: 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 George Henry Birkbeck, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus applicable to
furnaces or fire-places for the consumption of the smoke arising from the com-
bustion of the fuel consumed therein. For this purpose the grate or fire-bar
surface is formed with, a hollow or recess, by preference of a curved or concave
form, but it may be of, conical, or pyramidal, or other suitable shape if
desired, commencing from and in the "dead plate," and inclined from the front
upwards towards the back of the furnace or fire-place. This hollow channel
or passage is prolonged outwards from the front of the furnace, forming a
conduit or conductor, and it is furnished with a receptacle made of sheet iron,
which receives and retains the fuel till required to supply the fire, the fuel
being fed or pushed forward therein, and fed into the furnace by means of a
piston actuated by a screw or otherwise. The unignited fuel, as it is forced
forward into the furnace, is caused to pass underneath the ignited or incan-
descent fuel, and, as the smoke and gases are generated, they become ignited
and consume the fuel, by the hollow or recess being conical or inclined is
gradually distributed over the surface of the fire-bars. In large furnaces two
or more feeding channels or passages, and apparatus to force and conduct the
fuel into the furnace, may be employed if required.
And in order that the Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of apparatus arranged and constructed
according to this Invention, shewn as applied to a furnace suitable for baking
porcelain; Figure 2 shews a plan, and Figure 3 a transverse section of the
same. G is the fire-bar surface of the furnace, composed of the flat or
horizontal parts g. 9, at each side, and of the hollow central part G¹, which it
is preferred should approximate to the form of a section of a truncated cone,
the point of which is placed at or near to the fire-bridge. The larger end of
the hollow part G³, toward the front part of the furnace, corresponds in form
with the conducting passage or channel C, made of metal or other suitable
material. The conductor or channel C is prolonged outside the furnace, and
serves to receive the successive charges of fuel to supply the fire, the fuel being

page_text: -forced up on to the fire-bars by the piston or plunger B. The piston B is
connected to the screw A, turning in the support D, and is guided to and fro
along the channel c by rollers b, b, and guides a, as shewn; the support D
acting as a nut to the screw A. E is a fly-wheel and handle to give motion
to the screw A and piston B. By thus forcing in the fresh fuel below the
level of the fire-bars g, underneath the highly ignited fuel in the furnace, the
smoke and products of combustion as they are evolved, are effectively con-
sumed in passing through the upper layer of incandescent fuel.
Apparatus such as above described will be found highly advantageous in its
application to furnaces for baking earthenware, and may be readily adapted to
boiler and other furnaces for metallurgical or other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Birkbeck, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.