IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FIBE DOORS OF FURNACES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Stratton, of 179, Lambeth Walk,
Lambeth, Tobacconist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FIBE
DOORS OF FURNACES."
Sealed the 8th May 1857, and dated the 22nd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Stratton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd December 1856.
I, WILLIAM HENRY STRATTON, of 179, Lambeth Walk, Lambeth, Tobacconist,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FIRE
DOORS OF FURNACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the fire doors of furnaces.
For which purpose the fire doors are each made with perforations, to admit air
through the door, over which perforations is a sliding plate to close the several
air passages when air is no longer required to be admitted through the door.
It is not however new to make numerous perforations in a fire door, or to
close them with a sliding plate; but, according to this Invention, there are a
series of parallel iron plates fixed to. but at a short distance from each other,
and from the interior of the fire door. Each of these plates is perforated with
numerous holes, the metal bent out of such holes being left connected to the
plate and caused to project inwards, so as to offer inclined heated surfaces

page_text: against which the incoming currents of air impinge as they pass through the
plates; and as the holes in the several plates are arranged in different lines, a
stream of air passing through one will be deflected off before it comes to an
opening in the next. The latch of the fire door is arranged to act on the slide
which covers the air passages in the fire door, and thus insures the opening of
the air passages through the door when fresh coals have been supplied to
the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Stratton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY STRATTON, of 179, Lambeth Walk, Lambeth, Tobacconist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Ilerself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Henry Stratton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Stratton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Stratton, 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 FIRE DOORS OF FURNACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Stratton, my executors.
or administrators, 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 manner the same was to be performed, and:
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 William Henry Stratton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per--
formed, 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 the fire doors of furnaces.

page_text: Figure 1 is a front view, Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 a transverse
section, of a fire door arranged according to my Invention. a is the main plate
of the door, which is hung to the front of the furnace in the usual way by tho
loops or hinges a', a'; bis another perforated plate, which slides on the face of
the plate a, so as to cover or uncover the holes through it, as may be required;
when the plate b is in the position shown at Figure 1, the holes through the
plate a are uncovered or open, and when it is moved by the handle b' to the
other end of its course in the guides a² the holes in the plate a are covered.
c, c, c, c, are wrought-iron plates, fixed at the back of the plate a within the
furnace;
these plates have holes punched in them, and the pieces of metal
which are displaced to make the holes are turned up to form inclined lips c¹, c',
and by them the currents of air passing through the holes are deflected back-
wards and forwards, and are so kept longer in contact with the plates, and the
holes in the plates c, c, are not placed opposite to each other, so that the air
must necessarily take a zig-zag course. The plates become very hot from
being within the furnace, so that the air is effectually heated by passing through
and between them. d is the latch of the fire door, and is of the ordinary
description, except that it has a horn d' formed on it, which, when the latch is

page_text: raised to open the door, comes in contact with the plate b, and slides it in its
guides, so as to uncover the holes in the plate a.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Stratton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
WILLIAM II. STRATTON. (L.S.)