IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL AND CONSUMPTION OP SMOKE
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WILLIAM EGGLESTON, of Derby, in the County of Derby, Confectioner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of June,
(One thousand eight hundred and forty-three,) in the sixth year of the reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick William Eggleston, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick
William Eggleston, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederick William Eggleston, 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 years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kindom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town
of Berwick upon Tweed, Her Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my İnven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL AND CONSUMPTION OP SMOKE;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Frederick
William Eggleston, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be enrolled 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

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick William Eggleston, do hereby declare the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
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.
It is well known that in the combustion of fuel, as generally practised, a
large portion of gaseous and inflammable matter passes away in an unconsumed
state, whereby not only is the heating or calorific effect of that portion of the
fuel wholly lost, but dense smoke and soot is the result of the inflammable car-
bonaceous matter so passing away unconsumed. Now the object of my said
improvements is to render the heat which may be derived from the inflammable
and carbonaceous gaseous matter so passing away in the combustion of fuel
useful and available for heating purposes, and to consume or prevent the pro-
duction of the smoke which will otherwise be produced if the said matter be
not so usefully employed. And I effect this object by causing the atmospheric
air to become intimately blended with the combustible and volatile or gaseous
matter generated and evolved in the combustion of the fuel, such intimate
blending being ensured by the division of the streams of air injected into the
said gaseous matter when the air is supplied to the said gases through wire
gauze, or gauze wire, and certain arrangements connected therewith. And
in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I will
proceed to describe the arrangement of parts which I consider well cal-
culated for that purpose, and for carrying out my said Invention, and which
will be found to answer extremely well. The metallic gauze, when used at the
mouth of the furnace, and serving as the door thereof or opening for supplying
coals thereto, I construct and arrange in manner following: To the framing of
the door or opening I make fast the wire gauze in any convenient manner, and
I regulate the quantity of air which is to pass through the gauze for effecting
the combustion of the fuel and gases evolved therefrom, by means of plates
having openings, and so arranged as to slide over one another, the plate nearest
the gauze (which it should not touch) being fixed to the framing of the door
or opening, and the other allowed to slide freely across it so as to increase or
diminish the area of the openings in the plates through which the atmospheric
air has to pass to the gauze, consequently increasing or diminishing the supply
of air as required; or I employ an ordinary regulator for the same purpose.
Another mode of carrying out my said Invention is by constructing the furnace

page_text: door of wire gauze peculiarly woven, that is to say, in lieu of using gauze, the
meshes of which are of equal area, or nearly so, throughout, I employ gauze
so constructed as that the meshes thereof shall vary in area at distances of about
four inches asunder, so that if the furnace door be twenty-four inches deep
there will be six different strata of gauze, which may be raised or lowered as
found necessary for the purpose of admitting a larger or smaller quantity of air
to the fire, as required. The gauze, when applied to the bridge of the furnace,
has the air supplied through openings situate at each side of the furnace, or
from the ash pit through openings made in the brickwork of the "bridge;"
(these air flues may be used conjointly (or separately), the said openings being
furnished with dampers for regulating the quantity of air admitted); also the
gauze may be applied to supply air at the side of a furnace by any convenient
openings. Instead of employing a fine gauze, the following mode of dividing
the atmospheric air admitted to the gases in furnaces may be adopted: I place
two or more pieces of wire gauze of the ordinary construction (of any texture)
against each other, one of such pieces being firmly fixed to the aperture through
which the air is to be admitted, and the other, or others, so arranged as to be
capable of being slidden freely across each, whereby the atmospheric air will be
divided according to the size, number, and arrangement of the pieces of gauze
employed, three of which I consider sufficient for general purposes. And I
would observe that by these means the air may be caused to enter in extremely
small films, or streams, although the gauze employed may have meshes of a
large size; the only thing to be attended to is that the wires of the meshes

page_text: wire gauze attached thereto. Figure 10 shews the peculiar construction of
the wire gauze herein-before mentioned, for the double purpose of dividing and
regulating the supply of air. Similar letters are placed upon corresponding
parts in all the figures. A, A, represents the furnace door; B, the sliding
plate; C, gauze wire; D, "bridge" of furnace, which is constructed hollow, as
shewn at Figures 3 and 4; E, air flues (shewn by dotted lines) situated at the
sides of the furnace and communicating with the hollow bridge; F, air flues
situated in front of the bridge, communicating therewith, and employed more
particularly in cases where the side flues E cannot conveniently be constructed.
I would observe that in the management of furnaces or fires, so as to obtain
my said improvements in the combustion of fuel and consumption of smoke,
the air to be admitted to the fire through the bars should be regulated accord-
ing to what is required for the proper burning of the fire, and that the air
admitted, through the gauze must be regulated according to that which is
required for effecting the combustion of the carbonaceous, volatile, or gaseous
matter, and preventing the same passing away as smoke; and that, provided
sufficient air be supplied in the manner aforesaid for effecting this object, any
excess of air beyond what is necessary for that purpose tends to cool the gases
unnecessarily.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am
perfectly aware of various modes having been employed for supplying air in
small jets or films to the gaseous or volatile products of the fuel, and from
sources independent of the ash pits of the furnaces in which the fuel is con-
sumed. I do not therefore claim as of my Invention, or the exclusive use of
any of the separate parts or arrangements herein-before described or referred
to for supplying the air in jets or films, and from such independent sources,
except when the same may be employed in connection with my said Invention,
which I hereby declare to consist in the improvements in the combustion of
fuel and consumption of smoke to be effected by supplying the air to the
volatile gaseous parts of the fuel through one or more pieces of woven wire.or
wire gauze, the said gauze having meshes of such size, or the said meshes.
being so arranged overlaying each other as to cause the air to become mixed.
with the said gaseous matter in. extremely small and minutely divided jets or
films, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick William Eggleston, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, in the
vear of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
FRED WILL (L.s.) EGGLESTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Frederick William Eggleston
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.