Improvements in Boiler or other Furnaces.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 30th May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 30th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 30th May, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boiler or other Furnaces.
I, GEORGE ALEXANDER NEWTON of 5, 7 and 9 Clyde Street, Derby Road,
Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to ste im-boiler or other furnaces and flues, and is designed
to obtain a more perfect and uniform combustion, and an increased economy in
fuel, and greater control over the combustion, together with complete absence of
smoke.
In carrying out my invention I will describe it first as applied to a steam boiler
furnace. It is equally applicable however to almost all other furnaces with very
slight but obvious modifications of form or arrangement.
I run one or more pipes from the front of the ashpit near the bottom to the
bridge, which is formed hollow, or provided with a long chamber at the top, having
perforations or slots, out of which, issues the air in jets at any convenient angle
with the fire, preferably, however, nearly in the line of draught. Another draught
pipe is also preferably arranged in the draught tube made of rather larger diameter
and going only a short distance into the Hue, while attached to it, a foot or so
beyond its inner end, I place a baffle plate substantially vertical, so that the air
rushing out through this tube shall be deflected upwards against the grate. There
may be several of these tubes of varying length and several baffle plates, and these
tubes can be fixed or preferably movable, so that, at any time, they and their jets
hereafter described can be withdrawn for cleaning out purposes. Each tube
whether the one going to the bridge or the short one or ones is provided with steam
jets for inducing a current of air through the pipes. These jets are arranged
annularly or at intervals round the inside of the pipe, each jet being supplied by
branches from one central pipe, or from a single annular pipe, though any other
convenient arrangement of pipes for supplying the jets can be adopted.
The
supply to the jets is regulated by a cock or other hand regulator and is attached
to a steam pipe by a union in such a manner that it can, at any moment, be
taken off.
The front of the flue or ashpit under the firebars is closed, so as to prevent the
passage of air except through these draught tubes.
The furnace grate is formed of one two or more shallow bottomless troughs,
having cross-pieces connecting the two sloping sides at intervals, and between the
cross-pieces and supported on the sides slightly wedge formed shallow grids. It
will be obvious that these grids instead of being supported in troughs could be
supported on ordinary bearers, that the troughs could be transverse or longitudinal
and that even the sloping sides of the flue or furnace could be utilized as troughs
to support these shallow grids, and that in speaking of troughs two sloping
bars, thus forming a skeleton trough without a bottom would perform the same
purpose.
The mode of action is as follows:-
The fuel is heaped tolerably high on the grate, the air being forced in pretty
uniformily all over the surface with a vertically upward motion passes through
the grate, which being very shallow is found to keep cool much easier than
deep grates. The air rises up through the fuel vertically, and the flames strike

page_text: directly upwards, or nearly so, forming an intense flame bearing right against
the crown of the furnace, passing over the bridge with a considerable amount
of carbon unconsumed; this flame meets the air issuing through the bridge, and
the remaining carbon, hydrogen and other combustibles are at once consumed.
The attendant in charge of the furnace can at any moment increase or decrease the
induced air current by regulating the steam jets by means of cocks and thus
the draught can be regulated to a nicety. Owing to the forced draught and the
beating up of the gases from the deflector in a vertical direction, the heat is raised
in a much shorter period than with the ordinary existing arrangements, and a large
economy in fuel results.
Dated this 29th day of May 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Boiler or other Furnaces.
1, GEORGE ALEXANDER NEWTON of 5, 7 and 9 Clyde Street, Derby Road,
Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to steam boiler or other furnaces and flues, and is designed
to obtain a more perfect and uniform combustion. My arrangement for obtaining
greater control over the combustion together with complete absence of smoke is
described in the Specification of my prior Patent No. 10363 of 1894, in which
Specification it is shown as applied by way of example to a steam boiler furnace
though it is equally applicable to almost any other furnace with very slight but
obvious modifications of form and arrangement. My present invention of the
furnace grate will be understood from the following description, reference being
had to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a cross section through a furnace tube and part of boiler;
Figure 2 a partial longitudinal section;
Figure 3 a top plan of a grid for the grate;
Figure 4 an inverted plan of this grid;
Figure 5 a cross section on line X Y;
Figure 6 a top plan of a slightly modified form of grid; and
Figure 7 cross section of the grid on the line X' Y
In thus showing my apparatus applied to a single flue boiler I do not wish
at all to confine it thereto, as it is equally applicable to other furnaces.
In these drawings, B is a pipe running from the front of the ashpit to the
bridge D, which is formed hollow and provided with perforations or slots' C out of
which issues the air in jets at any convenient angle with the fire as more particularly
described in the Specification of my prior Patent aforesaid. The furnace grate is
formed of shallow bottomless troughs constructed of parallel bearers A and having
cross-pieces or ties a connecting the sides at intervals, and supported on these
bearers A slightly wedge formed shallow grids E. It will be obvious that these
grids E instead of being supported in troughs could be supported on ordinary
bearers, that the troughs could be transverse or longitudinal, and that even the
sloping sides of the flue or furnace could be utilised as troughs to support these
shallow grids, and that in speaking of troughs, two sloping bars thus forming
a skeleton trough without a bottom would perform the same purpose. The grids E as
will be seen from the drawings are formed wedge shaped with channels e e between
each wedge, each channel gradually tapering towards the top, and finally terminating
in narrow openings e in the surface of the grid. The sides of the wedges are

page_text: connected at intervals by transverse wedges ³ crossing the channels e these being
provided for the purpose of strengthening the grid. The surface of the grid is
formed moreover with a series of grooves or channels e' so as to present a serrate l
surface to the fuel, my object being that the cinder and ash resulting from the
combustion of the fuel will collect in these grooves and in the spaces et between
the grids and form a layer of material, which being a bad conductor of heat, will
to a great extent protect the grate from the inteuse heat of the fire. Moreover
the tapering channels will admit air and ventilate the top and bottom of the grid
thus preventing the grid from being burned away. It will be seen that the uprising
air enters the channel e where there is a large area and by reason of the channels
gradually contracting in area, the air is relatively compressed in volume which
causes it to rush through the openings el with a greatly augmented force, and this
rush of air through the grid keeps the grid cool. It will be obvious that instead of
arranging the openings el in the bottom of the grooves e², I may form them in the
top of the ridges between the grooves as shown in Figures 6 and 7, and form
transverse grooves at intervals in the ridges. In actual practice I prefer to decrease
the area of the openings e in the grids that are near the bridge, there being a
greater draught near the bridge than at the front of the boiler, and hence the
openings are best made rather smaller. In some cases the grid area near the
bridge may be formed without any openings el at all.
The mode of action is as follows:-
The fuel is heaped tolerably high on the grate, and the air, especially when
forced in under the grate in the manner described in my prior Specification, is
delivered pretty uniformly all over the surface with a vertically upward motion and
passes up through the grate, which being very shallow and well ventilated is found
to keep cool much easier than deep grates. The air rises up through the fuel
vertically, and the flames strike directly upwards, or nearly so, forming an intense
flame bearing right against the crown of the furnace, passing over the bridge with
a considerable amount of carbon unconsumed. This flame meets the air issuing
through the bridge, and the remaining carbon, hydrogen, and other combustibles,
are at once consumed. The attendant in charge of the furnace can at any moment.
increase or decrease the induced air current by regulating the steam jets referred
to in my prior Patent by means of cocks, and thus the draught can be regulated to
a nicety. Owing to the forced draught and the beating up of the gases from the
deflector in a vertical direction, the heat is raised in a much shorter period than
with the ordinary existing arrangements and a large economy in fuel results. The
grate has been designed more especially for burning small coal, coal dust, sawdust
and rubbish and for this purpose it is specially applicable. It may of course be
used with or without the induced draught arrangement described in my prior
Patent referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is
1. The improvement in furnace grates, which consists in forming them of a series
of shallow grids supported by bottomless troughs, bearers or the like, the said
grids being constructed of a series of wedge-shaped bars with channels between
gradually tapering towards the top where they terminate in narrow openings
in the grid surface substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. In the manufacture of furnace grates forming them wedge-shaped or of
a series of wedge-shaped bars with tapering air channels between, these latter being
so arranged as to ventilate the grate and prevent it burning away, substantially as
described.
3. A furnace grate consisting substantially of a shallow grid or grids having
a grooved or channeled surface for the fuel, and having perforations for the air,
and wedge-shaped ribs or bars below with tapering air channels between, whereby
the perforations above can receive air.

page_text: 4. The improved furnace grate constructed and arranged substantially as
described, with reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings.
Dated this 28th day of March 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, Patent Agents