IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR FIRE-
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Burdekin Jackson, of. Etna Works, Sheffield,
in the County of York, and William Bowler, also of Sheffield, both
Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR FIRE-
Sealed the 29th December 1854, and dated the 10th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Burdekin Jackson
and William Bowler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 10th October 1854.
We, JOSEPH BURDEKIN JACKSON, of Etna Works, Sheffield, in the County
of York, and WILLIAM BOWLER, also of Sheffield, both Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR
FIRE- PLACES, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the so arranging the furnaces or fire-places of steam
boilers and other apparatus, that great economy in the consumption of fuel may
be secured, in combination with the prevention of smoke. At the extreme front
end of the furnace seat or mounting, and beneath the fire-door, is a weighted
valve or hinged plate, so set as to possess a tendency to remain open for the
admission of the external air to pass beneath an inclined metal plate set under
the fire bars. This inclined plate extends the whole distance from the front
valvular aperture through the ash-pit space to the back end of the grate, and

page_text: it receives the hot cinders and ashes as they fall from the grate above. The
inner end of the plate is connected to a cross bearer of metal, lined with fire
bricks, and answering as the support for the further or inner end of the
fire bars, and forming the front bridge for spreading the flame and gases. The
bottom of the ash-pit is curved upwards from the front to the base of a second
bridge, set parallel to the first, but far enough back to leave a space for the
passage up between the two bridges of the air as heated beneath the inclined
plate. The heated air is thus directed upwards to meet the unconsumed gases
passed from the burning fuel over the first 'bridge, and the joint current then
proceeds onward over the second bridge, complete combustion being insured
here. An additional contrivance is provided for excluding the atmospheric air
when the smoke has passed away. The weighted valve for the air passage
has attached to one of its spindles or stud centres a slotted crank piece,
through which is passed the lower end of a pendant rod, carrying a moveable
stud for adjustment. When the attendant fires, he draws down this pendant
rod, when the weight on the valve causes it to open to admit air; or, instead
of this plan, the opening of the fire doors may be made to open the air valve.
The upper end of the connecting rod is attached to a "cataract" arrangement,
as employed in mining engines, and as the rod is drawn down, the inner case
of the cataract is lowered. This inner case has a hole through the centre of
the valve, so that after being drawn down it rises gradually again, in conse
quence of the weight being slightly heavier than the rod, &c. at the other
end; the length of time that the valve shall remain open, to be regulated
by the size of the hole through the valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Burdekin. Jackson and William Bowler in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 9th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
BURDERIN JACKSON, of Etna Works, Sheffield, in the County of York, and
WILLIAM BOWLER, also of Sheffield, both Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Joseph Burdekin Jackson and William Bowler, Her special
license that we, the said Joseph Burdekin Jackson and William Bowler,

page_text: our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the Joseph
Burdekin Jackson and William Bowler, our executors, administrators, or
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 FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES, AND IN THE PREVEN-
TION OF SMOKE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph
Burdekin Jackson and William Bowler, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Joseph Burdekin Jackson and
William Bowler, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:
Our said Invention relates to the so arranging the furnaces or fire-places of
steam boilers and other apparatus, that great economy in the consumption
of fuel may be secured, in combination with the prevention of smoke. At
the extreme front end of the furnace seat or mounting, and beneath the fire
door, is a weighted valve or hinged plate, so set as to possess a tendency to
remain open for the admission of the external air to pass beneath an inclined
metal plate set under the fire bars. This inclined plate extends the whole
distance from the front valvular aperture through the ash-pit space to the
back end of the grate, and it receives the hot cinders and ashes as they fall
from the grate above. The inner end of the plate is connected to a cross
bearer of metal, lined with fire bricks, and answering as the support for the
further or inner end of the fire bars, and forming the front bridge for spreading
the flame and gases. The bottom of the ash-pit is curved upwards from the
front to the base of a second bridge, set parallel to the first, but far enough
back to leave a space for the passage up between the two bridges of the air
as heated beneath the inclined plate. The heated air is thus directed upwards
to meet the unconsumed gases passed from the burning fuel over the first
bridge, and the joint current then proceeds onward over the second bridge,
complete combustion being insured here. An additional contrivance is pro-

page_text: vided for excluding the atmospheric air when the smoke has passed away.
The weighted valve for the air passage has attached to one of its spindles or
stud centres a slotted crank piece, through which is passed the lower end of a
pendant rod, carrying a moveable stud for adjustment. When the attendant
fires, he draws down this pendant rod, when the weight on the valve causes it
to open to admit air; or, instead of this plan, the opening of the fire doors
may be made to open the air valve. The upper end of the connecting rod is
attached to a "cataract" arrangement, as employed in mining engines, and as
the rod is drawn down, the inner case of the cataract is lowered. This inner
case has a hole through the centre of the valve, so that after being drawn
down, it rises gradually up again.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we shall
now proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of Draw-
ings hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front end elevation of an exter-
nally-flued cylindrical steam boiler, as fitted up with our improved furnace
arrangement; and Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the furnace,
corresponding to Figure 1. Figure 3 on the same Sheet of Drawings is a
front end elevation of a cylindrical boiler, with internal furnace and flue, as
fitted with a modification of our improved air-supplying contrivances. Figure 4
is a vertical transverse section, corresponding to Figure 3, and taken through
the grate space; and Figure 5 is a vertical longitudinal section, corresponding
to Figures 3 and 4. We have selected the two arrangements of boiler and
furnace, represented in the Drawings hereunto attached, in explanatory illus-
tration of our Invention, as being sufficient to indicate to the practical
engineer the general mode of working out the improvements. We would,
however, remark, that our Invention is applicable, with suitable modifications
of the minor details, to all descriptions of furnaces; not only to such as are
connected to steam boilers, but also to other furnaces or fire-places, as, for
example, reverberatory and rolling-mill furnaces. In the arrangement repre-
sented in Figures 1 and 2 on the Sheet of Drawings, a valve A, capable of
turning upon a horizontal spindle, is fitted up in a valvular aperture extending
across the front end of the furnace space. Air is admitted by this valve, and
flows along the inclined space covered in by the sloping iron plate B, which
is of the full width of the ash-pit, and is inclined upwards towards its inner
end to within a few inches of the rear end of the furnace bars C. The
inner end of the plate B is supported by a bracket piece or cross bearer D,
lined with fire brick, and also answering as the support for the further end of
the fire bars C; behind, this cross bearer D is carried up to form the front

page_text: bridge E, for spreading the flame and gases passing off from the furnace.
The bottom of the ash-pit all along beneath the plate B is inclined upwards,
parallel to the plate, and terminates behind in a vertical wall, forming a
secondary bridge F. This secondary bridge is set far enough behind the
front one to allow of the passage between of the air current. The upper part
of the inner face of the bridge F is fitted with an inclined metal plate G, by
which the air current is directed slightly back at an efficient angle for meeting
the as yet unconsumed gases from the furnace. The supply of air in at the
valve A, and up between the bridges E, F, is regulated by an automatic or
partially automatic contrivance, consisting of a species of water "cataract"
apparatus, contained in a box or chamber H, which may be fixed upon the
front of the boiler, as represented in the Drawings, or in any other convenient
situation. The box II is formed with an internal compartment I, to contain
water or other liquid, and in this compartment is an open-topped vessel J, in
the bottom of which are a valve K, opening upwards, and a small orifice,
through which last any water in the vessel J slowly finds egress into the
vessel I. The vessel J is connected to a lever L, which oscillates on a centre
fixed to the side of the box, and has a weight M jointed or suspended to one
end, whilst its other end is jointed to a rod N, passing through the bottom of
the box II down to a lever O, fixed on the spindle of the valve A. When
the attendant fires, he draws down the rod N, thereby opening the valve A to
admit an increased supply of air to the back end of the furnace, and at the
same time forcing the then empty vessel J down into the water; or, instead
of this piece of separate attention, the rod N may be put in communication
with the fire door in such a manner that the opening of the latter will draw
down the rod. The descent of the cataract vessel J causes it to be filled with
water by the valve K. The air supply is then gradually reduced, and finally
stopped by the elevation of the vessel J, this causing the valve A to gradually
close. This lifting of the vessel J is caused by the weight M, which has just
sufficient power for the purpose, the water gradually passing out of the
vessel J by a small orifice in its bottom, or in the centre of the valve K, and
by its weight preventing the too rapid action of the weight M. In the
modification of boiler and furnace, represented in Figures 3, 4, and 5, on the
Sheet of Drawings, the same general arrangement of the details of the air-
supplying contrivances is adopted as in the modification represented in
Figures 1 and 2, just described, and we have indicated corresponding parts
in the two modifications by the same letters of reference.
On account,.
however, of the curved or cylindrical form of the ash-pit of the boiler, repre-.
sented in Figures 3, 4, and 5, a flat plate, as B, in Figures 1 and 2, could not

page_text: be employed for partitioning off the air passage along the bottom of the ash-
pit without taking up too much space, and a curved or bent plate B¹ is
accordingly used for this purpose. For a similar reason, the curved plate B'
is not represented as inclined upwards towards the back. It may, however,
be so inclined, if thought desirable, and if the ash-pit space is sufficiently
large. If the plate B is formed without any inclination, the space P at its
inner end, between it and the inner ends of the fire bars C, is filled up with
brickwork, which forms a portion of the front bridge E; or the space P may
be filled up in any other convenient manner, so as to form a passage upwards
for the air current in front of the secondary. bridge F. The details of the
apparatus for regulating the action of the valve A (Figures 3 and 5) is
precisely the same as that already herein-before described in reference to
Figures 1 and 2 of the Sheet of Drawings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we may observe, in conclusion, that we do not confine or restrict
ourselves to the precise details or arrangements which we have had occasion
to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of our Invention; but what
we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus,
or means to be applied to furnaces and fire-places for the prevention or
better consumption of smoke, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of supplying air to furnaces and fire-places for
the prevention or better consumption of smoke, by means of a passage.or
passages along the bottom of the ash-pit, opening into the main flue imme-
diately behind the fire space, and furnished with an automatic or partially
automatic valve or valves, for regulating the supply of air, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Burdekin Jackson and William
Bowler, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventh day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH BURDEKIN JACKSON. (L.s.)
WILLIAM BOWLER.
(L.S.)