IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING HEAT OR 32 PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Townsend, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING HEAT OR
32
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Townsend at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th June 1872.
I, JOSEPH TOWNSEND, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
HEAT OR GASES FROM COAL OR OTHER SUBSTANCES CONTAINING CARBON," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to economise fuel or carbonaceous
materials in furnaces, whether such fuel is burned with a view to the

page_text: mere application of the heat thereby produced, or is converted by partial
or complete combustion into combustible or other gases or vapors for
use in any way.
The details of the improved furnace are arranged so that all the
actions or operations may be conducted continuously or intermittently
as may be desired.
The grate bars are like ordinary grate bars, but are disposed trans-
versely, an endless series of them being moved by two or more endless
pitch chains, which chains pass round and are moved by sprocket whicels
upon tubular shafts situated at the inner and outer ends of the furnace
or grate space. The tubular shafts are carried in castings built into the
sides of the furnace, and formed with grooves. to receive and guide the
ends of the bars. These side castings are made hollow for the circula-
tion of water to keep them from overheating. The bars are kept in
position and moved along by some of them being inserted between
projections on the links of the endless chains, and radial grooves are
made in the side castings at convenient points to admit of the bars or
links being casily introduced or removed when required.
The coal or other fuel is introduced through a hopper in the roof of
the furnace placed so as to feed it down at the inner end of the furnace,
and the grate bars are in the upper part of their course made to move
from the inner towards the outer end instead of the ordinary reverse
arrangement The hopper is fitted with a revolving paddle to cause the
fuel to be fed regularly and at a rate which may be varied by driving
the paddle more or less quickly. The ashes fall over the outer end of
the bars and partly through the bars, and may be removed from the
ash-pit by one or more revolving screws. The ash-pit and fire-chamber
are closed, excepting the outlet for the gases and certain air inlets and
valves herein-after referred to.
The air nccessary for combustion is forced in by a fan or other blowing
apparatus through inlets admitting it between the upper and lower fire-
bars, and some steam is by preference also introduced, or water may be
introduced into the ash-pit to be evaporated by the radiant heat. The
air thus introduced may be regulated in quantity so as to suffice for the
complete combustion of the fuel; or the supply may be restricted so as
to form principally carbonic oxide as is well understood, and this carbonic

page_text: oxide, with the accompanying vapors and gases, may be conveyed along
flues to any required distance to be subsequently completely burned by
the aid of the necessary additional air for heating boilers, reverberatory
chambers, or kilns.
The furnace may thus be made a producer of carbonic oxide to supply
two or more separate pieces of apparatus, and when so used the ash-pit
may be fitted with a suitably loaded escape valve to allow of the escape
of air when the dampers in any of the outlet flucs or passages are more
or less closed to shut off or diminish the consumption of the carbonic
oxide.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Townsend in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 21st December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
TOWNSEND, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manu-
facturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Townsend, Her special licence that I,
the said Joseph Townsend, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Joseph Townsend, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 FURNACES
OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING HEAT OR GASES FROM COAL OR OTHER SUBSTANCES
CONTAINING CARBON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Townsend, 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

page_text: the outer end of the furnace, to admit of the bars or chain links being
casily introduced or removed when required.
The coal or other fuel is introduced through a hopper 11 in the roof
of the furnace, placed so as to feed it down at the inner end 6, and the
grate bars 1 are at the upper part of their course made to move from
the inner end 6 towards the outer end 7, instead of the ordinary reverso
arrangement. The hopper 11 is fitted with an oscillating paddle or
valve 12 to cause the fuel to be fed regularly and at a rate which may
be varied by driving the paddle more or less quickly, or by making it
oscillate through a larger or smaller angle. The paddle or valve 12 is
made hollow, as is also the shaft 13 on which it is fixed, for the passage
through of a stream of water to prevent its being overheated. A lever 14
is fixed on the valve shaft 13, and is fitted with a stud 15, which can be
adjusted further in or out by a screw and hand wheel 16. The pin 15
of the lever 14 is connected to an eccentric on any suitably revolving
shaft, the shaft 5 for example, and by these means the proper motion
is imparted to the valve 12. The fuel put into the hopper is of course
in pieces of sizes suitable for passing the valve 12. A fire-brick slab 17
supported on a hollow casting 18 cooled by water, is applied as a bridge
at the inner end of the series of grate bars 1, and over this bridge tho
flames or fire gases pass in the boiler fluc 19. The ashes that are
carried forward by the grate bars 1 fall over the outer end into the
ash-pit 20 beneath, from which they may be removed by means of onc
or more revolving screws. The ash-pit 20 and the furnace chamber 7, 6,
are closed, a large door 21 lined with fire-brick being applied at the
outer end to give ample and convenient access when required.
The air necessary for combustion is forced in by a fan 22 or other
blowing apparatus, by an inlet 23 admitting it into the ash-pit, and
some steam or water is also introduced by a pipe 24, the water being
evaporated by the radiant heat and its vapor or the steam passing along
with the air up through the grate bars 1, and amongst the fuel on them.
The air is prevented from getting above the fuel from the front end 7
of the furnace by a loosely hanging valve 25, which is pushed slightly
forward by the ashes passing under it. The air introduced may be
regulated in quantity so as to suffice for the complete combustion of
the fuel within or close to the furnace, as is desirable where the furnace
is applied in immediate connection with a boiler as shown in the accom-

page_text: panying Drawings; or the air supply beneath the fire-bars may be
restricted so as to form principally carbonic oxide as is well understood,
and this carbonic oxide with the accompanying vapors and gases may
be conveyed along flues to any required distance, to be subsequently
completely burned by the aid of the necessary additional air for heating
boilers, reverberatory chambers, or kilns.
The furnace may thus be made a producer of carbonic oxide to supply
two or more separate pieces of apparatus, and when so used, the ash-
pit 20 may be fitted with a suitably loaded escape valve 26 to allow of
the escape of air when the dampers in any of the outlet flues or passages
are more or less closed to shut off or diminish the consumption of the
carbonic oxide.
When complete combustion is required at or near the furnace, as in
the application to a boiler shown in the accompanying Drawings, it will
generally be desirable to admit some air beyond the bridge 17, to make
sure of the ignition of any unconsumed gases or vapors passing over.
For this purpose a slide valve 27 is provided to admit such air from the
ash-pit, and can be adjusted to pass more or less air, as found requisite,
by means of an external handle.
Any satisfactorily working arrangement of travelling grate bars or
of equivalent mechanism giving the fuel and ashes the herein-before
specified movement, may be substituted for the arrangement shown in
the Drawings and herein-before described.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the berein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,--
1. The combining together of the parts of furnaces or apparatus for
obtaining heat or gases from coal or other substances containing carbon, ;
substantially in the improved manner herein described and delineated.
2. The causing of the fuel to be supplied at the inner end of the
furnace, and its ashes or residue to be carried towards the outer end,
substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: 3. The combining of a forced air supply with the outward movement
of the fire-bars carrying the fuel as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Townsend, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year c
: of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
JOSEPH TOWNSEND. (L.s.)