CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
LLOYD WILLIAMS, of Thornhill, Llandilo, in the County of Carmarthen, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said David
Lloyd Williams, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said David Lloyd Williams, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Lloyd Williams, my
exors, adñiors, 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 England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
David Lloyd Williams, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed; by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters 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
David Lloyd Williams, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-

page_text: My improvements in furnaces have for their object the construction of
furnaces, particularly those employed for generating steam, in such manner
that the furnace bars shall be always kept in a comparatively cool state, and
that the air (employed-to support combustion) or water (employed to feed the
boiler) as the case may be, shall be heated previous to their introduction
into or subjection to the direct action of the furnace. Figure 1 is a longi-
tudinal section of a steam boiler furnace thus constructed; Figure 2, a cross
section of the same; and Figure 3, a plan. A is the fire-place; B, the ash-
pit; C, a portion of the steam boiler; D, D, the furnace bars which rest at
front upon the cross bearer E, and at the back or further end of the furnace
upon a bar F, which forms one side of, a hollow chamber G. The fire-bars
D, D, are hollow, each having a channel H passing through it from end to end.
At the back of the furnace these different channels open into the chamber G,
(as represented in the sections of the bars in Figures 1 and 2) while at front
they terminate in openings I, I, formed in the lower side of the bars; K is a
pipe through which a constant supply of atmospheric air is kept flowing into
the chamber G, and thence into the channels inside of the furnace bars,
whence the air in a heated state issues through the openings I, I, passes
directly through between the furnace bars into the fire, and tends to support
the combustion of the fuel. By the arrangements just described, the cold air
passing through the bars keeps them from becoming too much heated, and
they therefore remain much longer in a good working condition, while the
air supplied to the furnace is previous to its entry amongst the fuel raised
to a temperature exceedingly favourable to combustion; and a considerable
saving of fuel is thereby effected. In some cases the circulation of the air
which is thus employed for keeping the bars cool, instead of being kept up
by rarefaction alone, may be produced or assisted by means of a fan, or other
mechanical contrivance.
:
The arrangements which are shewn in the Drawings for heating air to
supply a steam furnace, may with slight modifications be applied to heating
the water intended to feed the boiler or for other purposes. In that case the
openings I, I, in the bars at the front of the furnace are connected to the
pipe I2, (indicated in red lines,) and a constant supply of cold water is made
to communicate with the chamber G by means of a pipe G² smaller than that
for the air. The fire bars are thus kept constantly filled with water, which as
it gets heated is drawn off by means of the feed pump M, connected to the
pipe I², and is forced by it into the boiler through the pipe I'. By the force
pump being thus interposed between the boiler and the furnace bars, the
pressure exerted by the steam upon the surface of the water in the boiler is

page_text: prevented from in any way being exerted upon that contained in the furnace
bars so as to cause any disrupture to take place either in them or in the
joints. Instead of having the whole set of bars applied to either of the pur-
poses above described, part of them may be employed for heating the air, and
the remainder for heating the feed water; in which case the chamber G must
be partitioned off, and the connections of the different pipes disposed so as to
suit such an arrangement; or a continuous stream of water may be allowed to
flow through the bars to keep them from becoming over-heated; the
heated water being permitted to run away instead of being forced into the
boiler.
And having now described my said Invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is as follows:-
First, I claim the constructing of furnaces with hollow fire bars, through
which the air employed for supporting the combustion of the fuel is made to
pass, for the purposes and in the manner above described.
Second, I claim the heating of the feed water for boilers or for other
purposes, by causing the same to flow through the fire bars of the furnace,
and without being there subjected to the pressure of the steam in the boiler, as
before described, and also the modification of the same arrangement, in which
some of the fire-bars are employed for heating the air, and the others for
heating water.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Lloyd Williams, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, One thousand eight
ne year
51, the
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our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and everything 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.