IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE EMISSION OF SMOKE FROM STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Hardcastle Sykes, of Edgeley, in the
County of Chester, Bleacher, and James Stokes, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
LESSENING THE EMISSION OF SMOKE FROM STEAM BOILER AND OTHER
FURNACES."
Sealed the 7th September 1871, and dated the 13th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Hardcastle
Sykes and James Stokes at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th March 1871.
WC, THOMAS HARDCASTLE SYKES, of Edgeley, in the County of
Chester, Bleacher, and JAMES STOKES, of the same Place, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE EMISSION OF SMOKE FROM STEAM BOILER AND
OTHER FURNACES," to be as follows:-

page_text: descriptions of- furnaces, and has for its object to promote the com-
bustion of the inflammable gases generated in the said furnaces, or in
other words, to effect the comsumption of the smoke produced therein,
and at the same time to obtain greater economy in the consumption
of fuel. To these ends we employ an air distributor constructed by
preference of iron and of a form tapering in width from the front end
to the rear end, and also from the bottom to the top, the said front
end being towards the fire bridge. By preference we place the said
distributor at a distance behind the bridge, the base of the said dis-
tributor resting on brickwork which may be a continuation of the
brickwork of the said bridge, the upper surface of the said brickwork
upon which the said distributor rests being lower than the top of the
said bridge. Atmospheric air is admitted through a flue or passage
provided with a regulating door or valve into the interior of the said
distributor whence it flows through holes or perforations formed in
the vertical or inclined sides of the said distributor, and also, if pre-
ferred, in the top thereof, and mixes or commingles with the gases
or products of combustion flowing over, and on or by cach side of the
said distributor, the said air promoting the combustion of the said gases
or products in manner as is well understood. We form the broader
end of the said air distributor or the end nearest to the fire bridge of
a thicker substance than the remainder of the said distributor in order
that it may better resist the action of the fire, or we may protect the
said end by means of a tile or lump of fire-clay, or other refractory
material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Hardcastle Sykes and James Stokes in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
HARDCASTLE SYKES, of Edgeley, in the County of Cheshire, Bleacher, 30
and JAMES. STOKES, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Hardcastle Sykes and James Stokes,
Her special license, that we, the said Thomas Hardcastle Sykes and
James Stokes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Thomas Hardcastle Sykes and James Stokes, our
executors, administrators, 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 APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE EMISSION. OF SMOKE FROM STEAM BOILER AND
OTHER FURNACES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Thomas Hardcastle Sykes and James Stokes, 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 our 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

page_text: bridge, the upper surface of the brickwork upon which the said dis-
tributor rests being lower than the top of the said bridge. Atmospheric
air is admitted through a flue or passage which may be provided with
a regulating door or valve into the interior of the said distributor whence
it flows through holes or perforations formed in the vertical or inclined
sides of the said distributor, and also, if preferred, in the top thereof,
and mixes or commingles with the gases or products of combustion,
flowing over and on or by each side of the said distributor, the said air
promoting the combustion of the said gases or products in manner as is
well understood.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I will
in this place refer to the Drawings which accompany this Specification.
Fig. 1 of the said Drawings is a side elevation of the said air dis-
tributor; Fig. 2 representing a vertical cross section on the line A;
Fig. 3 a horizontal section on the line B, and Fig. 4 a vertical
longitudinal section on the line C, in Fig. 2.
The said distributor is composed of four cast-iron plates or pieces,
namely, of two side plates a and b of a front piece or guard c, represented
detached at Fig. 5, and of a top plate or piece d. Each of the said
side plates is formed with perforations for the passage of air as
represented in Fig. 1, and with a bottom flange e which rests upon the
brickwork when the distributor is in position. Vertical flanches arc
formed at each end of each of the said plates, the flanches at the front
end overlapping and the flanches at the back end meeting when the
said plates are put together as represented in Fig. 3.
The guard
piece c is formed with side flanches f, and with a hook-shaped pro-
jection g. When the two side plates have been placed together in
manner as represented in Fig. 3, the said guard piece is placed on the
front ends of the said plates in the position represented by the dotted
lines in Fig. 4, the projection g and the flanches f acting to retain the
several parts in their required relative positions. The top plate or
piece d is also formed with flanches which embrace the upper parts of
the two side plates as represented in Fig. 2, when the said top piece is
placed in position on the top of the distributor, the said top piece also
acting to retain in position the other parts of which the said distributor
is partly composed. The guard piece c has or may have a greater

page_text: thickness than the other portions of the distributor, the principal usc
of the said piece being to protect to some extent the front end of the
distributor from the excessive heat of the furnace and to assist in this
protection passages are formed for the flow of air from the interior of the
distributor between the aforesaid overlapping flanches of the said plates
and between the said guard piece and the end of the distributor as
indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3.
The method of constructing and putting together the air distributor
as herein-before described may be varied so long as the general form and
action of the said distributor are retained, but the method as described
has been considered to be most suitable for the reasons that the several
parts may be readily cast and the "rough" castings can be put together
without previous fitting and without the aid of bolts or other auxillary
fastenings, and also that a fresh casting can be readily substituted
for one which has deteriorated without the necessity of removing or
replacing the entire apparatus.
In some cases, or whenever preferred, the front end of the air
distributor may be protected by means of fire-bricks or of a suitably
formed fire-clay "lump," similarly as indicated by Fig. 6.
The said air distributor is shewn in position in Figs. 7 to 9. Fig. 7
representing a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of an ordinary
"Cornish boiler;" Fig. 8 a horizontal section of a part of the same, and
Fig. 9 a vertical cross section on the line D in Fig. 7. In the said
Figures the air distributor a rests upon a brickwork seating h, formed
behind the bridge i. An air flue / is formed in the said seating, the
said flue communicating with the the interior of the distributor and a
regulating door 7 is fitted at the entrance of the said flue, so that by
opening or closing the said door to the required extent by means of the
rod m, the flow of air through the said flue and into the distributor may
be regulated. The flow of air through the perforations in the said
distributor is indicated by the arrows.
Having now described and illustrated the nature of the said Invention
and means for carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it
to be distinctly understood that I claim the employment for the pur-
pose or purposes herein-before indicated of the perforated air distributor

page_text: formed, arranged, and acting substantially as herein-before described
and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hardcastle Sykes, for
myself and on behalf of the aforesaid James Stokes, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.
THOMAS HARDCASTLE SYKES. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said
Thomas Hardcastle Sykes,
in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent for the Patentee,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.