Improvements in Spark Arresters for Use with Locomotive or other Boiler Apparatus
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1899-Accepted, 23rd Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Spark Arresters for Use with Locomotive or other
Boiler Apparatus
We, NATHAN PAGE STEVENS, Inventor, and FRANK MORRIS KNOWLES, Banker,
both of Concord, County of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, one of the
United States of America, 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 has for its object the production of novel and effective spark
arresting apparatus for boilers, particularly adapted for locomotives, whereby
sparks and cinders are prevented from passing out with the exhaust.
We have also herein provided a novel and convenient receptacle to which we
prefer to conduct the collected cinders, said receptacle being emptied from time
to time, as necessary.
We have also provided means for obtaining ready access to the smoke-box or
portion of the boiler in which the spark arresting apparatus is located.
Our invention is herein illustrated in connection with a locomotive engine,
inasmuch as such use thereof is extensive, as will appear hereinafter, although
our invention is not restricted thereto.
Fig. 1, in vertical longitudinal section, represents the forward end of a
locomotive boiler with the smoke box and exhaust outlet, one form of our novel
spark arrester being shown in operative position in the smoke box, other features
of our invention also being therein illustrated;
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, the head or outer
end of the smoke box being omitted, and
Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional detail of the baffles, taken on the line a,
Fig. 1.
The boiler shell A, fire tubes A¹, smoke stack A2, and the upturned exhaust
pipe or outlet E, Fig. 1 may be and are of usual construction.
The smoke-box B is in itself of substantially well known construction, but we
have herein provided the same with ears b, which constitute hinge members, the
other members a being attached to or formed on the open front end of the
boiler, suitable pintles, as 3, connecting the hinge members, so that the smoke
box may be swung laterally to one side when it is desired to have access to the
contents thereof, as for instance for cleaning or for any other purpose.
Any suitable locking device, as L, may be provided to retain the smoke-box
in normal position, forming a prolongation of the boiler, the inner end of the
smoke-box being open, and its outer end closed by a head B¹.
An inclined deflector plate E¹ extends from the tube sheet A³ forward to the
inner end of the spark arrester, to be described, the exhaust outlet E passing up
through the plate, so that the products of combustion are deflected towards the
lower part of the boiler.
We have herein shown the spark arrester as consisting of an open ended
chamber having parallel top and bottom members c, c¹, respectively, and sides &²,
:

page_text: suitably supported in any desirable manner in the smoke box, and we have herein
shown straps or brackets, as 10, attached to the chamber and to the interior
of the smoke box to support said chamber in the position shown in Figs. 1
and 2.
The top c of the chamber at its inner end is adapted to enter a recess or groove,
as el, formed in the forward end of the deflector plate E', the products of com-
bustion being deflected by said plate to the inner end of the chamber, which is
the inlet while the gaseous matter escapes from its outer end or outlet to the
smoke-box, from which it is discharged through the stack.
The bottom of the chamber at its outer end abuts against the head B¹ of
the smoke-box to prevent any back or down draught.
A series of comparatively narrow and laterally staggered baffles f* are located
in the chamber, said baffles being concaved on their inlet sides as at f', best shown
in Fig. 3 and the baffles are herein shown as concavo-convex in cross section, and
provided with lugs at their ends, whereby they are attached to the top and
bottom of the chamber in any suitable manner, as by bolts 15.
Adjacent the lower ends of these baffles and at their inlet sides, the bottom
plate is provided with a series of cinder outlets or openings 3, the baffles
being preferably inclined, as herein shown, from the bottom plate upwards and
rearwardly to the top plate c.
The sparks and cinders entering the chamber from the boiler impinge against
the baffles, and are directed by the curved inlet sides thereof to the bottom of
the chamber, and through the cinder outlets ³, passing thence to the compart-
ment B2 at the bottom of the smoke box, said compartment preferably being
closed at its rear end by a segmental plate e, which may be attached to and
depend from the bottom of the baffle chamber.
The construction of the chamber with flat top and bottom plates, provides
a very simple and effective means for attaching the baffles thereto, and the
latter can thus be made of uniform length and practically interchangeable,
while at the same time the cinder receiving space 12 in the smoke-box is of
considerable size.
It will be obvious that the sparks and cinders collected by the arresting device
and deposited in the lower part of the smoke box can be conveyed to any suitable
point and we have herein provided a novel receptacle of sufficient size to retain a
large quantity of the cinders, so that blowing out or emptying of such receptacle.
is only necessary at comparatively long intervals.
The receptacle is herein shown as an enclosed or box like cow-catcher supported
on a suitable frame, or an extension A10 of the main frame, the cow catcher being
preferably made of sheet iron, with sides h, angular top h¹, bottom h² and back h³,
the top portions being provided with heavy metal strengthening ribs, and
the whole shaped substantially as the usual cow-catcher, the top portions being
bent up, as at 10, to meet the sides h.
The cow-catcher so constructed forms a closed or box like receptacle, of large
capacity, and we have herein shown it connected as by a duct m with a hopper
like bottom 133 secured to the underside of the smoke-box in any suitable manner,
and communicating therewith through a slot or opening 25 in the smoke-box.
The hopper bottom 133 is herein shown as connected by bolts 35 with the
end of the duct m, so that the latter can be detached when it is desired to swing
upper
the smoke box to one side.
The cow-catcher or cinder receptacle H may be provided with normally closed
blow-out openings H', as best shown in Fig. 1.
It will be manifest that the products of combustion as they pass from the
flues will be deflected by the plate E into the open-ended chamber, C, travelling
through the tortuous passages formed by the baffles f*, and the sparks and cinders
or the major portion thereof will be conducted to and discharged through the
out lets into the lower part of the smoke box, and thence into the hopper

page_text: bottom B³, and the collected cinders and sparks pass thence by gravity to the
cinder receptacle or cow catcher H.
The draught created by the exhaust will draw the gaseous products of com-
bustion through the chamber C, and through its open outer end into the smoke
box, whence such gaseous matter will be discharged through the stack sub-
stantially free from sparks or cinders.
Inasmuch as the spark arresting chamber C may be supported in any suitable
manner in the smoke-box, our invention is not restricted to the particular means
herein shown, as we have merely illustrated one practical mode of support.
The arrows 40 on Fig. 1 indicate the direction of travel of the cinders or
sparks, and the arrows 50, the passage of the gaseous products of combustion.
Our invention is not restricted to the precise construction and arrangement
shown and described, as the same may be modified and rearranged in many
particulars without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: -
1. A spark arrester comprising a chamber to receive the products of com-
bustion and having inlet and outlet openings, a series of laterally staggered
imperforate baffles intermediate said openings and concaved on their inlet sides,
and cinder outlets in the chamber adjacent the lower ends and at the inlet sides
of the baffles.
2. A spark arrester comprising a chamber to receive the products of combustion
and having inlet and outlet openings, a series of laterally staggered, concavo-
convex imperforate baffles inclined from the top to the bottom of said chamber
with their concave sides towards the inlet, and cinder outlets in said chamber
adjacent the lower ends and at the inlet sides of the baffles.
3. A spark arrester comprising an open ended elongated chamber having its top
and bottom parallel, to receive products of combustion at one end and having an
outlet at its other end, laterally staggered imperforate baffles inclined from the
top to the bottom of the chamber and concave at their inlet sides, and cinder
outlets adjacent the lower ends and at the inlet sides of the baffles.
4. A spark arrester comprising a chamber to receive the products of combustion
and having inlet and outlet openings, a series of laterally staggered imperforate
baffles intermediate said openings and extended from the top to the bottom of
the chamber, and cinder outlets in the chamber adjacent the lower ends and at
the inlet sides of the baffles.
5. In a locomotive or other engine, a spark arrester having inlet and outlet
openings for the products of combustion, staggered baffles intermediate said
openings, cinder outlets adjacent the lower ends and at the inlet sides of the
baffles, a box like cow-catcher, and a connection between it and the several cinder
outlets, to convey cinders to the said cow-catcher.
6. In a locomotive or other engine, a spark arrester into which the products of
combustion pass, an enclosed or box-like cow-catcher, and means to convey cinders
from the spark arrester to the cow-catcher.
7. In a locomotive or other engine, a smoke box, a spark-arrester therein
having cinder outlets communicating with a chamber in the bottom of the smoke-
box, an enclosed cow-catcher, and a connection between said chamber and the
cow catcher, to convey cinders to the latter from the chamber.
Dated this 17th day of July 1899
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55/56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicants.