CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN STEAM ENGINE OR OTHER FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DREW, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of November, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Drew, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Drew, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others, as I, the said James Drew, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any. time agree with, and no other, 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 and Wales, and the Town of
Berwick upon "
Tweed, my Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OF CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL IN STEAM ENGINE OR OTHER FURNACES
OR FIRE-PLACES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said James Drew, 'shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Drew, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
of
My improvements in the means of consuming smoke and economizing fuel in
steam engine or other furnaces or fire-places, consists in providing the furnace
or fire-place with a second or double set of fire-bars; the one set or outermost
of which are to be fixed to the boiler seating, as in ordinary furnaces, and the
second or innermost set are to be fixed upon a carriage, which shall be moveable
in a vertical direction immediately behind the outer set of bars; and thus the
improved furnace will be divided into two distinct parts or portions, the one or
ordinary half or any convenient part of which will support the fuel in the
furnace, and the second or moveable set be capable of being raised nearer to
or further from the bottom of the boiler, as occasion may require. The object
my Invention being the more perfect consumption of smoke, and consequent
economy in fuel, is effected by such novel arrangement and construction of the
furnace or fire-place, as the first or outermost set of fire-bars is intended to
receive the fuel when it is firstly introduced into the furnace, and the charred
or red-hot coal is to be passed backwards, and thus placed upon the second or
moveable set of fire-bars, and immediately raised by the sliding carriage close
under the bottom of the boiler, and placed nearer to or farther from the
boiler, as the case may require, thus forming a narrow heated passage, causing
the smoke to come into contact with the charred or red-hot coal, the heat from
which passes under the bottom of the boiler on its way to the flues, and as it
rises from the green or fresh coal in the front part of the furnace it will be
perfectly consumed in passing over the second or red-hot fire, instead of being
allowed to escape along with other gaseous products to the chimney, and
thereby cause a considerable saving of fuel and heat, which is commonly lost.
As the principal feature of novelty is so perfectly simple that it may be readily
.applied to any description of furnace or fire-place, I had scarcely deemed it
necessary to represent its application to any one in particular, as. it is evident
that its adaptation to the various descriptions of furnaces must greatly depend
upon the circumstances of the case; and also the mechanical arrangements
and other details for raising or lowering the second or inner set of fire-bars
must entirely be at the option of the engineer.
It will readily be perceived that the mechanical agents or apparatus to be
employed to carry my Invention into practical effect are capable of a variety
of modifications, and however applied will not in the least affect the result of

page_text: a
the operation; therefore I have represented in the Drawing attached to these
Presents a simple mode of working my. Invention in connection with an
ordinary steam engine boiler, merely for the sake of illustration. Figure 1 is
a longitudinal section of an ordinary steam engine boiler and furnace;
Figure 2, plan or horizontal view; and Figure 3 is an end view of the same,
in which the boiler seating, flues, furnace doors, dead plate, and bars nearest
the doors, are to be fixed in the usual manner, or the bars may incline a little
downwards at the farthest end from the dead plate. A second set of furnace
or fire-bars a, (which may be placed level, or a little inclined towards the fixed
bars,) are fixed upon a moveable carriage b; this carriage, with its set of fire-
bars, is capable of being elevated and lowered in a vertical direction by
running on parallel rods or slides, being fixed upon each side of the ash-pit,
or by any other suitable contrivance. In these Figures the apparatus to be
employed for working the carriage b consists of two beams c, c, working upon
their fulcra at d, d, and being elevated or depressed by means of the con-
necting rods e, e, and the cross bar f₁f; the centre of this bar f carries a
nut g working up and down the screw h, which is caused to revolve in its
bearings i, i, by means of the bevil wheel
pinions causing the screw to be driven in one
driving it in the reverse, as the case may be.
or feather upon the driving shaft m, and are thrown in and out of gear with
the wheel k by any ordinary catch or clutch box. Now supposing the
engineer to be about to throw a supply of fresh coals upon the fire, he has
merely to throw that pinion into gear, which will cause the nut to ascend upon
the screw, and consequently to lower the carriage b with its grate just a
sufficient space below the front or ordinary grate to admit of the red-hot.
cinders and clinker to be raked out into the ash-pit; he then elevates the
back grate a a little, until it is flush or on a level with the surface of the ordi-
nary or front grate, when he passes a sufficient quantity of the red-hot cinders
from the furnace upon the back grate a. The other pinion is then to be put
in gear, and the carriage with its grate to be raised up within a little space of
the bottom of the boiler, as seen in Figure 1; and when the fresh coal is
thrown upon the fire in the front or common grate, the smoke, as it
rises over the grate a, a, will be effectually consumed by the red fire or charred
coal thereon, and the fuel and heat thus greatly economized; the process being
repeated as often as found necessary.
and pinions 1, 1, one of these
direction and the other pinion
These pinions slide upon a key
Having thus described the object of my improvements and the manner in
which the same may be carried into practical effect, I desire it to be
understood, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention the elevation of the

page_text: second set of fire-bars or back part of the furnace, either in a level or inclined
position, and the lowering of the same in the manner and for the purposes
above described, in whatever situation. it may be used in connection with ordinary
furnaces or fire-places, and also by whatever ordinary mechanism or appa-
ratus the same may be worked, as the lever, screw, rack, or any other well-
known agent may be effectively employed, that shewn in the Drawing being
merely for the sake of illustration.
In witness whereof, I, the. said James Drew; have hereunto set my
.
hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
:
JAMES (L.S.) DREW:
+
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of May, in the
second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said James Drew
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the instrument aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign
of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Seventh day of May, One thousand eight hundred and