AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE DOOR FRAMES OF FURNACES FOR STEAM GENERATORS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE DOOR FRAMES OF FURNACES
FOR STEAM GENERATORS."-A communication from abroad by Augustin
Irel Ambler, Charles Edwin Rittenhouse, and Robert Emmet
Preston, all of Washington, District of Columbia, United States of
America.
Sealed the 15th December 1868, and dated the 1st October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st October 1868.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said

page_text: Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE DOOR FRAMES OF
FURNACES FOR STEAM GENERATORS," a communication, to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to furnace doorways for locomotive and other
steam boilers which have an internal furnace or fire-box, and the nature
of the said Invention consists in a novel method of joining together the
plate that forms the furnace and the outside plate of the boiler around
the aperture or door for admitting fuel to the furnace.
The usual method of constructing this part of a furnace is to have a
separate metallic ring or hoop of suitable size for the door, to which ring
the lips of the furnace and boiler plates are rivetted. The ring, to stand
the pressure from within and the wear and tear of putting in fuel from
without, must be constructed much thicker than the plates that are
fastened to it; a great strain is thus occasioned on the bolts which
secure the plates to the ring whenever the furnace is heated, as the
plates will expand from the effect of the heat much quicker than the
thick ring, and in a short time leakage arises around the said bolts
which necessitates frequent repairs.
My method of construction dispenses with the metallic ring, thereby
diminishing the first cost and at the same time avoiding the incon-
venience of leakage and frequent repairs. The outside plate of the boiler
is turned in and forms a flange around the door of the furnace. The
plate of the furnace or fire-box has its edges around the said door turned
outward, and the two flanges thus formed when the boiler is put together
overlap each other and are tightly rivetted together. The fire-box is
brought to the proper position before the rear plate of the boiler is put
in; the rivets are then inserted by a person outside of the fire-box and
between the same and the outside of the boiler, who with a suitable iron
bar holds the bolts or rivets in place while another person inside the
fire-box heads down the rivets. Although the space between the ends of
the boiler and fire-box is too narrow to admit a workman yet by means
of a curved bar he may readily reach down and hold the rivets in place
while the same are being headed down. Even if the space between the
top of the fire-box and the top of the boiler is too narrow to allow a
workman to occupy the same, then the riveting and heading process
could be performed before the front end of the boiler was rivetted to
the cylindrical part thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 31st March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
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 "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE DOOR FRAMES OF FURNACES FOR STEAM GENERATORS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert
Lake, 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 filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings forming a part of this Specification
:-
My Invention relates to furnace doorways for locomotive and other
steam boilers which have an internal furnace or fire-box, and the nature
of the said Invention consists in a novel method of joining together the

page_text: plate that forms the furnace and the outside plate of the boiler around
the aperture or door for admitting fuel to the furnace.
The usual method of constructing this part of a furnace is to have a
separate metallic ring or hoop of suitable size for the door, to which ring
the lips of the furnace and boiler plates are rivetted. The ring, in order
to be sufficiently strong to stand the pressure of water from within and
the wear and tear of putting in fuel from without, must be constructed
much thicker than the plates that are fastened to it. This occasions
great strain on the bolts which fasten the plates to the ring whenever the
furnace is heated, as the plates will expand from the effect of the heat
much quicker than the thick ring, and in a short time leakage takes
place around the said bolts which necessitates frequent repairs.
My method of construction dispenses with the metallic ring, thereby
diminishing the first cost and also avoiding all the inconvenience of
leakage and repairing.
To enable those skilled in the art to manufacture and use my Invention
I will now proceed to describe the same in connection with the accom-
panying Drawing, which illustrates the application of the said Invention
to a locomotive boiler.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the said boiler; Figure 2 is a
central sectional view of the front part of the same. The same letters of
reference refer to the corresponding parts in the different Figures.
The
A represents the outside plate of the boiler, showing the edge around
the door of the furnace turned in at J, J. E is the plate that contains
the fire of the furnace, and has its edges around the said door turned
outward as shown at K, K. H represents the space inside the furnace
for the fire, and F the space for the water between the two plates.
door space B formed by the lip J of the boiler plate A, and also that
formed by the lip K of the furnace plate E, are of such sizes compara-
tively that the lip on one plate will fit tightly within the lip of the other
plate, so that when the boiler is put together one shall pass over the
other, as shown at I, I. D indicates the rivets by which the lips are
firmly bolted together, and C represents the edge of the lip K, which is
shown in the Drawing to be inside of the lip J. The boiler is put
together by bringing the fire-box E up to the proper position as shown,
before the rear plate of the boiler is put in, when the rivets are inserted
by a person outside of the fire-box and between the same and the outside

page_text: of the boiler, who with a suitable iron bar holds the bolts or rivets in
place while another person inside the fire-box heads down the rivets as
shown. Although the space between the ends of the boiler and fire-box
is too narrow to admit a workman, yet by means of a curved bar he may
readily reach down and hold the rivets in place while the same are being
headed down. Even if the space between the top of the fire-box and
the top of the boiler were too narrow to allow a person to occupy the
same, then the rivetting and heading process could be performed before
the front end of the boiler was rivetted to the cylindrical part thereof.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, and shown how the same may be con-
veniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, constructing
the furnace door frames of steam boilers by turning the boiler plate
inward and the furnace plate outward, and lapping and rivetting the said
plates together, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)