AN, VES, AND FURNACES FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Edwards Parker, Architect and Sanitary.
Engineer, 1, Clifton Villas, Prince of Wales Road, Battersea, London, S.W.,
"
for an Invention of AN IMPROVEMENT IN OPEN FIRE-GRATES, STOVES, AND*
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Edwards Parker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th July 1881.
THOMAS EDWARDS PARKER, Architect and Sanitary Engineer, 1, Clifton Villas,.
Prince of Wales Road, Battersea, London, S.W. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN OPEN
FIRE GRATES, STOVES, AND FURNACES FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE."
I fix a slab of fire brick with an opening at the bottom at the back of the fire*
which leads into a small chamber, and this chamber tapers to a narrow orifice into
the chimney. The orifice is made in length the width of the fire, and the height
or width may be from 3 of an inch to 1 inch, according to the height of the
chimney and the draft required. Through this orifice passes the whole of the
gaseous products of combustion. The tapered chamber receives the greater part of
these products through the opening at the bottom of the fire; those which arise
from the top of the fire I pass through a perforated plate into the tapered chamber,
where they are consumed. At the bottom and back of the fire grate where the
fuel is consumed I fix ribs or fillets of fire clay or other suitable material, and as
the process of combustion goes on the air passes between the fillets to the opening
of tapered chamber, making the fuel at that point incandescent, and no smoke can
pass unconsumed. In fact, when once the fire has heated the tapered chamber it
burns like a lamp. I fix three dampers (two only are needed for furnaces), the first*
one regulates the draft, the second one closes the perforations in the open fire grate
when the fire is being lighted, the third one permits the withdrawal of ashes from
the tapered chamber. I claim in the above to have invented a simple and effective
contrivance for the consumption of smoke, the result of hundreds of experiments
and nionths of constant observation on the combustion of fuel. In a fire place or
furnace constructed on the above plan coal, coke, or any solid fuel of whatever
quality may be used:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Edwards Parker in the Great Seal. Patent Office on the
19th January 1882.
THOMAS EDWARDS PARKER, Architect and Sanitary Engineer, 1, Clifton Villas,
Prince of Wales Road, Battersea, London, S.W. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN OPEN
FIRE GRATES, STOVES, AND FURNACES FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE."
At the back of the fire at the bottom I place an opening into what I call a
tapered chamber; this chamber at the bottom and the top slopes or tapers to a
narrow slit into the chimney. The slabs or plates of this tapered chamber are per-
forated on whichever side is most convenient for the ingress of the gases and smoke
which arise from the fire. These gases are drawn over the top of the back plate
through a narrow slit or aperture into a cavity between the back plate and the
partition which divides off the chimney, where they are superheated, and finally
pass through the perforations into the tapered chamber and into the inverted cone
at the base of the chimney, where they are consumed. The width of the slit into
the chimney is regulated by the height of the chimney, and sometimes as little
as of an inch will suffice if the chimney is lofty and well constructed. This slit.
should be between two cones or funnels, so to speak, the tapered chamber being the
one with the larger end close to the fuel, the other with the larger end pointing to
the top of the chimney. At the back of the fire box or grate I fix fillets or ribs
with a narrow space between each in order that the gases may descend freely when
the fuel is packed close to the back of the fire. The bottom is also ribbed in
the same manner, sloping inwards. The air passing between these ribs becomes
heated, and meeting the fuel at the back of the fire and the superheated gases from
the top of the fire, the tapered chamber becomes incandescent, and all smoke con-
sumed. To keep the spaces between the ribs at the bottom of the fire free from
ashes or any obstruction to the passage of heated air I place a slab of fire clay or
other suitable material on the front part of the ribs, leaving only that portion open
which is nearest to the tapered chamber for the ingress of air. In open fire grates,
to prevent the cold air passing too readily over the back plate into the superheating
cavity, 1 place a movable deflector, which can be drawn forward when fresh fuel is
added to the fire, or when requisite to give direction to the products of combustion
which arise from the fire. To make the principle of my Invention more intelligible
I append two sectional Drawings to illustrate its action. Fig. 1 is a section where
is shown its application to an open fire grate. A are the fire bars at the front of
-the-fire. B-is-the-ribbed or-filleted -back-plate. C. is the bottom. ribs partially
covered with a slab or plate. D, an air tight ash pan. E, the tapered chamber.
F, the inverted cone and chimney. G, the superheating cavity for superheating
the gases which arise from the fire. H, the movable deflector. I, a register for
cleaning. K, the fuel box. L, heated air through the ribs at the bottom. N, per-
forated slabs or plates. Fig. 2 represents an arrangement of fire bricks on the
same principle suitable for the back of any furnace or fire place where the arrange-
ment in Fig. 1 could not for certain reasons be applied. The letters and parts
marked in Fig. 2 have the same meaning as those given in Fig. 1.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Edwards Parker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
T. E. PARKER. (LS.)