IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, of Paris, in the
1
Empire of France, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edouard. Besnier de la-
Pontonerie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th June 1857..
I, EDOUARD BESNIER DE LA PONTONERIE, of Paris, in the Empire of France,'
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS: FOR CONSUMING SMOKE," to be as follows:-
The improvements relate, when using jets of superheated steam to act upon
the products of combustion to facilitate the combustion of such products, to
means for giving increased heat to such superheated steam. For this purpose,
the pipe which conducts the steam from the boiler or other steam generator
to the fire bridge, or other suitable place for mixing. with the products of
combustion, in passing along the back or sides of the furnace, or otherwise
that part of the furnace where there is most heat to receive increased heat
from the fire, is enclosed in fire clay or porcelain, or such like earthy matter,
as a means of better and more economically absorbing and giving off to the
steam in such pipe or pipes the heat of the fire, as well as of protecting

page_text: the pipe from injury when not filled with steam; and I arrange the jets so
that the steam may act upon the flame produced just above the fuel, and in a
direction to meet the flame in its passage to the flue.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
BESNIER DE LA PONTONERIE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, Her special licence that I, the said
Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edouard Besnier de
la Pontonerie, 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 Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The improvements relate, when using jets of superheated steam to act upon
the products of combustion to facilitate the combustion of such products, to
means for giving increased heat to such superheated steam.
For this purpose,
the pipe which conducts the steam from the boiler or other steam generator

page_text: end view of a boiler furnace arranged according to my improvements. a, a,
is a steam pipe conveying steam from the boiler 6 to the fire bridge c, in doing
which it is passed in coils, as shewn by dotted lines, within the casing d of fire
clay or porcelain, by which such pipes, when of metal, are protected from
rapid destruction, consequent upon the exposure to the direct action of the
fire in the furnace, whilst they are subjected to intense heat, to facilitate the
superheating of the steam passing therethrough. Steam thus heated may be
conducted otherwise than to the fire bridge, in order to its thence being caused
to operate upon the products of combustion in the furnace. The pipes con-
veying the steam within the fire, in order to its being superheated, may be
formed of fire clay or porcelain in place of metal.
As shown by Figures 1, 2, and 3, the steam passes from the steam pipes a
into the hollow bridge c of porcelain or fire clay, and thence in jets through
openings c¹ formed therein to the fire; but the pipes a may open into a metal
pipe d, laid within the fire bridge c, as shown by Figure 4; in which case the
pipe d will be perforated with numerous small holes to admit the steam to
pass therefrom in numerous jets upon the flame and products of combustion.
The pipes a and d may be composed of metal (preferring for this purpose
iron or copper), or, as I prefer it, of metal covered with porcelain or fire clay.
Figure 5 shows two sectional views of the fire box of a locomotive engine,
with my improvements applied thereto. In this case the same letters indicate
the like parts wherever they occur. And I find it important that the jets of
steam be caused to act upon the flame produced just above the fuel, and in a
direction to meet the flame therefrom in its passage to the flue; and it is the

page_text: so, arranging the jets, which constitutes, an important feature of the improve-
ments.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I would have it
understood, that I do not confine myself to the precise details, shewn and
described, as these may be varied; but what I do claim is, the arranging pipes
conveying steam to be used in facilitating. the consumption or prevention of
smoke, that the same may, in passing within the furnace, be enclosed-in fire
clay or porcelain.
Secondly, I claim the so arranging. the parts of apparatus in connection
with furnaces; when superheated steam is employed to facilitate the con-
sumption or prevention of smoke, that the jets of steam may act upon the
flame produced just above the fuel, and in a direction to meet the flame in. its
passage to the flue.
In witness whereof; I, the said 'Edouard Besnier de la Pontonerie, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
EDOUARD BESNIER DE LA PONTONERIE. (L.S.)
WILLIAM BROOKES, Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane, London.