Improvements in or connected with Destructor Furnaces.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 18th Sept., 1895-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Destructor Furnaces.
J, JOHN CRAVEN of Westgate Common Foundry, Wakefield in the County of
York Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention to 'be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to provide a furnace for the destruction of town
refuse, vegetable, and animal matter and other refuse or waste products and to
utilize the heat produced by the combustion thereof and of gases or fumes arising
therefrom for example for generating steam also at the same time preventing the
escape of noxious fumes into the atmosphere. According to my invention I provide
an additional fire place or combustion chamber or additional fireplaces or com-
bustion chambers, into which the gases and fumes from the refuse-material being
burnt are caused to enter and in which their combustion is effected whereby such
intense heat is obtained that it can be employed for generating steam in a boiler or
boilers.
The boiler or boilers may be set in the furnace in which the refuse is burnt
or the said boiler or boilers may be set in a supplementary fireplace or supple-
mentary fireplaces into which the gases or fumes from the refuse enter.
A convenient arrangement for carrying out my invention consists as follows.
I provide a furnace with a travelling entless fire grate onto which the refuse to be
destroyed is fed from a hopper preferably provided with toothed or crushing
rollers for crushing or reducing the material before it passes onto the grate.
The lower portion of this hopper may be made separate from the upper portion
and connected thereto by hinged joint or otherwise so as to be capable of being
opened out or removed to admit of bulky masses of refuse being introduced into
the furnace without passing through the hopper. Above this grate is built in the
brickwork of the furnace a boiler preferably of the multitubular kind the end of
the said boiler farthest from the grate being supported on a fire-brick wall provided
with holes or passages through which the products of combustion from the burning
refuse pass into a chamber communicating with the tubes in the boiler. The front
end of the boiler is supported on an arch constituting a crown to the front end of
furnace, and also the floor of a chamber into which the tubes of the boiler open
and which is in communication by descending and horizontal flues-with-the-uptake
or chimney. In the chaniber behind the wall which supports the rear end of the
boiler are projections arranged at different heights and out of line one with another
in a vertical direction so as to constitute what I term a stepped grate. Small coal
or other fuel is fed into this chantber .through suitable hoppers or feeding devices
on top, the fuel falling onto the uppermost projection or projections and passing
therefrom onto the next projections below and so on. The combustion of the fuel
and of the gases or fumes from the burning refuse takes place in the said chamber
the heated products of combustion passing through the tubes in the boiler into the
chamber at the front end thereof and thence by the descending flue into the
chimney. To prevent dust or unconsumed fuel from passing from the chamber at
the rear end of the boiler, into the boiler tubes, a depending partition is provided
between the feeding apertures and the entrance to the tubes. An opening is
provided below the stepped grate through which the dust or refuse from the fuel
ied into this chamber may be removed when required. Any suitable arrangement

page_text: for admitting air under pressure or otherwise to the furnace and fire place or fire
places to promote combustion may be provided.
Dated this 18th day of December 1894.
Improvements in or connected with Destructor Furnaces.
I, JOHN CRAVEN of Westgate Common Foundry Wakefield in the County of
York Engineer 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 :-
My invention has for its object to provide a furnace for the destruction of town
refuse, vegetable and animal matter, and other refuse, or waste products, and to
utilize the heat produced by the combustion thereof, and of gases, or fumes, arising
therefrom, for example for generating steam, also, at the same time, preventing
the escape of noxious fumes into the atmosphere. According to my invention
I provide an additional fire place or combustion chamber or additional fire places
or combustion chambers arranged and constructed as hereinafter described into
which the gases and fumes from the refuse material being burnt are caused to enter
and in which their combustion is effected in such a manner that such intense
heat is obtained that it can be employed for generating steam in a boiler or
boilers.
The accompanying drawing represents in longitudinal section in Figure 1, in
transverse section in Figures 2 and 3 on the lines 1. 2 and 3. 4. Figure 1
respectively and in sectional plan (on the line 5. 6 Figure 1) in Figure 4 a
combined furnace constructed in accordance with my invention.
A, is a furnace with a travelling endless fire grate B onto which the refuse to
be destroyed is fed from a hopper C which may be provided with toothed or
crushing rollers for crushing or reducing the material before it passes onto the
grate. This hopper may be made in parts the lower portion being made separable
from the upper portion and connected thereto by a hinged joint or otherwise so as
to be capable of being opened out or removed to admit of bulky masses of refuse
being introduced into the furnace without passing through the hopper. Above
the grate B is built in the brickwork of the furnace, a boiler D preferably of
the multitubular kind the end of the said boiler farthest from the grate being
supported on a fire brick wall E provided with holes or passages e through which
the products of combustion from the burning refuse pass into a chamber com-
municating with the rear ends of the tubes in the boiler. The front end of the
boiler is supported on an arch a constituting a crown to the front end of furnace
and also the floor of a chamber g into which the front ends of the tubes of the
boiler open and which is in communication by the flues hi and j with the uptake
or chimney. In the chamber f behind the wall E which supports the rear end of
the boiler are projections L arranged at different heights and out of line one with
another in a vertical direction so as to constitute what I term a stepped grate.
Small coal or other fuel is fed into this chamber through the hopper M and
toothed rollers N or other suitable feeding devices, the fuel falling down the
passage onto the uppermost projection or projections L and passing therefrom
onto the next projection or projections L below, and so on. The combustion of
the fuel and of the gases or fumes from the burning refuse takes place in the said
chamber the heated products of combustion passing through the tubes in the
boiler into the chamber g at the front end thereof and thence by the flues hi and j
to the chimney. To prevent dust or unconsumed fuel from passing from the

page_text: chamber at the rear end of the boiler into the boiler tubes, a depending partition .
is provided between the feeding apertures and the entrance to the tubes. An
opening is provided below the stepped grate through which the dust or refuse
from the fuel fed into this chamber may be removed when required. is a bar
against which the fuel falls so as to be dispersed thereby. Any suitable arrange-
ment for admitting air under pressure or otherwise to the furnace and fire place
or fire places to promote combustion may be provided.
The solid matter left after the burning of the refuse will be delivered below
the travelling grate and can be received in trucks as shewn for removal.
If desired, two, or more, furnaces and boilers constructed as described can be
built in one setting, or placed in proximity to each other, and the flues thereof can
all communicate with one chimney.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In destructor furnaces the combination with the furnace in which the refuse
is burnt of a combustion chamber having in it an arrangement constituting what
I have termed a stepped grate and means for supplying fuel thereto substantially
as herein before described.
2. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting a destructor furnace
substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 18th day of September 1895.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
Agents.