Means for Burning Straw, Cornstalks, and such like Fuel.
Year: 1892

page_text: Complete Specification Left, 15th Jan., 1892-Accepted, 20th Feb., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Means for Burning Straw, Cornstalks, and such like Fuel.
1, GEORGE BAKER FIELD, Gentleman, residing at the Windsor Hotel New
York City, County of New York, State of New York, U.S.A. do hereby declare
the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :---
As is well known in many places, it is difficult, and at times impossible, to secure
coal or wood for fuel, and even when it may be had its expense is such as to impose
a heavy burden upon the consumer. Especially is this true with reference to
farmers and other persons living at points removed from railroads, because in
addition to the enhanced price of fuel the labor of transporting it from the railroad
to the place of consumption is very great. It is well known that in some localities
fuel famines have at times been so severe and transportation facilities so deficient
that farmers have been compelled to burn corn for cooking and heating purposes.
This extraordinary condition has been brought about partly by scarcity of fuel and
partly by the fact that the rates of transportation of farm products were so high that
there was no profit to the farmer in sending them to market. On all farms where
wheat, oats, barley, rye, or corn is grown there is produced in weight as much or more
straw or stalks as grain. The cornstalks may be used only to a limited extent for
fodder, the straw has only a restricted use, and the supplies of both are always largely
in excess of the demands to which they may be usefully or economically applied.
In the absence of sufficient quantities of straw or cornstalks, to be utilized as
presently described, there is always an ample supply of weeds, which may be
mowed, permitted to dry, and accumulated in stacks. This material, whether straw,
cornstalks, weeds, or similar vegetable growth in a dried condition, forms the fuel
which I purpose burning in the manner and in the improved apparatus herein
described.
It is the purpose of my invention to provide an apparatus in which such fuel may
be burned efficiently with little if any trouble to the users for all domestic purposes.
On all farms there is an abundant supply of fuel of this character that ordinarily
is not utilized in any way and is waste production; but when utilized in the
manner proposed the farmer will not be required to make any expenditure either of
cash or labor for obtaining coal or wood.
The invention consists in employing a magazine, in which the straw, &c. is
packed in such manner that there is formed in the body of the fuel and passing
through it a draft flue or orifice that is surrounded on all sides by the fuel. The
magazine is open at each end of the flue, and is to be removably placed in any
suitable holder, support, or stove-casing in such manner that the draft-flue therein
is in an upright position, or substantially so, and so that the air to support combus-
tion is admitted by means of suitable draft devices at the bottom and passes up
through the flue in the fuel. The fuel may be lighted at the top and the products of

page_text: y
before stated, be of any suitable shape or character adapted to accomplish the
objects of my invention. I have shown a metal cylinder open at the top and having
an opening in the base of less diameter than the cylinder, so as to form a seat or
support for the compressed fuel. The fuel is compressed in this cylinder around a
core ', Fig. 5, which may be subsequently withdrawn, thus leaving a draft opening
or orifice through the body of the fuel centrally with reference to the fuel, that
equally surrounds it on all sides. The walls of the cylinder may be transversely
corrugated, as in Fig. 6, so as to take hold of and retain the compressed fuel,
preventing its expanding out of the top of the cylinder. The compressed fuel,
considered without reference to a holder or cylinder into which it is compressed,
may be considered a cartridge or magazine, because any means of binding
the compressed fuel together may be employed. For instance, a wrapping of
wire would be sufficient.
The operation is as follows: A fuel-magazine having been placed in position
and the draft properly adjusted, the fuel may be lighted at either the top or
bottom. The air supplied to the interior of the magazine maintains perfect com-
bustion within the bore of the fuel, and more especially at or near its base, and the
superincumbent mass of fuel gradually sinks. In practice I have burned a fuel-
magazine containing ten pounds of straw during a period of four hours and have
conducted with perfect facility various cooking operations. Bread, meat, fowls, &c.,
may be perfectly baked in the ovens, and boiling, frying, stewing, and broiling
may be done over the stove-holes in the usual way. Where it is desired to
maintain a fire in the stove over night, by proper regulation of the draft the fuel
may be maintained in slow combustion and will last many hours.
I have shown my invention applied to cooking-stoves; but obviously such
magazines may be burned in similar stoves for heating purposes. The cylinders
may readily be removed when the fuel therein is exhausted and freshly-charged
magazines introduced.
In order to facilitate the packing of the cornstalks in the cylinders, they may
be crushed or mangled, as straw is in a thrashing-machine, or may be cut by being
run through an ordinary straw-cutter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A portable fuel-magazine consisting of a holder having straw, cornstalks, or
such like fuel therein, with a draft-flue formed in, extending through, and
surrounded on all sides by the fuel, in combination with a holder or stove-
casing adapted to receive and hold the magazine in an upright position and
constructed to supply air to support combustion to the lower end of said
draft-fluc.
2. A portable fuel-magazine consisting of a metal cylinder open at both ends
and having straw, cornstalks, or such like fuel therein, with a draft-flue formed
centrally in and extending through the fuel, in combination with a holder or
stove-casing adapted to receive and hold the magazine in an upright position
and constructed to supply air to support combustion to the lower end of said
draft-flue.
3. A portable fuel-magazine consisting of a metal cylinder circumferentially
corrugated, open at both ends, and having straw, cornstalks, or such like fuel
therein, with a draft-flue formed centrally in and extending through the fuel, in
combination with a holder or stove-casing adapted to receive and hold the
magazine in an upright position and constructed to supply air to support com-
bustion to the lower end of the draft-flue.
4. The combination of a stove-casing, its base, a draft-aperture in or at the
base, and a fuel magazine or charge consisting of a mass of straw, cornstalks, or
such like fuel suitably held together and having formed therein and extending

page_text: therethrough a draft-flue, the stove casing being adapted to receive the charge
of fuel in an upright position with the draft-flue in the fuel over said draft-
aperture.
Signed, at the City of New York. N.Y.. this 4th day of January 1892.
GEORGE BAKER FIELD.