IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBUSTION CHAMBERS APPLICABLE TO ANY FURNACE, AND IN SUPPLYING FUEL TO ORDINARY FURNACES AND BOILERS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Leigh, Civil Engineer, of Buckland, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBUSTION
CHAMBERS APPLICABLE TO ANY FURNACE, AND IN SUPPLYING FUEL TO ORDINARY
FURNACES AND BOILERS."
Sealed the 9th January 1874, and dated the 12th November 1873.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his retition, on the
12th November 1873.
I, JOHN LEIGH, Civil Engineer, of Buckland, in the County of Kent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COMBUSTION CHAMBERS APPLICABLE TO ANY FURNACE, AND IN SUPPLYING FUEL TO
ORDINARY FURNACES AND BOILERS," to be as follows:-

page_text: And, Secondly. Of improvements in the method of feeding such com-
bustion chambers or furnaces with a regular and continuous supply of
fuel, which may be either coal, coal dust, coke, coke dust, sawdust, tan,
or any other description of fuel used in furnaces for the generation of
certain gases by their action, while in an incandescent state upon
atmospheric air supplied by blast or otherwise; these gases are used as
fuel and reducing agents in metallurgic and certain other operations in
which high temperatures are required, such as smelting, puddling, or
otherwise treating iron, or iron ores, or other ores or metals generating
steam and other similar processes.
My improved combustion chamber and appliance for supplying fuel
may be attached to furnaces and boilers at present in use, or may be
made to form part of new furnaces or boilers, and is constructed in the
following manner :-I form an iron chamber of any required size lined
at the sides with fire-brick or fire-clay; the bottom of the chamber is
formed of metal plates or castings coated by preference with loam, clay,
or other refractory material, one or more of the plates or castings being
fixed to the sides, the others being hinged so as to allow of their being
opened like doors for giving access to the chamber for the purposes of
cleansing and repairing; the chamber or generator is closed in or arched
over except at two places where apertures are formed at opposite sides
of the chamber, the one is used to admit the fuel to be supplied to the
combustion chamber from the self-acting feeding apparatus, and the
other to allow of the exit of the flames and heated gases; this aperture
leads to the bed of a puddling, heating, or smelting furnace, or to the
working chamber of a reverberatory furnace, cupola, or blast furnace, or
around the sides or through the tubes of a boiler where the heat is
utilized; the feeding side or end of the chamber may be either vertical or
inclined. Through one or more of these sides I introduce a blast of air
from a fan or other blowing apparatus; this blast may enter through one
tuyero, but I prefer to make it enter through numerous small tuyeres at
suitable levels; at the feeding aperture I attach a horizontal cylinder or
cylinders; at the upper and outer end of this cylinder or cylinders is an
opening or openings forming a hopper or hoppers, through which the
fuel enters; through the centre or centres of this cylinder or cylinders
is a spindle or series of equidistant spindles; to these spindles are fixed
propellers or a series of propellers or pistons; the propellers are sections
of screws or series of knives, cutters, or blades, ranged in a helica

page_text: form; or I sometimes use complete screws for part of the length of
each spindle near the feeding end or base of the hopper, or complete
screws are used for the whole length. The screw may taper, the dis-
charging end being the smaller, and in this case the pitch of the screw
is made to increase towards the smaller end, the discharge ends being
protected by an air or blast box, and delivering on to an inclined plate;
the fuel falling on to this inclined plate is projected thence into the
furnace combustion chamber or generator, its fall being assisted by the
blast from the cold air chamber which passes over the plate and keeps it
cool.
When pistons are used the piston rods are attached to connecting rods
and to cranks on a spindle or spindles; at the end of the spindle or
spindles is a worm, bevil, or spur wheel actuated by a worm or wheels,
causing the spindles to rotate, by which means a continuous stream of
fuel is delivered into the chamber or generator. These spindles may
be driven by hand or steam power, or if required a drum or hand wheel
may be attached directly on to the spindle or spindles.
By supplying a continuous stream of fuel into the chamber perfect
combustion is obtained, and great heat produced with a small
expenditure of fuel.
My improved method of supplying fuel is described as being used in
conjunction with the improved combustion chamber, but it may if
desired be used independently by being attached directly to any ordinary
furnace or boiler.