CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF KITCHENERS OR OTHER SIMILAR APPARATUS, AND IN THE APPLICATION THERETO OF PARTS DESIGNED FOR THE PURPOSE OP ECONOMIZING FUEL WHILST COOKING, HEATING, OR BOILING WATER
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Simpson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th March
1874.
I, THOMAS SIMPSON, of South Norwood, in the County of Surrey,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF KITCHENERS OR OTHER SIMILAR
APPARATUS, AND IN THE APPLICATION THERETO OF PARTS DESIGNED FOR THE PURPOSE
OP ECONOMIZING FUEL WHILST COOKING, HEATING, OR BOILING WATER," to be as
follows:-
=
The Invention is designed for the purpose of economizing fuel in
kitcheners or other fire-grates having boilers for heating water connected
therewith, and at the same time preserving such boilers or parts adjacent
to the fire from deterioration.
The Invention may be applied in several forms, and in order that the
nature of its various constructions and adaptations may be well under-
stood I will describe them separately.
{
First. In adapting the improvements to the ordinary.kitchener I
construct the boiler with hollow side cheeks, which contain water, and

page_text: are substituted for the bricks, slabs, or other material usually employed,
and which now become so soon destroyed with the action of the fire.
These side cheeks are provided with guiding grooves, in which projections
forming a portion of the grid or bottom of the grate slide. This grid or
grate bottom is supported by one or more rods in connection with a lever
and a counterbalance weight, which will enable the height of the grid
supporting the coal in the grate to be regulated in accordance with the
weight of coal or fuel in the grate. Or in lieu of the lever, rods, and
counterbalance the adjustable position of the grate may be obtained
through the medium of a quadrant rack and pinion in connection with a
lever or other equivalent that will enable the grid to be raised or
lowered to suit the quantity of fuel in the grate. The lower back
portion of the grid is provided with a projecting stop plate or damper so
arranged that as the said grid is raised in its seatings in the grate the
damper with which it is provided will gradually close the air passage
below the grid and so prevent cold air rushing into the flue. The
only air by this arrangement supplied to the ovens, boiler, or other
portions of the kitchener is caused to pass first through or over the fire,
and so become heated previously to its circulating through the passages
to the flue. In large kitcheners a lower or additional flue may be
provided, into and through which the hot air from the fire first passes,
but which as the grid of the grate is raised is stopped or closed by the
grid damper in manner aforesaid.
"
· Secondly. In adapting these improvements to the ordinary. "Leaming-
ton or other similar kitcheners, I first place in the grate thereof a false
or second bottom grid, the back support of which forms a stop or
damper that prevents cold air passing underneath into the boiler flue,
and on this false grid, so as to rest or bed against the fire surface of
the boiler I place a shield or plate of metal or other fire-proof material,
in and through which cores or thoroughfares are formed, one set or
system of which passing near to the surface exposed to the action of the
fire admits cold air, which in its course absorbs the radiating heat, and
then it enters by suitable passages a hot air chamber formed between the'
surface of the boiler and the inner surface and cheeks of the shield plate.
From this hot air chamber the air escapes into the passages and flues
about the boiler, and so becomes a valuable assistant in heating, boiling,
or cooking or other purposes for which the kitchener may be employed,
as no cold air is allowed to circulate or enter the said passages or
flues.

page_text: In some cases the back plate or shield is used alone without the false
grid or bottom, in which case the passages for air are arranged similar to
the one previously described, and when placed in the grate so as to rest
on the ordinary grid it throws the fire to the front by contracting the
width of the grate. It also prevents cold air passing into the flues, and
will admit only of hot air being received therein; or, if the dampers of
the kitchener be reversed it will cause the whole of the heat to be utilized
by passing the hot air through holes at the top communicating direct
with the oven flues. A vacuum in this case will be left between the
shield plate and boiler, so that the hot air when the dampers are closed
will pass through the boiler flue.
The peculiar construction of shield plate or fuel economizer previously
described may with slight modification be used in connection with
ordinary fire-grates.
Thirdly. The Invention relates to the construction and arrangement
of apparatus employed for heating greenhouses by means of steam and
water pipes under either high or low pressure. According to this arrange-
ment the heating pipes are placed on a medium level with the level of the
water in the boiler. The steam as generated circulates in the heating
pipes, and as it condenses in the pipes remote from the boiler it returns
thereto through the same pipes above the level of the water, thus
effecting in one pipe a flow and return. In the case of low pressure
being employed the valve regulating such pressure is constructed in the
form of a supply cistern. The communicating pipe connecting the same
with the boiler is provided with a dip, in which a column of water is
sustained by the pressure of the steam, such pressure being the maximum
pressure the heating pipes are designed to carry, so that immediately
there is any excess over and above the weight of water sustained in the
column and cistern the steam blows off and so maintains the steam at
the required pressure.