IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING THE SAME
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents, No. 4,
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING THE SAME."-A communication from abroad by
Eugéne Langen, residing at Colonia, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 17th March 1868, and dated the 20th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
September 1862.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad
by Eugéne Langen, resident at Colonia, in the Kingdom of Prussia, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction of
furnaces and in apparatus for supplying them with fuel. The object being
that at every part of the surface of the grate the thickness of the layer of coal
shall be regulated in an inverse ratio to the quantity of air required for its com-
bustion according to its condition of incandescence and of its freshly supplied
coal or coke. With this object I propose to construct the furnace in separate
sets of bars or grates, say, two or three extending backwards into the walls of

page_text: the furnace, each set being on lower levels than the foremost set, and forming
as it were steps from one to the other. In front and above the foremost grate
of the furnace a chest of iron is fixed containing the fuel, and on a foundation
plate on the floor in front of the furnace a standard is secured, whereon a
horizontal hand lever derives its fulcrum; this lever, by means of a vertical con-
necting rod is attached to the lower part of a plate which is supported by rollers,
and to which plate the first grate is attached, and also the feeding plate of the
feeding chest. Now when the lever is pressed down it brings forward the feeding
plate and first grate, and the hind part of the feeding chest scrapes off the
burning fuel from the bars and causes it to fall on to a step behind them.
When the lever is raised it takes back the feeding plate and grate, and thereby
supplies this grate with fresh fuel from the feeding chest. From the fulcrum
of the lever a long connecting rod extends horizontally under the first grate to
the second and third grates, which are moved backwards and forwards simul-
taneously with the front grate, the second pushing its fuel down on to the third
as it arrives from the first. It is thus obvious that the third and lowest grate
will always have the thickest layer of fuel thereon in the highest state of incan-
descence, whereas the front grate will have the thinnest layer of fresh fuel,
which requires the greatest amount of air for its combustion. The ash-pit is
placed under the third grate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexander Prince, Her special licence that I, the said. Alexander Prince,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Prince, 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

page_text: the two outer side plates d, d, which are fixed in the brickwork; the upper part
of it forms the side walls of the feeding chest. The horizontal fire-bars i are
screwed with the rails to the border m, m, cast with the side plates d, d. The
cinder grate.k can be moved horizontally by means of the small lever h being
connected with the rod l. q is a surface formed by bars lying near each other,
upon which the cinder grate glides. A is the reservoir for the cinders; B is a
well fitting trap door, which is only to be opened in the evening in order to take
out the cinders which have been accumulated during the day; t is a looking
tube, which is loosely put in the fore and hinder wall of the feeding chest ; c
is a slide of sheet iron led in small guides cast with the side walls d, d; x is a
jacket of sheet iron, which, with the cast-iron plate joining it at the lower
part, forms the fore wall of the feeding chest. This wall does not reach the
bottom plater, so that between it and the bottom plate there remains an
opening of 4 inches of height in the centre, and 5 inches at both sides. The
height of this opening differs, because the burning at both sides of the grate is
more lively, and this area for the quantity of coal admitted at each stirring of
the fire will be in proportion to it. The feeding chest being full of coal and
the whole grate covered with a layer of burning fuel, the operation of one
stirring will consist in moving the lever f downward and back again to its
former position. In pressing down the lever, that is, on the return of the
bottom plater with the grate b, the coal is stopped at the hinder wall of the
feeding chest, and therefore prevented from following the motion; the position
of the parts of coal on the grate has been changed, however, and a part of the
material covering the grate b has fallen on the plate m, and another part
covering k on the surface q. The quantity of it corresponds with the size of
the stroke, which for bis 6 inches, for k 3 inches. By the opposite motion of
the leverf, the whole grate returns to its' former position. The fire-place is
fed with new coal from the feeding chest by means of the plate r; b pushes the
material lying before it on the grate i, and k likewise pushes it forward on the
surface q. The motion of b being double as great as that of k, the fuel on
the lower grate will be pushed together to a thicker layer. This will be the
case at 9, particularly where with very little air the last parts of coal arc
burned, whilst at each stroke a part of the remaining cinders is pushed into the
reservoir A. Should the cinders, in spite of the motion of the grate, stick to
the lower part of it, an opening is afforded between 6 and m in pressing down
the lever e, through which with the aid of a poker they can be loosened. The
slide c is taken out in heating in order to get longer logs of wood upon the
grate.
Description of a furnace with grate in the boiler. Sheet 2. Ties 1 &
..
TE

page_text: the steam boiler has two flues, each of them must have a grate, which in like
manner as the above described, lies about half its length in the interior of the
boiler. The projecting part of each grate is covered by a fireproof vault, and
at the sides closed in with light brick work, which rests on the surfaces y, y,
cast with the side plates d, d. These plates rest with one end on the floor of
the house, with the other they are joined by means of screws 8, s, with the front
part of the boiler. The grate itself differs from the above-described grate as
represented on Sheet 1, only by the gliding of the cinder grate k on the bottom
of the flue. A cinder pit is not necessary, as there is sufficient room in the
flue itself to receive the cinders remaining after working twelve hours. It is
easy to remove the cinders after having the cinder grate quite drawn out of
the flue. A destructive burning of the parts of the grate will not occur, as at
each heating of the grate all the material covering it changes its position.
The mechanism of the grate is simple and quite of the reach of the fire.
Experience will determine whether two moveable grates will be sufficient in
all cases.
In smaller furnaces the lever f is at certain intervals of time to be moved
up and down with the hand; it would be preferable to. move this lever in a
mechanical way continually, as indicated at Sheet 1. The blue lines represent
a cylinder with piston, whose alternative motion is effectuated by hydraulic
pressure, for which purpose, for instance, the water of the steam boiler may be
used; if there is any main shaft, it might do the same work.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion, that I do
not limit myself to the precise details and configuration of parts herein
described and shewn, as the same may be modified without in any way
departing from the nature of the Invention; but what are claimed and desired
to be secured by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, are, the "Improve-
ments in Steam Boiler and other Furnaces, and in Apparatus for Feeding the
same," substantially as herein specified and illustrated by the Drawings
annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.