CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FLORIDE
HEINDRYCKX, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs & successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Floride Hendryckx, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Floride Hendryckx, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Floride Hendryckx, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agrec with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the
Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, my Invention of
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND
ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-PLACES AND FURNACES TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Floride
Heindryckx, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Floride Heindryckx, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of certain improvements in the construction and arrangement
of fire-places and furnaces consists in the suppression of the ordinary fire bars
of stoves, furnaces, or fire-places, and in place thereof constructing the said
fire-places with inclined sides, and sometimes in conjunction with this novel
construction employing a single indented bar or shaft for the purpose of regu-
lating the combustion of the fuel, or in place of the indented bar or shaft a
receiver for metal may be employed when the improved furnace is applied to
the smelting of metals. The effect of this new arrangement or construction of
furnaces or fire-places is, that the fuel descends from its own gravity towards
the opening of the air passage, and the air cannot enter the internal part of the
fire-place without passing through a body of ignited fuel; and the result is the
more advantageous employment of the caloric given out, and, consequently,
the production with a given quantity of fuel of a greater degree of heat than in
ordinary fire-places, or of an equal degree of heat with a smaller quantity of
fuel. In some applications of the Invention an iniportant saving is effected,
and in others the production of a degree of heat which cannot be obtained in
ordinary fire-places of the same dimensions: This new construction of fire-place
may be advantageously applied to every purpose for which furnaces are used.
Sometimes it may be found desirable when applying the Invention to locomotive
and some other purposes to employ two or more fire-places in combination under
one arch or dome.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing represents a horizontal section of the.
most simple construction of my improved furnace; and Fig. 2 is a transverse
section of the same taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 1. The inclined sides are
shewn at a, a; they are made of stone or fire brick, and are supported by
strong plates of iron b, b, which are sustained by bearings c, c, c. When the
furnace is employed for locomotive purposes the inclined sides may be made of
copper, iron, or other metals. The ash-pit is seen at d, d; and e, e, e, are flues
or tubes communicating with the chimney. When the furnace is employed for
smelting metals, a receiver, into which the molten metal descends, is applied
to the bottom of the fire-place, as shewn by dots at f, in Fig. 2. g, Fig. 1, is an
opening made in the front of the furnace for the purpose of stirring the fire;
Fig. 3 represents a modification of the above, in which I apply a longitudinal

page_text: bar or shaft h, which extends the whole length of the bottom of the furnace.
This bar or shaft is made of a peculiar form, is mounted in bearings c, c, c, and
may be turned on its axis for the purpose of bringing down the cinders,
and also regulating the combustion of the fuel. Fig. 4 represents a transverse
section of the bar or shaft h; and Fig. 5, a plan or horizontal view of a portion
of the same, shewing the manner of mounting it in its bearings c, c; and Fig. 6
represents an end view thereof. It will be seen by referring to these three
Figures that the bar or shaft is indented on two sides, the other two sides being
plain or cylindrical. It will therefore be evident that when the indented sides
of the shaft are presented to the plates b, b, of the furnace, that air is allowed
freely to ascend between the shaft and the plates and act upon the fire, but
when the plain or cylindrical side is turned and presented to the plates b, b, the
air is prevented from entering the fire-place, and, consequently, the fire will be
extinguished. It is evident, therefore, that by turning this bar or shaft in its
bearings the combustion of the fuel may be regulated to the greatest nicety.
Fig. 7 represents an external view of the furnace, i being the fire door, and ja
hole for observing the state of the fire; k is a lever for turning the bar or shaft
h; and is a trap for the purpose of raising and lowering the bar or shaft h,
when wishing to empty the fire-place.
Having now described my Invention, I wish it to be understood, in conclusion,
that I do not intend to confine myself to the precise arrangement herein shewn,
nor to any particular angle at which the sides a, a, of the fire-place or furnace
are to be made; but what I claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the suppression of the ordinary fire bars of furnaces or fire-places, and
in place thereof constructing the said fire-places or furnaces with inclined sides,
as above described; and I claim this construction for whatever purpose the said
furnace or fire-place may be used, whereby the fuel or other materials con-
tained therein may descend by their own gravity towards the opening at which
the air to support combustion enters; and,
Secondly, I claim the employment of a bar or shaft for the purpose of
regulating the combustion of the fuel, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Floride Heindryckx, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-one.
FLORIDE (L.S.) HEINDRYCKX.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-third day of
October, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Floride Heindryckx came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-third day of October, in the year above written.