Improvements in the Method of Cremating Garbage and other Refuse.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 22nd Sept., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of Cremating Garbage and other
Refuse.
I ROBERT AUGUSTUS CHESEBROUGH of No. 24 State Street in the City and
County of New York in the State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to an improvement in the method of cremating garbage
and other refuse, such as street sweepings and ashes, in which such refuse is taken
from a boat or other receptacle in which it is collected, and subjected to a coking
action, as it is distributed, under the influence of gravity in a hollow shaft, the
heated products of combustion, after performing their work upon the garbage or
refuse, being utilized for the purpose of generating steam for supplying the fuel
to the coking or cremating shaft, and either permitting the gases and products
of combustion finally to escape, or collecting from said gases the sulphate of
ammonia, as may be found most expedient.
The method of cremating the garbage or refuse consists broadly in exposing it,
under the influence of gravity, to a coking flame, and removing the resulting
product from one portion of the coking chamber, while feeding the garbage or
refuse, to another portion of the chamber, and the method more particularly
consists in elevating the garbage or refuse to the upper portion of a coking
shaft, distributing the garbage or refuse as it falls, under the influence of gravity,
down through the shaft, bringing a coking flame into contact with the distributed
garbage or refuse within the shaft, removing the resulting product from the bottom
of the shaft, and utilizing the heated products of combustion to generate steam
for supplying the flame, to coke the garbage or refuse.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown in side elevation, partly in section,
one form of apparatus which may be employed for carrying the method into
practical effect.
The particular form of apparatus which I have shown consists of a vertical
hollow shaft A, which may be made six feet square, and forty or fifty feet high,
more or less, lined with fire-brick, as is common in furnaces where great heat is
to be employed, and provided, at intervals throughout its height, with downwardly-
inclined shelves or retarding plates a, projecting alternately from opposite sides
of the furnace, and overlapping one another, the angle of inclination being
forty five degrees, more or less, as may be found efficient, for causing the garbage
or refuse to free itself under the influence of gravity from one shelf to another.
One wall of the shaft A is conveniently provided with peep holes or hand holes a',
through which a suitable implement, such, for example, as a rake, may be inserted
for the purpose of freeing the shelves from any matter which may be uninten-
tionally retained thereon, or which may accumulate thereon, under the coking
action of the heat. The retarding plates may be formed of fire brick.
On the top of the shaft A, a passageway B extends over and downwardly, for
directing the gases and hot products of combustion which escape from the receiving
shaft A, downwardly, and then horizontally along the chamber C, in which is
located a tubular steam generator D for the reception of water from a suitable
supply. The generator Ď is surmounted by a steam dome E, connected by
suitable pipes e with the generator, and provided with a suitable steam discharge
outlet e¹ for conveying the steam to the point where it is to be utilized. From

page_text: the horizontal chamber C, the hot products of combustion and gases escape into
an uptake F, from which they are discharged into the outside air.
At the base of the shaft A, I locate a hopper a, for directing the coked
garbage or refuse into suitable receptacles, which may be run, one after another,
under the mouth of the hopper, to carry away the coked material. These
receptacles may conveniently consist of cars G, arranged to run on a suitable track
through an opening as at the bottom of the shaft A, and the mouth of the hopper
may be provided with a gate a' for opening and closing it, to discharge loads of
the coked material into the cars.
At intervals along the horizontal chamber C, there may be formed openings c,
for the purpose of removing any dust or sediment that may be deposited from
the products of combustion which are carried over into the downward flue B.
At the base of the uptake F, a scrubber H, of any well known or approved
form, may be employed for the purpose of collecting sulphate of ammonia from the
discharged gases.
At or near the base of the shaft A, I have represented an oil burner I, which
may be of any well known or approved form, and which may be connected with a
suitable oil supply, not shown, and also with the steam dome E, and with the
outside air, for the purpose of introducing oil, steam, and air, in the proper
combination, into the base of the shaft A, for producing the amount of heat
required for coking the garbage or refuse. The preliminary heating up of the
shaft A may be accomplished by means of a furnace K located adjacent to
the shaft A in position to discharge its flame and products of combustion into
the shaft A.
At the top of the shaft A, I locate a hopper L, provided with an upper gate
and a lower gate l', so that a charge or car-load of refuse may be admitted into the
hopper onto the lower gate, by opening the upper gate, and the upper gate / may
then be closed, and the lower gate opened, to permit the load of refuse to fall
into the upper portion of the shaft A.
I have here represented the shaft A as located near the edge of a dock, and
have indicated a boat M as a receptacle from which the refuse is to be transmitted
to the shaft A. I have shown the refuse as being transmitted from the boat to the
shaft A by means of buckets N, which may be hoisted by a hoisting engine of any
well known or approved form, not shown herein, up to a track O at the top of a
suitable support P, the track being so arranged as to convey the loaded bucket
along to a point over the receiving hopper at the top of the shaft A, where it may
be unloaded into the hopper. The empty bucket may then be returned to the boat,
and a bucket which has been in the meantime loaded, may be attached to the
hoisting rope, and moved to the receiving hopper.
By this method of cremation, all street sweepings, domestic garbage, and ashes,
may be cremated together. It is obvious that, instead of a burner using oil, steam,
and air, as fuel, to produce the heat necessary for cremation, all heat necessary for
that purpose may be obtained by the combustion of coal in a furnace suitably
located at or near the base of the shaft A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :
1. The method of cremating garbage and other refuse, consisting in passing such
refuse, under the influence of gravity within a hollow shaft, and exposing it, while
passing along the shaft, to a coking flame, substantially as set forth.
2. The method of cremating garbage and other refuse, consisting in raising such
refuse to an elevation, discharging it into a hollow shaft, subdividing it, as it passes
downwardly through the shaft, under the influence of gravity, and exposing it,
during its discharge, to a coking flame, substantially as set forth.
3. The method of cremating garbage and other refuse, consisting in discharging
such refuse into the upper portion of a hollow shaft, subjecting it to a coking

page_text: flame, as it passes through the shaft, under the influence of gravity, and removing
the coked product from the bottom of the shaft, substantially as set forth.
4. The method of cremating garbage and other refuse, consisting in subjecting
such refuse to a coking flame within a hollow shaft, utilizing the hot products of
combustion to generate steam, and utilizing the steam to support the flame, for
coking the said refuse, substantially as set forth.
1
1004
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.