IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th October 1877. A communication
from abroad by Joseph Kasalovsky, of Vienna, Austria, Engineer.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES."
[A communication from abroad by Joseph Kasalovsky, of Vienna, Austria,
Engineer.]
This Invention relates to improvements in furnaces or fire-places for the com-
bustion of all kinds of fuel, and consists essentially in arranging at the back part
of the fire-hearth or grate one or more retorts filled with fuel, the said retorts being so
constructed that their outer surfaces will be heated by the hot gases of combustion
proceeding from the hearth, and so arranged that they can be filled from above, and
their contents discharged from below upon the fire-hearth or grate.
The fuel contained in the said retorts is heated, while air is excluded, therefrom,
to the temperature of ignition, and prepared for complete combustion on the open
fire-hearth. The hot carbonic oxide and hydrogen gases produced in and proceeding
from the said retorts mingle with the mixture of hot carbonic acid gas and oxygen
passing off from the fire-hearth or grate, and will be entirely oxidised and burnt.
The front part of the fire-hearth or grate will be free for stoking, and can, when
desired, be supplied with fuel independently of the retorts. The glowing or incan-
descent fuel proceeding from the retorts at the back of the fire-hearth or grate, and
which fuel will have already given off a large proportion of its combustible gases,
can be raked forward, and distributed over the grate as desired.
These retorts may be made of any desired form, and may be arranged vertically,
or at any suitable angle.
In cases where the gases proceeding from the grate are required to first give off
their highest temperature, as in metallurgical furnaces, while the waste gases passing
to the chimney have still a high temperature, the retorts may be heated by these
waste gases.
If desired the air passing to the grate may be first heated in any suitable manner,
and any known artificial means may be used for effecting a more energetic

page_text: mixture of the gases proceeding from the retorts with those proceeding from the
grate.
The mode of putting the said improved furnace into action may be as follows:-
A fire is lighted on the grate, and the burning fuel is pushed back towards the
retorts until the back of the fire-hearth, up to the mouths of the retorts, is filled
with burning fuel. Cold fuel is then charged into the retorts from above until they
are full. When the fuel in the retorts has become sufficiently hot the regular
working will begin. The small quantity of air proceeding to the fuel in the retorts
will form chiefly carbonic oxide gas. The hot fuel proceeding from the lower ends
of the retorts is to be raked upon the grate forward or sidewise, so that the air
may have free access to it, and combustion with excess of air may take place.
As herein-before mentioned, the hot gases proceeding from the grate, and con-
taining carbonic acid and oxygen, will mingle with the hot gases proceeding from
the retorts, and containing carbonic oxide and hydrogen, thereby oxidising the
latter gases, and ensuring their complete combustion.
It is advisable to regulate the supply of air, so that after the gases have mingled
there will be a slight excess of air present in them, in order to prevent any com-
bustible gases from escaping unconsumed.