IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND BOILERS FOR THE GENERATION OF STEAM, PARTLY APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Edward Street, Wentworth Road,
Bow Road, East, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND BOILERS FOR THE GENERATION OF STEAM
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th April
1863.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Edward Street, Wentworth Road, Bow Road, East,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND BOILERS FOR THE GENERATION
OF STEAM, PARTLY APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
In constructing a furnace I make each alternate fire-bar moveable, and
form these moveable bars at their inner or back ends with a curved notch,
which rests upon a fixed bearing bar and their outer ends with rack teeth,
situated in an angular direction, and resting upon and taking into corresponding
teeth or segments formed with or fixed upon a bearing bar capable of partial
revolution. This bearing bar may either be moved or turned at intervals by
hand, or otherwise, by means of steam or other power, and when turned or
moved as required will, by means of the toothed segments or pinions referred
to, draw forward the racks and bars, and by so doing will (owing to the

page_text: inclined position of the racks) cause the front ends of the bars to mount or be
raised, while at the same time the curved notches at the back by passing over
the fixed bearing bar will in like manner raise the inner or back ends of the
bars, thus breaking up any clinker that may be formed upon or between the
bars. Bars formed as described are applicable to furnaces for various other
purposes.
The second part of my Invention, applicable to locomotive and other similar
types of boiler, consists in dividing the furnace or fire-box part thereof
horizontally into two portions by means of a water space situated above the
fire-grate slightly below the level of the lowest row of tubes passing through
the body of the boiler. This water space which extends entirely across the
fire-box or furnace, and communicates at each side with the usual water spaces
does not entirely fill up the distance from back to front of the furnace, but
leaves a space at each end for the passage of flame and gases from the grate to the
tubes or flues. Vertical passages or flues are also formed through the water
space, which is farther provided with short vertical water tubes for increasing
the heating surface and generative power.
It consists
The third part of my Invention is an improvement in the fusible plug made
use of to prevent danger or injury to boilers by deficiency of water.
in forming the body of the plug (which has usually been made in one piece,
screwed direct into the crown of tho boiler furnace) in two parts, so that the
one part containing the plug may at any time be removed without disturbing
the part which is screwed into the boiler. In some cases I make these plugs
to be inserted or fixed entirely from the inside of the fire-box or flue without
the necessity of entering the boiler for the purpose.
Lastly, I form that part of the plug which is intended to be blown out
by the fusion of the soft holding metal, and the hole in which it is placed in
such manner as to present a greatly increased resistance to the blowing out
of the plug by pressure alone. I effect this either by cutting grooves or screw
threads in the hole and similar grooves or threads in or upon the blow out
piece, and running the fusible metal between, so that the whole depth of the
fusible metal must be sheared for pressure alone to have the effect referred
to; otherwise instead of turning grooves in or screwing the two parts as
described, I form each of them with a recess so that the two when placed
together will form a cavity in which the fusible metal may be run, and which
will effect a similar object.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
SMITH, of Edward Street, Wentworth Road, Bow Road, East, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Smith, Her special licence that I, the said John Smith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Smith, 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 Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND BOILERS FOR
THE GENERATION OF STEAM, PARTLY APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Smith, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
bands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
In constructing a furnace I make each alternate fire-bar moveable, and
form these moveable bars at their inner or back ends with a curved notch
which rests upon a fixed bearing bar, and their outer ends with rack teeth
situated in an angular direction, and resting upon and taking into corres-
ponding teeth or segments formed with or fixed upon a bearing bar capable
of partial revolution. This bearing bar may either be moved or turned at
intervals by hand, or otherwise by means of steam or other power, and when
turned or moved as required will, by means of the toothed segments or pinions
referred to, draw forward the racks and bars, and by so doing will (owing to
the inclined position of the racks) cause the front ends of the bars to mount

page_text: or be raised, while at the same time the curved notches at the back, by passing
over the fixed bearing bar, will in like manner raise the inner or back ends of
the bars, thus breaking up any clinker that may be formed upon or between
the bars. Bars formed as described are applicable to furnaces for various
purposes.
The second part of my Invention, applicable to locomotive and other similar
types of boiler, consists in dividing the furnace or fire-box part thereof
horizontally into two portions by means of a water space situated above the
fire-grate slightly below the level of the lowest row of tubes passing through
the body of the boiler. This water space which extends entirely across the
fire-box or furnace, and communicates at each side with the usual water
spaces, does not entirely fill up the distance from back to front of the furnace,
but leaves a space at each end for the passage of flame and gases from the
grate to the tubes or flues. Vertical passages or flues are also formed through
the water space which is farther provided with short vertical water tubes for
increasing the heating surface and generative power.
The third part of my Invention is an improvement in the fusible plug made
use of to prevent danger or injury to boilers by deficiency of water. It
consists in forming the body of the plug (which has usually been made in one
piece, screwed direct into the crown of the boiler furnace) in two parts, so
that the one part containing the plug may at any time be removed without
disturbing the part which is screwed into the boiler. In some cases I make
these plugs to be inserted or fixed entirely from the inside of the fire-box
or flue without the necessity of entering the boiler for the purpose.
Lastly, I form that part of the plug which is intended to be blown out by
the fusion of the soft holding metal, and the hole in which it is placed in such
manner as to present a greatly increased resistance to the blowing out of the
plug by pressure alone. I effect this either by cutting grooves or screw
threads in the hole, and similar grooves or threads in or upon the blow-out
piece, and running the fusible metal between, so that the whole depth of the
fusible metal must be sheared for pressure alone to have the effect referred
to. Otherwise instead of turning grooves in or screwing the two parts, as
described, I form each of them with a recess so that the two, when placed
together, will form a cavity in which the fusible metal may be run, and which
will effect a similar obiect

page_text: transverse section thereof through the line A, B, of Fig. 1. The bar a shewn
in the Figure is one of the series of moveable bars, which are placed alternately
and side by side with fixed bars, one of which is shewn at b, Fig. 3. The
whole of the bars a and b, are supported by the bearing bars c; the bars a,
which are moveable, resting upon rollers d, and the fixed bars b, bearing directly
upon the bars c without the intervention of rollers. The shaft e supported
in bearings at each side of the furnace, and capable of partial revolution,
carries a series of toothed segments e', which take into corresponding teeth
formed on the bars a, so that when the lever (keyed on the shaft e) is drawn
outward, the whole series of bars a will be moved forward, and by means of
the inclined notches bearing upon the rollers will be raised above the level
of the fixed bars, thus disturbing the superincumbent fuel and breaking up
the clinker as described.
Fig. 4 shews a modified form of the foregoing, in which the shaft e is
situated beneath the dead plate f, and is thus protected from the coal or
cinder which might otherwise fall upon it.
Fig. 5 represents a longitudinal section of so much of a locomotive boiler
as is necessary to shew the second part of my Invention. In this case the
fire-box g is traversed by a horizontal water space h, running from side to
side thereof. This water space is greater in width from back to front at tho
sides of the fire-box, where it communicates with the ordinary water spaces,
than it is opposite to the fire-door, thus allowing a free space for the fuel to
be thrown in. It is perforated with flue tubes h', passing upward vertically
through it, and its heating surface is farther increased by short water
tubes h³.
Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a fusible plug, constructed according to the
third part of my Invention. In this case the plug is intended to be inserted
from the flue or fire-box without the necessity of entering the boiler for the
purpose. The part of the plug (i) intended to be blown out is in this instanco
united to the main body j of the plug by means of fusible metal run into a
space k formed by turning a groove or recess in each of the parts i and j.
The strength of the plug to resist pressure alone is farther increased by
drilling holes, as shewn, through the two parts of the plug, so that the fusible
metal may penetrate into and fill them.
Fig. 7 is a modification of the foregoing, in which screw threads are cut in
cach of the parts i and j, and the fusible metal run between them. In this,
as in the former case, the strength of the fusible metal to resist pressure is
increased by drilling holes through the two parts as shewn.
Fig. 8 represents a plug in which the parts i and jare united as in Fig. 6,

page_text: but which is formed with an additional part 1, intended to remain screwed
into the boiler, and being of brass or gun metal to facilitate the removal when
required of the parts united by the fusible metal.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same may be performed, I would have it
understood that, without limiting myself to the precise details represented, I
claim,―
Firstly, the form and mode of working the fire-bars of boiler and other
furnaces, substantially as described.
Secondly, the combination of parts constituting a water space and placed
as described, for the purpose of increasing the generating power of locomotive
and other fire-boxes, as described.
Thirdly, the construction of fusible plugs with recesses or grooves for
the purpose of increasing the power of the fusible metal to resist shearing,
substantially as described.
Fourthly, the construction of fusible plugs with an additional part which
may remain screwed into or otherwise attached to the boiler, when the part
containing the fusible metal is removed, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
W. LLOYD WISE,
Chandos Chambers,
Adelphi, W.C.
JOHN
(L.B.) SMITH.