IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL.”
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Miles Williams, of Wigan, in the County of
Lancaster, Oil Refiner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL.””
Sealed the 9th September 1873, and dated the 26th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Miles Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th March 1873.
.I, MILES WILLIAMS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Oil
Refiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its objects,―
1stly. An improvement in the burning of oleaginous substances, more
particularly hydrocarbon oils, tar, tar oils, and coal oil, or petroleum
residues together and simultaneously with superheated or other steam,
or the gases formed by the decomposition of water for the generation of
steam and other purposes where heat is required with or without
other fuel.

page_text: 2ndly. For simplicity and other improvements in apparatus for the
forcing or injecting such substances (before-named), and inexpensively
adapting the same to any new or existing furnace or other fire-place
where fuel is used.
"
3rdly. For the consumption of smoke, prevention of sulpherous
vapours, economy of labour, and general cleanliness of operation, I heat
the water in the steam boiler with coal or other fuel, or with the
oleaginous matter only, until the pressure of steam is from 2lbs.
to 5lbs.; the injection of the oil and steam is then commenced, the
supply is regulated by the taps provided on the pipes, so that by the
admission of more or less of the oil or steam the pressure of the steam
can be increased or diminished at will. The steam is supplied in a pipe
or pipes direct from the boiler, and the pipe carried sufficiently far into
the furnace so that when the steam and oil are decomposed and
consumed it will be within and subject to the heat of the fire; by this
means the steam becomes more or less superheated, according to the
intensity of the heat, thereby becoming more effective in dispersing and
more finely dividing the matter injected for more perfect combustion...
The oleaginous substance is supplied from a tank or cistern elevated so
that it will flow in a pipe or pipes when required by its own weight;
both the steam and oil pipes, each having one or more stop-cocks, are
joined together by a junction near to the furnace, pointing to and
terminating in one pipe or injector, this junction being so arranged that
the force or pressure of steam injected does not drive back or hinder the
free flow of the oleaginous substance into it; the steam and oleaginous
substances are by this means injected in the form of vapour, and so
rapidly does the oil enter into combustion that the steam which is
minutely intermixed and already in a partial state of gas, becomes
decomposed into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and being consumed
helps most. materially to increase the bulk and heat of the fire, and to
decrease the cost of the fuel. It chemically combines or otherwise
seizes all the surplus carbon of the oils and consumes it, thereby
preventing smoke and requiring little if any admission of cold air. This
fuel creates very little if any sulphurous vapours.
"It is also proposed to employ. another pipe similar, to the shank or
pipe of a Bunsen's burner between and attached to the junction to admit
when desirable a current of air to be injected along with the steam and
oil; this pipe need only be sufficiently long to admit the free air, and.

page_text: will thus obviate or prevent as far as possible any other admission of air,
thereby retaining the heat in the flues to the fullest extent to cause a
less consumption of fuel. The injector can be fitted with a nozzle, jet,
or spreader to enable the operator to command the direction of the flame
and for the better distribution of the compounds injected. The pipes in
front of the furnace can be either fixed or loose; in the latter case a
swivel is attached to each pipe so that the injector can be withdrawn
from the furnace.
This Invention can be used for other purposes than generating steam
and can be readily used for cither light or heat or both combined,
whether confined in a furnace or other fire-place or used in the open air,
but in the latter case the steam should be superheated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Miles Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILES
WILLIAMS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Oil Refiner, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Miles Williams, Her special license that I,
the said Miles Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Miles Williams, 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 APPARATUS FOR BURNING
LIQUID FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Miles Williams, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: steam pipe and so arranged that the force or pressure of steam' injected
does not drive back or hinder the free flow of the oleaginous substance.
into it; the steam and oleaginous substances are by this means injected;
in the form of vapour, and so rapidly does the oil enter into combustion
that the steam which is minutely intermixed with it and already in a
partial state of gas by being superheated becomes decomposed into its.
elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and being consumed helps most'
materially to increase the bulk and heat of the fire and to decrease the
cost of the fuel. It chemically combines or otherwise seizes all the
surplus carbon of the oils and consumes it, thereby preventing smoke,
and requiring little if any admission of cold air; this fuel creates very
little if any sulphurous vapours.
The pipe for superheating the steam and the injector are fixed just
above the furnace door so that this process can be used separately or
conjointly and simultaneously with ordinary fuel, or ordinary fuel can
be used alone independently and not interfering with each other. The
injector is inserted in a tube almost as long as the injector and tapering
at the end; this is to admit when desirable a current of air to be admitted
along with the steam and oil. This air tube or pipe must be about
twice the size of the injector and fitted with a slide, door, or other
regulator, so that the admission of free air can be regulated. The
admission of air in any other way should be shut off. By this means
the heat is retained in the furnace and flues to the longest extent,
thereby causing a less consumption of fuel. The injector can be fitted
with a nozzle, jet, or spreader to enable the operator to command the
direction of the flame and for the better distribution of the compounds
injected. The pipes in front of the furnace can be either fixed or loose;
in the latter case unions are attached to cach pipe so that the injector
can be withdrawn from the furnace.
This Invention can be used for many other purposes than generating
steam and can be readily used for either light, or heat, or both combined,
whether confined in a furnace or other fire-place or used in the open air,
but in the latter case the steam should be superheated.
I claim improvements in apparatus for burning liquid fuel which
have the following advantages:-
By superheating the steam I get it in a dryer state, in a partial state
of decomposition into its elements, and in the best possible state to enter
into combination with the oil.