IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE GRATES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Willoughby Montgomery Moore, of. No. 84,
Guildford Street, Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE GRATES,"
Cooled the
and dated the 20th Ma
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Willoughby
Montgomery Moore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th
May 1877.
gee in a
ALEXANDER WILLOUGHBY MONTGOMERY MOORE, of No. 84, Guildford Street,
Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE
GRATES."
.: 1
My Invention relates to furnace grates of the kind which is formed of tubular
fire-bars, laid side by side, with air spaces between them, and has for its object
means of utilizing these bars for the purpose of heating the air: supplied to the
furnace, combined. with means of clearing the grate of ash, clinker, or other
obstructions. For this purpose I make the tubular bars open at their front ends
which rest on a rocking bar that extends across the mouth of the furnace, and
closed at their back ends which are made with rounded lugs projecting from then
that rest in the hollow of a trough-shaped bearing bar. Near the back end of each
bar there is an opening on the under side, so that air entering the interior of the
bar at its front open mouth passes along the bar, and becoming heated issues by
the opening near the back end of the. bar into the ash-pit; and the mouth of the
ash-pit being closed by a door the heated air entering the ash-pit, as above
described, supplies the fuel by rising through the spaces between the bars."
The rocking bar on which the front ends of the fire-bars rest has its upper surface
sloped off alternately on opposite sides, one slope being under one bar and the
opposite slope under the next. To the rocking bar is attached a socket for the
reception of a lever whereby the bar can be rocked, or there may be such a socket:
at each end of the bar. The attendant from time to time inserting a lever into this
LD.

page_text: socket can cause the bar to rock, and this will cause the front ends of the alternate
bars to oscillate upwards and downwards, thereby breaking up such clinkers as
may have formed on the bars and dislodging the ash.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Willoughby Montgomery Moore in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th November 1877.
ALEXANDER WILLOUGHBY MONTGOMERY MOORE, of No. 34, Guildford Street,
Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACE
GRATES."
My Invention relates to furnace grates of the kind formed of tubular fire-bars, laid
side by side, with air spaces between them, and has for its object means of utilizing
these bars for the purpose of heating the air supplied to the furnace, combined with
means of clearing the grate of ash, clinker, or other obstructions. For this purpose I
make the tubular bars open at their front ends which rest on a rocking bar that extends
across the mouth of the furnace, and closed at their back ends which rest on a
bearing bar on which they can rock. Near the back end of each bar there is an
opening on the under side, so that air entering the interior of the bar at its front
open mouth passes along the bar, and becoming heated issues by the opening near
the back end of the bar into the ash-pit; and the mouth of the ash-pit being closed
by a door, the heated air entering the ash-pit, as above described, supplies the fuel
by rising through the spaces between the bars.
The rocking bar on which the front ends of the fire-bars rest has its upper"
surface sloped off alternately on opposite sides, one slope being under one bar and
the opposite slope under the next. To the rocking bar is attached a socket for the
reception of a lever whereby the bar can be rocked, or there may be such a socket
at each end of the bar. The attendant from time to time inserting a lever into this
socket can cause the bar to rock, and this will cause the front ends of the alternate
bars to oscillate upwards and downwards, thereby breaking up such clinkers as may
have formed on the bars and dislodging the ash.
The accompanying Drawings shew a fire-grate, according to my Invention,
applied in a cylindrical fire tube, such as that of a Cornish boiler. It is to be
understood, however, that a similar construction is applicable to furnaces of other
forms, the supports of the grate being modified so as to suit such forms.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the whole grate; and Figs. 2 and 3 are longi
tudinal sections of the front portion of the grate, shewing the two attitudes of the
bars when they are oscillated, as I will describe.
Fig. 4 represents on the right-hand side a front view, and on the left a transverse
section of the grate when the bars are at rest.
Fig. 5 represents corresponding views of the grate when the bars are oscillated.
Fig. 6 is a plan of the front part of the furnace, the right hand shewing the ends
of the bars in position, and the left hand shewing part of the oscillating shaft, the
bars above it being supposed to be removed.
Each bar A is a tube, open at the front mouth a, and having at its inner end an
aperture a¹ on its lower side. It is also at that end rounded out at a to rest on a
rounded bearing bar B, so that the bar has freedom to be oscillated vertically on

page_text: the bearing bar D as on a hinge joint. The front ends of the bars rest upon a
rocking shaft C, which is mounted on trunnions c at each side of the fire tube.
This rocking shaft C is made with its upper surface presenting sloped prominences
c¹ and c³ on each side at intervals apart, corresponding with the breadths of the
bars A. A socket D is formed on the rocking shaft C for the insertion of a lever E,
by which the shaft C can be caused to rock on its trunnions. When it is so rocked
the prominences c¹, c, on it cause the front ends of the alternate bars to be raised
and lowered, as shewn in Fig. 5, and this oscillation of the fire-bars effects the
breaking up of clinker and clearing out of ash and other substances or obstructions
from the space between the bars. The ash-pit being closed by a door, the air for
supplying the fire enters by the open mouths a of the fire-bars, flows along the
interiors of the bars, keeping them cool, and becoming heated issues from the bars
by the openings a' into the ash-pit, whence it passes to the fuel through the
interstices between the bars.
In order that the bars may be oscillated without opening the ash-pit door or
admitting air except through the bars, I prefer to form the socket D with a circular
face, fitting against a circular piece F which projects inwards from the ash-pit door,
and has in it a slotted hole giving freedom for the movement of the lever E. The
circular face of D and F, being struck from the centre of the trunnions on which the
bar C rocks, fit each other when it is oscillated.
The fire-bars may receive vertical oscillation along their whole length by applying a
rocking shaft at each end, in the manner shewn by the longitudinal section, Fig. 7.
In this Figure two rocking shafts C1 and C2 are mounted in the ash-pit, and con-
nected together by a rod R extending to a handler beyond the ash-pit door. By
the pull and push of this rod the shafts C1, C2, are caused to rock simultaneously,
so as to raise and lower alternate bars throughout their entire length.
When it is desired to make the fire-bars reversible both ends are, as shewn in
Fig. 7, made with mouths a¹, a², opening on the under side, so that any bar can be
turned end for end. When this .construction is adopted I provide an air trunk T,
with branches t projecting upwards into the mouths a² of the bars, these branches
being of sufficient height to allow of the vertical oscillation of the bars. The air
trunk T may be provided with a slide or valve to regulate the quantity of air
admitted..
The bars may also be made to rock about the middle of their length by the
arrangement shewn in Fig. 8, according to which the bars A rest on two rocking
shafts C1, C2, one near each end, and connected together by the working rod R. In this
case the alternating prominences c¹, c², on the rocking shaft are arranged to opposite
hands, so that the one end of each bar descends while the other is raised.
bearing bar B may be placed in the middle to keep the bars from shifting longi-
tudinally. In cases where two or more lengths of bars are employed in a furnace,
I connect the air passage from the one length to the next in the manner shewn at
Fig. 9.
A
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general claim to
the use of hollow fire-bars giving passage for air through them; but I claim,
constructing a fire-grate for a boiler or other furnace of tubular bars, giving passage
through them for air to supply the fire which bars bear on a rocking shaft, having
alternating prominences whereby they are vertically oscillated, substantially as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Willoughby Montgomery Moore, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.