IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE PROPER COMBUSTION OF FUEL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wavish, of East India Road, in the County
: of Middlesex, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
FACILITATING THE PROPER COMBUSTION OF FUEL."
Sealed the 29th June 1875, and dated the 4th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said James Wavish at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th January 1875.
I, JAMES WAVISH, of East India Road, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE PROPER COMBUSTION OF FUEL," to be as
follows:-
-
This Invention relates to improvements in the economical combustion
of fuel, and at the same time the better diffusion of heat when such fuel
is used in ordinary grates by an improved mode of admitting air into
and through the fuel.
In carrying out this Invention as applied to grates of the ordinary
construction a plate of iron or fire-clay or other suitable material is

page_text: placed on the bottom of the grate, or the bottom of the grate itself may
be formed of such plate. Through the centre of this plate a tube is
inserted open at its lower end and closed at the top, but perforated
throughout its sides, by which air is admitted from the bottom of the
grate into the midst of the fuel contained in the grate.
A shutter or slide may be placed at the bottom of the air-admitting
tube, by which the admission of air may be regulated as desired.
An upright perforated plate may also be attached to the bottom plate
or to the bottom of the grate, and extending up the sides of the grate
to about the usual height, in which fuel is placed therein, so as to form 1
an air chamber, by which air may be supplied throughout the whole of
the sides of the fuel in the grate. The upper part of this plate is formed
so as to fit closely to the sides of the grate to which it is attached. By
this means the upright or direct current of air which in ordinary grates
drives the heat from the fuel up the chimney is dispensed with, whilst 1
the air being caused to impinge horizontally in the heated fuel the heat
is driven into the body of the room or apartment to be heated.
The apparatus employed is capable of variation to suit gratos, stoves,
and furnaces of different constructions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said James Wavish in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WAVISH, of East India Road, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Wavish, Her special license,
that I, the said James Wavish, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Wavish, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMESTS
IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE PROPER COMBUSTION OF FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Wavish, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 James Wavish, do hereby declaré
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
3 be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
1
say :-.
My said.Invention has for its object obtaining the economical com.
O bustion of fuel, whilst at the same time effecting the better diffusion of
heat when such fuel is used in ordinary grates, and this object is
attained by an improved mode of admitting air into and through the
fuel.
"
In carrying out my said Invention as applied to grates of the ordinary
5 construction a plate of iron or fire-clay or other suitable material is
placed on the bottom of the grate, or the bottom of the grate itself may
be formed of such plate. Through the centre of this plate a tube iš
inserted open at its lower end and closed at the top, but perforated
throughout its sides, by which air is admitted from the bottom of the
O grate into the midst of the fuel contained in the grate.
A shutter or slide may be placed at the bottom of the air admitting
tube, by which the admission of air may be regulated as desired.
An upright perforated plate may also be attached to the bottom plate
or to the bottom of the grate, such upright plate extending up the sides
5 of the grate to about the usual height to which fuel is placed therein so
as to form an air chamber, by which air may be supplied throughout the
whole of the sides of the fuel in the grate. The upper part of this plate

page_text: prevented from passing direct through the tube by reason of its end &
being closed, but is caused to issue through the perforations e formed in
the sides of the tube in a horizontal direction into the midst of the
fuel
WIND VIVUŞ DUY IS CAUSIU WO ASSUt cuivuğu the portoraRVAS CIVILICU D
the sides of the tube in a horizontal direction into the midst of the
fuel
In the case of grates of large dimensions the plate or base a may be
constructed or fitted with two or more of the tubes 6 if found
desirable.
The plate or base a with the air tubes 6 may be employed either alone,
as in Figure 4, or in combination with the upright perforated plate,
before mentioned, as in the arrangements Figures 1, 2, and 3. This
upright plate consists of a back f and sides g, g, provided at their upper
end and lateral edges with ledges h, h, projecting backwards therefrom
so as to form with the cheeks i, i, and back k of the grate a chamber 7,
as shewn. This chamber is open at its lower end for the admission of
air, which after entering the same is caused to issue through the perfora-
tions m, m, into and amongst the fuel so that the latter is acted upon
by the finely divided horizontal currents emitted from the perforations e
and m. By this means the upright or direct current of air which in
ordinary grates drives the heat from the fuel up the chimney is dispensed
with, whilst by reason of the air being caused to impinge horizontally
on the heated fuel the heat is drawn into the body of the room or apart-
ment to be heated. As a result moreover of the air being supplied in
minute horizontal currents the combustion of each particle of coal takes
places gradually from its exterior to its interior, consequently those
portions of the fuel or the outer layers of each particle which have been
expended in heating a room or apartment are wholly consumed, the
residuum being simply a fine powder, whilst the other portions of the
fuel or the inner layers or central parts of each particle which are
unconsumed are left intact in their ordinary condition of coal instead of
being reduced to cinder, as is the case when the draught is derived from
a strong upward current, permeating the whole mass of the fuel. A
considerable saving is thus effected in the consumption of fuel, whilst at
the same time the emission of smoke is prevented, the heating of the air
on its passage through the air chambers also contributing to the attain-
ment of these results.

page_text: required to make in adapting the apparatus to any particular purposo
will however be well understood by competent persons from the examples
herein-boforo described and illustrated of the mode of carrying out my
Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the natue of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the samo is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
•
First. The application and use to and in grates, stoves, or fire-places
of vertical or nearly vertical air tubes open at their lower end and closed
at their upper end, and perforated in their sides in combination with a
plate or baso solid or closed throughout its fuel receiving area, substan-
tially as and for for the purposes herein-before described and as illustrated
by my Drawings.
Second. The combination with the air tubes and plate or base beforç
mentioned of an upright perforated plate, so constructed and arranged
as to enclose or partially enclose the fuel in the grate, and at the same
time form à chamber for containing air to be discharged through the
perforations of the plate into and amongst the fuel, substantially as and
for the purposes herein-before described and as illustrated by my
Drawings.