AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WARMING OR HEATING ROOMS, RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO GENERAL DOMESTIC USE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Duncombe Eagles, of 23, Fenchurch
Strect, in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WARMING OR HEATING ROOMS, RAILWAY
AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO GENERAL DOMESTIC
USE." -A communication from abroad by Bartholemew Bergehausen,
Joseph Philipps, and Louis Kiesling, all of Cologne, in the Empire
of Germany.
"
Sealed the 2nd July 1872, and dated the 27th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Duncombe
Eagles at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th April 1872.
I, THOMAS DUNCOMBE EAGLES, of 23, Fenchurch Street, in the City
of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WARMING OR HEATING ROOMS,
RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO GENERAL
DOMESTIC USE," to be as follows:-
The new method of warming or heating consists, 'firstly, in the
manufacture of a chemically prepared composition fuel (called "pyrolith ")

page_text: which will burn without either smoke or flame, and, secondly, in the
apparatus in which such " pyrolith "fuel is to be burned.
In the manufacture of pyrolith fuel, I first take charcoal from wood,
brown coal, coal and turf, or coke; those ingredients, which may be
used singly or mixed, are ground into a powder, which is now mixed 5
with a solution of either vegetable gum, gum tragacanth, starch, or
silicate of potash. Then a solution of either saltpetre, salt, Glauber's
salts, or chlorato of potass is added, and mixed again, or, if preferred,
all these component parts may be mixed at one or several operations.
The composition thus prepared is then subjected to hydraulic or 1
other heavy pressure, and is pressed into any required shape, that of a
brick being preferred. The bricks are dried by artificial heat, so that
the water of crystalization will disappear, and the hygroscomic moisture
will be taken up instead; this will prevent the bricks becoming damp
when stored. These bricks so manufactured will burn very economically 1
without either flame or smoke, and when once lighted and placed no
more attention will be needed till the end of the journey.
By varying the proportions of the different ingredients the fuel can
be made to burn a longer or shorter time as may be required.
The apparatus in which the "pyrolith " fuel is to be burned consists, 2
in the case of railway or other carriages, of an oblong copper tube,
with rounded edges made without seam, in which is placed the grate
or fire-box which contains the fuel. One end of this tube is made to
communicate with the exterior of the carriage, and has at its outer
extremity a small iron door, through which the grato containing the fuel. 2
is passed into the tube. At the other end of large tube is a smaller
one through which the heat and gas generated by combustion are
conducted in any direction which may be deemed best adapted to
utilize the heat for warming the carriage, and then out into the outside
air.
The bricks of pyrolith being placed in the grate or fire-box it is then
inserted into the large copper tube, and the small iron door is closed.
A suction apparatus provides for the draught being active, no matter,
which way the carriage travels. The arrangement can be varied
according to the purpose required.
3
3

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DUNCOMBE EAGLES, of 23, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles,
Her special licence, that I, the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Duncombe Eagles, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WARMING OR HEATING
Rooms, RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
GENERAL DOMESTIC USE," a communication to me from abroad by Bartho-
lemew Bergehausen, Joseph Philipps, and Louis Kiesling, all of Cologne,
in the Empire of Germany, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles, 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, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
The Invention consists of an improved mode of heating or warming
railway and other carriages by the employment of an apparatus con-

page_text: sisting of thin metal tubes or boxes, which apparatus is hermetically
closed to the interior of the carriage. The apparatus draws its supply
of air from the outside, from whence it is charged with fuel; it also
discharges outside the products of combustion; it is heated in preference
by means of an artificial fuel especially prepared for the purpose in 6
the manner described below, but the manufacture of such fucl has
in part been known before, and I do not claim it generally as my
Invention.
1
Although I have referred in my title to purposes other than those
connected with railway and other carriages, I do not make any claim 1
for heating, except in connexion with railway and other carriages as
herein described.
The difficulties of solving the problem of warming railway and other
carriages are the impossibility of employing ordinary fuel and ordinary.
heating apparatus on accound of the rapid draught which they both 1
require, the necessity of a chimney for that purpose, further the frequent
attendance and large amount of fuel consumed, and the consequent
labour upon it; also the impossibility of placing such stoves containing
a bright and hot fire in the carriages without them being a source of
danger to the train, and disagreably hot to some of the passengers or
occupants.
2
By the employment of my apparatus together with the fuel I specially
prepare for use in the same I am enabled to charge for once and all in
12, 24, or 36 hours, the apparatus with the fuel in such a manner that
a uniform heat will be. given out during every part of that time, and 2
be equally distributed from under the seats and close to the feet of the
passengers, with a most trifling consumption of fuel. About two pounds
of this fuel used for an ordinary compartment will raise the temperature
from 0° to 21° Rea. and maintain it at that from 10 to 12 hours. The
construction of the warming apparatus is such that the combustion of the 3
fuel is of a slow, smouldering, and glowing kind, and requires only a
small portion of air to pass in, through, and out of the same, but at the
same time the construction of the apparatus makes it necessary for the
good working thereof to have a fuel especially adapted for the purpose,
such as that described below. In this fuel the oxygen bearing in- 3
gredients convey, communicate, and partly maintain combustion, inde-
pendent of any large amount of atmospheric air rushing through the
saine. By these means the whole or nearly the whole of the heat

page_text: generated is given out inside the carriage, and hence the small con-
sumption of fuel for the effect produced.
In order to better illustrate the apparatus I have annexed hereto two
Drawings, of which Drawing 1 shows the apparatus when placed under-
neath the seats, and Drawing 2 shows it as arranged for being placed
underneath the carriage.
In Drawing 1, A is a thin copper or metal tube; on one side of
the carriage this tube penetrates the pannelling of the carriage, and is
here closed by the small metal door H. If two apparatus are placed,
then there will be a small metal door at each side of the carriage.
Through this door H the fuel is introduced into A. The small tube B
joins and enters A to receive the fumes or gases generated during com-
bustion in A, and to carry and expel them underneath the carriage
bottom into the outer atmospheric air. Tube B is of such length and
is placed in such a manner, according to the build of the carriage, as
best to utilize the heat it has received from the hot gases towards the
warming of the interior of the carriage. The grate or fuel tray F has its
place in A, and is the only moveable part of the apparatus; it is the
receptacle of the fuel, and is in shape an open box perforated on all
sides, and having a false bottom corrugated and made uneven so that
the heat will travel without hindrance all round the fuel. Underneath
is the actual bottom to receive the ashes. The grate or fuel tray F
when to be charged with fuel is drawn towards H, and then when
charged is pushed back into its proper place, in which it is kept by
means of iron slips or stops placed in A. To prevent the pieces of fuel
being shaken out of their place small iron slips are placed at intervals
in the sides of grate F. The necessary air to keep the fuel burning is
brought into A by a second small tube D, which has its position close to
the longitudinal beam of the carriage frame and enters A from below
O close to the small metal door H, and has at its lower end two adjustable
mouths d, d, one in each direction of the train, so that no matter in
what direction the carriage is travelling one of these mouths d, d, will be
active to catch the draught of the moving train or carriage, and carry it
into A, and so past the metal door H. The cold stream of air constantly
5 travelling here will prevent the metal door.from even becoming warm.
The other small tube C has at its end close underneath the flooring of
the carriage the suction apparatus E, so constructed as to suck or draw
out of the tube B, with the help of the air current, the products of the
combustion going on in A and to expel them into the outer air.
.

page_text: In designing the apparatus care has been taken against the heat
escaping into the cushions; a thin double iron plate S, S, with an air
chamber in between will guard against this. The wire netting screen
or thin perforated iron plate P is placed in front of the apparatus to
guard against the legs or clothes of passengers from touching any of the
warm parts of the apparatus.
Drawing 2 shows the apparatus when placed underneath the carriage,
R is a wooden case or frame which is fixed underneath the carriage, of
which the flooring is cut out to the size of it. R has for its top a
-perforated iron plate which forms the floor of the compartment. One or
more sets of apparatus similar to that described with Drawing 1 are
fixed into this wooden box in such a manner that the air of the com-
partment in passing round the apparatus will become heated. This
apparatus consists of the large copper or metal tube A, the smaller
tube B for expelling the hot gases with its suction apparatus; the 1
other small tube D for bringing fresh air -into A, and having the two
adjustable bell mouths d, d, at its bottom end. Inside A is the grate F.
The case or dirt box I will prevent any snow or dirt from falling on to
the warm apparatus, and thus no bad smell can arize. The grato F is
drawn out when being charged with fuel by an iron rod fastened thereon, 2
and at a given point is the metal plate g, which when the grate F is
pushed back into its place will act as a door and close it.
The salient points of construction in the apparatus are (1) the lòng
horizontally placed box or tube of thin sheet metal insorted through the
pannelling or flooring of the carriage; (2) the direction downwards of 2
the exit pipe, the ejector, or steam blast-like action of the same by
which the gases are sucked or drawn out of the apparatus by the help of
the current of air caused by the motion of the train; (3) the adjustable
bell-mouthed inlet pipe taking its air from below the carriage floor;
(4) the moveable perforated fuel tray or box with its divisions for the 3
individual cakes of fuel.
The fuel which I prefer to use along with the above-described heating
apparatus is prepared from a mixture of wood charcoal in the form of
powder; with the powdered charcoal are combined substances con-
taining oxygen, such as solutions of nitrates, namely, solutions of Chilian 3
or Indian saltpetre, chlorates, and also glutinous substances, such as
solutions of silicates, starch, farina, dextrine, and vegetable gum. The
solutions of nitrates and chlorates I add in order to maintain combustion

page_text: partly independent of air, and by varying the proportions of these and
of the charcoal the fuel can be made to burn quicker or slower as may
be required. The glutinous substances are added to give cohesion to
the particles of charcoal when subject to pressure by a hydraulic or
6 other press. Of the substances containing oxygen I prefer to use nitrate
of soda on account of its cheapness, and I use this in the proportion of
from 2 to 5 per cent. to 100 of charcoal. Of the glutinous substances
I prefer to use farina, and of this I use a proportion of about from 3
to 5 per cent. of the charcoal. When using nitrate of soda or any one
) of the above-named nitrates which may be deliquescent I further add to
the above ingredients about 3 to 5 per cent. of Glauber's salt dissolved
in water. The farina boiled into a thin paste, the solution of chlorate
of potash, or else the solution of nitrate of soda, with the solution of
Glauber's salts and the powdered charcoal in about the proportions
5 stated, are mixed together in a suitable mixing machine, and afterwards
subjected to pressure in suitable moulds so as to consolidate the same
into cakes or bricks. These cakes are then dried by artificial heat so
as to drive out the moisture and also the water of crystalization
of the Glauber's salts. By doing so the Glauber's salts being rendered
anhydrous will prevent the deliquescence of the nitrate of soda and
the consequent softening of the fuel by atmospheric moisture..
The improvements introduced by me into the otherwise known manu-
facture of the described artificial fuel are the application of sulphate
of soda for the purpose of counteracting the hygroscopic nature of the
5 nitrate of soda when such has been used in its composition, and in the
heating of the compressed cakes by means of artificial heat for the
purpose of consolidating the same.
The working of the heating apparatus together with the fuel described
takes place as follows:-The moveable fuel tray F is drawn out of A
O and into it are placed a number of the bricks of artificial fuel, and these
are fixed in their position by slips of sheet iron in the manner described
above, the number and size varying according to the length of the
journey to be performed and the temperature required. One of the
pieces of fuel is well ignited, the fuel tray is pushed back into its place
5 but not so far as to close the aperture for the exit of the gases, the iron
door H is then closed, the apparatus will then fulfil its function of
warming the carriage without further attendance till the end of the
journey.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the mode in
which it is to be carried out, what I claim is,―
1st. The use of horizontally placed heating boxes and tubes which
are charged with fuel from the outside by means of a moveable fuel
tray, and which draw their air from and emit their gases into the air 5
outside the carriage, substantially as above described.
•
2nd. The manufacture and employment in my apparatus of baked
artificial fuel, and in which manufacture sulphate of soda is used for
the purpose of counteracting the deliquescence of nitrate of soda,
substantially as above described.
And 3rd. The manufacture of the baked artificial fuel, in which
manufacture chlorate of potash has been used along with the charcoal
and glutinous substances, substantially as above described.
1
.In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Duncombe Eagles, have ;
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 21st day of October, in the 1
year of our Lord 1872.
THOMAS DUNCOMBE EAGLES. (L.s.)
Witness,
ROBERT KNOWLES,
120, Cannon Street,
London.