Improved Apparatus for Automatically Controlling the Supply of Air to Furnaces.
Year: 1895

page_text: Da'e of Application, 9th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 1st June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Automatically Controlling the Supply of
Air to Furnaces.
We, JOHN ENGELBERT BECKMAN, Engineer, of 431 East Utica Street,
WILLIAM EDGAR WOOLLEY, Hotel Proprietor, of Iroquois Hotel, HENRY
MONTGOMERY GERRANS, Hotel Proprietor, of Iroquois Hotel, and GEORGE
HENRY WOOLLEY, Hotel Manager, of Iroquois Hotel, all of Buffalo, Erie
County State of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of our invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to improvements in the feeding of a forced draught to
furnaces, and more particularly to the automatic regulation of said forced.
draught.
The object of our invention is to automatically regulate this blast of air to the
furnace by the pressure of the steam in the boiler, and to that end it consists in a
novel arrangement of parts connected directly to the boiler and to the steam
supply-pipe leading from the boiler to the motor employed for operating the fan, by
means of which its speed is automatically regulated by the pressure of the steam in
the boiler.
We will now proceed to definitely describe the manner in which we have carried
out our invention, and then claim what we believe to be novel.
In the drawings,
Figure one is a plan view showing the settings of a battery of two boilers taken
just above the bridge-wall and showing the arrangement of forced blast passages
leading from a fan or blower.
Figure two is an end view of the steam engine employed for operating the
blower; showing the automatic regulating apparatus connected to the steam supply
pipe, and
Figure three is a top plan view of the regulating valve upon the supply-pipe
with automatic attachment for limiting the pressure supply by means of the blast
pressure.
Referring to the drawings,
1 is the setting of the boiler in which are arranged the ash pits 2, fire boxes 3,
and combustion chambers 12. 4 is a fan or blower for generating the artificial
blast, which is carried through the passage 7 to the furnace where it passes
into the ash pits 2, through the reduced passages 8, 8, which pass through the
bridge walls 13, 13. At the mouths of these passages 8, 8, are arranged the
dampers 9, 9, hinged to the rods 10, 10, and operated by the connecting
rods 11, 11.
The motive power is imparted to the blower 4, through the belt pulley 5,
mounted upon the shaft 6, with the fan. The construction thus far described is of
old and well known form, and to this arrangement of parts we apply the motor for
operating the fan, which is regulated automatically by the pressure from the boiler
and the pressure of air in the blast passage. (See Figure two.)
14 is the engine for operating the blower to which it is connected by belt (not
shown) passing over the pulleys 15 and 5.
16 is the supply-pipe leading to the steam-box 17. In this pipe 16 are
arranged the throttle valve 18 and the regulating valves 19 and 20. Leading

page_text: into the regulating valve 20 is the pipe 21 which is connected directly with the boiler
pressure.
22 is an auxiliary passage or by-pass provided with the valve 23 so as to permit
sufficient steam to pass into the cylinder to keep the engine in motion when the
steam is entirely shut off by the regulating valve 20. Instead of the pipe 22 a
by-pass could be made in the regulating valve 20.
The regulating valve 19 as represented in Figure 2, is adapted to be regulated by
hand, but in Figures 1 and 3 we have shown an improved attachment by means of
which a valve 29 substituted for the valve 19 in Figure 2 may, if deemed desirable,
be automatically regulated from the blast pressure. In such figures, 24 is a
diaphragm chamber one side of which is connected by pipe 25 with the blast
passage 7. The diaphragm is connected with a pivoted lever 26, which latter is
loosely connected with the arm 27 rigidly secured to the valve 29. The action of
the blast pressure, through pipe 25, upon the diaphragm 24 serves to automatically
regulate the action of this valve, and in this manner the speed of the motor is
automatically controlled direct from the blast pressure. The diaphragm employed
should necessarily be of large size of such a sensitive nature as to quickly respond
to the variation in the blast pressure.
In operation, the regulating valve 19 (or 29) is first set so as to permit sufficient
steam to pass through it to give the highest rate of speed desired to the fan, and
the valve 23 in the auxiliary passage or by-pass 22 is set to give the lowest rate of
speed desired or just sufficient to generate enough blast to keep the grate-bars from
burning and keep the crank-arm of the engine off its center. The engine is started
by opening the throttle 18, and as the pressure in the boilers is increased, it is
communicated through the pipe 21 to the pressure regulator 20 causing it to close,
thus reducing the speed of the engine which is now being fed through the auxiliary
passage or by-pass 22. As the pressure of the boilers is reduced, the regulating
valve 20 is opened, thus increasing the speed of the engine and likewise the force
of the blast up to the established pressure. In this manner a steady blast of air is
maintained at all times.
The valves 19, (29) 20, and 23 are individually of well known form and therefore
not shown in detail as others might be substituted.
While our invention is herein shown as applied to stationary boilers, it can
equally well be applied to all other classes of boilers, such as locomotive,
marine, etc.
The primary object of this invention is to automatically regulate the motive
power which produces the artificial blast by the pressure of the boilers and the
blast pressure, and should it be found desirable to arrange an automatic regulator
to manipulate rheostats connected to an electric motor for operating the blower,
the same result may be effected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
°
1. An automatic apparatus for regulating the motive power for supplying an
artificial draft under furnaces consisting of a fan or blower, an engine for driving
the fan, a valve in the supply pipe of the engine, a separate pipe connected with
the pressure of the boiler and adapted to close this valve in the supply pipe
completely at a certain boiler pressure, and a by-pass valve for permitting a small
flow of pressure through or by said regulating valve, as and for the purpose set
forth.
2. An automatic apparatus for regulating the motive power for supplying an
artificial draft under furnaces consisting of a fan or blower, an engine for driving
the fan, a valve in the supply pipe of the engine, and a separate pipe connected
with the pressure of the boiler and adapted to close this valve in the supply pipe
completely at a certain boiler pressure, as and for the purpose set forth.
3. An automatic apparatus for regulating the motive power for supplying an

page_text: artificial draft under furnaces consisting of a fan or blower, a motor for driving the
fan, a regulating valve in the supply pipe of the notor connected with and adapted
to be operated by the pressure of the boiler, a by-pass for permitting a small flow
of pressure through or by said regulating valve, a second regulating valve in the
supply pipe, a diaphragm chamber one side of which is connected with the blast
pressure and the diaphragm of which controls a lever, and connections between said
lever and second valve for automatically operating the latter by the blast pressure,
as and for the purpose set forth.
4. An automatic apparatus for regulating the motive power for supplying an
artificial draft under furnaces consisting of a fan or blower, an engine for driving
the fan, a regulating valve in the supply pipe of the engine connected with and
adapted to be operated by the pressure of the boiler, a second regulating valve in
the supply pipe of the engine, and means for automatically operating this valve by
blast pressure, as and for the purpose set forth.
5. An automatic apparatus for regulating the motive power for supplying an
artificial draft under furnaces consisting of a fan or blower, a motor for driving
the fan, a regulating valve in the supply pipe of. the motor connected with the
pressure of the boiler and adapted to close completely at a certain steam pressure,
a by-pass and valve for permitting a small flow of pressure through or by said
regulating valve, and a second automatically-operated reducing valve in the supply
pipe of the engine, as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 9th day of April 1895.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.