A NEW SMOKE CONSUMING FURNACE CAPABLE OF BEING ADAPTED TO OTHER FURNACES WHEN MORE THAN USUAL HEAT IS REQUIRED
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Ray, 109, Denmark Road, Camberwell,
S.E., for the Invention of "A NEW SMOKE CONSUMING FURNACE CAPABLE
OF BEING ADAPTED TO OTHER FURNACES WHEN MORE THAN USUAL HEAT IS
REQUIRED." -A communication from abroad by Auguste Heilmann,
of Saint-Etienne (Loire) France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine. Ray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st May 1873.
I, ANTOINE RAY, 109, Denmark Road, Camberwell, S.E., do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW SMOKE CONSUMING
FURNACE CAPABLE OF BEING ADAPTED TO OTHER FURNACES WHEN MORE THAN
USUAL HEAT IS REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
This new furnace leads to a very considerable saving of fuel, for the
combustible gases of which smoke is partially composed instead of
O passing out unburnt are brought back to the furnace saturated with
oxygen, and there, being almost entirely consumed, produce a great

page_text: increase of temperature with the least possible consumption of fuel.
The amount of smoke which escapes from the chimney is almost nothing,
and the inconveniences arising from the existence of smoke are thus
avoided. The draught when not intentionally reduced soon becomes
greater than that hitherto obtained in any furnace that I know of, so
that a high temperature can be rapidly obtained. A furnace of this
construction will admit a great reduction in the length of chimneys.
Those advantages are secured by the following arrangements, which
explain the principle of the Invention, and which can be casily modified
to suit each particular case.
The sketch represents a vertical section of the furnace.
It gives a
view in profile of the left half of this furnace, the right half being
exactly similar.
The fuel is placed in A upon bars fixed in a in the furnace, which
is built with fire-bricks, and has three openings, 1st, B, which is the
aperture through which fuel is supplied to the furnace, this aperture
is placed above the level of the bars of the grate, and remains constantly
open; 2°. C, which is the opening of the ash pan, and which must be
constantly kept very closely shut; 3°. D, which is the opening leading
from the furnace to the chimney E. It is to be observed that the
opening D, which equals the grate in width, is not very high, and has
its base on a level with the bars of the grate. The fuel choking up the
opening D, it is evident that the combustion can only take place through
interstices of the fuel, and can be regulated by the poker of the fireman,
the combustion being proportionate to the draught holes made in the
fuel. I must add that there is a lateral pipe on the left and right of
the furnace. In the sketch the left pipe F only is represented, which
begins in F on the upper corner at the further side of the furnace, and
ends in F* in front of the fire-place and under the grate.
Let us explain what goes on in the furnace when in action. As repre-
sented by the arrow M, N, the current begins horizontally above the
fuel, driving the smoke into each of the side pipes F through their upper
opening F¹. This current descends through the pipes F, and passes out
through the lower opening F, bringing in this manner the smoke under
the grate into the ash pan H, which being closely shut leaves no issue
for the smoke but by the opening D, through the spaces between the
bars of the grate and apertures of the fuel. In this way the smoke,

page_text: with its volume of air, passes through the burning fuel and is almost
totally consumed, only a very little smoke escaping by the chimney.
Experience will soon enable the fireman to work this furnace in the
most advantageous manner. It is well to mention that the fire should
be kept up by the introduction of a small quantity of fuel at a time, in
order not to have too much smoke to consume at once.
In short, the Invention I lay claim to is as follows:-A current of
air passing first above the fuel, and carrying along with it the smoke
through one or several pipes under the grate into an ash pan closely
shut, then through the burning fuel, where it is almost entirely con-
sumed on its way to the lower opening of the chimney, which is partially
choked up with fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Antoine Ray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
RAY, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Antoine Ray, Her special licence that
I, the said Antoine Ray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Antoine Ray, 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 "A NEW SMOKE CONSUMING FURNACE CAPABLE
OF BEING ADAPTED TO OTHER FURNACES WHEN MORE THAN USUAL HEAT IS
REQUIRED," a communication to me from abroad by Auguste Heilmann,
of Saint Etienne, Loire, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Antoine Ray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should

page_text: 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 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 Antoine Ray, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This new furnace leads to a very considerable saving of fuel, for the
combustible gases of which smoke is partially composed instead of
passing out unburnt are brought back to the furnace saturated with
oxygen, and there, being almost entirely consumed, produce a great
increase of temperature with the least possible consumption of fuel.
The amount of smoke which escapes from the chimney is almost nothing,
and the inconveniences arising from the existence of smoke are thus
avoided. The draught, when not intentionally reduced, soon becomes
greater than that hitherto obtained in any furnace that I know of, so
that a high temperature can be rapidly obtained. A furnace of this com-
bustion will admit of a great reduction in the length of chimneys.
Those advantages are secured by the following arrangements, which
explain the principle of the Invention, and which can be easily modified
to suit each particular case. [See the annexed Sketch.]
The sketch represents, Fig. 1, a front view of the furnace, and Fig. II.,
a vertical section of this furnace viewed in profile.
The fuel is placed in A upon bars fixed in a in the furnace, which is
built with fire-bricks, and has three openings, 1°, B, which is the aperture
through which fuel is supplied to the furnace; this aperture is placed
above the level of the bars of the grate, and remains constantly open;
2°, C, which is the opening of the ash pan, and which must be con-
stantly kept very closely shut. 3°. D, which is the opening leading
from the furnace to the chimney E. It is to be observed that the
opening D, which equals the grate in width, is not very high, and has
its base on a level with the bars of the grate. The fuel choking up the
opening D, it is evident that the combustion can only take place through
interstices of the fuel, and can be regulated by the poker of the fireman,

page_text: the combustion being proportionate to the draught holes made in the
fuel. I must add that there is a lateral pipe on the left and right of
the furnace, which begins in F on the upper corner at the further side
of the furnace, and ends in F* in front of the fire-place and under the
grate.
Let us explain what goes on in the furnace when in action. As repre-
sented by the arrow M, N, the current begins horizontally above the
fuel, driving the smoke into each of the side pipes F through their upper
opening F. This current descends through the pipes F, and passes out
through the lower opening F*, bringing in this manner the smoke under
the grate into the ash-pan H, which, being closely shut, leaves no issue
for the smoke but by the opening D, through the spaces between the
bars of the grate and apertures in the fuel. In this way the smoke,
with its volume of air, passes through the burning fuel and is totally
consumed, only a very little smoke escaping by the chimney. Experience
will soon enable the fireman to work this furnace in the most advan-
tageous manner. It is well to mention that the fire should be kept up
by the introduction of a small quantity of fuel at a time, in order not to
have too much smoke to consume at once.
In short, the Invention I lay claim to is as follows:-A current of
air passing through the whole mass of fuel, combined with the current
of air passing first above the fuel, and carrying along with it the smoke
through one or several pipes under the grate into an ash pan closely
shut, then through the burning fuel, where it is entirely consumed on
its way to the lower opening of the chimney, which is partially choked
up with fuel.
The principle of that furnace may be applied to any fixed boiler or
steam engine, with the dispositions of construction and size required.
Thanks to the powerful heating of that kind of furnaces excellent results
will be obtained through it if applied to puddling ovens, to furnaces for
melting steel, and ovens used for ceramic works, &c., for we can surround
those ovens with several furnaces, converging their fires on the centre
of the oven.
The products of combustion, which would be lost after having warmed
the oven, may be used to warm a boiler, either vertical or horizontal,
placed on that oven itself, the heating surface being an interior tube
connected afterwards with an exterior tube winding round the boiler;

page_text: thanks also to its heating power, that furnace may be applied advan-
tageously to high furnaces where the fuel is not in contact with the ore
and metals to be melted, coke and charcoal being economically replaced
by pit coal.
I must add that this kind of furnace is excellent for
domestic and private use.