Improved Means for Accumulating and Transferring Heat in connection with Fireplaces and other Apparatus by or in which Heat is Applied or Used.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 6th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 20th Jan., 1894
Improved Means for Accumulating and Transferring Heat in
connection with Fireplaces and other Apparatus by or in
which Heat is Applied or Used.
I, DAVID WATT CUTHBERT, of 101, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said invention has for its object to render the application of fuel of various
kinds more economical, convenient, and advantageous than in ordinary existing
applications.
In carrying out my invention I avail myself of the known properties of certain
salts such as acetate of soda or common salt, or of strong solutions thereof, to
absorb or accumulate heat, and to give out the heat again more or less slowly,
according to particular modes of application.
In the case of a domestic fireplace of the open kind, I form on the inside of
more or less of the front (of cast iron or other metal) one or more chambers or
enclosures in which I put the salt or solution. The inner sides of the chamber or
chambers are arranged to be directly heated by the fire, whilst the heat given off
from the salt or solution is largely radiated from the front of the fireplace into the
apartment. The heat receiving or radiating capacity of the walls of the chamber
or chambers may be increased by forming them with corrugations or gills. If in
such a fireplace in a bedroom for example a good fire is made in an evening,
such fire will require no attention during the night, because whilst the fire is good
a large part of the heat will be absorbed by the salt or solution, and this heat will
be given out again slowly after the fire itself has gone out.
The accumulator chamber or chambers may be arranged in a variety of ways
either in an open domestic fireplace or in a stove; and a flue or flues may be
arranged to pass through or in contact with the chamber or chambers in order to
utilise additional heat from the fire gases.
For heating greenhouses, conservatories, or other enclosures or apartments, there
may be arranged one or more pipes, passages, or channels to contain the salt or
solution, in combination with a flue, through, under, or at the side thereof, for the
passage of heated gases from a fire. Or where a salt permanently in solution is
used, it may be arranged to circulate through heating apparatus such as is used
with ordinary hot-water arrangements.
Other applications of my invention consist in substituting the salt or solution for
steam in jackets or pipes of pans, boilers, or the like used in various manufacturing
processes in which liquids or mixtures require to be subjected to uniform or slowly
changing temperatures for prolonged periods. In a similar way the salt or solution
may be used instead of steam in the jackets of steam-engine cylinders and the like.
My invention also comprises the application of the salt or solution for heating
air or gases when it is desired to avoid the objectionable action on the air or gases
of metallic or other heating surfaces. The air or gas may be heated by passing
over the surface of the heated salt or solution; or where suitable power is available
the air or gas may be made to bubble through the salt solution, or the salt solution
may be made to pass through the air or gas in the form of spray.
•
Dated this Seventh day of March 1893.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Accumulating and Transferring Heat in
connection with Fireplaces and other Apparatus by or in
which Heat is Applied or Used.
I, DAVID WATT CUTHBERT, of 101, St. Vincent Street, now in the County of
the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said invention has for its object to render the application of fuel of various
kinds more economical, convenient, and advantageous than in ordinary existing
applications.
In carrying out my invention I avail myself of the known properties of certain
salts, such as acetate of soda or common salt, or of strong solutions thereof, to
absorb or accumulate heat, and to give out the heat again more or less slowly,
according to particular modes of application.
>
I proceed to particularly describe certain applications comprised in my invention,
with the aid of explanatory drawings on an accompanying sheet, and also some
applications for explaining which drawings are unnecessary. In the drawings the
same reference letters are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
In the case of a domestic fireplace of the open kind, such as is shown in transverse
vertical section in Figure, 1, of the drawings, I form on the inside of more or less
of the front, A, (of castiron or other metal) one or more chambers, enclosures, or
tanks, B, in which I put the salt or solution. The inner sides of the chamber or
tank, B, which in the example shown covers the back and sides of the fire grate, C,
and also the back, sides, and top of the space above the grate, are thus arranged to
be directly heated by the fire, whilst the heat given off from the salt or solution is
largely radiated from the front of the fireplace into the apartment. The heat
receiving or radiating capacity of the walls of the chamber or tank, B, may be
increased by forming them with corrugations or gills. If in such a fireplace, in a
bedroom for example, a good fire is made in an evening, such fire will require no
attention during the night, because whilst the fire is good a large part of the heat
will be absorbed by the salt or solution, and this heat will be given out again
slowly after the fire has gone out. Whilst the combustion of the fire is at a
maximum the heat radiated into the apartment is moderated in consequence of the
absorption by the salt or solution, the heat so absorbed being afterwards radiated in
a manner to render the lowering of the temperature very slow when the fire has
gone out.
The accumulator chamber or chambers may be arranged in a variety of ways,
either in an open domestic fireplace, or in a stove; and a flue or flues may be
arranged to pass through or in contact with the chamber or chambers in order to
utilise additional heat from the fire gases. As an example, a passage or flue, D, is
in Figure, 1, shown as passing from the fireplace through the upper part of the
tank, B, to the chimney, E.
Figures, 2, 3, and, 4, represent what may be termed a portable heat-accumulating
stove or heater, Figure, 2, being a vertical section, Figure, 3, an end elevation, and
Figure, 4, an inverted plan. The apparatus comprises a vessel or tank, B, to
contain a solution of acetate of soda or other suitable salt, and made with castiron
sides, and a copper bottom, F, and provided with a cover, G. The tank, B, is
supported on a stand, H; and for heating it there is shown a Bunsen gas burner, J,
or two or more of such burners might be used. For the purpose of distributing the
heat over the bottom, F, of the tank the bottom is formed with channels as shown

page_text: in the inverted plan, Figure, 4, and the hot gases from the burner pass mainly in
these channels towards a flue or passage, D, formed partly through the tank, B,
and terminating in a piece, K, which may be made to communicate with a
chimney.
For heating greenhouses, conservatories or other enclosures or apartments there
may be arranged one or more pipes, passages, or channels to contain the salt or
solution, in combination with a flue, through, under, or at the side thereof, for the
passage of heated gases from a fire. Figures, 5, and, 6, show by way example, an
arrangement suitable for a greenhouse, and comprising a flue, L, through which fire
gases pass, and which is covered by a castiron channel, M, to contain the salt
solution. In this case the water of the solution will evaporate to some extent, and
it will be desirable to compensate for the evaporation and maintain the level in the
trough by means of a supply pipe and float cock in a cistern or of a bird-fountain
or other convenient apparatus.
Where a salt permanently in solution is used, it may be arranged to circulate
through a system of piping or other heating apparatus such as is used with ordinary
hot-water arrangements.
Other applications of my invention consist in substituting the salt or solution
for steam, in jackets compartments, vessels or pipes of or in pans, boilers, or the
like, used in various manufacturing processes in which liquids or mixtures require
to be subjected to uniform or slowly changing temperatures for prolonged periods.
In a similar way the salt or solution may be used instead of steam in the jackets
of steam-engine cylinders and the like.
My invention also comprises the application of the salt or solution for heating
air or gases when it is desired to avoid objectionable action on the air or gases, of
metallic or other heating surfaces. The air or gas may be heated by passing over
the surface of the heated salt or solution; or, where suitable power is available,
the air or gas may be made to bubble through the salt solution, or the salt solution
may be made to pass through the air or gas in the form of spray. A simple form
of apparatus for heating air is shown in Figure, 7, which is a vertical section.
The apparatus is constructed like a steam boiler of a simple well known kind, and
has extending around its bottom, a pipe, N, the upper part of which is perforated.
The perforated pipe, N, receives compressed air from a pipe, P, conveying it from
pumping or blowing apparatus, and the air bubbling up through the salt solution
passes off by a pipe, Q. to the apartments or spaces to be supplied with heated
air. The pipes, P, Q, may be provided with valves for controlling the air or gas
passing through the apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The applying of acetate of soda or other suitable salt or salts for accumulating
and transferring heat by means of apparatus or arrangements such as are herein-
before described.
2. Constructing domestic fireplaces with chambers, tanks, or other enclosures
and putting therein acetate of soda or other suitable salt or a solution thereof,
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described with reference to
Figure, 1, of the accompanying drawings.
3. The improved portable heat accumulator stove or heater substantially as
herein before described with reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4, of the accompanying
drawings.
4. Combining pipes passages or channels containing acetate of soda or other
suitable salt or salts or solutions thereof, with fire-gas flues substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described.
5. In heating apparatus of kinds usually arranged for the circulation of hot
water or steam, substituting a solution of acetate of soda or other suitable salt or
salts as the circulating fluid, substantially as hereinbefore described.

page_text: 6. Combining jackets, compartments or vessels containing acetate of soda or
other suitable salt or salts or a solution thereof, with pans, boilers, or the like, in
which liquids or mixtures require to be subjected to or maintained at uniform or
slowly changing temperatures substantially as herein before described.
7. Heating air or gas by causing it to bubble through a heated solution of
acetate of soda or other suitable salt or salts or by causing a spray of such heated
solution to pass through the air or gas, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this Fifth day of December 1893.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.