IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES; IN ORDER TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND LIKE OILS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles James Richardson, of No. 84, Kensington
Square, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES; IN
ORDER TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND LIKE
OILS."
Sealed the 4th September 1866, and dated the 10th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles James Richardson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th March 1866.
I, CHARLES JAMES RICHARDSON, of No. 34, Kensington Square, Kensington,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-*
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, IN
ORDER TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE POR BURNING PETROLEUM AND LIKE OILS,'
to be as follows:-
1
The Invention has for its object improvements in arranging steam boiler
and other furnaces, in order to render them more suitable for burning petroleum
and like oils. For these purposes the lower part of the fire-place of a furnace
is made in the form of a trough, into which petroleum or like oil is supplied
to any required height; the trough is covered and partly filled by one or more
blocks of porous material. The petroleum or like oil or the vapour thereof
percolates upwards through the porous material in the trough, and it burns on
the surface of such porous material.

page_text: Steam, by preference waste steam, is at pleasure superheated in and then
injected into the fire-place, and mixing with the vapour of the petroleum or
like oil burns along with it. The trough which holds the petroleum or like
oil has projecting from it at the back an open or perforated tube to allow
of the escape of air or vapour; the latter takes fire from the flame proceeding
from the fire-place, and it tends to burn the smoke or products of combustion
proceeding therefrom. Warm air is supplied to the back of the fire-place
by pipes open in front passing through the block or blocks of perous material.
By these means petroleum or like oils may with safety, economy, and with
great utility be burned as fuel in steam engines and other furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles James Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th September 1866..
TO ALL TO: WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES RICHARDSON, of No. 34, Kensington Square, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and. sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles James Richardsón, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
James Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles James Richardson, my exccutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGING STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, IN ORDER
TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR BURNING PETROLEUM AND LIKE OILS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles James Richardson,
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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that Ị, the said Charles James Richardson, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in arranging steam boiler
and other furnaces, in order to render them more suitable for burning petroleum
and like oils. For these purposes the lower part of the fire-place is made in
the form of a trough, into which petroleum or like oil can be run through a
pipe; the trough for a great portion of its length is filled to the height of a
few inches by one or more blocks of porous material grooved or channelled
on the under side. The petroleum or like oil circulates through these channels,
percolates upwards, and the vapour, the tar, or residuum thereof burns on the
surface of such porous material.
The said porous material I term the grate. Such portion of the said trough
that is not provided with such grate is a length of one or two feet from the
fire-door, in this portion can be placed a cistern to receive those petroleums
or like oils which require to be melted or made liquid before they will flow
through pipes.
Steam, by preference waste steam, is at pleasure superheated and then
injected into the fire-place. The steam should be under pressure and delivered
in three or more small jets at the lowest part of the trough through the
grooves or channels formed on the under side of the grate. The jets should be
about three inches apart, and the steam should dart through the whole length
of the trough. The steam rises through the grate, is decomposed into its con-
stituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen, which take fire in passing through the
flame, mix with the vapour of the petroleum or like oils, and a smokeless fire
is produced. The pipes to admit the petroleum or like oil and the steam are
provided with proper stop-cocks to regulate the inflow of each, when smoke
ceases at the top of the chimney funnel the proper quantities are arrived at.
The trough has projecting from it at the back an open or perforated tube
connected with the channels or grooves on the under side of the grate; this
allows the escape of air as the petroleum or like oil is run in, likewise tho
escape of any excess of vapour or steam. Warm air is supplied to the back
of the fire-place by pipes open in front passing through the grate, and air is
admitted at the furnace door.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, I wish it to be under-
stood I claim, as what is new, the use of jets of steam, steam or water
vapour decomposed into its constituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen, in combin-
ation with a porous material grate, through which petroleum or like oil or the

page_text: vapour thereof can be burnt... I do not confine. myself to the forms described,
as the form of the apparatus and the method of introducing the steam may be
greatly varied according to the nature of the furnace.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Richardson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 6th day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHARLES JAMES RICHARDSON. (L.S.)