IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-PLACES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert George Chipperfield, of No. 55, Trinity
Square, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-PLACES."
Scaled the 16th January 1874, and dated the 22nd November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert George Chipper-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd November 1873.
I, ROBERT GEorge Chipperfield, of No. 55, Trinity Square, South-
wark, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-PLACES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction or alteration of domestic
fire-places in such a manner as to economize fuel and to prevent smoke.
For this purpose I provide in the fire-place a back which may be
of metal or of fire-clay or other refractory material, between which back
and the front bars the fuel is placed. Behind this back I form an air
chamber covered at the top but open at the bottom, and I provide
numerous perforations, preferably slanting upwards, through the upper.

page_text: part of the back. By these perforations air from the chamber behind
the back, heated by its contact with the back, passes into and mingles
with the gases evolved from the burning fuel in front so as to effect
more complete combustion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert George Chipperfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GEORGE CHIPPERFIELD, of No. 55, Trinity Square, Southwark, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, 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 Robert George
Chipperfield, Her special license that I, the said Robert George
Chipperfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert George Chipperfield, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thercafter 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 DOMESTIC FIRE-PLACES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert George
Chipperfield, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
Robert George Chipperfield, do
Invention, and in what manner
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said
hereby declare the nature of the said
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had

page_text: to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the construction or alteration of domestic
fire-places in such a manner as to economize fuel and to prevent smoke.
For this purpose I provide in the fire-place a back or partition which
may be of metal or of fire-clay or other refractory material, between
which back or partition and the front bars the fuel is placed. Behind
these back or partition I form an air chamber covered at the top but
open at the bottom, and I provide numerous perforations, preferably
slanting upwards, through the upper part of the back or partition. By
these perforations air from the chamber behind the back or partition,
heated by its contact therewith, passes into and mingles with the gases
evolved from the burning fuel in front so as to effect more complete
combustion.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, and
Fig. 3 a sectional plan of a domestic fire-place altered according to my
Invention.
A, A, A, are the existing sides and back of the fire-place; B, the
bottom; and C, the front grate of ordinary construction.
D is a back or partition constructed according to my Invention having.
a back and two sides, but being open in front. This partition is pre-
ferably made of fire-clay or such like refractory material with numerous
holes formed in the back and sides thereof chiefly towards their upper
parts, such holes tapering to a smaller diameter and slanting upwards
towards the fire. I have found in practice that when round holes are
used, they may be about one quarter of an inch in diameter at the
mouth, spaced about an inch apart horizontally, and about three
quarters of an inch apart vertically, the perforated portion extending
down from the top about two-thirds of the depth. The number, size,.
and position of these perforations may however be somewhat varied, so
long as they are so proportioned and arranged as to admit and direct air
at a proper heat in numerous subdivided streams upon the fuel at or
near the place where the gases are being evolved from it.
The
partition D is made of such dimensions that when it is placed in the
fire-place there is a small air space or chamber S at the back and sides
between it and the existing back and sides of the fire-place. This space

page_text: or chamber is covered at the top by a plate or slab P, and at the front as
shewn at H, H, Fig. 3. It is open at the bottom to the interstices of
the existing bars, and the access to it may be enlarged by recessing
back the lower part of the stove back, as shewn at G, the object being
to allow of free access for air to enter the air space or chamber S from
the ash-pit, as indicated by the direction of the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2.
The partition being fitted into the fire-place and a fire kindled in the
inner space F, air from the ash-pit enters the space S where it becomes
heated by contact with the back and sides of the partition D and flows
through the holes / so as to mingle with and aid the combustion of the
gases evolved from the burning fuel. The course of the air streams is
indicated by the arrows.
Although I have described a method of adapting an existing fire-
place according to my Invention, it may be readily understood that a
similar construction is applicable in making a new fire-place which may
be arranged in any convenient proportions so as to provide the per-
forated partion with air spaces at the back and sides thereof in a
manner similar to that described above.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not
claim generally the formation of an air space or chamber behind a firc
with air passages therefrom; but what I do claim is, the use in domestic
fire-places of a back or partition forming behind it an air chamber and
having through it numerous small slanting perforations arranged for the
purpose herein set forth, substantially in the manner herein-before
.described and shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert George Chipperfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.
R. G. CHIPPERFIELD. (L.S.)