IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF- STOKING FURNACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Baldwin, of the Firm of J. and J. Baldwin, of
Halifax, in the County of York, Worsted Spinners, and Alfred Clayton, of
the same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-
STOKING FURNACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONOMIZING FUEL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Baldwin and Alfred
Clayton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd May
1878.
JOHN BALDWIN, of the Firm of J. and J. Baldwin, of Halifax, in the County
of York, Worsted Spinners, and ALFRED CLAYTON, of the same Place, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-STOKING FURNACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONO-
MIZING FUEL."
.
This Invention relates to that class of steam-boiler furnaces which have recipro-
cating fire-bars and pushers or plungers for pushing or feeding the fuel on to the
said bars, such fuel being supplied thereto from a hopper.
Hitherto these pushers or plungers have received their backward-and-forward
motion by means of eccentrics, cams, or cranks connected thereto by rods.
Our Invention consists in working or giving this backward-and-forward motion
to these pushers or plungers in a more direct and simple manner, and at a consider-
able reduction in first cost and consequent wear and tear, the power required to
drive same being also greatly reduced.
The improvements consist in having a raised part or projection cast or otherwise
fastened to one or more of the reciprocating fire-bars, and in attaching or connecting
to such raised part a suitably constructed plate or box of any desirable. width, say,
width of furnace, which pushes or feeds the fuel on to the fire-bars.
Or a recess may be formed in the fire-bar, and a corresponding projection formed

page_text: on the plunger or pusher which fits into such recess, and is thereby carried back-
ward and forward by the moving fire-bar.
Or the plunger or pusher may be cast to the fire-bar.
By any of these means the eccentrics, cams, cranks, and rods are dispensed with,
also the cost of repair, which necessarily follow their use.
-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Baldwin and Alfred Clayton -in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd November 1878.
JOHN BALDWIN, of the Firm of J. and J. Baldwin, of Halifax, in the County
of York, Worsted Spinners, and ALFRED CLAYTON, of the same Place, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-STOKING FURNACES FOR CONSUMING SMOKE AND ECONO-
MIZING FUEL."
This Invention relates to that class of steam-boiler furnaces which have recipro-
cating fire-bars and pushers or plungers for pushing or feeding the fuel on to the
said bars, such fuel being supplied thereto from a hopper.
Hitherto these pushers or plungers have received their backward-and-forward
motion by means of eccentrics, cams, or cranks connected thereto by rods.
Our Invention consists in working or giving this backward-and-forward motion
to these pushers or plungers in a more direct and simple manner, and at a consider-
able reduction in first cost and consequent wear and tear; the power required to
drive same being also greatly reduced.
T
The improvements consist in having a raised part or projection cast or otherwise
fastened to one or more of the reciprocating fire-bars, and in attaching or connecting
to such raised part a suitably constructed plate or box of any desirable width, say,
width of furnace, which pushes or feeds the fuel on to the fire-bars.
Or a recess may be formed in the fire-bar and a corresponding projection formed
on the plunger or pusher which fits into such recess, and is thereby carried back-
ward and forward by the moving fire-bar.
Or the plunger or pusher may be cast in one piece with the fire-bar.
By any of these means the eccentrics, cams, cranks, and rods are dispensed with,
also the cost of repairs which are attendant upon the use thereof.
In order that our Invention may be more fully understood we have hither annexed
a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof.
Fig. 1 represents front end of boiler and furnace, and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitu-
dinal section of same.
'-
Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are details of parts specially relating to our Invention.
A are the grate-bars, which have a reciprocatory. motion imparted to them
by means of cams B, mounted on the shaft C. The cams B are so timed as to
cause the end bars A¹ to move together, and upon these bars are cast projections
D, which enter the plunger E, consisting of a hollow box or casing placed mouth

page_text: downwards upon the plate or table F, in which are slot holes to allow for the
passage of the projections D.
When the bars A¹ are drawn out of the furnace, the plunger is carried with them
and allows the fuel to descend from the hopper G on to the plate F, and from thence
it is pushed by the plunger on its return movement and falls off the edge of the
plate into the furnace.
In Figs. 3 and 4, we have shewn elevation and plan view of grate-bar and plunger
detached, and in Fig. 5 we have shewn how the recess may be formed in the grate-
bar and the projection on the plunger, by which the same operation is effected as in
the previous case.
Fig. 6 shews how the plunger may be formed in one or more pieces by casting
the grate-bars with an overhanging block on the upper side.
It will be readily seen that in each case the grate-bar operates the plunger, and
Bo dispenses with separate mechanism for that purpose.
It will also be understood that our Invention is applicable to furnaces in which
the whole of the bars reciprocate as well as to the kind of furnace shewn in the
Drawing, all that is requisite being projections on two or more bars which move
exactly together.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and shewn by Drawings how
the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practice, we would have it
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise form of construction
or arrangement herein shewn, as the same may be modified, but what we claim as
our Invention and consider to be new is, the method of operating the pushers or
plungers by combination with the grate-bars in any of the forms herein shewn, or
any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Baldwin and Alfred Clayton, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named John
Baldwin and Alfred Clayton
in the presence of
ROBERT HADDON.
(L.S.)
JOHN BALDWIN.
ALFRED CLAYTON. (L.S.)