IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING HEAT
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Jacob, Gentleman, and Rudolph Pilzinger,
Engineer, both of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING
HEAT."
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 24th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph
Pilzinger at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th February 1865.
We, JOSEPH JACOB, Gentleman, and RUDOLPH PILZINGER, Engineer, both
of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
GENERATING HEAT," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved method of heating furnaces, steam
boilers, and other apparatus by means of gases burnt in combination with
superheated steam made as dry as possible, and with either hot or cold air..
The gas which we use for these purposes may be obtained from various sources.
When our improved furnaces are situated near to blast furnaces we may
avail ourselves of the blast furnace gases, or the gases may be obtained by
[Price 8d.]

page_text: the dry distillation of coal or other fuel like the common illuminating gas,
and may be supplied through a gasometer; but in cases where it is convenient
to do so we prefer to produce it in a generator which is attached to the
furnace to be heated. This generator consists of a fire-grate placed in an
inclined position, and to the bars of which a vibrating or rocking motion can
be given at longer or shorter intervals by means of one of the well-known
apparatus employed for fire-grates of this description or by similar means.
This fire-grate is fed with coal or other fuel through a short shaft chamber or
hopper which is provided with an iron cover dipping into a sand groove. By
agitating the bars the fuel is caused to descend on the grate, and the grate is
freed from clinkes and ashes. When using oils, petroleum, naphta, and the
like substances as fuel for the production of gases the same may be put into
retorts either alone or with coal or other fuel for the purpose of decomposition
and conversion into gases. When used in combination with coal or other
solid fuel we prefer to saturate or impregnate the solid fuel with the liquid,
and then to convert the impregnated fuel into gases in the above-described
generator. We propose to attach the box or vessel used for holding the
liquid (which is supplied through a pipe from a reservoir) beneath the cover
of the hopper. The box is partly filled with layers of felt, cotton, wool, or.
other suitable material, through which the liquid will percolate and finally
escape through the perforated bottom of the said vessel or through small tubes
fixed in such bottom, and then fall in drops on to the coal, which will become
saturated with the liquid. When our Invention is used for purposes where
great intensity of heat is required, the superheated steam is conveyed through
injection pipes, each of which passes through the centre of an air tuyère,
through which latter the hot or cold blast of air is supplied. The gas on
issuing from the blast furnace, the gasometer, or the generator from which it
is obtained is then conducted by a suitable flue or channel, and is brought
into contact and mixed with the air and then kindled, and the superheated
steam, which is made as dry as possible, entering into the inflamed gases
becomes decomposed. The various gaseous compounds are then passed
through a second flue or combustion chamber, where being intimately mixed
and amalgamated they burn and produce an intense heat, which is then
directed upon the objects to be heated. In cases where a lesser intensity of
heat is required the air is admitted by ordinary draught without resorting to
forced blast. For effecting the combustion the gas in this case may be passed
into the combustion chamber or flue through cells or slits formed in the wall
of the flue, and air is allowed to enter through similar slits placed alternately
with the gas slits, so that the gas is intimately mixed with the air. In their

page_text: further progress the gases meet and become mixed with the superheated
steam, which, made as dry as possible, is admitted through special pipes
placed at the side of the flue near the place where the gas and air are
admitted. In both cases the necessary amount of heat required can easily
be regulated by admitting and mixing with the gas more or less of the
superheated steam and of the cold or hot air by means of cocks, valves, or
slides, and our improved method of heating is therefore applicable for
metallurgical operations as well as for heating boilers and for other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph Pilzinger in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th August 1865."
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
JACOB, Gentleman, and RUDOLPH PILZINGER, Engineer, both of Dudley, in
the County of Worcester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph Pilzinger, Her special licence
that we, the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph Pilzinger, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Jacob
and Rudolph Pilzinger, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING HEAT," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph
Pilzinger, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of our or 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Jacob and Rudolph Pilzinger,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to an improved method of heating furnaces of various
descriptions, steam boilers, and other apparatus by means of gases burnt in
combination with superheated steam made as dry as possible, and with either
hot or cold air. The gas which we use for this purpose may be obtained
from various sources. When our improved furnaces are situated near to
blast furnaces we may avail ourselves of the escaping blast furnace gases, or
the gas may be obtained by the dry distillation of coal or other solid fuel in a
similar manner as the common illuminating gas, and may be supplied through
a gasometer; but in cases where it is convenient to do so we prefer to pro-.
duce the gas ina generator, which may be constructed as herein-after described,
and be attached to or form part of the furnace to be heated. When using
oils, petroleum, naphtha, and the like substances as fuel for the production of
gases the same may be put into retorts either alone or with other solid fuel
for the purpose of decomposition and conversion into gases. When used in
combination with coal or other solid fuel we prefer to saturate or impregnate
the solid fuel with any of the liquids named, and then to convert the saturated
fuel into gases in the above-named generator. In carrying out our Invention
we avail ourselves either of forced blast, either hot or cold, or simply of air
admitted by ordinary draft caused by a common chimney, which in ordinary
practical operations we find will give the required intensity of heat, and
we therefore use it by preference.
We will now proceed further to describe our said Invention with reference
to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, the same letters and figures denoting corresponding parts in the
several Figures.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section throug line c, d, of Fig. 2 of a
furnace for heating iron to which our improvements are applied; Fig. 2 is
a horizontal section through line a, b, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a front eleva-
tion of the furnace. The furnace is constructed for the supply of the necessary
air by means of the ordinary draft, which we recommend to be used for
ordinary operations. The generator A is supplied with fuel through a short
shaft or hopper B, which is provided with a moveable cover C dipping into a
sand groove to prevent the escape of gas. In order to prevent the escape of
gas whilst the hopper B is replenished with fuel a slide frame with slide D
may be fixed at the bottom of the hopper; and this slide, which is provided
with a knife-edge is screwed forward to shut off the hopper before the cover C
is raised, and it is again withdrawn when the cover is replaced in the sand

page_text: groove. From the hopper B the fuel falls upon the inclined plane E, formed
of fire bricks, and from thence upon the grate bars F, whose angle of inclina-
tion depends upon the kind of fuel to be used. At the lower end of the grate
bars F'is fixed the horizontal cam shaft G, one end of which passes through
the side wall of the generator and has the chain pulley G' keyed to it, from
which a chain reaches to a second chain pulley H; this pulley H is by means
of a hand wheel or lever, not shown in the Drawing, turned from time to time,
and the cam shaft thereby also caused to turn round, whereby the lower ends
of the grate bars will be alternately raised or lowered. The fuel will through
the motion of the grate bars be caused to descend, and at the same time the
grate will be cleared of clinkers and ashes. The gas produced by the
generator A rises up through the flue or channel I to the combustion
chamber K. The necessary amount of air (for igniting the gas) is admitted
into the flue I partly from the front through the air flue M, which is divided
into cells or slits, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3; these cells are however not
absolutely necessary, and the air flue M may be made without them. The
amount of air admitted through the flue M is regulated through the slide N
and lever and balance weight N1. Another portion of the air is admitted
from the opposite side through the flue L. This portion of the air is passed
through a flue or chamber L' formed under the bottom of the furnace, and
thereby becomes heated to a certain extent. The quantity of gas issuing from
the generator is regulated by the horizontal slide O by means of the screw O'.
The gas and air come in contact and combine or mix with each other at L
and M as described, and the gas at M is kindled on starting the furnace; the
inflamed gas on arriving at the combustion chamber K is met by & becomes
mixed with the superheated steam, which is made as dry as possible, and
issues from the injection or jet pipes P connected to the steam pipe P¹. The
superheated steam upon entering with the ignited gas into the combustion
chamber K is decomposed, and the various gaseous compounds becoming
intimately mixed and amalgamated with each other burn and produce a more
or less intense heat, which is then directed upon the objects to be heated; in
this case into the heating furnace. The degree of intensity of the heat can
be regulated at will by changing the relative proportions and the quantities
of the gas, air, and steam. From the furnace the products of combustion
escape to the chimney Q, the draft being regulated by the damper Q¹. Ia
order to utilize the escaping heat it may be passed through a boiler R, which
nay form part of the chimney; this boiler could also supply the steam,
which on its way to the pipe Pl and jet pipes P is superheated in the super-

page_text: heaters S, so that the steam may be made as dry as is requisite. These
superheaters are formed of a number of tubes or pipes of, say, 2 inches in
diameter, or less or more, which in order to give the desirable amount of
heating surface are filled with a mumber of smaller pipes, through and
around which latter the steam has to pass. These superheaters are placed
partly under the Hue where the products of combustion escape into the
chimney, and partly under the combustion chamber, and the connecting
steam pipe S¹ is let into the wall of the furnace to prevent it from cooling.
The superheaters may be placed at any other suitable part of the furnace,
according to the construction of and object for which the furnace is intended.
It is very advisable to make the steam jets so small as is practically pos-
sible, and if more steam is required it is better to increase the number of
the jets than their size.
Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal section of a portion of a steam boiler
heated according to our improved method. Instead of the boiler here
represented, a boiler with one or more internal flues may be used.
In using
Fig. represents a longitudinal section of part of a furnace in which forced
blast, either hot or cold, is employed instead of the ordinary draft as above
described; and Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the same. For a heating fur-
nace the construction would be the same as represented by Fig. 1, with this
difference only, that the air flues L & M, and the slide N, and lever N¹ would
be dispensed with, and the air pipe T with tuyeres T¹ substituted.
forced blast we prefer to pass the several pipes or jets P for the supply of the
superheated steam through the air pipe T,and through the centres of the several
air tuyeres T¹, as shewn in Figs. 5 & 6. The flange of the air pipe T is con-
nected in the usual manner with the supply pipe for the forced blast, which
is supplied by a fan. For using oils, petroleum, naphtha, and the like, we pro-
pose to give the hopper B, see Fig. 1, a greater height, and to attach the
vessel containing the liquid to the inside of the cover C. This vessel, which
may be supplied with the liquid oil through a pipe from a reservoir, we intend
to fill partially or entirely with cotton, wool, or hair, or other suitable porous
material, through which the oil will percolate, and finally issue through a
number of small pipes with which the bottom of the vessel is provided,
and fall as drops upon the solid fuel of the hopper in the generator.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, we wish it to be understood
that what we claim as the Invention to be secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the improved mode of generating

page_text: heat by the injection of superheated steam into ignited gases obtained and
applied in the manner herein-before described, or by equivalent means.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Jacob, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOSEPH JACOB. (L.S.)