IMPROVEMENTS IN OPEN FIRE PLACES OR GRATES FOR INCREASING THE HEATING CAPABILITIES THEREOF
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM ROCKE of 1 Clifford Street, Eccles New Road, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of my Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN OPEN FIRE PLACES OR GRATES FOR INCREASING THE HEATING
CAPABILITIES THEREOF, to be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is the construction of an open fire place or grate
with a hollow back and sides or cheeks forming air chambers for heating a current
or currents of air which can be admitted into the same room in which the fire grate
is fixed or be led off to heat any other apartment.
This construction embodying facilities for taking the grate to pieces say for
cleaning repairing or other purposes without removing the entire grate and also
obviating the tendency to breakage through unequal expansion and contraction
owing to different thicknesses of metal being employed in the various parts of the
grate as heretofore.
In carrying out my Invention I construct a box containing waving or ziz zag
gill plates or divisions this box being fixed level with the hearth-stone and
communicating with and receiving its supply of air by preference from the cellar
beneath or from the outside atmosphere through suitable openings or connections.
Rising from and fitted to this box is a cast iron shell which forms the back of the
heating chamber-and which is provided at the top with one or more sockets for
connecting a pipe or pipes for leading the heated air in any required direction and
at the back with a dust flue communicating at the bottom where is a sliding-door
with the ash pit and at the top with the flue.
This shell is entirely open in front and is there enclosed by the cheeks and back
of the grate which are cast in one piece and with waving or zig-zag gills or plates
at the back of each side and right up the back to the smoke flue which is formed
separately and distinctly from the heating chamber and is fitted with a regulator or
valve for controlling the draught.
In front of this casting fire clay tiles are placed and held in position by a
removable O. G. mould which is made to lift up and down so that the tiles may be

page_text: renewed at any time without disturbing the grate. In this manner the heating
chamber is divided into a series of zig-zag or tortuous passages through which the
currents of air pass and thus become heated on their way to the outlet socket.
In front of this casting which is affixed to the back shell by screws is affixed the
face of the grate part of which is removable so that by the withdrawal of the
connecting screws the grate can be taken in pieces leaving the back shell and all its
connections complete and undisturbed and whereby any repairs or cleaning out of
the heating chamber can be readily effected.

page_text: I WILLIAM ROCKE of 1 Clifford Street, Eccles New Road, Manchester in the
County of Lancaster, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OPEN FIRE-PLACES OR GRATES FOR INCREASING THE HEATING
CAPABILITIES THEREOF and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
"
+
The object of this invention is the construction of an open fire-place or grate
with a hollow back and sides or cheeks forming air chambers for heating a current
or currents of air which can be admitted into the same room in which the fire-grate
is fixed or be led off to heat any other apartment.
This construction embodying facilities for taking the grate to pieces say for
cleaning, repairing or other purposes without removing the entire grate or dis-
turbing the hot air pipes and also obviating the tendency to breakage through
unequal expansion and contraction owing to different thicknesses of metal being
employed in the various parts of the grate as heretofore.
On the accompanying drawing Fig 1 represents a front view of a grate back and
Fig 2 a side view of the shell with my improvements applied thereto—Fig 3
represents a front perspective view of the shell and Fig 4 a back perspective view
of the grate back with the shell removed.
In all the views the same letters of reference are used to indicate similar parts.
In carrying out my invention I construct a base plate a or box containing
straight, waving or zig-zag gill plates or divisions this plate or box being fixed level
with the hearth stone and communicating with and receiving its supply of air by
preference from the cellar beneath or from the outside atmosphere through suitable
openings or connections. Rising from this plate a is a cast iron shell b which
forms the back of the heating chamber and which is provided at the top with one
or more socket or spigot connections c for connecting a pipe or pipes d for leading
the heated air in any required direction and arranged at the back with a dust flue e
communicating at the bottom with the ash-pit and at the top with the flue.
This shell b is entirely open in front and is there enclosed by the grate back f
which is cast in one piece and with waving or aig-zag gills or plates g at the back
of each side or cheek and also with similar gills or plates right up the back to the
smoke flue h, which it will be observed is formed separately and distinctly from
the heating chamber and is fitted with a regulator or valve i for controlling the
draught.
In this manner a heating chamber is formed divided into a series of zig-zag or
tortuous passages through which the currents of air pass and thus become heated
on their way to the outlet pipes d. Upon the front of this casting fand facing the
fire, are recesses in which fire-clay tiles j are placed and held in position by a
removable OG mould K which is made to lift up and down so that the tiles may
be removed at any time without disturbing the grate.
In front of this grate-back f which is affixed to the back shell 6 by the counter
sunk screws m is affixed the face of the sham register or other grate-the whole or
part of which may be made removable so that by the withdrawal of the connecting
screws m the grate back can then be removed leaving the back shell 6 and all its
connections complete and undisturbed and whereby any repairs or cleaning out of
the heating chamber can be readily effected without disturbing any brickwork or
breaking connection with the hot air pipes.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the use of
waving or zig-zag gills for increasing the heating surface of the hot air chamber
herein before described and illustrated on the accompanying drawing as gills or

page_text: plates arranged to project into the heating chamber in any other well known
manner may be substituted nor do I make any claim to gills of any description nor
to a hollow chamber behind a fire-place for increasing the heating capabilities
thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :
-
Forming the back shell or plate of a heating chamber or fire back in one piece
with the socket or other connections for pipes for leading off the warmed air
whereby facility of access is afforded to the heating chamber substantially as
and for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated on the accompanying
drawing.