IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR ECONOMISING FUEL AND PREVENTING SMOKE IN BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND IN DOMESTIC AND SIMILAR FIRE_DIANDO
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicholas Black and Andrew Leiper, both of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR
ECONOMISING FUEL AND PREVENTING SMOKE IN BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES,
AND IN DOMESTIC AND SIMILAR FIRE_DIANDO "
Sealed the 1st December 1874, and dated the 10th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicholas Black and
Andrew Leiper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 10th June 1874.
We, NICHOLAS BLACK and ANDREW LEIPER, both of Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS
FOR ECONOMISING FUEL AND PREVENTING SMOKE IN BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES,
AND IN DOMESTIC AND SIMILAR FIRE-PLACES," to be as follows, that is to
say :—
This Invention relates to various arrangements or kinds of apparatus
designed to economise fuel and prevent smoke, and which can be used
separately or be combined in various ways, according to circumstances.

page_text: One improvement, applicable to ordinary boiler and similar furnaces,
consists in setting in the furnace space over the fire-bars a perforated
diaphragm of metal or of fire-clay or other refractory material. This
diaphragm, the best position for which may be found by trial in each
case, divides the furnace into two compartments, in the outer one of
which the fresh fuel is to be kept until partially consumed, being only
pushed into the inner compartment when incandescent. The diaphragm
is arranged so that it can swing to allow the fuel to be pushed inwards
under it in this way. With this diaphragm the incompletely burned
gases arising from the fresh fuel are compelled to enter the inner com-
partment in a series of jets mixed with the air necessary for their
combustion (which air may be admitted by the door or otherwise) and
their ignition and combustion are thereby better secured than in ordinary
furnaces. If desirable or necessary additional air may be admitted at
the bridge at the inner end of the furnace, such bridge being by
preference made as herein-after described.
The perforated diaphragm may be used with advantage in any
domestic or similar fire-place, which is either covered like a close cooking
range or can have the forward compartment covered by a plate con-
nected to the diaphragm, so that the gases and vapors from the fresh
fuel can be compelled to pass through an inner combustion chamber
containing incandescent fuel.
The perforated diaphragm may be double, so as to receive some air
from the ash-pit up through the firc-bars into the space between its
front and back.
When admitting air by a bridge at the inner end of the furnace, such
bridge is made hollow and open at the bottom, so as to receive air from
the ash-pit, and its front part is inclined upwards and backwards from
the fire-bars, such inclined front part being perforated for the issue of
the air in jets. The top of the bridge may also be perforated.
Another improvement consists in setting on the fire-bars, along the
middle, an open-bottomed shell of metal or fire-clay with inclined o
rounded sides and top, and with perforations above the level of the fue
on the bars. Air enters this shell from the ash-pit and also from it
front end, and issuing in jets and in a heated state thoroughly mixe
with the fuel gases and prevents smoke, at the same time producin
o coat heat and economising fuel. .
2

page_text: Perforated air shells, acting as last herein-before described, may be
made in various forms and be arranged in various ways in boiler and
other furnaces; whilst small ones may be introduced with advantage
in domestic and similar fire-places. One of the forms that may be
advantageously used is an arch-shaped tube set in two sockets.
Another improvement consists in providing an adjustable perforated
diaphragm in the ash-pit of a boiler or similar furnace, such diaphragm,
when the best position for it is ascertained by trial, serving to prevent
smoke and economise fuel by regulating the proportions of air passing
up through the fire-bars at different parts of their length.
By another improvement combustible gas, such as the commonly
wasted gases from coke ovens, or gas from what is commonly termed a
gas producer, is admitted through a perforated wall or a wall of open
brickwork into a chamber formed between such wall and a second
similar wall, and in this chamber the gas is thoroughly mixed with the
air necessary for its complete combustion by such air being by
preference injected into such chamber in a number of jets directed to
promote the mixture. The gas mixed with air in this way passes on
to a combustion chamber, in which it is ignited and it is applied to
heat a boiler, or for any other heating purpose. In the combustion
chamber it is preferred to maintain a small quantity of incandescent
fuel to insure ignition of the gases.
Any combustible gases or mixtures of completely consumed and
partially consumed or unconsumed gaseous matters or matters suspended
in gases, such for example as the smoke produced by many existing
furnaces may be utilised by being led through mixing and combustion
chambers arranged as last herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nicholas Black and Andrew Leiper in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 10th December 1874.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Nicholas Black and Andrew Leiper,
Her special licence that we, the said Nicholas Black and Andrew
Leiper, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Nicholas Black and Andrew Leiper, our executors, admini-
strators, 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 Arrange-
MENTS AND APPARATUS FOR ECONOMISING FUEL, AND PREVENTING SMOKE IN
BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES, AND IN DOMESTIC AND SIMILAR FIRE-PLACES,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Nicholas Black and
Andrew Leiper, our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Nicholas Black and Andrew
Leiper, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our said Invention relates to various arrangements or kinds of
apparatus designed to economise fuel and prevent smoke, and which
can be used separately, or be combined in various ways, according to
circumstances.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood we hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications of our improved arrangements and apparatus. In
these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same
or like parts wherever they are repeated.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings are longitudinal and transverse
vertical sections of part of a common type of land boiler with the
furnace 1 inside of a flue or internal cylindrical shell 2, and which is
represented as furnished with certain of our improvements.
One improvement applicable to boiler furnaces, such as that shown
in Figures 1 and 2, and to any other similar furnaces arranged so that
the fire gases pass from the inner end of a space extending over a series
of grate bars 3, consists in setting the furnace space 1 over the fire-
bars 3 a perforated diaphragm 4 of metal or of fire-clay or other
refractory material. This diaphragm, the best position for which may
be found by trial in different cases, divides the upper furnace space 1
into two compartments, in the outer one of which the fresh fuel is to
be kept until partially consumed, being only pushed into the inner
compartment when incandescent. The diaphragm 4 is supported on
trunnions at the side, so that it can swing to allow the fuel to be
pushed inwards under it in this way, and a rod 5 is connected to it for
adjusting it by. With this diaphragm 4 the incompletely burned
gases rising from the fresh fuel are compelled to enter the inner com-
partment in a series of jets mixed with the air necessary for their
combustion (which air may be admitted by the door or otherwise), and
their ignition and combustion are thereby better secured than in
ordinary furnaces. If desirable or necessary additional air may be
admitted at the bridge 6 at the inner end of the furnace, such bridge
being by preference made as herein-after described.
The perforated diaphragm 4 may be used with advantage in domestic
or similar fire-places, whether covered like close cooking ranges of the
kind shown in Figure 3, or otherwise arranged as in Figure 4, for
example, so that the gases or vapors from the fresh fuel can be com-
pelled to pass through the diaphragm 4, and through an inner com-
bustion chamber containing incandescent fuel. A diaphragm 4 is
shown in face and edge view in Figure 5, suitable for use in the
cooking range, Figure 3; and as in ranges of this kind the fire gases
proceed from the grate by a flue at the side over the oven, the
diaphragm 4 should be inserted parallel to the side of the oven, as
indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 3, and the fresh fuel be intro-
duced at the side further from the oven. The diaphragm 4 does not
reach down to the bottom grate bars, but is suspended by pivots or pins
above, so that it can swing to admit of the partly consumed fuel being
-

page_text: pushed under from one side to the other of it. The diaphragm 4 may
however if preferred be made to reach quite down to the bars, being
in that casc arranged to slide, or the incandescent fuel may be trans-
ferred over the top of it. In applying the diaphragm 4 to the fire-place
of the kind shown in Figure 4, it is hinged to the bottom of a
plate 7, which divides the upper part of the fire-box into two compart-
ments, to the inner one of which the smoke pipe is connected.
When applied to large furnaces the perforated diaphragm 4 may be
double, so as to receive some air from the ash-pit up through the fire-
bars into the space between its front and back.
When admitting air by a bridge 6 at the inner end of the furnace 1
such bridge is made hollow, as shown in Figure 1, and as also shown
on a larger scale in Figure 6, corresponding to which Figures 7 and 8
are enlarged transverse and horizontal sections. Air has access to the
interior 8 of the bridge from the ash-pit 9 through a door 10, which
can be adjusted to regulate the amount passing. The front upper
part 11 of the bridge is inclined upwards and backwards, and the
inclined part is perforated for the issue of the air in jets. The top of
the bridge may also be perforated as in modifications to be herein-after
described. The jet orifices in the inclined part 11 are directed forwards,
as shown, this arrangement having the important advantage of causing
the air jets to mix more completely with the gases from the fuel. The
orifices are by preference of a conoidal form, as shown, to strengthen
the jets. The hollow and perforated part of the bridge may be made
of cast iron, as shown in Figure 1, fire-brick being placed in front of
the unperforated part for protection from the intense heat, or it may be
made entirely of fire-brick, as shown in Figures 6 and 9, the latter of
these Figures showing a slight difference of construction which will be
casily understood from it.
Figure 10 is a plan, Figure 11 a vertical section, and Figure 12 a
front clevation of a modification of our improved furnace bridge as
made of fire-clay with air jet orifices at the top in addition to those at
the front. Figures 13, 14, and 15 are sections of other forms, and it
is an essential feature of such improved bridges that whether air jet
orifices are formed through the top part or not, there are at any rate
a number of such orifices directed forwards through the inclined front

page_text: Figures 16 and 17 are sections of modifications of our improved
bridges, as made of blocks of fire-clay, which are solid, excepting that
a number of air holes are formed through them, the directions of the
upper ends of these holes being made as much forward as possible.
In our Provisional Specification lodged with our application for the
heroin-before in part recited Letters Patent we described an improve-
ment consisting in setting on the fire-bars of furnaces along the middle
an open-bottomed shell of metal or fire-clay with inclined or rounded
sides and top, and with perforations above the level of the fuel on the
bars. We have, however, found from practical trials, that in order to
render such contrivances practically useful and sufficiently durable they
must be made as solid as possible and not in the form of thin shells of
metal or of fire-clay, because mere shells of metal or fire-clay will not
stand the intense heat existing in the centre of the fire. We therefore
make these air burners, as we propose to term them, of solid blocks of
fire-clay or other refractory material with holes formed through them
from their bases to parts just above the level of the fuel, and air enters
from the ash-pit and passing up through the holes issues in jets and in
a heated state, and mixing with the fuel gases prevents smoke, at the
same time producing a great heat, and economising fuel.
Perforated air burners, acting as last herein-before described, may be
made in various forms and be arranged in various ways in boiler and
other furnaces, whilst small ones may be introduced with advantage in
domestic and similar fire-places.
Figure 18 is a transverse vertical section of a good form of our
improved solid perforated air-burner block suitable for placing on the
fire-bars along the centre of a boiler or similar furnace.
Forms like the fire-bridge blocks shown in Figures 16 and 17 may be
placed along the sides of a furnace or in other positions.
Figure 19 is a vertical longitudinal section of a locomotive boiler
furnace showing a convenient and advantageous arrangement therein of
an air burner block 12.
Another improvement comprised in our Invention consists in pro-
viding an adjustable perforated diaphragm 13, Figures 1, 2, in the ash-
pit of a boiler or similar furnace, such diaphragm, when the best
position for it is ascertained by trial, serving to prevent smoke and to

page_text: economise fuel by regulating the proportions of air passing up through
the fire-bars 3 at different parts of their length.
By another improvement combustible gas such as the commonly
wasted gases from coke ovens, or gas from what is commonly termed a
gas producer, is admitted through a perforated wall or a wall of open
brickwork into a chamber or space formed between such wall and a
second similar wall, as shown for example in Figure 20, which is a
vertical section of a coke oven as constructed in connection with arrange-
ments for utilising the gases in our improved manner.
The gases
evolved from the coal being coked in the oven 14, pass through a
perforated wall 15 into a space 16 between such wall and a second
perforated wall 17, and in this intermediate space 16 the gases are
thoroughly mixed with the air necessary for their complete combustion
by such air being, by preference, injected into such chamber in a
number of jets directed so as to promote the mixing. In Figure 20 a
passage 18 is shown for the admission of the air from beneath, but it
may also be introduced from the sides, if convenient. The gases mixed
with air in this way pass on to a combustion chamber 19, in which
they are ignited, and employed to heat a boiler 20, or for any other
heating purpose. In the combustion chamber 19 we prefer to maintain
on a grate 21 a small quantity of incandescent fuel to insure ignition
of the gases.
Any combustible gases, or even mixtures of completely consumed
with partially consumed or unconsumed gaseous matter or matters
suspended in gases, such for example as the smoke produced by many
existing furnaces, may be utilised by being led through mixing and
combustion chambers arranged as last hercin-before described; and in
many cases a single perforated wall will be found very advantageous as
a means for promoting a thorough intermixing of air with the com-
bustible gases prior to or on their entering the combustion chamber, the
air being in such cases admitted or injected into the gases before they
pass through the perforated wall.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict our-
selves to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what
we believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured
to us by the herein-before in part recited. Letters Patent is,-

page_text: 1. The application and use in steam boiler and similar furnaces, and
in domestic or similar fire-places of a perforated diaphragm (4) placed
across the space over the fire-bars, substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
2. The application and use in a steam boiler or similar furnace of a
hollow bridge to the interior of which air has access, and from which
the air issues in jets directed forwards, as herein-before described.
3. The application and use in furnaces and fire-places of solid
perforated air burners of fire-clay or refractory material, as and for the
purposes herein-before described.
4. The application and use in a boiler or similar furnace of a
perforated diaphragm placed in the ash-pit, as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
5. The causing of combustible gases from coke ovens, or of any com-
bustible gaseous or suspended matters more or less mixed with incom-
bustible gases to pass through one or more perforated walls and to be.
mixed with the air necessary for combustion prior to entering a com-
bustion chamber or space, substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Black, on behalf of
myself and the said Andrew Leiper, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
5 Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
NICHOLAS BLACK. (L.S.)