IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, AND IN HEATING AND UTILIZING CERTAIN PRODUCTIONS OF COMBUSTION
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHANN
STIERBA, of the Firm of Mess" Eisbrich and Co, of Prague, Bohemia, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of
May, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Johann Sherba, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Johann Sherba, my exors,
admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Johann Sherba, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES,
AND IN HEATING AND UTILIZING CERTAIN PRODUCTIONS OF COMBUSTION;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Johann Stierba,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Johann Stierba, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of improvements in the construction and arrangement
of furnaces for the purpose of obtaining a larger quantity of heat from the fuel
consumed, and producing (when required) a bright flame of considerable length
and intense heat without the aid of a blast, and also for the purpose of utilizing
the smoke and gaseous products of combustion as ordinarily conducted, by
causing the same to be burnt in the furnace, and thereby to increase the heat
evolved.
For the purpose of effecting these objects I construct and arrange various
parts of my improved furnaces so as to cause the fuel to be supplied to the fire,
and to be burnt in a peculiar manner, at the same time supplying air to the
fire at several places and in divided streams, and regulating the supply of air
in such manner that the fuel and the combustible products arising from it may
be effectually burnt. Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved
apparatus. Figure 2 is a plan in section on the line a, b, of Figure 1.
Figure 3, a sectional elevation as applied to a steam engine boiler. A, A, is
an open space of the peculiar form and construction shewn in Figure 1; it
forms a hopper or shoot for the gradual feeding of fuel to the fire. This con-
struction of hopper for feeding fuel is based on the following principle:
Suppose a hollow trapezoidal pyramid without a bottom, and of the form shewn
in Figure 4, were placed on a slanting surface and filled with coal, then on
raising up one side of the pyramid the coals would roll away on the slanting
surface as shewn. a¹ is a door, by means of which the hopper A, A, may be
wholly or partially closed when requisite. B, B, are the furnace bars, which
are inclined as shewn in the Drawing. These bars are of cast iron. Each bar
terminates in a separate handle ', by means of which, through the door D, it
may be shifted or withdrawn as required, or when desired to remove the slag or
pieces of cinder which may be too large to fall through the bars.
The thickness of the bars and their distance apart from one another will
of course depend upon the size of the apparatus. D is the fire-bridge. The
fire-place is cut away in a slanting direction at E, E, so as to slope upwards
from the bottom of the hopper A, A, to above the fire-bridge, as shewn in
Figure 1, thereby forming an open space leading from the hopper A, A, to
the fire-bridge, and regulating the admission of air entering at the outer end of

page_text: the hopper A, A. F is a door, furnished with a valve e, leading into a space G
below the sloping bars for regulating the admission of air to the fuel from
under the bars B, B. H is the ash-pit into which the ashes and smaller
cinders drop. I is a door to the ash-pit for removing the accumulated ashes
and cinders. J is a man-hole. K is one of four passages (more or less) leading
from the outer air into and immediately over the centre of the fire bridge for
the admission of air into the fire, or the combustible matters arising from it, for
the purpose of supporting the combustion and causing such matters to be more
effectually burnt. These air passages may be wholly or partially closed by
valves (k), one of which is shewn in the Drawing, so as to enable the stoker
either to regulate or stop the supply of air to this part of the furnace. L is one
of three or more passages for the admission of cold air, which need only be made
use of when required to check the fire or cool the furnace suddenly. The valves Z
are for closing these passages when not in use. The mouth of the hopper A, A,
is made small in order to prevent the admission of too much cold air through
it, and also to prevent very large lumps of coal or fuel being introduced. When
it is required to make a fire in the furnace a small quantity of "live coal " is
thrown into the hopper A, A, intermixed with pieces of crumbled fuel not
alight, and the whole of the hopper A, A, is then filled up with fuel, which
should be previously crumbled to allow of its passing into the hopper; the draft
of air passing from the open space G into the fuel from under the bars will
diffuse the flame from the live coals amongst the fuel in contact with it, and
and thereby ignite it, and as the fuel is gradually consumed a further supply
will slide down the hopper towards the fire, so that a continuous supply of fuel
may be maintained as long as needful, and the stoker has only to see that the
hopper A, A, is kept full of fuel. By looking through any one of the air passages
K the stoker may obscrve from time to time the state of the fire, and when
necessary may open the door D and shift the bars of the grate B; or if the
accumulation of slag or large cinders in the bars should intercept the draft
of air from below may remove the bars so as to allow the slag to fall into the
ash-pit. As the fuel slides down the hopper A, A, it will be gradually heated
as it approaches the fire, and the supply of air into the mouth of the hopper
must be so regulated that the current shall not be strong enough to prevent the
fuel being thus heated as it approaches the fire. The gentle current of air
which passes down through the fuel in the hopper A, A, will carry the smoke
and gaseous products proceeding from the fuel into the fire, where they will be
ignited, and, with the aid of the currents of air supplied to the furnace they
will be more or less perfectly burnt, according to the care taken in regulating

page_text: the currents of air, and they will thus become a source from which heat may
be obtained instead of being thrown into the atmosphere in an unconsumed
or imperfectly consumed state. The currents of air passing through the mouth
of the hopper A, A, the open space G, and the air passages K, K, may be so
regulated as to drive from the fire a flame of considerable length and intensity,
which may be made to pass under a boiler, and even be made to return and
pass through it in one or more tubes. The flame thus obtained may, if required,
be driven into a chamber or reverberatory furnace, or it may be carried away
by means of flues.or pipes, or be otherwise made use of for heating purposes.
The currents of air supplied to the furnace through the mouth of the hopper
A, A, the space G, and the air passages K, K, should be regulated exactly in
proportion to the quantity of burning fuel, and accordingly as a greater or less
degree of heat or length of flame may be requisite. In the Drawing, Figure 3,
my improved apparatus is represented as in connection with a steam engine
boiler, but it may be applied to heating boilers of other descriptions, or to
furnaces, ovens, kilns, or other heating apparatus or machinery, or to heating
purposes generally. And it may be made of stone, brick, or metal, as its par-
ticular adaptation may require.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim any of the
elements or parts which I have described separate or apart from the combina-
tion or application thereof, in manner herein-before described. And I claim
as of my Invention,―
Firstly, the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts for forming
an improved furnace capable of having the currents of air supplied thereto
regulated in manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, the application to furnaces of hoppers, of the particular shape
herein-before described for supplying fuel to such furnaces in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Johann Stierba, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Johann Stierba came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor
of the Statute made for that purpose.