IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIRES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander William Williamson, of University
College, Gower Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIRES."
Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 1st February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander William
Williamson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st February 1855.
I, ALEXANDER WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, Gower Street,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIBES" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the supplying common or open fire-places
with fresh fuel below the ignited fuel, in order to consume the smoke and gases,
(and it is preferred that the fire-places should have a dead plate at bottom in
place of being open.) For this purpose, I employ a shovel or scoop so con-
structed that when introduced below the ignited fuel it will displace or raise it,
and leave a space below for the fresh fuel contained in a chamber at the back
of the shovel, to be forced by a plunger or piston from the chamber into the
space so formed below the ignited fuel. The back part of the shovel or scoop
is covered, so as to form a chamber to contain the fuel; in this chamber a
piston is caused to slide to and fro by a rod which passes through the hollow
handle of the shovel or scoop; the front end of the shovel or scoop is hinged,
and when introduced between the bars of a fire-place or under the ignited fuel,
so.

page_text: its position forms a wedge shape to the end of the shovel or scoop, so as to
raise the ignited fuel; and when the contents of the chamber of the shovel or
scoop are discharged into the space thus formed under the ignited fuel, by
forcing the plunger outwards the hinged part will be raised to a level with the
cover of the chamber, and the shovel or scoop may be withdrawn, leaving
the fresh fuel behind it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander William Williamson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, Gower Street, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexander William Williamson, Her special licence that I, the said
Alexander William Williamson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander William Williamson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
FIRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
William Williamson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 I, the said Alexander William Williamson, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object the supplying common or open fire-places
with fresh fuel below the ignited fuel, in order to consume the smoke and gases,
and it is preferred that the fire-places should have a dead plate at bottom in

page_text: structed that when introduced below the ignited fuel it will displace or raise it,
and leave a space below for the fresh fuel contained in a chamber at the back
of the shovel, to be forced by a plunger or piston from the chamber.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side view of an apparatus constructed according to my
Invention; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section thereof. a is a tubular handle,
on which the shovel 6 is fixed. The shovel is partly enclosed on two sides, and
also at its under side, and the enclosed part has within it a piston c with a
piston rod d sliding in the hollow handle a. On the sides of the shovel are
inclines b', inclining from the enclosed portion of the shovel towards the front
end or edge thereof, as shown. In order to use this shovel, the enclosed
portion thereof is to be filled with coals, and the front edge of the shovel is to
be forced in under the fuel in the fire-place, and by reason of the inclined sides
of the shovel, the upper surface thereof will assume an inclined position. The
handle a is then to be depressed, so as to bring the upper surface of the shovel
to a horizontal or somewhat beyond the horizontal position, by which the fire in
the fire-place will be raised from the bottom, and leave a vacant space above
the bottom of the fire-place, into which space the coal in the enclosed part
of the shovel may be then forced by the piston c; thus the fresh fuel will be
supplied below the well-ignited fuel previously in the fire-place.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
arrangement or construction of shovel herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander William Williamson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
ALEXR W. WILLIAMSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.