IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES FOR ECONOMIZING THE FUEL EMPLOYED FOR WARMING, HEATING, AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Urquhart, of Rickmansworth, in the County
of Hertford, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES FOR ECONOMIZING THE FUEL
EMPLOYED FOR WARMING, HEATING, AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 30th October 1866, and dated the 2nd May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Urquhart at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd May 1866.
יד,
I, DAVID URQUHART, of Rickmansworth, in the County of Hertford,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES FOR ECONOMIZING THE
FUEL EMPLOYED FOR WARMING, HEATING, AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is principally to economize the consumption of
fuel, or rather to obtain therefrom the largest possible amount of heating
power, and at the same time to effect perfect ventilation of the room or

page_text: building in which the furnace or fire-place is placed. To this end the furnace
is constructed partly in masonry or brickwork and partly of iron. The fire-
place is by preference sunk below the level of the floor, so as to prevent the
loss of the heat generated by the escape upwards of the air. The upper part
of the furnace is enclosed entirely by means of a semicircular or curved
radiating plate made by preference of sheet iron or steel. The fuel is fed in
from behind through a tubular opening made in the back wall and hermeti-
cally closed by means of a sand joint and metal cover when not in use for
feeding the fire. Air to support combustion passes from the lower part of the
room through a grating into the ash-pit, and from thence up between the fire-
bars to the burning fuel. The semicircular or dome-shaped radiating plate
above forms a capacious hot-air chamber, in which the gases evolved from the
fuel will be effectually consumed, and in so doing will give out a great amount
of heat, a great portion of which will be radiated from the dome-shaped plate.
The incombustible gases and heated vapours will pass off from one end of the
furnace and be conducted along flues, from which a further portion of the
caloric will be given off by radiation to the surrounding air, or will be
absorbed by the materials of which the building is composed. At the opposite
end of the furnace is a door, whereby access may be obtained through the
ash-pit to the interior of the furnace. Above the dome-shaped radiating
plate may be placed another curved radiating plate in an inverted position, so
that the heat which is thrown upward from the first radiating plate may be
projected forward or in a downward direction into the room by the second
radiating plate. By this arrangement of parts a far greater amount of heat
can be obtained from a given amount of fuel than by any of the systems now
employed for heating buildings, whilst a much larger proportion of the heat
thus generated will be retained for use than heretofore, thereby obtaining for
the purposes of life the whole of the caloric evolved from the fuel consumed,
whereas at present only a portion of the heat is usefully applied, a large
proportion of the heat being utterly lost and wasted by the escape upwards of
the heated air.
By my improved construction and arrangement of furnace I am enabled to
produce a perfect ventilation and effect a considerable economiy in fuel by
causing the air to descend from above and pass to the fire by the interior
suction of the furnace and by closing all other apertures and making the doors
of the apartment open outside. The window and doors are made as air tight
as possible, and the air is admitted at the top or near the ceiling of the apart-
ment through suitable apertures or valves prepared for the purpose, so that
perfect control over 'the' ventilation may be obtained thereby, and no air is

page_text: admitted to pass through the flues and chimnies except exactly that quantity
which is requisite for the discharge of the incombustible gases evolved from
the fuel. If desired the stove or furnace may be made with double radiating
surfaces, that is, with radiating plates front and back, provided it be con-
veniently situated for such an arrangement. In such a case the feeding
aperture for the fuel must be differently placed, and some of the other parts
must be somewhat modified to suit the altered arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Urquhart in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID.
URQUHART, of Rickmansworth, in the County of Hertford,, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto-
me, the said David Urquhart, Her special licence that I, the said - David
Urquhart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the-
said David Urquhart, my 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 CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES FOR ECONOMIZING THE
FUEL. EMPLOYED FOR WARMING, HEATING, AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS," upon.
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Urquhart, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said David Urquhart, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is principally to economise the consumption of
fuel, or rather to obtain therefrom the largest possible amount of heating
power, and at the same time to effect perfect ventilation of the room or
building in which the furnace or fire-place is placed.
The manner in which I propose to effect this object is shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a
transverse section of a furnace constructed according to my Invention; it will
be seen that the furnace is constructed partly in masonry or brickwork, and
partly of iron. The fire-place a is by preference sunk below the level of the
floor, as at b, so as to prevent the loss of the heat generated by the escape
upwards of the air. The upper part of the furnace is enclosed entirely by
means of a semicircular or curved radiating plate c, made by preference of sheet
iron or steel. The fuel is fed in from behind through a tubular opening
d, made in the back wall, as shewn at Fig. 2, and is hermetically closed by.
means of a sand joint and metal cover d when not in use for feeding the
fire; Fig. 3 is a front elevation, and Fig. 4 an end elevation of a furnace
in which the feeding aperture d is placed at the side or one end of the
furnace; air to support combustion passes from the lower part of the room
through a grating e, Fig. 1, into the ash-pit f, as indicated by the arrows, and
from thence up between the fire-bars a¹ to the burning fuel. The semi-
circular or dome-shaped radiating plate c above forms a capacious hot-air
chamber, in which the gases evolved from the fuel will be effectually con-
sumed, and in so doing will give out a great amount of heat, a great portion:
of which will be radiated from the dome-shaped plate c into the apartment.
The ineombustible gases and heated vapours will pass off from one end of the
furnace through an opening 9, Figures 1 and 2, and be conducted along flues
from which a further portion of the caloric will be given off by radiation to
the surrounding air or will be absorbed by the materials of which the building
is composed; at the opposite end of the furnace is a door h, whereby access
may be obtained to the interior of the furnace. Above the dome shaped
radiating plate may be placed another curved radiating plate in an inverted
position, as at i, Figure 2, so that the heat which is thrown upward from the
first radiating plate c may be projected forward or in a downward direction
into the room by the second radiating plate. By this arrangement of parts
a far greater amount of heat can be obtained from a given amount of fuel
than by any of the systems now employed for heating buildings, whilst a
much larger proportion of the heat thus generated will be retained for use

page_text: than heretofore, thereby obtaining for the purposes of life the whole of the
caloric evolved from the fuel consumed, whereas at present only a portion of
the heat is usefully applied, a large proportion of the heat being utterly lost
and wasted by the escape upwards of the heated air into the exit flue.
By my improved construction and arrangement of furnace I am enabled
to produce a perfect ventilation and effect a considerable economy in fuel
by causing the air to descend from a ventilator; above, and pass to the fire
by the interior suction of the furnace, and this ventilation may be still further
secured by closing all other apertures and making the doors of the apartment
open outside. The windows and doors are made as air-tight as possible and
the air is admitted at the top or near the ceiling of the apartment through
suitable apertures or valves, as at j, prepared for the purpose, so that perfect
control over the ventilation may be obtained thereby, and no air is admitted
to pass through the flues and chimnies except exactly that quantity which is
requisite for the discharge of the incombustible gases evolved from the fuel.
If desired, the stove or furnace may be made with double radiating surfaces,
that is, with radiating plates front and back, provided it be conveniently
situated for such an arrangement; in such a case the feeding aperture for
the fuel must be differently placed, and some of the other parts must be
somewhat modified to suit the altered arrangement.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I claim as my Invention the mode herein set forth
of constructing furnaces or fire-places employed for warming, heating, and
ventilating buildings, whereby a considerable economy of fuel is effected.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Urquhart, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
D. URQUHART. (LS.)