IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING STOVES AND RANGES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and
Company, Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING STOVES AND RANGES." A communication from
abroad by William Augustus Greene, of Elizabethport, New Jersey, United
States of America. Manufacturer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th November 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Company, Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING STOVES AND
RANGES." A communication from abroad by William Augustus Greene, of Elizabeth-
port, New Jersey, United States of America, Manufacturer.
This Invention relates to stoves for culinary purposes, adapted for burning
bituminous coal or fuel rich in hydrocarbon, its object being to prevent as far as
possible the formation of smoke and the collection of soot.
The said Invention consists partly in providing the fire-box or combustion.
chamber with a pendent partition of some suitable refractory material arranged
between the charging door and the flue, whereby the "green" fuel may be in some
degree separated from that portion which is in a state of active and advanced com-
bustion, thus permitting the fuel to give off its more volatile compounds of carbon
and hydrogen at a comparatively low temperature and compelling them to pass
through the incandescent fuel in the more advanced chamber, whereby they are
combined, and the escape of free carbon in the form of soot and smoke is
prevented:
The said Invention also consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of
the parts and their various novel combinations, all of which will be more fully
hereinafter set forth.

page_text: gei norizontal section of the same on the the y, y, figure 1.
Figure 3 is a front elevation of the same.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken below the fire-bed on the line 2, 2,
Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a plan of the broiler.
A represents the body or walls of a stove; B, the oven; and C, the flue around
the latter. These parts are, generally speaking, arranged as in an ordinary cooking
stove.
The fire-box or combustion chamber is partially divided by a pendent partition D
into a primary chamber E and a secondary chamber F, the former of which receives
the fuel and cokes it, and the latter completes the combustion begun in the
former.
The fire chamber or box is lined at the sides with plates or tiles of refractory or
incombustible material a, a, and these are recessed to receive the ends of the
partition D, which may be of the same material. The fire-bed b is very large pro-
portionately, and is composed of perforated sections arranged side by side or
approximately so, and capable of removal where impaired or injured by excessive
heat. G is a perforated door which is unsupplied with a register, as the proper
amount of area is given to the openings in the construction. Just below the hinges
of the doors are holes d, d, through which may be passed the slicing bar or poker e
as indicated, the said poker being flattened on the end and spread out; its use will
be explained further on.
Below the said door on both sides and front are registers f, f, by which air is
admitted under the fire-bed. H is the ash pan which may be cleaned out by
removing the cover g on the hearth in the usual way. The top of the stove is
provided with the usual cross partitions and circular openings, those marked h being
over the front fire chamber, and those marked i over the rear chamber. Having
described my Invention thus far I will proceed to explain its operation.
The fire is started under the partition D which is shewn as extending down about
one half the way from the cover to the fire bed. The fuel, usually bituminous or
soft coal, is fed into the chamber E at the door G or at the top as may be preferred.
It takes fire at the back first, but as tlie temperature increases it becomes charred or
coked, losing its hydrogen and free carbon. As it becomes coked more or less
perfectly it is pushed under the partition into the chamber or part F where it
combines with the constantly incoming current of oxygen from the air and becomes
incandescent, its fixed carbon combining with the oxygen without smoke, or with
very little smoke. In the meantime "green" or uncoked coal is fed in at the door
as needed to supply, the place of the coked coal pushed forward. By reason of the
partition D the draft tends downwards through the fuel in the chamber E so that
no smoke will rise from it even if the covers h be removed, while the hydro-carbons
set free in coking are compelled to pass through the incandescent mass in the
chamber F and are decomposed and combined with the heated oxygen before they can
reach the outlet pipe j'or the flue C. Thus the free carbon of which the soot and
the visible parts of the smoke are composed is all combined and passes off amid
the invisible products of combustion.
Normally the temperature is not nearly so high in the part E as in the part F,
and therefore the cook or operator is enabled to use either for his purposes as he
may require a higher or lower temperature. However, the fire may be permitted to
burn back into the primary chamber to some extent if desired, and the temperature
therein raised. This may be varied or regulated to suit the circumstances of the
case.
The partition D is preferably set at an angle as shown to avoid choking up the
passage or entrance into the chamber F, and the lower back corner may for the
same purpose be rounded as shown at k. The partition might however stand
perpendicular or nearly so without serious detriment. I is a chamber over the

page_text: oven B, in the roof of which are a series of holes l, l, which serve the double purpose
of permitting the dust and ashes carried up by the draft to sift through into the
said chamber, and to let a current of air which enters the chamber at the side
doors m, m, escape into the combustion chamber just anterior to the exit j. This
air mixes with the heated unconsumed gases, mainly carbonic oxide, and combines
with them and such particles of free carbon as may have passed uncombined.
An ordinary damper n is used to direct the current of products of combustion
either up the pipe j or around the oven as desired, their course being indicated by
the arrows. It will be observed that the fire bed b consists of a perforated plate
which admits the air from below in fine jets throughout its entire surface. This
construction compels the stirring of the fire from above by means of the poker c,
and the smooth upper surface of the fire bed facilitates the operation greatly; the
margins of the holes d, d, serving as fulcrums in using the poker as a lever to break
up the caked mass of fuel. The poker e also relied upon for jarring or forcing the
ashes down through the perforations in the fire bed into the asli pan. O designates
a broiler of the usual construction having a cup Q attached to the handle P below
the broiling iron or meat holder. This broiler Ō is inserted through the door G into
and across the chamber E, and so inclined that the broad end will rest upon the upper
part of the partition D, and the handle will rest on the front wall of the stove (as
shewn by dottted lines in Figure 1) and be held in place and precluded from
slipping out by means of a finger or projection R extending from the handle of the
broiler O just above the cup Q. When the broiler is inserted into the chamber E
this projection R will rest against the inner wall and securely hold it in position.
The advantage of this broiler, as used in combination with the said improved
stove, is that the smoke and gas created by the broiling of meats will be carried
away through the exhaust ; to the chimney instead of escaping into the room as is
the case when broiling is done over an open fire.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. In a stove or range for culinary purposes an elongated fire-box or chamber
divided into two parts by means of a transverse pendent partition of refractory
material, so arranged as to permit communication between the two only underneath
the same, as above set forth.
Second. In a stove or range for culinary purposes the fire-box or chamber pro-
vided with a pendent partition arranged transversely across the same between the
stove door and the smoke or gas exit, and arranged to cut off communication
between the two divisions except under the bottom of the same, as above set
forth.
Third. In a stove or range for culinary purposes a pendent partition arranged
transversely across the fire box to divide it in two parts, the said partition being so
inclined as shewn to give the chamber E a hopper shape and avoid choking the
passage from the chamber E to F, as above set forth.
Fourth. The combination of the refractory side lining plates with the refractory
partition, the ends of the latter being arranged to rest in recesses in the former, as
above set forth.
Fifth. The refractory partition having its lower posterior edge rounded or bevelled
and arranged to stand inclined in the fire chamber with its lower edge to the frout,
as above set forth.
Sixth. The fire-bed composed of sections of evenly or uniformly perforated plates
and in combination with the partition D, and the stove holes arranged on opposite
sides of the said partition, as above set forth.
Seventh. The perforated door in combination with the perforated fire-bed and the
pendent partition, all arranged as above set forth.
Eighth. The chamber I provided with a door or registered aperture m and
apertures 1, 1, in its roof in combination with the fire-box or chamber divided into
two parts, all as above set forth.

page_text: Ninth. The combination of the fire box or chamber, divided into two parts by
means of the partition, with the oven and the flue arranged around the same, as
herein set forth.
Tenth. The holes d, d, arranged one on each side below the door and above the
surface of the fire-bed for the reception of the poker, as shown and described.
Eleventh. The combination of the perforated bed having a smooth and flat
surface, the hole or holes d, d, and the poker e having a flattened end, arranged and
operating as above set forth.
Twelfth. The combination with the said improved stove of the broiler having
the cup and finger or projection, as and for the purpose herein shown and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy eight.