US90346A - Improvement in furnaces for steam and other purposes - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CORNELIUS H. DE LAMATER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES FOR STEAM AND OTHER PURPOSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 90,346, dated May Q5, 1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, C. H. DE LAM/ATER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Furnaces; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention is intended more particularly for the furnaces of steam-boilersin manufactories and other places on land, but may apply `to furnaces on Steamers, and to various furnaces other than those of steam-boilers. It provides for supplying fresh air in small streams above Jhe grate, previously heated to a high temperaure.

Many efforts have been made to effect the complete combustion of the volatile matter in fuel by supplying air thereto after its liberation from the solid particles, but al1 are subject to objection from various causes, not the least of which is due to the practical difficulties in the way of properly heating such air before its introduction and the great cooling effect and the liability to fail in inducing combustion when such air is introduced cold. I overcome the difficulty by my construction, which provides passages through which the air is drawn and heated without materially cooling the boiler, and without exposing any surfaces liable to injury from overheating, andina manner which is eminently practical and may be perfectly controlled.

I will first describe what I consider the best means of carrying out my invention, and will afterward designate the points which I believe to be new.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure lis a longitudinal, and Fig. 2 atransverse, section of a steam-boiler furnace constructed according to my invention.

Similarletters of reference indicatelike parts in both the figures.

A isa tubular boiler. B is the ordinary brickworkin which it is set. O is the grate on which the coal or other fuel is supported to be burned.

It will be understood that my invention may be used withany ordinary form of boiler and of grates and other accessories.

Iwilldesignatetheinteriorot'thefurnacebyM.

It will be understood that the heat near the fuel is very intense, and becomes gradually less as the heated products of combustion traverse along under the boiler and impart their heat thereto. At the rear end of the boiler, where the gases rise and enter the tubes to return, they are still very hot.

D is athin Wall of tire-brick, laid either fiat, as usual, or on edge, and forming a partition or side of the furnace.

N is a thin chamber exterior to the wall D, and lying between it and the main brick-work B. I admit the air to the chamber N at the rear of the combustion-chamber through the openings n, which are controlled by slides O. The fresh air, entering through the openings n, circulates through the thin space N, in contact with the hot partitionwall D, and moves along in this space under these conditions, constantly receiving heat from the wali D, until it arrives opposite the grate, when it enters the furnace through the small openings p. Entering under these conditions in small streams at a very high temperature, Athe currents cause the gases with which they mingle to ignite readily and burn at a high temperature,'thus yielding their full heatin g-power. In case from any cause the com bustible gases are not present, or in case they fail to ignite, the streams ot' fresh air thus admitted do not exert an;r appreciable cooling effect on the contents of the furnace. The caloric absorbed in thus heating the intlowing air is taken from the brick surfaces under conditions which render its loss iuappreciable. It simplysaves the outer brickwork of the furnace from becoming as highly heated as it otherwise would. No appreciable refrigerating effect is felt on the contents of the furnace. The furnace is everywhereiuclosed in fire-brick of sufficient thickness to maintain the inner surfaces ofthe brick at the ordinary high temperature. The quantity of air allowed to circulate through the furnace in this manner may be controlled perfect-ly by a slide, or series ot' slides, O. When these slides are nearly closed the quantity of air admitted will be very small. When very wide open the quantity will be increased. A blower or other extraneous means may be used, if desired, to

still further increase the quantity.

Instead of discharging the air into the furnace through apertures p at the sides ot' the furnace, these latter may be made in the bridge 0r mass ot' masonry which extends across the furnace immediately in the rear of the grates. In such case the bridge-wall is of coursemade hollow, and the air being admitted may be discharged into the furnace at the top or either side of the bridge.

I have designated the spaces beneath the boiler by the two names furnace and combustionchamber,the two spaces being neatly separated by the bridge-Wall.

I can discharge the air into the combustionchamber from the rear face of the bridge, but I esteem it notas good as discharging it directly into the furnace, because the heat is less intense in the combustion-chamber, andthere is more danger that the gas will not ignite, but the heat imparted by going through the thin y spaces N according to my invention greatly facilitates the combustion Wherever the air is discharged.

Wall D, induction-orifices n, and discharging-A oriees p, delivering the air thus heated into the innerchamber, M, above the grate, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto set my name in presence ot' two subscribing Witnesses. CORNS. H. DE LAMATER. Witnesses A. K. RIDER, J oHN O. STEVENS.

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