US1115802A

US1115802A - Locomotive fire-box.

Info

Publication number: US1115802A
Application number: US79490813A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frederick F Gaines
Original assignee: AMERICAN ARCH CO
Current assignee: AMERICAN ARCH CO
Priority date: 1913-10-13
Filing date: 1913-10-13
Publication date: 1914-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 1931-11-03

Description

F. 'P. GAINES.

LOGOMOTIVE FIRE BOX. APPLICATION FILED 001. 13, 191.3.

Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

' t} a ias/nae a ry-attire L.

COMPANY, BF NEE)? YORK, N. 3.,

meanest-via or cinders thrown from the locomotive stack.

A further object of my invention is to provide a construction by means of which the advantages of a dross wall or baflie can be added to a relatively short fire box or to a fire box having a relatively; small grate surface without materially decreasing the effective grate area.

My invention consists in a locomotive boiler the box provided with a rearwardly inclined bailie Wall at its forward end spaced from the flue sheet and occupying a relatively small portion of the forward end of the grate space, in combination with'means for holding the wall in inclined position, and a cinder outlet entering the space between the Wall and the flue sheet and projecting rearwardly beneath the wall.

My invention also consists in the association and arrangements of devices and parts by means of which the above and other objects are attained and all as hereinafter de scribed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more readily under stood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which:

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal vertical section of a fire box equipped with a transversely arranged bafile wall and embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fire box on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of the fire box on the line 33 of Fig. l; and Fig. i is a detail section on the line 41-4 of Fig. 3. a

The very great advantages which have accrued from the use of properly properv .tioned and positioned cross walls in locomo- Specificstion oi Letters Patent.

Application filed Scto'eei is, isle. Sterial in).

*I Z T. Ea tented bl teases.

apoli cation tive fire boxes has suggested the of such Walls tively'sniall size of the grate se render the installation impracticable. means of my invention however, I am en abled to install Walls in such fire boxes l obtain thereby such greatly increased etli money that the slight reduction in the grate area is more than counterbalanced by the increased eiiiciency of the fire box due tether application of my invention.

as shown in the drawings, a locomotive boiler fire box'A is usually made up of flue'sheet a at the forward end, rear sheet a at the rear end, side sheets a and a crown sheet a Flues a extend forwardly from the flue sheet. The rear sheet is provided with a fuel opening or door; a and the box is provided with a grate a of usual con- .struction. The function of a cross wall is, to prevent the direct Flow of the gases the libel bed to the fines and to cause them to be projected upwardly toward. the rear end of the fire box ror the purpose not only of baiiiing them in their escape from the fire thus causing themto be detained box and therein but also to cause them to flow over substantially the whole oi the inner surface of the fire box and thus most eiliciently give up their heat to the water contained in the boiler. ranged the wall in a peculiar manner for the purpose not only of usin the least amount of grate space for the support of the wall, but also for providin an auxiliary combustion chamber between the wall and the flue sneet of a-suiiicient capacity to elliciently aid in the complete combustion of the fuel in. the fire box before the products of combustion escape through the fines.

The arrangement of the wall and its support, which 1 have devised lends itself advantageously to the production of a hoppered chamber in which the 'cin'ders and solid particles of fuel which maybe carried upwardly in the fire box and over the wall by the strong draft employed can be easily and convepiently withdrawn from the tire box. To support wall in its position, 'i provide a metallic bridge or cross bearer which occupies the forwone i space and which redu 1. e area of the grate to a cer in t. o coun- Dion of the area of terbalance this redu grate, i provide a cross Wall with air inlet to fire boxes wherein the re'lamod to In the present instance I have an openings through which I am enabled. .to. supply air to the burning gases above the fuel bed and I am therebyenabled to burn as much or more fuel in the fire box having the contracted grate as it would be possible to burn in the fire box before my improvements had been installed therein. For. the purpose of reducing the space at the forward end of the grate, which it is necessary to use, for the support of the wall and the Withdrawal of the cindei s, to its least possible extent, I provide a construction of wall support, air inlet channel and cinder outlet by means of which I am enabled to arrange these features in such a way that they 00- cupy a minimum length of grate space.

In the form of my invention embodied in the drawings, B represents the cross'wall and I support this wall upon a metallic bridge G which is secured at its ends to the mud ring a of the fire box. This bridge or supporting member spans the ,fire box transversely and "is securely bolted at both of its ends to the fire box. This bridge member comprises a horizontal foundation plate :0 extending across the fire box, strength ened by means of a forward and a rear] plate 0 and c respectively,which depend from the foundation plate 0 and are rigidly secured in their ends ,to the sides of they fire box by means of bolts 0 The rear plate 0 is arranged vertically and the forward plate 0 is inclined forwardly toward the front water leg at of the boiler and serves to close the space between the front' edge of the foundation plate and the for; ward end of the fire box. TheCspace be? tween these plates forms a transverse channel or trough 0" adapted to permit the entrance of air into vertical channels provided in the wall B. I extend the rear wall a above the plate 0 and thereby provide a re taining ledge a on the rear edge of the bridge member. The wall B rises from the supporting bridge in an upwardly and rearwardly inclined position, leaning away from the flue sheet and providing thereby an auxiliary combustion chamber a between; the wall and the fiue sheet. The wall cornprises a plurality of horizontal rows of fire bricks b which are laid one upon the other to p'rovide a wall of suitable height. I sometimes make the top bricks b of the wall of larger dimensions than the other bricks and so associated with the others that they project from the rearface of the wall forming an overhanging ledge at the top of the wall. This ledge serves to bafile the gases as they flow around and over the wall and to cause the intermingling and the intermixing of the gases and thus aids materially in the complete combustion of the fuel. The bricks b are interlocked with the bricks upon which they rest by wide interlocking projections b and b and in ad- ."dition the bricks b are over-lapped by the upper ends of a metallic buck stay and are thereby held in position.

To maintain the wall in its inclined position, I-provide, in the form of Wall and support which I have illustrated in the what may be termed a metallic buck stay,c,.. This buck stay rises from the rear edge of the bridge member G and is conformed to the rear face of the wall B. As illustrated in Fig. 3, I-preferably divide this member vertically into two parts both for convenience in installing it and to prevent its destruction by expansion and contraction. I rigidl hold the buck stay plate 0 in position by bolting its lower end rigidly to the forward wall 0" of the bridge member by bolts 0 The bridge member and the buck stay plates thereby reinforce and strengthen each other, and I further strengthen the buck stay plate by providing its lower end with strengthening ribs 0 which project from the forward face drawings,

.thereof. This buck stay 0 serves to hold therearwardly inclined wall B in position and for the purpose of connecting the buck stay with the bricks of which the wall is built, I provide T-shaped ribs 0 vertically arranged on the rear face of the buck stay and extending from the lower to the upper end thereof. These ribs are spaced transversely of the fire box and receive one of the bricks 5 between adjacent ribs, and the bricks themselves are provided with suitable interlocking grooves 12 in their edges for receiving the ribs. It will be understood thatother means of. maintaining the wall in its inclined position may be devised without departing from the spirit of my invention v in so far as it relates to the installation of the cross Wall in a fire box in such manner that a minimum grate space will be occupied and an auxiliary combustion chamber provided. I prefer to keep the upper ends of the ribs 0 as indicated in Fig. 3, below the top of the wall so that they will be protected from the high temperatures of the fire box. I arrange the bridge member C very close to the forward water leg a of the fire box for the purpose of using aminimum portion of the grate space, and in order to provide a cinder outlet passage I arrange it somewhat above the surface of the grate. vThis construction provides room between the rear edge of the bridge member 0 and the forward water-leg for the installation of a cinder outlet 0. I'arrange the outlet 0 in the middle portion of the lower end of the inclined buck stay, and in order to be able to carry the cinder outlet downwardly to a point below the grate where it is convenient to discharge it, I- provide an elbow member' a secured to the forward wall 0 of the brldge member and leading rearwardly from the opening 0 beneath the bridge plate 0 encroaching somewhat upon the channel By means of this construction I am enabled to compress these devices longitudinally of the fire box and provide an efficient bridge member and a cinder outlet so arranged that combined together they occupy a relatively small part longitudinally of the grate space of the fire box. The wall B itself is provided with upwardly extending air channels b which extend from the lower end upwardly through the wall and are adapted to discharge air at the rear face of the wall below the overhanging ledge 6 The bearing plate (1 is provided with suitable openings (.1 through which air is admitted to these channels from the air channel and as the air rises through the passages If it is heated to a considerable extent before it is discharged into the firebox.

The forward face of the wall B and the flue sheet together with the side walls of the fire box form the auxiliary combustion chamber a! and to form a hoppered bottom therein I fill in this chamber at its lower end by means of inclined walls a at each side of the cinder outlet and the side sheets of the fire box, so-

, that the cinders which are deposited in the combustion chamber will tend to gravitate into the cinder outlet o from which they can be readily withdrawn. To preventthe air from flowing upwardly through the cinder outlet I provide a cover 0 for its lower end and which normally closes the lower end thereof and is adapted to be opened when it is desired to withdraw the cinders from the auxiliary combustion chamber.

It will now be understood that by means 3 of my invention, I am enabled to provide a cross wall in the fire box arranged in the ing and without encroaching upon the grate area to such an extent that the efiiciency of the fire box is reduced, but, on the contrary,

,the beneficial results arising from the improvements increase the efficiency of the boiler and materially reduce the quantity of sparks or cinders thrown from the stack of the locomotive.

chamber is divided from the main part of This latter result is materially aided by the fact that the auxiliary the fire box by a relatively narrow passagebetween the upper edge of the wall and the crown sheet, and as the gases of combustion flow into and expand inthe auxiliary combustion chamber their speed is reduced and this serves to cau'sethe gases to deposit the cinders and sparks carried thereby in the hoppered bottom of the auxiliary combustion chamber before they are carried or drawn into the boiler flues.

As many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not confine my invention'to the particular form in which I have illustrated it, or to the specific structures herein shown and described.

I claim:

1. In a locomotive boiler fire box a rearwardly inclined bridge wall arranged at the forward end thereof, a channeled wall-supporting member arranged at the forward end of the grate space and spaced slightly to the rear and above the lower edge of the flue sheet, an inclined buck stay arranged at the forward side of the bridge wall adapted to support same and extending downwardly and forwardly to the lower edge of the flue sheet, a cinder outlet entering the space between the bridge wall and the flue sheet through the lower end of the inclined buck stay and a cinder outlet passage extending beneath the bridge wall support and adapted to discharge the cinders from the space between the bridge wall and the flue sheet.

2. In a locomotive boiler fire box an inclined transverse refractory wall arranged at the forward end thereof and rising from the level of the grate upwardly and rearwardly through the fire box, and adapted to feed heated air into the fire box, a bridge member spanning the fire box adapted to support the wall in its position and provided with a transverse air channel on its under side adapted to feed air to the wall, a cinder out-let arranged between the lower end of the wall and the lower end of the flue sheet said cinder outlet extending rearwardly beneath the bridge member and into said air channel whereby the bridge member and the cinder outlet occupy a minimum space longitudinally of the fire box.

. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 1st day of Oct, 1913, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK F. GAINES.

Witnesses J. R. Kounrnn. lVrE. Davis.