US593539A - Stove or furnace grate - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

0. D. HOWARD. STOVE 0R FURNACE GRATE.

No. 593,539. Patented N'ov. 9,1897.

W/TNESSES /N VENTOR QM BY ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES D. HOWARD, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

STOVE OR FURNACE GRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,539, dated November 9, 1897.

Application filed April 5, 1897. Serial No. 630,790. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES D. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Stove and Furnace Grates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to grates for stoves and furnaces; and it consists generally in the form of the grate-bars and in structures and combinations by which the bars are rotated and by which they may be easily removed for repairs or to be replaced by new bars, as hereinafter described, and particularly set forth in the claims.

The principal objects of the invention are, first, to provide a grate with bars which shall possess both strength and durability and at the same time be sufficiently light to efiect a saving in material; second, to so construct the bars that their several sides may be alternately presented to the fuel in order that the weight of the fuel may tend to straighten the bars should they become warped or sagged, and, third, to provide for the ready removing and replacing of the bars and their proper rotation. These objects are attained by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved grate; Fig. 2, an enlarged view, in side elevation, of one of the bars detached, looking upon the edge of one of its wings and showing the manner of confining the rear journal end of the bars; Fig. 3, a side View of the inner face of one of the gear-wheels for rotating the bars; Fig. 4, a longitudinal vertical section through the front of the grate-frame and one of the gear-wheels, showing the manner of attaching the gear-wheel to the front journal end of the bar; and Fig. 5, a transverse section of one of the bars. I

Referring to the several views, the letter A indicates the bars, which are composed of three serpentine or sinuous wings a, which so merge into one another along one of their edges as to produce a core a, the surface of which, between two adjacent wings, is undulatory or wavy, being the resultant of the form of the wings at the points where they merge. Of course the form of the undulatory or wavy surface of the core may be varied within certain limits by changing the relation of the edges of the convex and concave surface of one Wing to the edges of the convex and concave surfaces of the other wings. The wings are provided with air-supply openings a of a size and position to meet the demands of the stove or furnace in which the grate is used, and the openings of each wing are preferably made to alternate with those of the other wings, so that there will not be more than two openings intercommunicating.

The purpose of the described form of bar is to permit the grate to be rotated in agitating the fire and in cutting out the ashes and clinkers from the lower surface of the bed of the fuel without removing a fuel-bearing surface from the fuel, one fuel-bearing surface following another without intermission in the rotation of the bars, and also to permit any side of a bar to be presented to the fuel that the weight of the fuel may tend to straighten the bar when it has become warped or sagged, and the purpose of the serpentine or sinuous form of the wings and the corresponding form of the core is to add to the strength and life of the bar by distributing the strain due to expansion and contraction equally to all of its parts.

That the bars may be rotated and readily removed and replaced I have devised a removable frame B, comprising a bearing-bar B, having open-top or half bearings b for the inner or rear journals of the grate-bars and a front bearing-bar B composed, preferably, of two fiat bars b 19 each having a half-bearing 17 in their contiguous edges for the outer or front journals of the grate-bars, together with suitable side bars 13 B connecting the rear and front bearing-bars. The flat bars I) b have their opposing sides inclined, as shown in Fig. 4, both having about the same inclination from their lower edges outward, butbeing in different horizontal and vertical planes, the upper edge of bar 6 being in the same horizontal plane as the lower edge of the bar 5 and the upper bar being farther away from the combustion-chamber than the lower bar, providinga vertical space between them substantially equal to the width of the gear-wheels O C (3 so that said gear-wheels when in their normal position are held against lateral movement by said bars.

The front or outer journals of the gratebars are provided with an irregular surface a preferably a collar with a laterally-extending projection, which coacts with the outer surface of bar I) to prevent inward movement of said journals and also coacts with an irregular surface a on the gear-wheels to prevent rotation of said gear-wheels on their journals, but will at the same time allow the journals to be withdrawn from their respective gear-wheels.

The gear-wheels are adapted to intermesh with one another, so as to rotate alternate grate-bars in opposite directions, and the end of one of the journals is extended and squared to receive a suitable operating-crank.

By forming the half-bearings in the upper and lower edges of the bars 12 19 respectively, I provide a closed bearing for the front journals of the grate-bars, and by the arrangement hereinbefore described I am enabled to readily disconnect the said bars from the gear-wheels and remove them from the grateframe.

The rear bearing-bar B rests beneath the fire-pot, as shown at D, preventing the vertical movement of the rear journals when the grate-frame is in its working position. By this construction the grate bars are held against expansion in the direction of their front journals, but have free longitudinal movement in their rear bearings, thereby preventing their buckling; and when it is desired to remove one or more of them for any reason it is only necessary to remove the grate-frame and then raise the rear journals until the collar and the projection a clears the lower bearing-bar, when the front journals can be easily withdrawn from the gearwheels, the inclined disposition of the bars I) b allowing the gear-wheels to be inclined for this purpose.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific construction herein disclosed, but claim the right of protection of all mechanical equivalents thereof.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A grate-bar substantially triangular in cross-section and comprising three serpentine or sinuous wings merging into one another along one of their edges, producing a core having an undulatory or wavy surface between the wings.

2. A grate-bar substantially triangular in cross-section and comprising three serpentine or sinuous wings suitably perforated, said wings merging into one another along one of their edges, producing an und ulatory or wavy core.

3. A grate consisting of a suitable frame, a series of grate-bars journaled in half-bearings formed therein, said bars substantially triangular in cross-section and comprising three serpentine or sinuous Wings merging into one another along one of their edges, producing an undulatory or wavy core, in combination with the fire-pot which projects over the rear journals to hold them in their bearing in the rear bearing-bar.

4. In a removable grate-frame, the combination of a rear bearing-bar, a front bearingbar consisting of two inclined faced bars with cooperatingbearings, said bars disposed one above the other and out of alinement with each other, gear-wheels situated between said bars and having an irregular surface adapted to cooperate with the bearing 1) and with the irregular surface on said gear-wheels, said bars being adapted to be withdrawn from the gear-wheels when their rear ends are raised.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES D. HOWARD.

\Vitnesses:

F. B. Moons, J. H. NORTON.

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