USRE446E - Improvement in furnaces for burning wet fuel - Google Patents

Description

fire-chambers, A A A.

'fuel to be used.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES THOMPSON, OF NEW YORK, n. Y.

Spccilcm ion'i'ormingpml ol' Letters latent l\'o. 12,678, dated April lll, 1355; Reissue No. 398, dated October 7, 15256,: Reissue No. 446, dated March 3l, 1857'.

To (LU whom, il; may concern:

Beit known that I, Mosns THOMPSON, for- -merly of Henrico county, and State of Virginia, and more recently ot' New Orleans, in thc State of Louisiana, but now ot' the city and State Ot' New York, have invented new and useful improvements in burning tan-.hark, bagasse, sawdust, andother kinds of fuel in a wet state, for the purpose of creating heat to generate steam, or to be employed in heating or drying olierations; andl hereby declare that the following is a full, clcar, and exactl vsponding parts'in the several figures.

The main object of my invention is to effect the more economical use for fuel of tan-bark, bagasse, or other trashy matters in a wet state, or very'green or wet wood.A

lo enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, l will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

rl`he f urn acc shown in the drawings has three Three is the num ber shown, as l' consider that number in many eases to be best adapted to practical operation. ln'some cases two may be sufficient, and in 'others more or less. In making these variations as to the number of chambers the builder is to be guided by the quantity ofheat required, size of chambers, and character of The fire-chambers are of a square, but may be of other form, with grate bottoms B B B and arched tops, or said tops may be used or built of any other form adapted to the kind of fuel 'robe used. They are separated by a wall of fire-proof material, and lined throughout with fire-brick, and in case of burning1 wet tau or bagassefire-brick grates should be used. Each burning-chamber is provided with a door, C, in front, for the purpose of lighting and tending the fire, with an opening, D, at the top, for the purpose of supplying the fuel, and wit-h an opening, E, at the back` end of the chamber, which leads to adapted to the application of said heat.

" the ilue For the mixingchamber. The opening may be'provided with a damper, K.. Each rechamber has a separate ash-pit, G, below it, which is' furnished with a door, H, to regulate the admission of air. The flue 0r mixingchamberF extends across the back of all the three `fire-chambers, Aand the chimney may be at one end, or. may be placed in the rear, with the flue Ileading to it from the flue F.

I f 'the furnace is used for generating steam, the best .placefor the boiler will be in flue l, which :willbe made of a proper size to receive andnearlysurrou'nd it. It' used for other purposes, any arrangement may be made best The thing` to bevheated ought to be placed a littie above the inside top of the mixing-chamber. The current from .the iniXing-chamber, in passing to the place of use, should descend or pass under. a bridgeto the place of use equal to about one-half of the depth of the mixingchamber, then l'rise to the place of use.

ln case of nearly dry fuel-I-,such as green wood and sawdustmthe. current should rise immediately afterv leaving the burning-chambers through the mixing-ehamber to the place of use, 'andy theilue E, leading out of the fuel chamber A into the'fi'ue or mixingchamber F, should beincreased to about threefold eapac ity of that used 'for very wet fuel, to be Varied in proportion to 'the wetness or dryness of said fuel. In case of bur-ning. of sawdust or green or wet-wood, the chambers should bea-bout double the grate-surface of what is commonly lall the iir'efchambers with dry fuel and the masonry heated to a high degree, two of the three chambers, AA', are fed with wet fuel and have their ash-pits closed and the damper KK partially closed, though this latter is not absolutely necessary. The other fire-chamber, having its charge partially dry, in the meantime has the damper -K open and the admit any quantity of air which may be recpiiredto promote such a degree of comf- `bustion as may be necessaryv to generate 4the amount of heat required. There should be no artificial blast, and it'v a high stack be used there should be a damper in it to moderate the draft.

When the lfuel in the open chamber is reduced to a desirable degree, its ash-pit is closed and the chamber recharged, and another opened and supplied with air. 'until the fuel within isreduced,v when `it is closed, recharged, and another opened', eachin its turn being opened and supplied with air to generate and supply the requisite amount of heat and carbonaceous gases, while the. others are closed and successively supplied with fresh fuel to 4heat andvdecompose `the same to such a degree as is desirable before allowing rapid combustion to take place. Each. vhre-chamber should be supplied successively with fuel at proper intervals by any convenient means, eitherthrongh the hole D or door C in front.

The principal advantage of a furnace and process of this description consists in heating the wet charge without unnecessary waste of'. heat, decomposing it into such gases as will, when mingled in the mixing-chamber with the products of combustion from the active chamber, canse the most perfect combustion of thegases and smoke to be effected. perfect combustion could not be effected in av single fire-chamber; but when two or morev fire-chambers are employed no interruption takes place and the object is readily attained. Another advantage consists in always holding a certain quantity of heat and highly-hcated fuel in reserve in the closed chambers, which maybe immediately brought into action by opening one or more of the chambers. A similar but inferior result might be produced byhaving several grates and-ash-pits to the same hre-chamber1 eachygrate lcharged successively'7 and its ash-pit for the time closed immediately after fresh charging to exclude the air. I have described this in my caveat, onwliich my application isbased, but do not use it because of-its inferiority in practice, although it involves my principle.A 'Y I After ample experiments I havediseovered that any results which can be produced by the use of dry fuel are inferior to Wetgin proportion to quantity userh and that .results like, mine Vcan only be attained" by the use of Wet fuel, similar to what I have herein mentioned,-

fed int-0 an intensely-heated chamber. Under This i such circumstances thewater in* the fuel in the presence of the carbonaceous substances in the furnace 'will be decomposed, giving its oxygen Vto the carbonaceous matter, dispens ing With a ldraft and itscooling 'and wastefulinfluence, and rendering the combustionso perfect that no smoke is visible.

In burningtan and sawdust where a large quantity of heat is to be made, in order to ksave the increase of their number I put the chambers in twice as vlong as wide, and use two openings, I), to feed through, and thereby accomplish doubleto each chamber.

I do not claim the Within-described arrangenient ot' a series of fire-chambers to communicate With one common flue irrespective ot' the purpose for-which, and the manner in which, I employ the said arrangement; but

' vlVhat I do claim as my invention, and desire lto secure by Letters Patent, is-

. tense heat by mingling the gases issuing from a highly-heated mass thereof withy those arising from carbonaceous combustion by the intervention of a flue or chamber, with which ltho chamber or chambers containing the :iire

and charge of wet substances communicate,

and. in which said gases meet, mingle, and consume each other on their'way to the apparatus to be heated. and to the stack.

2 The co1nbustion, for the purposes of a high degree of heat, of bagasse., refuse tan, saw'- dust, and other Wet refuse substance, or very wet and. green Wood, by thel employment of-a series of nre-chambers arranved in au r manner, substantially as described, to communil tinuous and comparatively uniform, while the fuel in some of the chambers is being heated and decomposed and its gases sent forward'to' the mixing-chamber to any desirable degree, as herein set forth.

MOSES THOMPSON, Witnesses:

JOHN J. vMURRAY,

HENRY FARRINGTON.

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