128 UBPORT — 1853. 



verted into coke, charcoal, or cinders intensely hot." This plan, which is a very 

 obvious one — one, indeed, so obvious as to be the guiding principle in each one's pro- 

 per management of a parlour or study fire — has been much improved in more recent 

 patents ; as, for example, in that of Heel, described in the Report of the Parliamen- 

 tary Committee which sat on this subject in 1819-20, and again still further in the 

 patent of Brunton and some more recent engineers. The principle common to most 

 patents of this kind is the arrangement of a hopper or a feeding machine discharging 

 its supply of fresh fuel upon a shelf or ledge in the front part of the furnace, in such 

 a way as that the fuel so supplied shall gradually be converted into coke, the smoke 

 and vapour arising from which, being made to pass over the inclined surface of the 

 rest of the blazing mass, are gradually consumed before they reach the chimney. 

 When sufficiently baked or coked, the supply of fuel on the ledge or shelf is, by a 

 simple mechanical contrivance, pushed forward or shot out on to the surface of the 

 already incandescent body of fuel, and a fresh supply is admitted by the hopper or 

 feeding cylinder, to be acted on as before. Many advantages result from this plan : 

 a great saving of fuel is effected, because no portion of the carbon is left unconsumed ; 

 the great bulk of the surface of the fire is always in a highly heated state, for the gas 

 given off" from the coking fuel tends to keep up a constant blaze ; and, finally, the 

 chimney no longer ejects its dense volumes of blackening vapour, but serves to carry 

 off all the sulphurous and heated air, and helps to maintain the draught necessary 

 for the proper working of the furnace or fire. But it is asserted, on the other hand, 

 that this plan labours under the disadvantage of not keeping the whole surface of the 

 lire unimpeded (a matter of great moment where a boiler is to be placed immediately 

 above), and that the introduction of the draught above, necessary to direct the stream 

 of smoke from the baking coal, interferes with the draught from beneath, and so 

 diminishes the intensity of the heat. 



The second plan is employed with considerable effect in the pottery districts of 

 Staffordshire. In this arrangement, the grating of the fire-places is made to incline, 

 rising from the back towards the front of the furnace, at an angle of about 45°. By 

 this means, the mass of the burning fuel is kept away from the mouth of the furnace, 

 where there is only a comparatively thin stratum of incandescent material, through 

 which the air from beneath can find easy play. Immediately above this thin layer of 

 heated fuel, a horizontal slit is opened, by means of which a rush of fresh air is con- 

 tinually supplied from the exterior, and this, mingling with the now heated air from 

 below, traverses the body of the fuel with considerable velocity, and raises the tempe- 

 rature of the whole mass to such a degree, that every particle of smoke arising from 

 the surface is entirely consumed. The fuel is supplied at intervals, and with discri- 

 mination, from above, and is scattered equally over the whole surface of the fire by 

 means of rakers and other contrivances. The only objection to this, which is called 

 "Whalley's Patent," is the evident and enormous consumption of fuel; but as coal, 

 being mined in the neighbourhood, is extremely cheap, this does not constitute so 

 serious an objection, in those localities, as might at first sight appear ; and there is every 

 reason to believe thatif thissystemwereuniversallyadopted in the Staffordshire potteries, 

 the neighbourhood, which is now completely begrimed by the volumes, not to say torrents, 

 of smoke which are continually poured forth from the conical chimneys meeting the 

 eye in all directions, would be as cleanly and as fresh as any other locality, in spite of the 

 enormous amount of manufacture which would still be as effectively carried on. 



But by far the most popular of the expedients which have hitherto been 

 devised for consuming smoke is the agency of steam. It is extensively employed in 

 Glasgow and in the north generally, and is certainly deserving of the highest praise 

 for ingenuity and scientific aptitude. Ivison's Patent, which is the most effective ex- 

 ponent of this system, consists in the arrangement of a system of machinery by which 

 jets of steam are thrown through apertures of about ■jV*''' "^ ""^ '"'^l^ ''i diameter, 

 pierced in a kind of fan-shaped distributer, into the mouth of the furnace. The 

 quantity of steam thus admitted is very trifling, and being divided into comminuted 

 streams, it becomes rapidly mixed up with the rising smoke, and causes its speedy 

 disappearance. The theory of the process is more a matter for consideration with 

 philosophers than with practical men ; but the actual results are found to be of the most 

 encouraging kind. The draught of the furnace is enormously increased ; so much so, 

 as to render the tall ungainly chimneys which we so commonly see entirely unneces- 

 sary ; and the smoke is go perfectly consumed, that not a particle is visible arising 



