220 
“NATURE 
Jin" Om 
“pokeable” nor very ‘‘companionable,” and we are 
afraid that the very unpleasant fumes of burnt gas— 
caused, we suppose, by so many of the gas fires shown 
not being provided with flues—which pervade this portion 
of the exhibition when the gas apparatus is shown, must 
prejudice visitors very much against the use of these very 
valuable appliances. 
Dr. Siemens’ coke and gas fire, which has been so 
recently described in these columns, is shown by several 
exhibitors. It is necessarily free from visible smoke, and 
almost so from dirt and dust, and it is very manageable ; 
that is to say, by altering the supply of gas the heat may 
be easily and quickly regulated. How far it is free from 
the noxious fumes which usually seem to accompany the 
combustion of coke or smokeless coal in a room cannot 
be judged in the exhibition. 
The same remark applies to the many grates shown for 
burning anthracite and smokeless coal. Many of these 
look very nice ; a bright, hot fire is obtained which almost 
comes up to Sir F. Bramwell’s standard. It seems to us, 
however, that anthracite fires are not very manageable ; 
the fire must burn at one rate, and the fuel must be sup- 
plied accordingly ; you cannot quickly get up a hotter fire 
by the use of a poker, as is so easy with bituminous coal, 
nor can you so easily reduce the fierceness of the fire as 
can be done with so many grates in which bituminous 
coal is burnt. The absence of smoke is, however, a very 
great advantage, and unless this can be attained, or nearly 
so, with bituminous coal, we ought to be prepared to give 
up the luxury of its use. 
There are two methods by which it appears possible to 
reduce very considerably, if not to prevent entirely, the 
production of smoke in domestic grates. One is to supply 
the coal to the fire in such a way that the smoke and 
gases escaping from the portion last supplied may pass 
through the live coals and so be consumed ; the other is 
to introduce a draught of hot air at the top of the fire, 
there to meet and consume the smoke and gases given off 
by the newly-supplied coal. 
Dr. Arnott’s stove is a type of the first method. In it 
the coal for the day’s use is put into a box underneath 
the grate, which latter has no bottom ; by means of a 
lever the bottom of the box is raised, and fresh coal 
pushed into the fire as required. There is thus no escape 
for the gases given off by the fresh coal but through the 
hot part of the fire. These stoves, however, have never 
come into very common use. We believe that they are 
not found to be pleasant in a room, and that the reason 
of this is that although little or no smoke is given off, 
there is not sufficient.air admitted to the fire to burn the 
carbonic oxide produced, the grate being closed at the 
bottom, sides, and back, and the front being narrow. No 
stove of exactly this description is shown in the exhibition, 
though there are several in which the principle for getting 
rid of the smoke is adopted. Messrs. Brown and Green, 
of Luton, Bedfordshire, show a register stove for bitu- 
minous coal (and a kitchen range on the same principle), 
in which the coal is supplied to the fire by a kind of 
trough or shallow hopper placed in front of the bottom 
bars, from which the coal can be pushed into the fire, to 
facilitate which operation the bottom of the grate is made 
to slope upwards towards the back. Mr. Engert places a 
box for the fuel at the back of the grate. This box has a 
sliding back worked by a screw underneath, by which 
means the fuel is pushed forward into the fire as required. 
He thus secures a wide front for his fire, and less depth 
of live coal than in Dr. Arnott’s stove. By means of a 
kind of baffle plate hung at the back of the grate the 
gases issuing from the coal-box are deflected into the fire 
instead of going up the chimney. The coal-box can be 
recharged if necessary without actually putting out the 
fire. It appears possible to adopt this arrangement to an 
existing grate of ordinary form at comparatively small 
expense. 
Messrs. Martin and Co. seek to attain the same object 
by having movable cheeks to the grate, which work 
horizontally inwards by levers. The coal being put on at 
the sides is gradually pushed in by this means towards 
the more active part of the fire. The back plate of the 
grate has a space behind, and is perforated in the centre 
so that heated air is thus admitted at the centre of the 
back of the fire to assist in the combustion. 
‘Thompson’s patent consists in having the front of the 
grate made so as to slide upwards a few inches. The 
bottom of the grate consists of a plate of iron and is fixed. 
For the purpose of putting on fresh coals a tool is used 
consisting of a sheet of iron of the same shape and size 
as the bottom of the grate, hinged to a rod somewhat like 
an ordinary poker at a distance from its end equal to the 
height from the hearthstone to which the front of the 
grate rises. The iron plate being pushed in between the 
coals and the bottom of the grate with the rod in an in- 
clined position, the handle of the latter is pushed for- 
wards, the whole body of the fire and the front bars are 
thus lifted a few inches, and the fresh coal is put in 
between the two plates; the implement being withdrawn, 
the front of the grate falls again to its proper place, and 
the live coals come in immediate contact with the fresh 
coal underneath it. The back of the grate is perforated, 
so as to admit heated air to the fire. This arrangement 
could probably be adapted to many existing grates, with- 
out very great expense. 
Saxon Snell’s patent consists of a cylindrical grate 
mounted ona very strong horizontal pivot at the back, 
and in the line of its axis. At opposite sides of the 
perpihery are two grated doors which are hinged to the 
back edge of the grate; the uppermost one is opened, 
and lies back against the chimney-back. When fresh 
coal has been put on, the upper door is shut and fastened, 
and the grate turned half round, so as to bring the other 
door to the top, and the live coal above the fresh coal. 
We believe that the combustion in this grate would be 
improved by some holes in the back through which heated 
air might be admitted near the top of the fire, and these 
could easily be made. 
The grate shown by E. R. Hollands, of Newington 
Green, is rather more complicated than some of those 
which we have described ; but its performance appears to 
be good. A movable set of bars fit in between the fixed 
bottom bars of the grate ; and the lower part of the front 
is made to open forwards and downwards. A neatly- 
devised motion worked by a lever at the side of the fire- 
place raises the movable bottom bars, and with them the 
fire, and opens the lower part of the front, the fresh coal 
being then placed between the two sets of bars, the return 
of the lever to its place causes the front of the grate to 
shut and the movable bottom bars first to recede through 
the back, and then, having fallen below the level of the 
fixed bars, to come forward and up again into their 
original place. The back of this grate is hollow and is 
pierced with small holes at about the level of the top of 
the fire. The combustion effected by the hot air passing 
througb these holes is clearly visible. 
In the slow combustion grate of Fredk. Edwards and 
Son, which is shown in action, the “ Arnott” principle is 
made use of, but instead of the bottom being movable, a 
counterbalanced shutter works vertically in front of the 
grate, which is very deep. The latter being filled and the 
fire lighted from the top, the shutter is adjusted from time 
to time, so as to obtain the requisite amount of fire, by 
exposing more or less of the front of the grate. f 
Messrs. Musgrave and Co., of Belfast, besides several o 
their well-known “slow-combustion” stoves, show a fire” 
place which they call the “ Ulster.” In this the coal is 
fed into the back of the fire from a hopper placed behind 
the chimney-back, in which is a close-fitting door for 
closing the opening through which the hopper is filled. 
The coal is pushed forward into the fire by an arrange- 
[Fan. 5, 1882 
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