Fan. 5, 1882] 
NATURE 
221 
ment worked by a lever at the side of the grate. The 
coal is thus coked before it comes into the fire, the only 
escape for the gases being through the glowing coals. 
Somewhat similar in some respects to this is the ‘‘ Won- 
derful” grate of Archibald Smith and Stevens. Inthis the 
fireplace is closed by an iron plate, in which are three 
rectangular openings one above the other. To the lowest, 
which is about the floor-level, the grate is fitted ; this, 
made of a basket shape, can be mcunted on a pivot in 
the plane of the plate, so that more or less of the grate 
may project into the room. Between the top hole in the 
plate and the upper half of the bottom hole is a flat- 
sided tube, which curves backwards into the fireplace. 
This is the hopper for the fuel; it is shut at the top by a 
close-fitting door, and the curved shape causes the fuel 
to descend easily into the fire. The centre opening of 
the plate is provided with a register door, and in some 
instances is covered with a hood. The arrangement of 
the hopper causes the gases evolved by the fresh coal to 
pass through more or less of the live coal before they 
can escape, and by closing the centre opening the whole 
draught is made to go down through the lower half of the 
bottom opening, causing a rapid combustion. Four of 
these grates are shown in action, with different sorts 
of fuel. They seem to require little or no attention for 
hours together, as the feeding arrangement appears to 
act well. 
A grate of the pattern which has been in use in barracks 
for the last two or three and twenty years is exhibited. 
This grate was devised by Capt. Douglas Galton. It 
consists of a cast-iron stove, entirely open in front, which 
is fitted to the chimney opening, leaving a considerable 
space between the stove and the brickwork at the back. 
Into this space air is admitted from the outside of the 
building. From the top of the fireplace recess proceed 
two flues; one, the ordinary chimney-flue, receives the 
covered smoke pipe from the stove, the other delivers into 
the room through a lowered opening a little below the 
ceiling level, the air which has been warmed in the 
chamber behind the stove, the back of which has iron 
plates projecting from it, so as to increase the heating 
surface. The cast-iron stove is entirely lined with fire- 
brick, in the manner to be described, so that the air does 
not get unduly heated. 
A little above the level of the fire the stove is gathered 
in towards the room so as to forma kind of baffle. The 
actual grate is formed as follows :—two fire lumps are 
placed on the hearthstone with a space between them of 
six inches or so, over which isa cast iron grid; the cheeks 
and back, all of fire-brick, rest on these first lumps; 
another lump of fire-brick of curved section underneath 
fits on the top of the back and cheeks, and underneath 
the gathered in part of the stove. Between the back fire- 
lump and the iron back is a space, and there is also a 
small opening between the back piece and the top piece, 
through which air heated at the back plays on the top of 
the fire and helps to consume the smoke. ‘This stove is, 
we understand, found to be very economical in action, 
and is very highly spoken of in the work of the late 
General Morin on Heating and Ventilating. It will not, 
however, be tested in this Exhibition, as it is not shown 
in competition. 
Messrs. Barnard and Bishop, of Norwich, have pushed 
the “ baffle’? principle still farther in their “‘ glow ” stove. 
Instead of coming only about half over the fire as in the 
Galton grate, the baffle consists of a fire-brick which 
projects nearly to the plane of the front bars of the grate, 
and slopes down slightly towards the front. The bottom 
of the grate, which slopes upwards, and the back which 
slopes backwards, are made of fire-brick in one piece, 
the front bars being the only ironwork about the grate. 
A flue which goes up behind the back opens to the fire 
just under the back edge of the baffle, the space under 
which and over the fire is thus converted into a combus- 
tion chamber in which the gases from the coals are burnt, 
and as these have to pass over the front of the baffle 
before going up the chimney the radiant heat from them 
comes into the room. 
Several grates are shown by different makers, in which 
the combustion of the gases is accomplished with a down 
draught. But in these cases the radiant heat evolved in 
the process cannot come into the room directly, as it does - 
in the case of the “ glow,”’ it is therefore lost in the case 
of a grate set in a fireplace unless it be utilised to heat 
air which is admitted to the room. A small open-fronted 
stove on this principle is shown by Mr, T. E. Parker, in 
which the combustion appears to be very perfect. The 
internal arrangement is too complicated to describe with- 
out a drawing, but the essential point is that the draught 
from the fire is led away at the back of the bottom of the 
grate into a flue lined with fire-brick, where it meets a 
draught of fresh air which has been warmed by contact 
with the underside of a ribbed plate which forms the 
bottom of the grate. 
Several examples of grates with down draught and 
chambers for heating air to be admitted to the room are 
to be found in the exhibition, as well as some in which 
the heating chamber or flues are applied to grates with 
ordinary up-draught. The warm air inlets are usually 
placed close to the fire, which is, in our opinion, a mis- 
take, as the general circulation of air in the room is not 
so much promoted by this arrangement as when the in- 
lets are at some distance from the fire; there are, how- 
ever, difficulties in so placing them in an ordinary 
living-room. 
A stove of a peculiar, and we believe quite novel, con- 
struction is shown by Mr. James B. Petter. The recess 
of the fireplace is lined with white marble ; in each jamb 
is a circular hole from which a pipe leads round to the 
chimney. The fire-box is mounted on legs with castors, 
so that it can easily be rolled in or out of the fireplace, 
and is provided with horizontal exit flue pipes at the sides 
which are connected with the openings in the jambs by 
sliding pieces. A vertical section of the fire-box from 
front to back is of open spiral or Nautilus form. The box 
is made of iron and lined with fire-brick from the lip to 
the top of the back, there being no bars either in the 
front or bottom. The coal is put on thinly at the lip, and 
gradually pushed back, as in stoking a steam-boiler. A 
rather sharp draught is produced over the red hot fuel 
towards the back, and the convolution of the box appears 
to form a kind of combustion chamber. It would seem 
that the difficulty of lighting the fire would be consider- 
able, but it appears to work well. 
We have endeavoured in this notice to give a slight 
sketch of such grates, &c., as present any salient features. 
We may have overlooked some which were deserving of 
notice, but we would earnestly recommend our readers to 
pay a visit to this very interesting exhibition, and to form 
their own opinion of the merits of the various apparatus 
shown. 
We may mention that representatives have been accre- 
dited to the Exhibition by the Governments of Austria- 
Hungary, France, Prussia, Saxony, and the United 
States ; and that the interest taken in it has encouraged 
the Committee to entertain the idea of holding an Inter- 
national Exhibition in about three years’ time of such 
further developments of smoke-abating appliances as 
may be produced either in this or other countries during 
the interval. 
THE CHEMISTRY OF THE PLANTE AND 
FAURE ACCUMULATORS 
ParT I.—Local Action 
MONG the important discoveries of late years, few 
have claimed so much attention, or have been so 
full of promise for practical use, as the accumulator of 
