US426648A - Means for cleaning ashes from flues - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' G. H. SELLERS.

MEANS FOR GLEA NING ASHES FROM FLUES.

No. 426,648. Patented Apr. 29, 1890.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. H. SELLERS.

MEANS'FOR CLEANING ASHES PROM BLUES. No. 426,648. Patented Apr. 29, 1890.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

G. H. SELLERS. MEANS FOR CLEANING ASHES FROM FLUES. No. 426,648. Patented Apr. 29, 1890,

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(No Model. 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

' G. 'H. SELLERS.

MEANS FOR CLEANING AfiHES FROM PLUES. N0. 426,648.

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UNITED STATES PATENT EricE.

GEORGE H. SELLERS, OF RIDLEY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE EDGE MOOR IRON COMPANY, OF DELAWVARE.

MEANS FOR CLEANING ASHES FROM FLUES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,648, dated April 29, 1890.

Application filed March 8, 1889- Serial No. 302,578. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H, SELLERS, of .Ridley Park, Delaware county, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Means for Clearing the Ashes from the Flue Between the Furnace and the Chimney of Internally- Fired Steam-Boilers, of which improvements the following is a specification.

These improvements relate more particularly to intern ally-fired steam-boilers provided with vertical water-tubes which cross a fine between the furnace and the chimney, and as they are particularly applicable to the Galloway boiler the drawings represent this type; but they are equally applicable to the Lancashire or to any other form of boiler in which the products of combustion pass through a flue which is partially closed at one end by the bridge-wall of the furnace. NVhen the products of combustion pass directly from the furnace into a fine or tubes both ends of which are unobstructed, there is usually no difficulty in clearing out the ashes by pushing them through the tube; but where they pass into a fine which is obstructed by watertubes crossing the same there is a larger deposit of ashes in consequence of the obstruction to the current by the water-tubes, and the difficulty of removal is increased from the same cause; but if one end of this fine" is closed by the bridge-wall of the furnace this difficulty is greatly intensified. I-Ieretofore the only effectual mode of removing the ashes which accumulate about such water-tubes in a flue closed at one end by the furnace has been by entering the fine when the damper is wide open and the boiler has no fire in it and sweeping the ashes out toward the chimney; but as the periods when such conditions can be obtained are usually too far apart a partial clearing has been effected by passing 7 a steam-pipe over the bridge-wall when the fire is banked, and so manipulating this pipe that a steam-jet issuing from the curved inner end thereof will disturb the ashes and permit the draft of the chimney to carry them out of the boiler. This method is but moderately successful. The top of the bridge-wall is so far above the base of the water-tubes,

about which by far the largest proportion of the ashes accumulate, that it is impossible to is impossible to direct it to the proper point.

The object of my invention is to effectually clear outthe ashes about the water-tubes of such boilers while the boiler is in active operation, so that this clearing may be performed at any time at the convenience of the operator; to which end my invention consists in providing a bridge-wall removable below the grate-bars, so as to provide an opening as large as possible into the flue beyond the bridge-wall, through which opening and the firing-door a large current of air can pass through the line; and it further consists in providinga pipe through which steam or compressed air can be passed, suitably jointed,

so that it can be passed into and through this opening along the bases of the water-tubes and to the rear end of the boiler, whereby a jet'of steam or compressed air can be made to impinge upon the surface of the watertubes at their bases respectively and consecutively, and so as to sweep the lower surface of the flue effectually, thereby disturbing the ashes at the lowest point, while the large current of air through the fire-door and below the grate-bars sweeps them from the boiler.

In order that my invention may be more clearly understood, reference is now made to the drawings forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section of the furnace end of a Galloway boiler, showing one of the furnaces with its grate-bars and its bridge-wall, with the removable portion of the bridge-wall in place, also the flue beyond the bridge-wall with its vertical water-tubes. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the furnace end, showing the removable portion of the bridge-wall underneath the grates withdrawn in one furnace and. in the other in place. Fig. 3 is a verti cal section, longitudinal with the boiler through theaxis of one furnace, showing the grate-bars and the bridge-wall with its removable portion withdrawn, also the flue beyond the bridge-wall with its vertical watertubes and thepipe in position for supplying a jet of steam or compressed air for displacing the ashes. Fig. 4 is a plan of this pipe. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of same. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the joint-connection for same, and Fig. 7 is an end elevation thereof.

' In all ofthe figures similar letters refer to similar parts.

Referring now to Fig. 1, A is the furnace;

B, the firing-door; O, the grate-bars; D, the

bridge-wall, composed of fire-brick and two iron frames 'E and F, both of which frames fit thecurvature of the furnace which sup-. ports them, the lower one F being removable to give a clear opening under the grate-bars tothe back flue G, in line with the furnace A, in which fiue the vertical water-tubes are shown. In the middle of this lower part of, the bridge-wall F and on its outer side is a rib a, through which is a hole 0, into which a,

hook can be inserted for drawing this part of the bridge-wall out of the furnace when it is desired to remove the ashes, which accumulate more largely immediately behind the bridge-wall than at any other place in the movable on the grate side, which enables this portion of the bridge-wall to be taken out of the boiler, whereby an unobstructed passage is afforded for the air to the back flue, while the fire is not disturbed by the removal.

In Fig. 3 a pipe is shown in position along the bottom of the furnace and the back flue to supply a jet of steam or of compressed air, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 show the construction I of this pipe.

H is a handle for manipulating the pipe so as to direct the jet issuing from the curved end thereof to whatever part of the flue it is desired to operate upon. The steam or com pressed air which forms the jet is supplied to the pipe through the flexible india-rubber tube 1, which has one end connected through a suitable valve to the most convenient source of supply near the front end of the boiler, and

' as the space between this end of the boiler and one side of the boiler-room is usually so limited that a single pipe of sufiicient length, to pass through the back flue could not be inserted this pipe is provided with joint-com nections J J, which permits it to be folded to n'ienced.

Letters Patent, is

diminish its length. The section Fig.6 shows the construction of these joints,cach of which consists of two ordinary elbow-connections united by an ordinary wrought-iron sleeve threaded like the ends of the pipes. Into one of these elbows the sleeve is screwed to a tight fit, the same as the pipes. The other end of the sleeve has a groove turned in' it about the middle of its length and to a depth slightly below the bottom of the thread, and into this groove ordinary fibrous steam packing is wound, after which it is screwed into the elbow nearly to a tight fit, but so that the elbow can freely oscillate about the axis of the sleeve. The packing will prevent the escape of any steam or air, while the joints admit of folding the pipe to any le'ngth that may be necessary.

In all boilers there is "a' dam'per between the boiler and the chimney toregulate thedraft or to cut off the communication with the chim ney,when required; but, inasmuchas theiconstruction of this damper forms no part of my present invention, and its operation is well understood, I have not shown it upon the draw- 'lngs.

The operation of clearing out the ashes from the back flue is as follows: First,'remove the lower part of the bridge-wall F and openthe firing-door B and the damper,so as topermit the largest possible amount of airto'enterthe back flue Gand to pass freely therefrom to the chimney; second, insert the'pipe through the opening underthe fixed portion of the'bridgewall to any desired distance into the back flue G, and connect the flexible'tube I with the steam-pipe or the compressed air, as the case may be; third, openthe valve, which admits the fluid under pressure to this pipe. The

Y steam or air will issue from'the curved end of this pipe in a strong jet, which will blow the ashes from beforeit, which the large volume of air, rushing to the chimney through the fire-door and the opening under the fixed portion of the bridge-wall, willearry out of the back flue. The jet can be directed to any part of the back flue by manipulating the pipe with the handle II, and as this pipe is supported throughout its length on the bottom of the furnace andon'that of the back flue the manipulation can be accomplished with great case, while the efliciency of theapparatus is greatly enhancedby the'large volume of air which the opening under the fixed portion of the bridge-wall admits-a volume greatly in excess of that heretofore attainable through the firing-door alone.

After the ashes have been thus 'clearedfroin the'back flue the pipe is'withdrawn, the lower part of the bridge- 'w'allF isrepla'cetl, the firing-door is closed,

and the work of the boiler proceeds as before the operation of clearing the ashes was com- 'I-Iavingithus;'fully described invention, what-"I laimfas new, and desire to "secure by 1. A steam-boiler provided internally with vIO a furnace and a flue in line with each other, through which flue all the products of combustion from the furnace are discharged from the boiler, in combination with a bridge-wall, that portion of the bridge-Wall beneath the grate-bars being removable, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a steam-boiler, in combination, a furnace, a bridge-wall, that portion of the bridgewall beneath the grate-bars being removable, and a flue behind said bridge-wall, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a steam-boiler, in combination, a furnace, a bridge-wall, that portion of the bridgewall below the grate-bars of the furnace being removable 011 the grate side, and a flue behind said bridge-wall, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. The hereinbefore-described method of cleaning ashes from a boiler, substantially as

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