US 4,185,567 AGranted

Wood-fired furnace assembly with automatic fire chamber charger

OwnerHans Grossniklausinventor

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Abstract

A ram is connected to reciprocate its free end up to or into a reinforced aperture in the bottom of one side wall of a wood receiving container to break wood positioned therebetween and push it through the aperture into a feed duct that is connected at its opposite end to the fire chamber of a furnace. The bottom of the container has a higher region and a lower region that is positioned adjacent the aperture and transverse of the ram and which extends either approximately horizontal or inclined downwardly away from both sides of the ram. Pusher flaps with actuating devices are pivotally connected to push material across the regions of the bottom toward the path of the ram and a member pivoted on the side-wall above the aperture is actuated to press material downwardly into the ram path in front of the aperture.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A wood-fired furnace assembly having a fire chamber (10) and an automatic charging device for the fire chamber, comprising a container (1) adapted to receive wood and having a bottom (6,21;

38,39) and side-walls (2-5) adjacent the bottom, an aperture (8) reinforced at its edge connected in the lower edge of one of the side-walls (2), a feed duct (9) connected between said aperture (8) and the fire chamber (10), a ram (11) having a free end (12,59) facing said aperture (8), said free end having a cross-section the same as or smaller than the cross-section of said aperture (8), a drive device (13,14,30) connected to reciprocate said ram (11) along a path in the container (1) to position said free end (12,59) at the end of the working stroke up to or into said aperture (8), the bottom of said container (1) having a region (21,38) adjoining said one side-wall (2) having said aperture (8) therein extending transversely of and on opposite sides of the path of said ram (11) and extending approximately horizontally or inclinded downwardly away from opposite sides of said ram, the transverse dimension of said region being a multiple of the inside width of said aperture (8) so that wood in said container (1) being bigger than the inside width of said aperture (8) can get into a transverse position in front of the aperture (8) and upon the working stroke of the ram (11) can be pushed against the aperture (8) and splintered thereat under pressure from the free end (12,59) of the ram, and a respective pusher member (15,17;
41,43) mounted in each of the two side-walls (3,5) adjoining said one side-wall (2) having said aperture (8) therein which is moved to and fro in the direction toward the path of said ram (11) by means of a respective drive device (18,20, 30;
48), whereby wood lying against the said two side-walls (3,5) is pushed toward said ram path.

A wood-fired furnace assembly having a fire chamber (10) and an automatic charging device for the fire chamber, comprising a container (1) adapted to receive wood and having a bottom and four side-walls (2-5) which stand at least approximately perpendicular to one another, an aperture (8) reinforced at its edge connected in one of the side-walls (2) adjacent the lower edge thereof, a feed duct (9) connected between said aperture (8) and the fire chamber (10), a ram (11) having a free end (12, 59) facing said aperture (8), said free end having a cross-section the same as or smaller than the cross-section of said aperture (8), a drive device (13,14,30) connected to reciprocate said ram (11) along a path in the container (1) to position said free end (12, 59) at the end of the working stroke up to or into said aperture (8), the bottom of said container (1) having a lower region (21, 38) and a higer region (6,39), said lower region adjoining said one side-wall (2) having said aperture (8) therein extending transversely of and on opposite sides of the path of said ram (11) and extending approximately horizontally or inclined downwardly away from opposite sides of said ram, the transverse dimension of said lower region being a multiple of the diameter of the free end (12,59) of said ram, a respective flap (15-17;

41-43) mounted in each of the two adjoining side-walls (3,5) and in the opposite side-wall (4) which is swung to and fro in the direction of the ram path by means of a respective drive device (18-20;
45,48) whereby wood lying against the side-walls (3-5) is moved toward said aperture (8).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.