US2855494A - Electric incinerator - Google Patents

Description

t adapted to provide a draft through the combustion United States Patent O ELECTRIC lNClNERAToR Robert A. Kuehler, Cleveland Heights, hio, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application April 25, 1957, Serial No. 655,066

1 Claim. (Cl. 219-19) This invention relates to electric incinerators, and has as its principal object the provision of an incinerator provided with radiant heating elements arranged to cause combustion of refuse and also further combustion of the resulting gaseous products of combustion.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with the particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be made to the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view, partly in section, of an incinerator embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagram of a control circuit which may be utilized to control operation of the incinerator shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 an incinerator having an outer sheet metal housing 1, surrounding a casing 2 formed of heat resistant material, such as cast asbestos cement, enclosing a combustion chamber 3. Casing 2 is supported in housing 1 by suitable supporting members 4 and 5 and is provided with a door opening in the front wall thereof closed by a door 6. Casing 2 is also provided with a flue opening 7 communicating with the upper portion of chamber 3 and arranged to be connected with a flue (not shown) l chamber. A grate 8, which may be formed from a pluirality of parallel metal bars, is located adjacent the l bottom of chamber 3 and arranged to support the refuse land other material to be burned. Underlying grate 8 is an ash drawer 9 which may be removed from the in- .l cinerator through a front opening located below the main l opening closed by door 6. i The heat required to start and maintain combustion in t chamber 3 is supplied by a plurality of heat radiating elements 10 positioned in the upper portion of chamber i 3 somewhat below flue opening 7 and overlying grate 8.

One type of heat radiating element particularly suitable for use in this invention is an infrared heat lamp of the type including a coiled tungsten lament extending longitudinally within an elongated tubular sealed envelope of transparent quartz, such as the heat lamp disclosed in Patent 2,705,310-Hodge. Since it is desirable that the terminals of such heat lamps be protected from the high ice l temperatures generated by the lamp itself, the terminals of lamps 10 are positioned in oppositely disposed openings 11 and 12 in the front and rear walls of casing 10. To facilitate removal and replacement of lamps 10, socket connector assemblies 13 and 14 are removably supported on the front and rear walls of housing 1.

As shown in Fig. 1, the upper portions of the side walls of casing 2 are inwardly inclined so that the cross sectional area of chamber 3 immediately below tlue opening 7 is substantially smaller than that in the main combustion area, and hence the gaseous products of combustion resulting from the burning of material in chamber 3 must pass in close proximity to heat lamps 10 before passing out through the ilue. Inasmuch as the temperature in the vicinity of lamps 10 is between 1500 F. and 2000 F., oxidation of the smoke and other gases will be completed before these gases reach ue 7 and consequently only water and carbon dioxide will be discharged through the flue opening. It will, of course, be understood that the heat radiated by lamps 10 will dry and finally ignite any refuse deposited in chamber 3 and that lamps 10, therefore, perform both the function of heating chamber 3 to combustion temperatures, and also completing the combustion of smoke and other gases generated during the burning process.

Referring to Fig. 3, heat radiating elements 10 may be connected in parallel with each other in a control circuit including a control switch 15 operated by a control knob 16 and a timer switch 17 operated by a timer control knob 18, the control knobs being mounted on the front panel of housing 1 as illustrated in Fig. 1. Alternatively, heating elements 10 may be energized and controlled through a control circuit of the type disclosed in Patent 2,783,723-Loewenthal et al.

While I have shown and described a particular em-` bodiment of my invention, I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particular construction disclosed, and I intend by the appended claim to cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

`.lVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An electric incinerator comprising a casing enclosing a combustion chamber, a grate adjacent the bottom of said chamber, said casing having a flue opening communicating with the upper portion of said chamber, and a plurality of elongated horizontally disposed infrared heat lamps supported in the upper portion of said chamber in mutually parallel relation above said grate but below said ue opening, whereby refuse resting on said grate may 'be heated by infrared radiation, and gaseous products of combustion formed in said chamber pass in close proximity to and are heated by said lamps before passing through said flue opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,032,267 Bastian July 9, 1912 1,093,592 Rice Apr. 14, 1914 2,010,460 McKinley Aug. 6, 1935 2,705,310 Hodge Mar. 29, 1955 2,733,331 Call Jan. 31, 1956 2,798,928 Friedberg Iuly 9, 1957

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