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In a steam engine, the firebox is the area where the fuel is burned, producing heat to boil the water in the boiler. Most are somewhat box-shaped, hence the name.
In the standard steam locomotive firetube type boiler, the firebox is surrounded by water space on five sides. The underside is not so surrounded. If the engine burns solid fuel, there is a grate covering most of the bottom of the firebox, which holds the fuel; beneath the grates, an ashpan collects the solid combustion waste. Combustion air generally enters at the base, and the airflow is controlled by damper doors. There is a large brick arch (made from firebrick) at the rear of the box which directs heat and flames back towards the firedoor at the rear. Without the arch, flames would be sucked straight into the firetubes and only the front of the box would receive heat. Both the brick arch and the bars of the grate require periodic replacement due to the extreme heat to which they are subjected.
Firetubes are attached to one wall of the firebox (a side for a longitudinal boiler, the top for a vertical boiler) and carry the hot gaseous products of combustion through the boiler water, heating it, before they escape to the atmosphere.
Locomotive detail
The metal walls of the firebox are normally called sheets, which are separated by stays. Since any corrosion is hidden, the stays have longitudinal holes drilled in them called tell-tales which leak before they become unsafe. The crown sheet is the top of the firebox. Normally the top of the firebox is semicircular to match the contour of the boiler, however the Belpaire firebox has more of a square shape and is usually made as large as possible within the loading gauge. The Wootten firebox was very tall and wide to allow combustion of anthracite coal waste. Its size necessitated unusual placement of the crew, examples being camelback locomotives.
Some fireboxes were equipped with a so-called combustion chamber which placed additional space between the fire and the boiler. This allowed more complete combustion and thus greater heat. The fireman's chief duty on a steam locomotive is to maintain the boiler water level so that it covers the firebox crown sheet at all times. Otherwise, the latter will desiccate, overheat and weaken, and a boiler explosion may result.
Space heating and cooking
Relative to buildings, the firebox or firepit is the part of the fireplace where fuel is combusted, in distinction to the hearth, chimney, mantle, overmantle and flue elements of the total fireplace system. The firebox normally sits on a masonry base at the floor level of the room. Some fireboxes are large in proportion so that a person could actually walk inside, or in extreme cases have a small meeting using built-in benches inside. An example of the latter oversize construction can be found in the great hall of Muchalls Castle in Scotland.
For the specialized usage of manufacturing moonshine, a firebox is often fashioned from stones or bricks, to contain the flames while also concealing them, and to keep the still apparatus above the ground.
Trivia
In 1920, Russian revolutionaries Sergey Lazo, Vsevolod Sibirtsev, and Alexei Lutsky were burnt to death in a firebox of a steam engine by the Japanese.
See also
External links
"Firebox"