Patent GB-648957-A (GB)
Title: Superheating vapours by electricity
IPC: F22G1/16
Filed: 1946-06-12
Abstract: 648,957. Electric heating; vapour burners. ROSS, I. D. H. (Steam Torch Corporation). June 12, 1946, No. 17670. [A Specification was laid open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, Dec. 14, 1946]. [Classes 39(iii) and 75(i)] [Also in Groups XXIII and XXIX] Vapours such as steam are electrically superheated by passing them through a narrow elongated space containing an elongated bare resistor structure emitting radiant heat at a temperature higher than the temperature of the vapour passing through the space, the cross-sections and lengths of the space and of the resistor structure being so proportioned that substantially all the vapour passing through the space is compelled to flow in contact with and in intimate proximity to the bare resistor structure so that substantially all the vapour leaving the outlet end of the space has been superheated. The use of a bare resistor enables high temperature superheated vapour to be produced which may be used for paint removing, sterilizing, exterminating insects and disinfecting. In a paint remover (see Group XXIII), as shown in Fig. 4, a multihole ceramic superheater member 46 is contained in a metal housing 66 having a handle 51 and nozzle 48. The superheater has three rows of circular canals 71 through which three separate resistance wires, 72, 73, 74 are threaded. The loops of the wire coils may be triangular in shape to permit maximum radiation inside the canals. Steam from a suitable generator is delivered by hose through a connection 70 and circulates past the three coils 74, 72, 73 in turn. A multiheat switch 52 enables only one, or two or all three elements to be energized and thus the properties of the emerging steam varied. The superheater canals may alternatively be square in section, in which case circular helical coils are used. An exchangeable scraper 54 for picking up the paint melted by the steam is firmly held by a clamp 53. The steam flow in the delivery hose may be kept dry by an intermediate heater unit (Fig. 3, not shown), or alternatively a heater wire running the length of the hose itself may be mounted inside the hose and insulated therefrom by ceramic beads (Fig. 2, not shown). A portable superheater for domestic use is shown in Fig. 17. It comprises a boiler 160 through the lower part of which passes a vapour duct 162 communicating with a vapour nozzle 167. It is filled through an aperture 172 closed by a screwed-in filler cap 173 provided with a safety valve 174. A steam dome 170 having a perforated inlet 171 is located centrally in the boiler so that the apparatus when filled with a cup of water may be even turned upside down without admitting water to the vapour duct. The dome 170 communicates with the duct 162 by way of a bent pipe 169. The heating element consists of two helically coiled resistance wires 209, 210 which are interconnected and whose common terminals 218, 219, 220 permit three different heat loadings to vary the heat of the steam by changing the position of the supply socket. The wires 209, 210 are wound on ceramic tubes 227, 239 having elevated edges 231, 238 respectively to hold the coils in ,place while permitting maximum radiation. The apparatus may be used for spraying a liquid which is contained in a hollow handle portion 269 (see Group XXIX). The steam discharging from the nozzle draws the liquid up a pipe 275 and sprays it. The apparatus when tanked with alcohol can also be used as a blow torch. a simple Bunsen burner being fastened to the ,nozzle tip. Specifications 444,807, [Group XX], and 473,401 are referred to. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specification 444,807, [Group XX].