mprovements in Apparatus for Obtaining Fresh Water from Salt water. andor working in Connection with motive- Salt water. Working 10 COLECOLOR WICK power, Heating, and Cooking Apparatus on Board Ship.
Year: 1886

page_text: mprovements in Apparatus for Obtaining Fresh Water from
Salt
water. and Ior working in Connection with motive-
Salt water. and Ior Working 10 COLECOLOR
WICK
power, Heating, and Cooking Apparatus on Board Ship.
I, JAMES WEIR, of 2 Commerce Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to apparatus designed to operate in the same manner
as apparatus for obtaining fresh water from salt water described in my earlier
Patent Specification N° 11865 of 1884, and comprises improvements in the con-
struction and arrangement of parts of the apparatus.
Apparatus of the kind referred to is of special utility and value on board of
steamships the main engines of which are worked with steam of the very high
pressures which have recently been adopted, such engines being constructed to
operate with three or more stages of expansion, and with surface condensation. In:
such steamships the steam supplied by the main boilers is of a much higher pressure
than is desirable for working auxiliary engines, winches, windlasses, steering
engines, or other small motive-power apparatus, or for heating or cooking purposes;
whilst at the same time it is inconvenient to have additional ordinary boilers:
working at different pressures. According to my system salt water is evaporated
by the heat of steam raised in the boilers for supplying the main engines, such
steam being used for the said purpose either before or after being used or partly.
used in the main engines. The steam thus raised from salt water may be condensed
for supplying fresh water, or if of bigh enough pressure, it may be used or partly
used in similar apparatus to raise steam from salt water to be condensed for
supplying fresh water. Or the steam raised from the salt water may be led to the
main engines to work in the second-stage or later-stage cylinder or cylinders so as
to make up for any leakage or waste of steam from the main boilers. Or again,
the steam raised from the salt water may be used for working auxiliary engines or
other motive-power apparatus, or for circulating through pipes for heating saloons
or other parts, or for cooking or other purposes.
Apparatus for carrying out my system, and as made with my present improve-
ments is shown on two accompanying sheets of explanatory drawings, figures, 1,
and 2, on sheet, 1, being end elevations, figure, 2, being partly in section; and
figures, 3, and 4, on sheet, 2, are a longitudinal vertical section and a horizontal
section.
My improved apparatus consists of a horizontal cylindrical vessel or boiler, 5, in
the lower part of which are placed a number of tubes, 6, for the high-pressure
steam which is to raise steam from the salt water. These tubes are U-shaped in
plan the two ends of each being fixed in a tube plate, 7, at one end of the boiler, a

page_text: cover plate, 8, being bolted over the tube plate and being formed with two internal
spaces, 9, 10, one communicating with what may be called the inlet ends of the
tubes and the other with the other ends. The bended parts of the tubes, 6, are
supported by bars, 11, suspended by straps, 12, from stays, 13. The high-pressure
steam is admitted by a pipe, 14, to one, 9, of the internal spaces of the cover, 8,
and has access through the tubes, 6, to the other space, 10. From this last
space, 10, the water due to condensation drains by a pipe, 15, to a receiver, 16,
from which it is periodically transferred to the hot well of the eugines, or other
apparatus. The receiver, 16, is fitted with a glass gauge tube, 17, having at the top
of it a small cock, 18, for discharging air.
Instead of U-shaped tubes, 6, being used, straight tubes fixed in tube plates at
opposite ends of the boiler, 5, may be employed, the cover, 8, remaining the same
at one end, whilst a cover fixed. at the other end is made with an internal space
through which one half of the tubes communicate with the other half. Or the
cover, 8, at the inlet end may communicate with all the tubes, and the receiver, 16,
' for water of condensation may be put in communication with the cover at the
other end.
The salt water from which the steam is to be raised is admitted through a
combined check and stop valve, 19, the pipe, 20, leading to which may receive the
water from pumps or from an injector, 21. Advantage may be taken of my system
of dealing with the salt water to separate air or gas from it, by arranging the
inlet, 22, near the top of the boiler and within an inverted vessel, 23, dipping down
below the water level. The inlet is provided with a conical spreader, 24, and the
vessel, 23, is made with perforations to admit steam to heat, the feed water as it
descends through the vessel. The air and gas separating from the water whilst it
is being heated passes to the upper end of vessel, 23, and entering a recess, 25,
round the edges of a disk, 26, which nearly closes the bottom of it, enters a
pipe, 27, on which the disk is fixed and escapes through a suitably regulated
external stop cock, 28. The steam raised from the salt water passes off by an
internal perforated collecting pipe, 29, and an external pipe, 30, provided with a
safety valve, 31.
•
The boiler or vessel, 5, is fitted with a bottom discharge or blow-off cock, 32, and
with a surface or scum discharge cock, 33; and when the salt water has through
evaporation become excessively salt it is discharged'; whilst when scale becomes
attached to the tubes, 6, it is detached by admitting high-pressure steam into them
when they are cool, the detached scale being carried off with the discharged water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. Apparatus for obtaining fresh water from salt water and for working in
connection with motive-power, heating, and cooking apparatus on board ship, such
apparatus being constructed with or without the air separating device and
substantially in the improved manner hereinbefore described and shown in the
accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of a device substantially such as is herein before described
for separating air or gas, with apparatus for raising steam from salt water by
means of high-pressure steam.