IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRELESS STEAM ENGINES OR STEAM GENERATORS ESPECIALLÝ APPLICABLE FOR USE WHERE STEAM POWER IS REQUIRED WITHOUT FIRE
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON Fel. Inst. P.A. of the Liverpool and London
Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRELESS STEAM ENGINES OR STEAM GENERATORS ESPECIALLÝ
APPLICABLE FOR USE WHERE STEAM POWER IS REQUIRED WITHOUT FIRE, to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object a fireless steam engine, an engine in fact that
will run for a considerable period and generate its own steam by the aid of the
heat given out during the chemical combination of its own exhaust steam with an
alkaline earth oxide surrounding the boiler in which the steam is generated. In
carrying out my invention the actual steam engine can be of any ordinary con-
struction. The steam generator chamber, which is preferably tubulous, is first
filled with water and steam heated say to thirty pounds on the square inch
(2 atmospheres) from any convenient boiler. Surrounding the steam generator
I place caustic lime (CaO) or caustic strontia (SO) preferably lime as having
the smallest combining equivalent, and being capable of giving out the largest
amount of heat per pound weight of material, besides being the cheapest. Caustic
baryta will also act but is useless for the purpose owing to the fact that it cannot
be cheaply regenerated to the caustic state. In speaking of "lime" hereafter the
word must be held to include strontia. When the steam engine is set in action the
exhaust steam is led into the lime chamber. This unites with the lime forming
hydrate of lime,
By this combination the latent heat of the steam given out when the latter
forms part of a solid substance, such as hydrate of lime and the heat caused by
the chemical combination of the lime and water are both set free and penetrating
through the walls of the steam generator, cause the generation of more steam for
the engine. The action consequently goes on till the water and steam in the
-

page_text: generator become exhausted or the lime becomes fully hydrated and its tem-
perature and that of the water falls too low to generate the steam requisite to
work the engine. The actual form of mechanism I propose to adopt is as follows:
I place a tubulous boiler in a tank or chamber and fill the tank or chamber
(surrounding all the tubes) with powdered caustic lime or strontia. If the tubes
are horizontal I place perforated shelves or drawers running on edge runners
between each set of tubes to keep the lime from settling by its own weight as a
hard mass at the bottom of the tank and to enable it to be removed and renewed a
little at a time. If the tubes be vertical the lime can be let in and afterwards
abstracted from between them by the insertion of wire cages having numerous
floors packed with lime or lime can be admitted at the top and extracted
continuously or intermittently at bottom when exhausted.
The tubulous boiler has a steam dome or chamber at its highest point and from
this steam dome the steam is taken off to the engine by a pipe. The exhaust pipe
from the engine brings the exhaust steam to the tank and liberates it among the
lime. If the engine be supplied with an air pump and. the tank be a closed one,
the condensation of the steam in the lime will form a vacuum and thus increase the
efficacy of the engine. When the lime used in this engine is fully hydrated it can
easily be calcined afresh and used again or can be used in its hydrated state for
mortar. It will be thus seen that the only heat wasted in this engine is that lost
in radiation and the residual heat left in it when too feeble to do its work, the
remaining heat being employed in doing useful work in the engine, whereas with
other steam engines most of the heat is lost in the condensing water of condensing
engines or escapes in the steam of high pressure engines.

page_text: I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fel. Inst. P.A., of the Liverpool and London
Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, Lancashire, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FIRELESS STEAM ENGINES OR STEAM GENERATORS, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE FOR
USE WHERE STEAM POWER IS REQUIRED WITHOUT FIRE (a communication from
abroad by Christian Heinzerling, Frankfort-à-Main, Germany, Doctor of Phi-
losophy) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention has for its object a fireless steam engine, an engine in fact that
will run for a considerable period and generate its own steam by the aid of the
heat given out during the chemical combination of its own exhaust steam with an
alkaline earth oxide surrounding the boiler in which the steam is generated. In
carrying out my Invention the actual steam engine can be of any ordinary.con-
struction. The steam generator chamber, which is preferably tubulous, is first
filled with water and steam heated say to thirty pounds on the square inch
(2 atmospheres) from any convenient boiler. Surrounding the steam generator
I place caustic lime (Ca"O) or caustic strontia (Sr'O) preferably lime as having
the smallest combining equivalent, and being capable of giving out the largest
amount of heat per pound weight of material, besides being the cheapest. Caustic
baryta will also act but is useless for the purpose owing to the fact that it cannot
be cheaply regenerated to the caustic state. In speaking of "lime" hereafter the
word must be held to include strontia. When the steam engine is set in action,
the exhaust steam is led into the lime chamber. This unites with the lime forming
hydrate of lime.
By this combination the latent heat of the steam given out when the latter forms
part of a solid substance, such as hydrate of lime, and the heat caused by the
chemical combination of the lime and water, both set free and penetrating through
the walls of the steam generator cause the generation of more steam for the
engine. The action consequently goes on till the water and steam in the
generator become exhausted or the lime becomes fully hydrated and its tem-
perature and that of the water falls too low to generate the steam requisite to
work the engine.
Now I am well aware that it has been proposed before now to generate steam
by means of lime, but all previous attempts in this direction have failed owing
to two causes. 1st. Lime caustic or slack is an extremely bad conductor of heat;
if therefore one vessel of water be placed inside another of lime, and aqueous
matter be added to the lime it is only the lime immediately surrounding the vessel
of water that is of any appreciable service in heating the water, and unless
therefore a large heating surface be exposed to a very thin layer of lime, and that
layer can be exchanged when exhausted for fresh without disturbing the apparatus
or leaving the water to cool, the apparatus is useless. Now all previous schemes

page_text: that I have seen do not take into account these difficulties in all of them. A simple
chamber full of water is let down into another chamber packed with caustic lime
and then water admitted to that line. 2nd. Water has been used instead of steam.
Now if water be used the entire theoretic amount of heat obtained by slacking
lime with water is only 144 pound degree centigrade heat units and only a very
small part of that is utilized. If steam be used however a second factor comes into
play and we not merely get the 144 pound degree centigrade heat units from the
slacking of lime, but 536 such units per pound of steam, or 172 per pound of pure
lime used in addition by the condensing of the steam, or in all-more than twice
as much actual heat and probably more than three times the available utilizable
heat obtained where the mere slacking of lime is employed.
Now by my invention I get not merely the latent heat of steam 172 units
additional besides the heat obtained from slacking lime 144 units, but I also expose
a vast surface to the heating lime and arrange for the continual replenishing of that
lime without disturbing the apparatus.
In carrying out the invention, I place a tubulous boiler in a tank or chamber
and fill the tank or chamber (surrounding all the tubes) with powdered caustic
lime or strontia. If the tubes be horizontal I place perforated shelves or drawers
running on edge runners between each set of tubes to keep the lime from settling
by its own weight as a hard mass at the bottom of the tank, and to enable it to
be removed and renewed a little at a time. If the tubes be vertical, the lime can
be let in and afterwards abstracted from between them, by the insertion of wire
cages having numerous floors packed with lime, or lime can be admitted at the top
and extracted continuously or intermittently at bottom when exhausted.
The apparatus as described in my German Patent since much improved is as
follows:
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section, and
Figure 2 transverse section of boiler with the cylinder of steam engine attached.
Figures 3 and 4 enlarged details of roller and scraper and adjoining parts.
A is a cylinder of an ordinary steam engine. B steam pipe leading from steam
chamber C. D tubes of boiler opening into the water chamber. E water chamber,
a lower continuation of steam chamber C. This chamber can be stayed like a
locomotive fire box. F is a tank of sheet iron, brickwork, or any convenient
material, open at end G. P plugs in the ends of the tubes to prevent the escape
of steam and water. These plugs have projecting pins resting on round lugs p
of same diameter as the tubes but joined at top to bar Q acting as a support for
the tubes and supported itself by the sides of the tank. H drawers with fronts
outside the tubes fitting closely against each other when closed, and running on
ledges I I. In the case of drawers of large size a set of rollers J J are placed in a
groove all along each side to support them, and running on the ledges I. In some
cases I place a scraper placed askew at intervals in the line as shown at K to scrape
from off the ledges any lime or dirt that may fall on them. L is the exhaust pipe
from the engine divided into as many branches as there are drawers, and each
branch is provided with a stop cock M and leads into the tank opposite the centre
of one of the drawers. The side of the drawer is perforated with numerous little
holes at this point, to admit the steam into the drawer without allowing the line
hereafter mentioned to fall out.
The mode of action is as follows: the tubes D and chamber E being filled
with water from a high pressure boiler, and the chamber C filled with steam in
consequence, and all the drawers filled with quick lime or strontia and closed, the
engine is set going. Lime is best and cheapest, and hereafter I will merely speak
of lime, it being understood that strontia can be substituted for it and is included
in the term. Baryta also absorbs steam giving out heat, but as the caustic baryta
cannot be easily regenerated it is practically inapplicable. The exhaust steam is
let into one or more of the lime drawers, preferably the upper ones first, and the
beat generated by the combination of the H,O and the CaO so as to form hydrate

page_text: .
of lime, combined with the latent heat of the exhaust steam liberated when the
steam changes from the gaseous to the solid state (in the hydrate), passes to and
heats the water in the boiler, thus raising more steam. This action goes on till all
the lime is converted into hydrate, and the heat in the lime and in the water and
steam is lowered to such a degree so as to stop the working of the engine. If
however water from the aforesaid high pressure boiler be let in or be pumped by
the engine or by hand or other means into the boiler, and if as one or more drawers
get exhausted the steam is turned into others, and these drawers are emptied and
recharged with fresh quick lime, the motor can run on continuously. If too the
drawers or their equivalent be made air tight and an air pump be applied in the
usual manner, the lime chamber becomes a condenser, and a vacuum is formed
helping the engine greatly. The spent lime hydrate by ignition to bright redness
is again reduced to quick lime Ca O and can be again used, or if preferred it can
be used for mortar and a fresh supply of limestone used. Another design not yet
carried out but which I expect will prove the superior one is shown on sheet II.
Figure 5 is a vertical section on line x, x, Figure 6.
Figure 6 vertical section on line y, y, Figure 5.
In these A is a steam and water dome or chamber. B steam pipe to engine.
C branch water pipes with spaces between to admit lime through lids D. E field
tubes. F chamber surrounding the field tubes filled with lime through.D. G drawer
running on edge runners or wheels it is double the length of chamber F and fitted
with transverse diaphragm in centre so that one half can be emptied out while the
other forms the bottom of the lime chamber, it can then be pushed under again by
screw jack or other mechanism and the other half emptied. Or in place of one
double drawer there can be several side by side or a series of fixed round troughs
and archimedean screws with a continuation of the trough as a round pipe beyond
the screw to form a lime seal for the steam. For large apparatus I would use the
archimedean screw, for small, the drawers.
H is the exhaust steam pipe delivering into the bottom of the chamber F
by numerous nozzles II so as to distribute the exhaust steam equally over the
bottom area.
The mode of operation is as follows:-
The boiler being filled up to the level of the top of tubes C with boiling water
at high pressure and with steam consequently above the top of C, and the drawer
being preferably filled at start with slacked lime and chamber F with caustic
lime, the engine is started, and the exhaust steam entering near the bottom of the
chamber combines with the lime condensing into the solid state and giving out
both the heat resulting from slacking, and the latent heat of the steam to the water.
After a time all the lime near the bottom is slacked and the original drawer of
slacked lime is drawn out, the empty drawer taking its place, the lime sinks and
fresh lime is inserted at the lids, this goes on in perpetuity, the boiler being fed by
a pump on the engine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1st. In a lime or strontia motor the filling up of the boiler at start with water
and steam at high pressure whereby the engine can be started immediately, and
exhaust steam at once obtained for continuing the operation.
2nd. The use of caustic strontia in motors, substantially as described.
3rd. The manufacture and use of lime or strontia steam motors, in which a
tubular or sectional boiler with large heating surface is immersed in a chamber of
caustic lime or stronția, to which chamber exhaust steam is admitted for the
purpose of combining with the lime and raising heat.
4th. The manufacture and use of lime or strontia engines, in which the fresh lime
can be fed in at the top, and the exhausted lime extracted at the bottom while the
engine is at work, substantially as described.

page_text: 5th. The herein described method of and apparatus for extracting the exhaust
lime in which the exhaust lime is drawn out from below the tubes in drawers or by
their equivalent.
6th. The method of obtaining a partial vacuum in steam engines, which consists
in admitting the exhaust steam to a closed chamber containing a chemical having a
great affinity for water.
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