IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN REGULATING THE ADMISSION OF AIR INTO THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Goucher, of Worksop, in the County of Not-
tingham, Ironfounder, Engineer, and Machinist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN REGULATING THE ADMISSION OF
AIR INTO THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 9th October 1863, and dated the 17th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Goucher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
April 1863.
I, JOHN GOUCHER, of Worksop, in the County of Nottingham, Ironfounder,
Engineer, and Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN REGULATING THE ADMISSION
OF AIR INTO THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS," to bo as follows:-
My improvements in steam boilers consist in making the boilers conical or
tapered in the direction of their length, and with or without a fire-box. The
boilers are formed of two conical tubes or cases, one tube being placed within
the other. In some cases I add a third tube by which the steam may be
superheated, or this tube may be made open at the ends and constitute a
water space at pleasure.
My Invention also consists in placing round the chimney a water cistern
for heating the water both with the spent heat and the exbaust steam which
pass through a coil or straight pipe; the cistern being kept only two-thirds

page_text: full, so much of the steam as is not condensed will pass off at an outlet at the
top up the chimney and thereby increase the draught.
My Invention for regulating the admission of air into the furnaces of steam
boilers consists in the employment of a spring or weighted piston acted upon
directly by steam from the boiler and connected by a rod with a valve or
damper in the furnace door or entrance for the admission of air to the ash-pit
or both. According to the pressure of steam in the boiler so will the valve or
damper be more or less closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Goucher in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GOUCHER, of Worksop, in the County of Nottingham, Ironfounder, Engineer,
and Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Goucher, Her special licence that I, the said John Goucher, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Goucher, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
AND IN REGULATING THE ADMISSION OF AIR INTO THE FURNACES OF STEAM BOILERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Goucher, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause; the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Goucher, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My improvements in steam boilers consist in making the boilers conical or
tapered in the direction of their length and with or without a fire-box. Tho
boilers are formed of two conical tubes or cases, one tube being placed within
the other; or a series of tubes are placed within a conical or tapered case.
In some cases I add a third tube by which the steam may be superheated, or
this tube may be made open at the ends and constitute a water space at
pleasure.
My Invention also consists in placing round the chimney a water cistern
for heating the water both with the spent heat and the exhaust steam
which passes through a coil or straight pipe; the cistern being kept only two-
thirds full, so much of the steam as is not condensed will pass off at an outlet
at the top of the chimney and thereby increase the draught.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section of a steam
boiler constructed according to my Invention. I form the boiler of two conical
tubes or cases A, B, one tube being placed within the other; C is a third tube
by which the steam may be superheated. Steam from the upper part of the
boiler enters this tube C by the pipe D, becomes superheated, and is conveyed
to the engine cylinders as required through the pipe E, or the tube C may, as
before mentioned, be open at the ends and constitute a water space at pleasure,
or it may be entirely dispensed with. Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1,
but illustrating an arrangement in which the tube C is of taper form, being
composed of different parts or lengths which fit into each other as shown. In
this arrangement the tube C extends to the further end of the inner case or
tube B and forms a water space. F, Figures 1 and 2, is a water cistern
placed round the lower part of the chimney G, the water in which cistern is
beated both by the spent heat and by the exhaust steam which passes through
a coil H, Figure 2, or instead of a coil a straight pipe may be employed.
In the arrangement represented in Figure 1 the exhaust steam enters the
cistern direct, in that shown in Figure 2 it is first led through a pipe I just
below the surface of the water in the boiler. The cistern F is kept only
about two-thirds full of water, so that so much of the steam as is not condensed
in the cistern passes off from the upper end thereof through a pipe J up the
chimney. Figure 8 shews in section a series of tubes inside a conical
case.
Figure 4 shews another arrangement of boiler comprsed of two conical tubes

page_text: My Invention for regulating the admission of air into the furnaces of steam
boilers consists in the employment of a spring or weighted piston acted upon
directly by steam from the boiler and connected by a rod with a valve or
damper in the entrance for the admission of air to the ash-pit, or with valves
or dampers both in the entrance for the admission of air to the ash-pit, and in
the furnace door or entrance of the furnace; according to the pressure of steam
in the boiler, so will the valve or damper be more or less closed. Figure 5 is
an end view and Figure 6 a side view of a boiler fitted with a damper in the
entrance for the admission of air to the ash-pit and with another damper in
the furnace door.
a is the damper fitted in the ash-pit b, it is connected by a rod c to another
rod d with a spring or weighted piston; i is the damper fitted in the furnace
door; the axis of this damper is prolonged and rests on a projection K on
the rod d which passes through the hinges of the furnace door. Steam from
the boiler presses upon the spring or weighted piston. When the ordinary
working pressure is exceeded, the piston acts upon and opens one and closes
the other of the valves which are acted upon so as to admit air either above or
below the fire. The greater the pressure of steam in the boiler the more will
the damper i be opened and the damper a closed..
Although I prefer the damper shewn in the Drawings, I do not confino
myself thereto, as many forms of valves or dampers may be advantageously
employed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Steam Boilers, and in Regulating the Admission of Air into the
Furnaces of Steam Boilers,"―
First, constructing steam boilers conical or tapered in the direction of
their length, as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, placing a water cistern round the chimney of steam boilers, substan-
tially in manner and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
Third, superheating steam in boilers, in manner herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
And, fourth, regulating the admission of air into the furnaces of steam
boilers by means of a spring or weighted piston acted upon directly by steam
from the boiler and connected by a rod with a valve or damper in the entrance
for the admission of air to the furnace, in combination or not with a valve or

page_text: damper in the furnace door or front end of the furnace, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Goucher, havo hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN GOUCHER. (L.S.)