IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM ENGINE TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Soutter, of Hoxton, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Engineer for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS,
AND AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM ENGINE TO BE USED THEREWITH,"
Sealed the 28th December 1860, and dated the 29th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Soutter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his l'etition, on the 29th
June 1860.
I, JAMES SOUTTER, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS, AND AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM ENGINE TO BE USED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
The object of the first part of my Invention is to construct boilers with large
heating surface and without rivetting, I lead the products of combustion from
the furnace through horizontal tubes surrounded by other tubes containing
water. The products mix in fire boxes at each end of the horizontal tubes,
and from thence pass and circulate round the outer tubes containing the water;
above the boiler I place a superheating apparatus, which consists of a series
of small tubes placed in the flue or flues leading to the chimney,
The second part of my Invention consists in placing a cylinder with two

page_text: pistons working opposite to one another in the central part of the superheating
apparatus, and surrounding the same with a case or jacket, into which steam
is admitted from the superheating tubes, from whence it passes to the cylinder
through valves constructed in such manner that the same steam is made to act
on each side of the pistons. To accomplish this I form the valves in two parts
the end of one part sliding in the other part; ports are provided at each end
of the valves, and on the said valves being worked by cam or otherwise, one of
the ports opens and allows the steam which has just forced the piston down to
pass to the lower part of the cylinder, and drive it back, the steam which
has been previously driven out passing into a condenser or otherwise, and so on.
I prefer to employ engines constructed on the trunk principle, as greater area
is afforded below the piston thau above it for the passage of the steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Soutter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SOUTTER, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ine, the said James Soutter, Her special licence that I, the said James
Soutter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Soutter, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAK BOILERS, AND AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM ENGINE
TO BE USED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Soutter, 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 performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Soutter, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The object of the first part of my Invention is to construct boilers with
large heating surface, and to bring the parts thereof together without rivet-
ting, I lead the products of combustion from the furnace through horizontal
tubes surrounded by other tubes containing water. The products mix in
fire-boxes at each end of the horizontal tubes, and from thence pass and
circulate round the outer tubes containing the water. Above the boiler I
place a superheating apparatus, which consists of a series of small tubes
placed in the flue or flues leading to the chimney, as hereinafter described.
The second part of my Invention consists in placing a cylinder with two
pistons working opposite to one another in the central part of the super-
heating apparatus, and surrounding the same with a case or jacket into
which steam is admitted from the superheating tubes, from whence it passes
to the cylinder through valves constructed in such manner that the same
steam is made to act on each side of the pistons. To accomplish this, I
form the valves in two parts, the end of one part sliding in the other part ;
ports are provided at each end of the valves, and on the said valves being
worked by cam or otherwise, one of the ports opens, and allows the steam
which has just forced the piston down to pass to the lower part of the
cylinder, and drive it back, the steam which has been previously driven out
passing into a condensor or otherwise, and so on. I prefer to employ engines
constructed on the trunk principle, as greaterarea is afforded below the piston
than above it for the passage of the steam.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings shows in longitudinal section the
two ends of a boiler tube connected without rivetting or without angle iron.
a, a, are the tube plates grooved on their internal surface, as shewn at b;
these grooves may be made of any desired shape, cis the tube, the edges of
which fit into the grooves as seen at b; d, d, are long bolts passing through
holes formed in the tube plates, and secured by nuts e, c. Figures 2 and 3
show tubes with the edges made of a different shape to that shown at Figure 1;
it is evident, however, they can be made of other shapes than those shown,
the object being that the tubes should fit into the grooves, and be there held
by bolts and nuts, as before described. In securing the internal parts of
boilers, I in all cases adopt the plan just described, and so wholly do away
with rivetting or angle iron in those parts. I am also by this means enabled

page_text: to remove a single tube (for example) without injury to any of the others
by simply unscrewing the nuts e, e, and, in fact, the whole of the boiler can,
in a very short space of time, be taken to pieces in a similar manner, and
as quickly put together again.
Figure 4 shows, in longitudinal section, one horizontal tube surrounded by
another tube, and connected to the boiler plates in the manner just described.
y is the internal fire tube, inserted in grooves formed in the boiler plates h, h;
i is the outer tube also inserted in similar plates h, h¹; h, k, are bolts passing
through holes formed in the plates h and h¹, and secured by nuts 1, 1. Thus
the two tubes are firmly held together by the same bolts, and in the same
manner, as before described at Figure 1 with reference to one tube, the parts
are shown broken at the centre for economizing space, as of course the tubes
can be made of any length to suit the boilers to which they may be fitted.
Figure 5 is a transverse, and Figure 6, a longitudinal section through the
line x, y, of Figure 5, of a boiler fitted with tubes held in the manner before
described, and with a superheater and engine constructed according to my
Invention. a is the furnace surrounded by the water space b; c is a smoke
box into which the products of combustion pass from the furnace; g, g, are
the internal tubes through which the products pass to the smoke box d, where
they mix, and return round the tubes i, i, and thence pass off to the chimney
h, h; and h¹, h, are the boiler plates, in which the tubes are inserted, as
before described; e is a water space outside the smoke box c; k, k, are tubes
in the chimney for superheating the steam before it is used in the engine.
These tubes are secured and held in a similar manner to all the others before
described.
is a superheating tube surrounding the cylinder m for contain-
ing steam; is the piston. Steam is admitted to the cylinder through a
valve or valves, a section of which is given at Figure 7, together with the
cylinder; o, u, are the valve ports; p, p, are the valves connected to the
rod q, common to both; this rod is worked by the eccentric r. The piston is
shown at the end of its stroke; the ports are closed from the steam supply,
and that steam which has driven the piston down is free to pass into the
chamber, and thence to the bottom of the piston by the port o, where the
said steam forces the piston back, and it escapes to the exhaust at the same
time that a fresh supply is admitted, and so on; thus the same steam is
made to act on both sides of the piston or pistons.
Figure 8 is a transverse section of a marine boiler fitted with tubes in the
manner before described; Figure 0 is a longitudinal section through the line
w, v, of Figure 8; Figure 10 is a horizontal section through the line s, t; and
Figure 11 is a longitudinal section through the line g, r, of the same Figure.

page_text: a, a, are the furnaces, and b, b, the boilers, side by side, supporting a tubular
boiler c. The products of combustion from the furnaces a, a, are led through
tubes as before, mix in smoke boxes, and are caused to circulate from one
to the other until they finally reach the superheater in the chimney. All
the tubes in this and the other boilers are held together by grooves and
bolts, as particularly described with reference to Figures 1, 2, and S. In
the last arrangement only single horizontal tubes are shown.
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 an improved arrangement of steam engine to
be used therewith,-
First, securing the parts of boilers together without rivetting in the manner
herein-before described and particularly illustrated at Figures 1, 2, and 3 of
the accompanying Drawings.
Second, forming tubes for boilers double, or with an annular space for
water, so that the products of combustion are free to pass from a smoke box
through the said tubes, mix in another smoke box beyond them, and return
between and around the said double tubes, and thence to the superheater or
chimney, as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Third, placing tubes in the manner herein-before described in the flue or
flues leading to the chimney for the purpose of superheating the steam previous
to its being admitted to the cylinder, substantially as herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth, surrounding the cylinder of steam engines with a superheating
tube for containing steam, and admitting it to the cylinder, as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Fifth, the construction of slide valves for engines in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Soutter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand
JAMES SOUTTER. (L.s.)