IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, AND FOR REFRIGERATING FLUIDS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Foster, of Boxmoor, in the County of
66
Hertford, Engineer, for the Invention of “ IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR CONDENSING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, AND FOR REFRIGERATING
FLUIDS."
Sealed the 17th October 1872, and dated the 27th August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Foster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th August 1872.
I, HENRY FOSTER, of Boxmoor, in the County of Hertford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, AND FOR REFRIGERATING
FLUIDS," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to various improvements in the construction of
tubular surface condensers and apparatus for refrigerating or cooling
fluids or liquids.
The object of my improvements is to effect more perfect condensation
of the steam or vapour, and to abstract the heat more quickly from
liquids, and these objects are effected by the employment of tubes of.

page_text: thinner metal, less diameter, and greater length than heretofore. When
tubes of this kind are employed it involves the necessity of constructing
the apparatus in a peculiar manner, which constitutes one of the main
features of my Invention. It is important that the tubes and plates
should be fitted with perfect joints which will be.unaffected by expansion
or contraction, and that the condenser should be so arranged as to afford
easy access to it in all its parts, either for the purpose of cleansing the
outer sides of the tubes from deposit, or in order that it may be taken
asunder for inspection, repairs, or renewal of defective tubes, as may be
necessary.
The improved condenser and refrigerating apparatus consists of two
cast-iron boxes of rectangular shape, one for receiving the exhaust or
waste steam (admitted to it through a pipe attached to its upper side),
and the other for the outflow of the water from the condensed steam
which runs from the thin metal tubes, whereby these two chambers are
connected together. Thin metal tubes of small diameter (preferably
drawn brass tubes) are employed for this purpose, which are secured to
the vertical sides of the steam and water chambers. Around and amongst
these small tubes are tubes of larger diameter (preferably of wrought
iron). The ends of these wrought-iron tubes act as pillars to support the
end or tube plates. The ends of these large tubes are let into grooves turned
in the inner faces of the tube plates, and they are secured and tightened
up by screwed bolts passed through the tubes and tube plates from end
to end, the nuts being screwed up to the inner face of the plates within
the end steam and water chambers. The small tubes pass through the
tube plate and are secured by tapped nuts between which and the tube
plate I interpose an elastic washer, the under side of the nut being
recessed or turned out so as to inclose and securely retain the packing
ring and prevent it from spreading out. The small tubes by being drawn
up by the nuts will be in tension, while the large iron tubes will be
subjected to compression endwise.
By suitably arranging the proportion and number of both the sets
of tubes the end plates will be supported and made rigid throughout
their whole area.
Within the circumference of the grooves into which the end of the
large tubes are placed, I perforate the tube plate with holes for the
admission of steam from the end chamber to the interior of the large

page_text: tubes, and for drainage of the condensed water therefrom into the
chamber at the other end. This condensing apparatus is suspended in an
open tank from of an overhead framework or beam by means of screwed
rods attached at their lower ends by hinged joints to the cast-iron boxes
at both ends of the condenser; these screwed rods are provided with
fly nuts or hand wheels or other suitable mechanical contrivances for
the purpose of raising the condenser from the tank for inspection,
cleansing, or repair.
The tank is supplied with cold water from any convenient cistern, and
the warm water is run off through any suitable pipe. The pipes leading
to and from the condenser are attached thereto by any readily adjusted
or elastic joints, so that they can be easily detached when required.
By this construction and arrangement of condenser and refrigerating
apparatus expansion and contraction of the tubes will not affect the
soundness of the joints, and by the described arrangement access can be
obtained to every tube for cleansing by simply raising the condenser
from the tank and for renewal of defective tubes by afterwards removing.
the covers of the end chambers. I am thus enabled to use tubes of
thinner metal and greater length than has hitherto been possible, and
thus obtain a more perfect condensation and better vacuum.
This condensing apparatus is more particularly applicable to con-
densing and marine engines, but may also be employed with advantage
as a refrigerator for cooling liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Foster in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
FOSTER, of Boxmoor, in the County of Hertford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Foster, Her special licence that I,

page_text: the said Henry Foster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Henry Foster, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPARATUS FOR CON-
DENSING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, AND FOR REFRIGERATING FLUIDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Foster, 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
· NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Foster, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 represents in sectional elevation
one form of my improved condenser and refrigerating apparatus placed
in a suitable cold water tank. The condenser itself is shewn at A, and
Figure 2 is a sectional view thereof. The condenser consists of thin metal
3 tubes a, a, of small diameter, combined with hollow metal pillars or
stand pipes b, b, of larger diameter. These parts are shewn upon an
enlarged scale at Figures 3 and 4.
The two end cast iron boxes C, C, Figure 1, are of rectangular shape,.
and their vertical inner sides form the tube plates C³, C³, to which both
ends of the tubes a, a, and b, b, are secured as shewn at Figure 3. The
right hand box C, Figure 1, receives the exhaust or waste steam which is
admitted to it through the pipe c (attached to its upper side), and the
other or left hand box C₁ receives the outflow of the water from the
condensed steam which runs from the thin metal tubes a, a, and the
hollow pillars or stand pipes b, b, and finds its exit therefrom through
the pipe d, attached to the under side of the box C'.
Figures 3 and 4 are views drawn full size shewing portions of the large
and small tubes in side view and cross section, and the manner of con-
necting them or securing them to the vertical sides C2 of the rectangular
boxes C. The thin metal tubes a, a, are of small diameter and may be of
iron or steel (but drawn brass are by preference employed for this
purpose), and they are secured to the vertical sides or tube plates C³, C³,
of the steam and water chambers C, C¹, in the manner hereafter
described. Arranged around and amongst the small tubes a, a, (see
the sectional view Figure 2) are the tubes b, b, of larger diameter (pre-
ferably of wrought iron). The ends of these wrought-iron tubes act
as pillars to support the end or tube plates C³, C³. The ends of these
large tubes b, b, are let into grooves turned in the inner faces of the tube
plates C, C. These grooves are sufficiently deep to allow a small ring of
packing being inserted as seen in the section at Figure 3. These tubes b, b,
are secured and tightened up by screwed bolts 6' (see Figure 3) passed
through the tubes b, b, and tube plates C* from end to end, the nuts being
screwed up to the outer face of the plates C³, C³, within the end steam and
water chambers C₁ within the circumference of the grooves into which the
ends of the large tubes b, b, are placed. The tube plates C³, C³, are per-
forated with holes c*, c*, (as seen at Figures 3 and 4,) for the admission of
steam from the end chamber C₁, to the interior of the large tubes, and for
drainage of the condensed water therefrom into the chamber C¹ at the
other end.

page_text: The small tubes a, a, pass through the tube plates C³, C2, and are
secured by tapped nuts a³, see Figure 5, which represents a tube a secured
in this manner to its tubes plates C³, C. Between the nuts a¹ and the
tube plates C2, C3, an elastic washer a³ is interposed. The under side
of the nut a¹ (as will be seen in the sectional view, Figures 5*), is
recessed or turned out so as to inclose and securely retain the packing
ring and prevent it from spreading out. But in place of this form of
nut and washer it is preferred to construct the joints of the small
tubes a, a, in the manner shewn detached in side and end view at
Figures 6, and in the side view of the pipes in position seen at Figure 3.
In this arrangement the nut a¹ is formed of short lengths of tapped
brass tube, and the tube plates C³ are recessed to receive the packing
and the lower portion of the nut a¹, the bottom of the recess being
curved or inclined down to the tube a. The packing ring a³, Figure 6,
will be forced down to the sides of the pipe and a more secure steam
and air-tight joint will be formed. The small tubes a, a, being drawn
up by the nuts a¹, a¹, in the manner described by means of either of the
above arrangements will be in tension, while the large iron tubes b, b,
will be subjected to compression endwise, and by suitably arranging the
proportion and number of both the sets of tubes a, a, and b, b, as shewn
at Figure 2 for example, the end plates C³, C2, will be supported and made
rigid throughout their whole area, and the whole of the forest of small
tubes will remain steam and water tight.
This condensing apparatus A is suspended in the open tank B, Figure 1,
from the overhead framework or beam B by means of screwed rods e, e,
attached at their lower ends by hinged joints or bolts to the cast-iron
boxes C, C¹, at both ends of the condenser. These screwed rods are
provided with fly nuts e¹, e¹, as shewn in the Drawings. Hand wheels
or other suitable mechanical contrivance may be substituted for these
fly nuts for the purpose of raising the condenser from the tank into the
position shewn by dots in the Drawing, so that the condenser may be
inspected, cleansed, or repaired when required.
The tank B is supplied with cold water from any convenient cistern,
from whence it is received into the trough E placed transversely upon or
over the condenser, and from this tank the cold water is led by pipes f, f,
into and through the forest of tubes a, a, effecting thereby an equal
distribution of cold water in the middle and lower portion of the tank B,
and ensuring a constant upward current of cold water around and

page_text: between the tubes a, a. The waste warm water is allowed to run off at
the overflow passage E*, when it may be utilized for warming buildings
or in any other way desired.
The pipes c and d, leading to and from the condenser are attached
thereto by any readily adjusted or elastic joints, so that they may be
casily detached when required.
An obvious modification of the above arrangement would be to
construct the cast-iron boxes C and C¹, and the tank B as one chamber,
and to supply the cold water from a suspended cistern having a per-
forated bottom, by which a continuous shower of cold water may be
poured upon the pipes a, a, and b, b, the current of heated water passing
downwards into a water chamber from which it may be withdrawn or
run to waste.
Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of another modification of this improved
condenser and refrigerator, and Fig. 8 is a cross section of the same
shewing the arrangement of the tubes a and b, and the respective position
of those of small and large diameter. In this form of condenser the
construction of the apparatus is somewhat altered and the arrangement
and operation of the parts reversed, the condenser being placed vertically.
in place of horizontally, and the steam to be condensed is passed in,
amongst, and around the outsides of the tubes a, a, and b, b, while the
cold water is brought up through them. It will be seen that the outer
cylindrical shell of the condenser enclosing the tubes a, a, and b, b, is at
both ends sunk into grooves formed to receive it in the tube plates 0%, C³.
The lower tube plate C' forms the cover of the cast-iron chamber C into
which the cold water is received from the cistern or reservoir by the
pipe E, and flowing up through the interior of the tubes a, a, and b, b,
(which are similar in construction and arrangement to those before
described), is received into a chamber C³ formed by a flanged cast-iron
ring bolted upon the upper tube plate C'. From this chamber the
heated water may be withdrawn to be utilized in any desired manner, or
it may run to waste.
The steam to be condensed enters the apparatus by the pipe c, which
conducts it to the central hollow pillar or stand pipe b¹. This pipe 6¹ is
stopped by a plug b³ a short distance from its upper end, and is per-
forated by such a number of holes as to give the same area as the steam
entrance pipe c. Through these perforations the steam passes amongst

page_text: I claim the construction and arrangement of condensing and refri-
gerating apparatus substantially as herein shewn and described, or any
mere modification thereof.
I claim particularly the combination of the tension tubes a with the
tubes 6, which are subjected to compression endwise as and. for the
purposes above described, so that the tube plates will be supported and
the joints of the tubes made perfect and steam-tight as herein set forth.
I also claim admitting the steam (to be condensed) to the central part
of the condenser or refrigerator, and providing a central exit for the
condensed or cooled steam, as shewn and described in reference to Figs. 7
and 8 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Foster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.