IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS AND CONDENSERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS
AND CONDENSERS."-A communication from abroad by Benjamin
Talbot Babbitt, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th April 1869.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS
AND CONDENSERS," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in constructing a steam generator or condenser
of main and branch pipes or pipe-like structures arranged to occupy
right angled or cross positions, and forming tiers and rows of tubes

page_text: connected so as to form but a single structure yet independent as
regards separate expansion and contraction, and allowing of free
circulation between or around as well as through them in various
directions by means of bends or connecting tubes at the ends. The fire-
grate is of peculiar construction. The bars being formed of a triangular
shape and hollow for the circulation of water within and admitting
of free or independent expansion and contraction of the component parts
of the grate as the hollow bars are connected by bent tubes with a
tube or water chamber below.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, 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 GENERATORS AND CONDENSERS," being a communi-
cation to me from abroad, by Benjamin Talbot Babbitt, of the City and
State of New York, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, my ex-
ecutors 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

page_text: Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE,, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is.
to say)-
The object of this Invention is to combine simplicity and cheapness
of construction with an extensive heating or cooling surface according
to whether the Invention is applied to generating or condensing steam,
and also to provide for free expansion and contraction of the parts in
various directions together with a ready circulation and general
efficiency of action. To these ends the Invention consists in con-
structing a steam generator or condenser of main and branch pipes.
or pipe-like structures arranged to occupy right angled or cross. positions,.
and forming tiers and rows of tubes connected so as to form but a
single structure yet independent as regards. separate expansion and
contraction, and allowing of free circulation between or around as well
as through them in various directions. Such is the general character
of the Invention which in its construction embraces several important.
features and modifications as herein-after explained, including a peculiar
construction of fire-grate for the circulation of water within it and
admitting of free or independent expansion and contraction of its
component parts.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of
a steam boiler with water grate attached constructed. in accordance with
the Invention under one of its forms or modifications, and Fig. 2 is a
sectional elevation of the same taken transversely or at right angles
to Fig. 1; Figures 3 and 4 represent a plan and end view respectively
of a modified construction of the grate shown in the previous Figures;
Fig. 5 is a like construction and arrangement of the tubular or leading
parts to those shewn in Figures 1 and 2, but under a reversed arrange-
ment of them as a whole to adapt the Invention to a condenser, and
Figures 6, 7, and 8 and 9 represent certain modifications of construction
as regards the tubes which make up the body of the structure and
connection of the same to facilitate circulation. These Figures are
views in elevation of a portion of the body.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 represent a steam boiler set in its supporting or
surrounding brickwork to occupy a vertical position, but it may if
desired be made to assume a different one. The entire body or steam
generating capacity of the boiler is supposed to be made of cast iron,
and may be formed either in sections bolted together or of a single
casting, as for instance by making it in flasks or moulds arranged to.
form opposite halves or portions meeting as indicated by the red line
x, x, in Fig. 2. The body consists of an intermediate lower horizontal
and any suitable number of connecting parallel vertical main pipes:
or tubes A and B, B, and branch tubes or pipe-like structures C, C,
projecting in a radial manner from the lower main pipe A and at right
angles from the vertical pipes B, B, all of these pipes or tubular
structures A, B, B, and C, C, present free closed outer ends, and are so set
or dividedly arrranged relatively to each other as to form tiers and rows
of tubes with free circulation or passage for the flame and heated gases
between them both in vertical and horizontal directions, as also around
them. This peculiar tubular construction of the body or arrangement
of the pipe-like structure of which it is composed constitutes at once
both a cheap, simple, and most efficient boiler, the same combining with
a large or extended heating surface the most perfect freedom for separate
expansion and contraction of the tubes in the direction of their length
by reason of the unrestrained exposure of them at their outer ends.
A steam drum or reservoir D from which the supply is designed to
be taken as at d may if desired be connected with the body without
interfering with such advantageous character or action of the parts, as,
for instance, by means of bent wrought iron or flexible pipes a, a,
disposed to connect the drum with the several vertical pipes B, B.
In Figures 6 and 7 of the Drawing the several branch tubes C, C, of
the body are also represented as connected at their ends by bent
wrought metal or copper pipes b, b, under different arrangements of
them to promote circulation of the water within the boiler, and to
facilitate the escape of the steam as generated in the lower range of tubes
to the upper ones without (by reason of the arrangement and flexible
character of the connections b, b,) materially impeding or affecting the
freedom of expansion and contraction of the branch tubes in the direction
of their length, or of the main pipes from which they project. In some
cases it may be desirable to make the main pipes A and B, B, of cast
iron, and the branch tubes C, C, of wrought metal, and to connect the
latter with the former by screwing them into the same, or otherwise

page_text: suitably attaching them. This may be the case either when the several
branch tubes C, C, are separately closed at their outer ends, as in
Figures 1 and 2, or when they are connected in pairs at such ends by
elbows or turns c, c, as shewn in Fig. 8 of the Drawing. Fig. 9
represents a similar arrangement to that shown in Fig. 8, but with
the branch tubes C, C, made of cast metal and elbows c, c, cast with
them. In either or all of these instances there is great freedom secured
for expansion and contraction of the parts of the boiler in a divided
manner as regards the relation they bear to the whole structure. Fig. 5
of the Drawing represents a structure composed of tubes arranged sub-
stantially as described with reference to the employment of the same for
generating steam, but showing the same as a whole reversed to adapt
the structure to be used either as a surface or air condenser, the steam to
be condensed entering as at d, and the water of condensation escaping
at e, the main pipe A and drum D occupying reversed positions to that
shewn for them in Figures 1 and 2.
Referring again to the use of the structure for steam generating
purposes, the grate for the fuel under the boiler it is preferred to
construct substantially as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or 3 and 4 of
the Drawing; this grate E may be cast in one piece, and is made
up of a hollow intermediate main bar f, and hollow branch bars g
radiating from the main bar on either side of it and communicating
at their inner open ends with the main bar. Such construction allows
of a free supply of water throughout the whole body of the grate with
provision for independent expansion and contraction in the direction
of their length of the several bars of which it is composed by reason
of the outer ends of the bars being left free or disconnected from each
other, Water is or may be pumped (by a suitably bent wrought metal
or comparatively flexible pipe h) into the one end of the main bar f
to supply the grate, and after passage through the latter be conveyed
by another bent yielding pipe i from the opposite end of the main
bar to the horizontal main tube A of the boiler, thus feeding the
latter with water heated by its passage through the grate. A water
grate thus constructed must necessarily be very durable both as regards
its exemption from burning out and freedom from injury or breakage
by expansion and contraction. If desired the outer ends of the branch.
bars g, g, instead of being entirely closed as in Figures 1 and 2 may
be connected as shown in Figures 3 and 4 by bent wrought metal or

page_text: comparatively flexible pipes k, k, with the lower feed pipe for the
purpose of promoting circulation throughout the grate, without materially
impeding or restraining the independent expansion and contraction of
the several bars of the grate.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having, explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to. me:
by Letters Patent as aforesaid :-
First. Constructing a steam generator of main and branch tubes
arranged to provide for independent expansion and contraction in
direction of their length, and for free circulation between them, as
hercin set forth.
Second. The combination with the main and branch tubes B and C:
of tubular connections, turns, or elbows to the outer ends of the branch
tubes, as and for the purpose set forth.
Third. The combination with the main and branch tubes A, B, B₁
and C, C, of the drum D, so arranged and connected with such tubes.
by means of pipes of flexible character as. to leave such tubes free
to expand and contract independently of the drum, essentially as
specified.
Fourth. The grate E, constructed substantially as described and shewn
in Figures 1 and 2, or 3 and 4.
Fifth. A steam condenser constructed of tubes, arranged as described!
and shown in Fig. 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, the Twenty-first day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-.
nine.