A METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INCRUSTATION OR CALCAREOUS DEPOSITS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn,
:
in the County of Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City
of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INCRUSTATION OR CALCAREOUS
DEPOSITS IN STEAM BOILERS."-A communication from abroad by Alex-
ander Forbes Porter, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of
America.
Scaled the 4th July 1865, and dated the 14th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
January 1865.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28. St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INCRUSTATION OR CALCAREOUS
DEPOSITS IN STEAM BOILERS," (a communication to me from abroad by.
Alexander Forbes Porter, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of
America,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in preventing incrustation or calcareous deposits
in steam boilers substantially in the manner and by means of the apparatus
hereafter described. To the upper part of the boiler, above the water line,
and near to one end, is screwed or otherwise firmly fixed a short rod, extending

page_text: from the inner surface of the boiler downwards towards the water line. This
rod carries a metal block which is insulated from the rod (and consequently
from the body of the boiler) by a lining of glass, porcelain, or other non-
conductor of electricity. The metal block has two projections about mid-
way between the water level and the top of the boiler, one of which carries
a rod extending towards the end of the boiler, near which the apparatus is
fixed, and terminating in a ball or sphere, from which projects several pointed
wires. To the opposite projection one end of a coiled wire is attached by
means of a pin or screw; the other end of the said wire being connected by
means of a pin or screw to the upper part of the boiler at a point as far distant
as practicable from that where the short rod above-named is attached. It
is well known that the calcareous deposits formed in evaporating water,
assume the character of a stony crystalline incrustation, which becomes firmly
attached to the interior of the boiler, and especially to the lower portions of
This is one of the most serious evils with which engineers have
to contend, as the incrustation is a formidable non-conductor of heat, and
impairs the efficiency of the boilers, and causes a great waste of fuel. After
many practical tests it has been found that the accumulation of the usual
calcareous deposit is prevented by the above-described apparatus. Although
the apparatus above described serves the desired end admirably it will be
evident that other equivalent devices may be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Davies, Her special licence that I, the said George Davies,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Davies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
with and no others, from time to time, and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "A METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INCRUSTATION OR CALCAREOUS DEPOSITS IN STEAM
BOILERS," (being a communication to me from abroad. by Alexander Forbes
Porter; of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davies,. 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 George Davies, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described' and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in preventing incrustation or calcareous deposits
in steam boilers substantially in the manner and by means of the apparatus
Bereafter described. To the upper part of the boiler above the water line
and near to one end, is screwed or otherwise firmly fixed a short rod extending
from the inner surface of the boiler downwards towards the water line. This
rod carries a metal block which is insulated from the rod (and consequently
from the body of the boiler) by a lining of glass, porcelain, or other non-con-
ductor of electricity. The metal block has two projections about midway
between the water level and the top of the boiler, one of which carries a rod
extending towards the end of the boiler, near which the apparatus is fixed,
and' terminating in a ball or sphere, from which project several pointed wires.
Such being
To the opposite projection one end of a coiled wire is attached by means of
a pin or screw, the other end' of the said wire being connected by means of a
pin or screw to the upper part of the boiler at a point as far distant as prac-
ticable from that where the short above-named is attached.
the nature and object of the said Invention for "A Method of and Apparatus
for Preventing Incrustation or Calcareous Deposits in Steam Boilers," I
will now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that
the same may be distinctly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings, illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures and

page_text: letters of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a side view of the proposed apparatus for carrying out this
mode of preventing incrustation in steam boilers; and Figure 2 an inverted
plan view of the apparatus. Similar letters refer to similar parts in both views.
A (Figure 1), is the upper portion of a steam boiler in which B is the
water line. In the upper portion of the boiler, near one end of the same,
is screwed a rod D, which if desired, may be further secured by a nut a.
This rod passes through a hole in the metal block E, which is confined to
the rod between a collar e on the latter, and a washer f by a suitable nut h.
It should be understood that the hole in the metal block, through which
the rod D passes, is lined with glass, porcelain, enamel, or other non-conductor
of electricity, and that the non-conducting material intervenes between the
collare and the block, as well as between the block and the washer f, so that
the rod D although firmly secured to the block is perfectly insulated. The
block E has two projections i and i, to the former of which is secured a
metal rod F, carrying at the end a sphero G, and from the latter project any
suitable number of wires H, each of which terminates in a point. To the
opposite projection is secured a pin I, to which is attached one end of a
coiled wire J, the opposite end of the latter being secured to a pin K, which
is screwed into or otherwise secured to the upper plate of the boiler at a
point as far distant as possible from that where the rod D, is attached. It
is well known that the calcareous deposits formed in evaporating water,
assume the character of a stony chrystalline incrustation, which becomes
firmly attached to the interior of the boiler, and especially to the lower portions
of the same. This is one of the most serious evils with which engineers bave
to contend, as the incrustation is a formidable non-conductor of heat, and
impairs the efficiency of the boilers, and causes a great waste of fuel. After
many practical tests it has been found that the accumulation of the usual
calcareous deposit is prevented by the above-described apparatus. Although
the apparatus above described serves the desired end admirably it will be
evident that other equivalent devices may be used.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for "A
Method of and Apparatus for Preventing Incrustation or Calcareous Deposits
in Steam Boilers," together with the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in con-
clusion that I claim as the Invention (communicated to me from abroad by
Alexander Forbes Porter) the manner substantially described of preventing
calcareous deposit or incrustation in steam boilers together with the appa-

page_text: ratus shown in the Drawing annexed and above particularly described or
any mere modification or imitation thereof operating in substantially the same
manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
GEORGE DAVIES.
(L.B.)