Improvements in or connected with Steam Generators and Furnaces therefor.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd July, 1891-Accepted, 11th Aug., 1894
Improvements in or connected with Steam Generators and Furnaces
therefor.
A communication by FRANCISCO JIMENEZ-ULIBARRI, of Almeria, in the
Kingdom of Spain.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
If, in a steam boiler having interior furnace, whatever its system may be, the two
ends of this furnace be so closed as to leave no communication with the atmosphere,
and if, in the ash-box or the furnace front, a tube is provided by which air is
supplied under a sufficient pressure, combustion will continue in the furnace
just the same as before, but the products thereof will find no way of escape
and the pressure inside the furnace will rise rapidly. But if an opening be made
provided with a valve, which places the furnace in communication with the interior
of the boiler, when the pressure in the furnace is sufficient, the valve will open and
leave a way open to the products of combustion, which latter will then get into
direct contact with the water of the boiler, where they cool and produce steam as
they rise to the surface of the liquid.
The result of this will be that, within the steam chest of the boiler, there will be
a mixture of water steam and of products of combustion which can be utilised in
the cylinder of any steam motor without condensation.
Therefore the application of this principle, which is the basis and feature of the
present invention, means the suppression of the draught of the chimney while the
motor is in motion (though the said chimney may be used for getting the boiler
under pressure or for other purposes) and the omission of all heating surface save
that of the fire-box.
The details to obtain this double result in practice may vary ad infinitum, for
instance, the automatic charging of the fuel into the furnace may be effected by
feeding the furnace with pulverised fuel through the pipe which transmits the
compressed air for combustion, in which case, the air should not enter through the
ash-box but through the upper part of the furnace front; the interior of the boiler
may be provided with divisions to retard the passage of the products of combustion
so that the contact of the latter with the liquid may be longer; the boiler may be
fed in the ordinary manner or by causing the feed water pipe to empty into the
fire-box itself, towards the back, which water will at once enter the boiler, provided
the valve through which the products of combustion pass has been placed at the
bottom of the fire-box, whereby a cooling of the gases in the fire-box itself will be
obtained, if, in consequence of excess of temperature, a complete combustion cannot
be obtained; and, finally, the part corresponding to the furnace may be faced with
fire bricks in the most suitable manner. Nevertheless, in order to enable this
invention to be quite clearly understood, one of the various modes which can be
used for putting into practice without deviating from the principle on which it is
based is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the furnace and boiler: and
Figure 2, a cross section of the fire-box.
11
Compressed air is supplied by a pipe A, and the pulverised fuel is fed down a

page_text: pipe B from where it is carried towards the inside of the furnace by the current of
air. The furnace and the front thereof are covered with fire-bricks to prevent the
action of the fire being too intense against the iron and to maintain inside a
sufficient degree of heat for inflaming the mixture of air and coals which arrives
by the pipe A; C is a door which can be opened in order to place in the furnace
some incandescent coals when beginning to work or to take away the cinders.
The feed water is caused to enter through a tube D and is stored inside the fire-box,
for which purpose the latter consists of two cylindrical parts of different diameters,
joined in the manner shown in Figure 2 (E) which represents the fire-box in cross
section, and the feed water enters the boiler through a valve F, together with the
gases, and, lest the latter should not have cooled sufficiently while rising to the
surface, there is interposed horizontally throughout the length of the boiler a
plate G H which has in the whole of its length a number of small holes sufficient
to divide the gases, when crossing it, into small bubbles and to cool them sufficiently.
The object of introducing the feed water into the fire-box is to cool the gases, as
before stated, so that the combustion may be complete.
To get up pressure in the boiler before the motor is able to drive the compressed
air through the pipe A, the outside heating surface of the boiler may be used with
a separate fire-box, or a communication with the chimney and a damper may be
established at M, the fire-bricks of the furnace being so arranged as to enable the
latter to act at first like that of an ordinary boiler. When once the boiler is under
pressure, the damper is closed and the working is continued with compressed air.
This, as before stated, is only one of the many modes of which use can be made
for carrying out the invention, and the right to adopt such variations as practical
application may call for in each individual case is therefore reserved, provided that
such are kept within the principle of the invention set forth at the commencement
of this Specification.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a steam generator, the method of introducing into the boiler the products
of combustion from the furnace by means of compressed air, whereby a large
portion of the steam is produced by the direct contact with the liquid of the said
products of combustion and whereby the compressed gases of the furnace are
utilised together with the steam for driving any motor suitable for the purpose,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
2. An improved steam generator and furnace constructed and arranged substan-
tially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 2nd day of July 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.