IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING AND APPLYING STEAM TO CERTAIN PURPOSES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LAWES, of 32, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of January, in the
fourteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Lawes, my exors, admñiors, and assigns,. Her especial power, full licence, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Lawes, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Lawes, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of years within mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominions of Wales, and
the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING AND APPLYING STEAM TO CERTAIN
PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring
that I, the said Thomas Lawes, shall particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, and cause the same to

page_text: be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Lawes, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following instrument in writing, reference being
had to the letters and figures therein contained, and to the Drawings there-
unto annexed, (that is to say)
My Invention, which has reference_to improvements in generating and
applying steam to certain useful purposes, relates,-
Firstly, To the construction of boilers or generators, of which the combi-
nation and arrangement of the several parts is suitable for obtaining greater
pressure with perfect safety and greater economy, its novelty and advantage
consisting in an arrangement of tubes framed and fitted in horizontal and
vertical positions in such manner that the said tubes may admit of being
replaced by others when repair is necessary. It may be here remarked,
before describing the leading features of my said Invention, that I am aware
numerous contrivances have heretofore been put in practice by which tubes
are employed as the most efficient method of increasing the heating surfaces
in boilers and generators, and amongst others of less practical utility than
those which form the subject of my present improvements, it may be stated
that in a former Patent, granted to me on the Fifth day of June, A.D. 1849,
I proposed to employ an arrangement of tubes similar in mechanical effect;
but for the more rapid generation, I have found it desirable to increase the
number of tubes without enlarging the generator. To effect this object, and
to economize fuel and labour in maintaining a sufficient supply of steam at
a high temperature, a series of small pipes or tubes are arranged vertically
in rows within the different flues and passages, formed by the horizontal and
vertical tubular casing, there being sufficient room within the casing between
the vertical pipes to allow of their receiving the full action of the fire, each of
the said smaller pipes or tubes being connected with the various outer pipes
and passages in which the steam is generated. To overcome the difficulty
usually felt in cleansing tubular boilers, I cause the tubes or pipes used in
the construction of the same, to be fitted at both ends with a small plug fixed
there by suitable means, and removable at pleasure, so that by removing the
same the attendant may with little trouble cleanse the whole length of the
pipe from any incrustation or feculent deposit which may obstruct the same
without intefering with any other other part of the machine. The above

page_text: description will be better understood by reference to the. Drawings annexed,
as follows: Fig. 1, Sheet I, represents a sectional side elevation of my
improved boiler or generator; Fig. 2, a transverse or front end view;
Fig. 3, an isometrical view of the same complete. A, A, is the foundation
or bed upon which the boiler is set; B, brickwork arch, forming the ash-pit
or stoke-hole; C, C, rectangular furnace, running longitudinally with the
boiler; D, D, fire bars; E, furnace doors; F, F, water tubes or pipes hori-
zontally placed side by side, forming the partitions of the upper and lower
flue passages; G, G, intermediate tubes running vertically in rows within the
return flues, suitably apart from each, so as not to impede the draught
and action of the furnace round them; H, H, generating tubes, the water in
which is seldom allowed to ascend higher than about one-third of their length,
the remaining space being filled up by the steam; I, I, steam chambers.
situated above the upper series of the tubular generators aforesaid, the object
of which is to receive the steam as dry as possible for the purposes to which
it is usually applied; J, J, side tubes in communication with the tubular
generators, through which fresh supplies of water pass; K, K, conducting
steam generating passages or pipes; L, L, small water tubes connecting
J, J, with F, F; M, M, vertical tubes forming sides of flues; N, N, tubes
connecting steam chambers I, I. In contradistinction to other boilers or
generators of tubular construction, it will be found that my improvements
refer more particularly to the employment of tubes when placed or arranged
side by side, or closely together, so that the several horizontal series (of tubes)
of which the boiler is constructed, form the dividing heating surfaces between
the flues; that is to say, the flame or heat which passes. through the flue on
it's way out of the shaft or chimney shall be conducted alternately in the
direction of the different heating surfaces formed by the tubes arranged as
above described, and the water contained therein evaporated into high pressure
steam.
Secondly, My Invention relates to an improved system for warming and
heating certain vessels, apparatus, or machinery, for drying and dressing
feathers, wool, hair, or other substances or materials, and also to the
construction and arrangement of machinery employed therein. Fig. 1,
Sheet II, represents an end or front view of my improved machinery. Fig. 2,
a longitudinal section taken through the dotted lines a, a; and Fig. 3, a per-
spective view of the same. A, A, outer case or cylindrical vessel; B, B, flap
openings or doors round the circumference or periphery of the cylinder;
C, C, a hollow shaft keyed firmly to the outside cylinder or case; D, D,
radiating surface steam tubes; E, E, steam-way heat diffusers; F, F, feathers

page_text: or other material to be operated upon. In accordance with the improvements,
the feathers, wool, hair, or other material are first subjected to the process of
washing, wetting, or steaming, after which they are placed in the cylinder or
case A, A, and the whole caused to revolve by suitable mechanical contrivances,
so that the substances or material may be continually brought into contact
with the tubular heating surfaces before mentioned, the revolving motion
of the cylinder being kept up until the feathers, &c. therein contained are
properly dried and dressed, when they are removed, and another supply
administered. For communicating motion and heat to the apparatus, I prefer
making use of the boiler or generator described under the first head of my
Invention, though those of different construction may be employed. The
supply of steam at any required temperature is admitted to the radiating
surface tubes through the medium of the hollow shaft, one end of which is
in connection with the steam chamber, from which the steam is conveyed,
while the other allows the steam to escape. A stop or plug is inserted in
the middle of the hollow shaft for the purpose of compelling the steam to
traverse through the tubular heating surfaces before escaping. For working
and heating the apparatus, waste steam may be employed with great advan-
tage, and thus a considerable saving of fuel effected. In concluding the
description of the second head of my Invention, I would have it understood,
that though numerous modifications of the same system may be employed
and made use of, I prefer the form given in the annexed Drawing, the heating
or radiating surfaces being extended through the ends of the cylinder if
necessary.
Thirdly, and lastly, my improvements have reference to the application of
steam power, "generated as above described, to the purposes of locomotive,
stationary, and agricultural engines. Fig. 4, Sheet II, represents a transverse
vertical section of a railway engine, shewing and improved method of increasing
the tension or attractive influence of the driving wheels upon the rails. A, A, is
the body of the engine; B, B, the under frame; C, C, propelling wheels;
D, D, driving shaft; E, E, toothed wheel; F, F, couppling; G, G, motion
lever; H, H, toothed rack, placed between the rails I, I. By means of the
lever G, G, acting on the couppling, the toothed wheel may be thrown in or
out of gear at pleasure, and a corresponding action obtained upon the rack or
centre toothed rail.
Having now described and set forth the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be carried into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before given,
or to the number or size of the tubes, the mode or modes of working, or the