IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kershaw, of the City of Dublin, Ireland,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kershaw at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th January.
1854.
I, JOHN KERSHAW, of the City.of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES".
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the heating of the feed water previous to its
entering the boiler, and consists in the employment of a wrought iron vessel or
chamber placed behind the fire box and immediately under the foot plate. Into
the upper portion, or near the top of the chamber, is fitted, a pipe perforated
on its under side with small holes. This pipe is in immediate communication
with the supply pipes joining the tender with the engine. Immediately below
the perforated water pipe is fitted the nozzle of a steam pipe in connection with
the lower portion of the blast pipe of the engine. This steam pipe is turned
upwards in front of the tube plate, so as to be above the level of the water in
the tender, and is so arranged by an extension of surface to take advantage of
any amount of waste heat. It passes directly through the ash pit and beneath the
fire bars, with which it is in close proximity, thereby keeping the steam heated

page_text: or surcharged to a certain extent previous to its exit by the nozzle in the
wrought iron chamber. When the feed is turned on, the water descends in a
shower from the perforations in the pipe before mentioned, and falls through
the jet of steam immediately beneath it, which becomes condensed, and imparts
to it a certain amount of heat. The heated water falls into the chamber or
reservoir, and is supplied to the engine therefrom by suitable feed pipes open-
ing from the bottom of the reservoir. A regulating cock is fitted to the steam
pipe, for regulating the supply of steam according to the supply of water.
In case, through negligence, the water supply should be stopped in the heating
chamber without closing the steam cock, which would immediately fill the
heating chamber with steam, a discharge cock is connected with the chamber
under the controul of the engineer. It is obvious that these arrangements are
equally applicable to locomotive, marine, and stationary engines, and to
boilers of every class.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kershaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
KERSHAW, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Kershaw, Her special license that I, the said John Kershaw, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Kershaw,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
110 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
ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Ker-
shaw, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Kershaw, 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 accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the heating of the feed water previous to its
entering the boiler of locomotive and all other engines, and consists in the
employment of a wrought or cast iron vessel or chamber placed behind or in
front of the fire box, or in any convenient position between the pumps and
the tender or tank. Running from end to end and along the top of this
chamber is fitted a pipe, perforated on its under side with small holes; this
pipe is in immediate communication with the supply pipes from the tender
or tank. In the centre and immediately below the perforated water
pipe, and for about one quarter its length, is fitted the nozzle of a steam
pipe or pipes in connection with the lower portion of the blast pipe of the
engine. This nozzle is of a T shape, and open at both ends, from which
the exhaust steam issues. In the smoke box this steam pipe or pipes is
turned upwards in front of the tube plate, so as to be above the level of the
water in the tender; and it is so arranged by an extension of surface as to
take advantage of any amount of the waste heat of the smoke box. It passes
directly through the ash pit and beneath the fire bars, with which it is in
close proximity, thereby keeping the steam heated or surcharged to a certain
extent previous to its exit by the nozzle into the condensing box or heating
chamber. When the feed is turned on, the water descends in a shower through
the perforations in the pipe before mentioned, and falls through the jets of
steam immediately beneath it, which becomes condensed, and so imparts to the
feed water a certain amount of heat. This heated water then remains in the
lower portion of the chamber or reservoir, and is supplied to the boiler there-
from by the usual feed pipes opening from the bottom of the reservoir and con-
nected to the pumps. A regulating cock is fitted to the exhaust steam pipe
or pipes, for regulating the due supply of steam in accordance with the supply
of water used by the engine, and also a steam blow cock is fitted to the feed
pipes, for carrying off the waste steam from the boiler into the tender. If,
through negligence, the heating chamber or condensing box should be allowed
to get full of steam, through the steam cock being left open, when the water
cocks are shut, a discharge cock is fitted to the chamber, which is either self-
acting or under the control of the engineer. It is obvious that these arrange-
ments are equally applicable to locomotive, marine, and stationary engines, and
to boilers of every class.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be more readily understood I shall now
proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed. Fig. 1 represents in vertical longitudinal section a portion of the
back of a locomotive engine with my heating chamber or condensing box
attached, and shewn in transverse section; Fig. 2 is a detached longitudinal
section of the condensing box corresponding; and Fig. 3 is a corresponding
sectional plan of the same, looking up from the under side of the box. A is a
wrought iron chamber or box situated behind the fire box B, and attached by
hangers or otherwise to the foot plate C, or to the framing of the engine. A
pipe D, perforated on its under side with small holes, runs from end to end along
the top of this chamber. The perforated pipe D communicates by means of
the branch or supply pipes E, E, with the tender or tank of the engine imme-
diately below, and in the centre of the perforated pipe D is fitted the T sliapéd
nozzle F, of the steam pipe or pipes G, which is in connection with the lower
portion of the blast pipe. The other end of this steam pipe in the smoke box
is turned upwards, as I have herein-before described, so as to be above the level
of the water in the tender; but I have not considered it necessary to illustrate
it in my Drawings, as it will be well understood by the practical man. This
steam pipe or pipes passes in close proximity with the under side of the, fire
bars II, as shown at Fig. 1, whereby the steam becomes to a certain extent
super-heated before entering the condensing box A. On turning on the feed
the water descends through the perforations in the pipe D, in the form of a
shower, and falls through the two jets of super heated steam issuing from the
Tnozzle F, beneath; this steam becomes condensed, and imparts at the same
time a certain amount of heat to the feed water. The heated feed water is
supplied to the boiler by the pipes I, I, and ordinary feed pumps, which are not
shewn in the Drawing. A regulating cock, not shown in the Drawings, is fitted
to any convenient part of the steam pipe G, and placed under the control of
the engineer, whereby the supply of steam may be regulated according to the
amount of water required to feed the boiler. J is a discharge cock and pipe,
also under the control of the engineer, or it might be self-acting, by which
any superabundant steam in the condensing box A, may be allowed to escape,
as I have herein-before described. K, K, are mud cocks or plugs for cleaning
out the condensing box and running off any deposit contained therein. L is a
steam blow-off cock for blowing the waste steam from the boiler to the tender
when requisite, or at a station. I may here observe that I do not confine or
restrict myself to any particular dimensions or form of heating chamber or con-
densing box, nor as to its exact position under the engine, as both of these
conditions must of course depend upon the arrangement of the working parts

page_text: of the engine and other local circumstances. By the arrangement I have
herein-before described it will be obvious to the practical man that all the feed
water required for the engine will be heated to boiling or nearly boiling point,
and that a saving, moreover, in the weight of water requisite to be carried will
be effected by the employment of the condensed steam, both these objects being
effected without the aid of mechanical power.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore clain as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of apparatus for heating
the feed water of steam boilers, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of heating the feed water of steam boilers,
wherein the condensation of so much of the exhaust steam is effected as will
give to the whole of the feed water required by the engine a temperature of or
about 212°, such result being obtained without the expenditure of any
mechanical power.
Third, the employment of the water in the boiler more than once, by reason
of the condensation of the steam produced in imparting heat to the feed water,
such condensed steam intermixing with the feed water.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kershaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
TAT
JOHN KERSHAW. (L.S.)