AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS POR EFFECTING THE CONTINUOUS RETURN INTO A STEAM BOILER OF THE WATER EVAPORATED AND TAKEN FROM THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1868.-A. communication from abroad by François
Nicolas Santenard, of Dijon, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS POR EFFECTING
THE CONTINUOUS RETURN INTO A STEAM BOILER OF THE WATER EVAPORATED AND
TAKEN FROM THE SAME," a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to an apparatus whereby the water con-
verted into steam in a boiler after passing through the cylinder of an
engine is returned to the boiler, which is thus kept supplied without the
loss of heat occasioned by the admission of cold water or without the
necessity of costly, complicated, and cumbersome apparatus for heating
such water before its admission to the boiler.
I construct my apparatus with a main body or tube which is provided
with apertures whereby I admit the exhaust steam from the engine,
behind these apertures are others through which steam is admitted into

page_text: the said main tube direct from the boiler. I place near the apertures for
the exhaust steam a stop or plug so formed as to partially close the
central portion of the tube between the exhaust steam apertures, and
those communicating with the boiler, leaving a space between the said
plug and interior of the tube. The portion of the tube in which the
plug is placed is also made of such a form that by moving the plug
endwise the space between it & the interior of the tube can be increased
or diminished. This adjustment of the plug may be effected by means
of a regulating screw extending through the end of the tube. The
other end of the tube which communicates with the boiler is provided
with an ordinary check valve to prevent the return of the steam or
water into the tube; air is admitted to the said tube through a hole or
number of holes in front of the exhaust steam apertures to assist in
condensing the same before it passes into the boiler..
When the apparatus is used the exhaust steam as it enters the main
tube in a state of partial condensation is caught in the current of high
pressure steam, passing forward from the rear of the apparatus through
the space around the stop or plug. The said exhaust steam is thus carried
forward, and being still further condensed by contact with the air
entering through the holes formed for that purpose in the tube, is in
this condition carried forward into the boiler. By this means the
necessity of a continual supply of fresh quantities of water from a tank
or other reservoir is obviated, as except a very slight loss from leakage
or escape at the safety valves or gauge cocks, and from pipes, joints, and
connections, the whole of the water converted into steam will be
returned to the boiler as fast as it is taken from the same. The mixed
steam and water enter the boiler at a very high temperature, and there-
fore do not sensibly diminish the heat therein; I am thus enabled to
effect a great saving in the consumption of fuel, and also to economize
space which is ordinarily required for tanks or other vessels or reservoirs.
In steam vessels the advantage of my Invention is still more apparent
as besides the saving in fuel, and in the cost of tanks or reservoirs and
the space occupied by the same, the rapid destruction of the boilers
occasioned by the use of salt water in the same is entirely prevented.