IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM-BOILERS
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 8th Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 8th Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 12th Feb., 1889
1, HERBERT HACKNEY, of Topeka, in the county of Shawnee, and State of Kansas,
United States of America, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM-BOILERS and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a locomotive boiler
with my improvements attached.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing a portion in section, with the
mode of attachment slightly modified.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 are cross sections of the mud-drum, showing different forms of.
construction.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the coupling E.
Figure 7 is a cross section of the boiler, and
Figures 8 and 9 are opposite end elevations of the boiler.
Similar reference-letters, indicate the same or corresponding parts.
The object of my invention is primarily to collect and remove from the boiler-water
by mechanical means the various impurities which are liable to form incrustations
and sediments, and, secondarily, to equalize, so far as possible, the temperature of the
water and thus prevent strains resulting from unequal expansion and contraction of
the different parts of the boiler. Some of the impurities which are found in boiler-
water are so light as to float at or near the surface, while others are so heavy as
to sink to the bottom; and one object of my invention is to enable both of the
classes of foreign substances to be simultaneously discharged from the boiler.
The principle of my invention, broadly considered, consists in forcing
circulation from the lower part of the water-space (by means of a circulation-pipe
D
a water-

page_text: exposed to the direct action of the fire or its heated products of combustion) into
and through a mud-drum submerged in a higher part of the water-space and isolated
from the direct action of the fire, from which mud-drum the circulation-water, after
depositing its sediment, passes into the water-space, while the mud is removed from
time to time by opening a discharge-cock.
The invention consists in the means by which this principle is applied and utilized
and in the several improved devices and combinations of devices employed therewith,
all of which are more specifically pointed out and distinguished from each other in the
following specification and in the several claims appended.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, A indicates a locomotive-boiler, (the
flues of which are not shown, because immaterial to this, invention); B, the boiler-
furnace; C, the smoke-arch; D, the steam-dome; A', the "water-leg" of the boiler,
and a the "mud-ring."
暑
From the lower part of the water-leg (the nearer the mud-ring the better) I extend
a circulation-pipe, F, up through some portion of the space occupied or traversed by
the fire or its heated volatile products of combustion, (preferably the fire-box itself,)
and thence into a more elevated portion of the water-space, so that the action of the
hoat directly upon the pipe will force a circulation of water through the pipe from
the lower part of the water-space, where the cooler water tends to settle, to a higher
portion of said water-space, where the water is at a higher temperature, and thus
promote the equalization of the temperature throughout the boiler. At its upper end
the pipe F discharges the circulating-water into a larger horizontal pipe or mud-
drum, G, submerged in the water of the boiler and therefore not in direct contact
with the fire, and provided with a series of holes, 9 g, along its top, through
which the water slowly percolates back into the water-space, after having deposited
its sediment along in the lower part of the mud-drum. The water from pipe F is
preferably directed into the upper part of the mud-drum by means of a deflecting-
wall,, so as not to disturb the depositing sediment.
The mud-drum is provided with an eduction-pipe, H, and discharge-cock h,
controlled by a rod, ¹, which extends to the cab. Upon opening the cock h, when
steam is up, the steam-pressure will force boiler-water simultaneously through pipe F
and openings into the mud-drum, and thence out through the discharge-pipe,
thus thoroughly cleaning and washing out the mud-drum. By arranging the drum
near the normal water-level, the impure water at the surface, (charged with light
floating foreign substance,) and the equally impure water at the lower end of the
water-leg, (charged with the heavier mineral substances,) will be simultaneously
expelled from the boiler in the process of cleaning out the drum, as above
described, while the intermediate purer water will be retained by seasonably closing
the cock.
Having thus described my main invention, I will now proceed to set forth certain
special and independent improvements thereon, designed to secure additional
advantages in its practical application and use.
The first of these improvements consists in combining with the boiler the auto-
matic circulation-pipe exposed to the direct action of the fire and the submerged
mud-drum isolated from the direct action of the fire, a perforated partition or
diaphragm, I, which divides the mud-drum into two chambers or compartments, MN,
the upper and larger of which communicates at one end with the pipe F and along
its top with the water-space of the boiler, and the lower and smaller of which
communicates at the opposite end with the discharge-pipe H and along the line of
its. perforations with the upper chamber. The object of this device is to cause the
mud which is brought by the pipe F into the larger chamber to settle in the
neighbourhood of the perforations m, through which the two chambers communicate
with each other, and then be swept into and through said perforations and through
the small chamber N to the discharge-pipe, by the violent rush of the water
through said perforations when the cock is opened, whereby the sediment will
be removed more quickly and with less waste of boiler-water than when the mud-
drum is constructed with a single chamber.

page_text: Another special improvement consists in adapting the automatic circulation-pipe F
to be employed for washing out the mud-drum when the boiler is empty, or when
steam is not up, by attaching a pump-hose to its lower end, opening the cock h, and
forcing water through the hose into the pipe and mud-drum. To this end the pipe F
is connected at its lower end to the water-leg by means of a coupling, E, the inner
end of which is attached to said pipe, the outer end provided with a screw-cap, e, and
admitting of the attachinent or application of the bose when the screw-cap is removed,
and the side of which is tapped to permit it to be connected to the water-leg by a
short pipe, el, as shown in Figs. 1, 2.
Certain advantages result from forming the coupling E with a funnel-shaped bore
sufficiently large to permit the end of the hose J to be inserted in beyond the point
where the lateral pipe.el is attached, as shown in Fig. 6. This construction obviates
the necessity for a cock in pipe e¹ to prevent the water from passing from the hose
through pipe el into the empty boiler, inasmuch as the end of the hose, when forced
into the coupling beyond the pipe e¹, will close the passage to pipe e¹ and causo all the
water to be forced through pipe F.
Other advantages result from forming the diaphragm or wall that divides the two
chambers MN with inclined and substantially flat faces to receive the muddy deposit,
and with the perforations m arranged along the lower edge or edges of said inclined
faces, so that the rush of the water will be aided by gravity in cleaning the mud from
its supporting-surfaces and forcing it into the lower chamber. This may be accom-
plished in various ways, of which three are shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5, respectively.
In Figs. 1, 3 the diaphragm is represented as composed of a long strip of angle-
iron confined in the tubular mud-drum by screws s, and provided with notches m
along its lower edges, through which communication is effected between the two.
chambers.
In Figs. 4, 5 the upper and lower chambers are formed of two tubes, one of which
is flattened to a V shape on one side, as seen in the cross-section, and the V-shaped
edge is then introduced into a slot formed along the other tube, after which the two
tubes are fastened together in a suitable manner. The perforations are arranged at
the lower edge or edges of the inclined surfaces which receive the mud. In this case,
as with the form shown in Fig.3, that portion of the mud which does not settle through
the perforations m into the chamber N lodges mainly upon the inclined faces I I
immediately above said perforations, and is easily swept into the lower chamber when
the discharge-cock is opened.
Further advantages result from arranging the pipe F within the furnace in a
curved form and position, as shown in Fig. 1, so that it will be substantially parallel
to the line of draft from the fire-bed to the heating-flues. Experience shows that the
Aying cinders in a fire-box subject to strong draft soon abrade and cut out metal
surfaces opposed to their line of movement, but have little injurious effect upon
similar surfaces substantially parallel to said line. In a locomotive-furnace their line
of movement is a curve rising from the fire-bed and bending back to the boiler-flues;
and I accordingly connect the lower end of the pipe F to the rear lower edge of the
water-leg, and curve it upward and forward to and through the upper edge of the
rear flue-sheet, as shown, thereby conforming its position to the line of movement
of the flying sharp particles from the fire-bed, and saving it from abrasion thereby,
besides causing the furnace-heat to act more uniformly upon it throughout its exposed
surface.
The whole apparatus is so arranged as not to be in the way when cleaning,.
repairing, or plugging the flues or firing the engine, and it occupies no space
available for other purposes and requires no special construction of boiler or
furnace. I have described it in connection with a locomotive-boiler; but it can
obviously be applied to a stationary boiler as well, and. as many sets of the apparatus
may be used with a single boiler as the judgment of the constructor may approve.
Experience has shown that the automatic circulation-pipes combined with the mud-
drums and means for cleaning the same, as herein described, effect a very great
economy in the consumption of fuel by preventing the accumulation of mud and scale

page_text: on the heating-surfaces, and keeping the boiler clean with its water uniformly heated,
and also by utilizing the additional heat communicated to the pipe F, besides con-
ducing to the durability of the boiler by preventing unequal expansion and contraction
and by purifying the water from deleterious substances, which are liable to deposit
and cause the boiler to burn out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. The combination of the boiler with a submerged mud-drum isolated from the
direct action of the fire, and an automatic circulation-pipe exposed to the direct action
of the fire or the heated volatile products of combustion, and adapted to continuously
circulate the water from the lower part of the boiler into the mud-drum and thence
into the upper part of the boiler, substantially as described.
2. The combination of the boiler with a submerged mud-drum isolated from the
direct action of the fire, and communicating along its upper edge with the water-
space of the boiler, and the automatic circulation-pipe exposed to the direct action of
the fire or the heated volatile products of combustion, and adapted to continuously
circulate the water from the lower part of the boiler into the mud-drum and thence
into the upper part of the boiler, substantially as described.
"
3. The combination of the boiler, the automatic circulation-pipe exposed to the
direct action of the fire or the heated volatile products of combustion, and the sub-
merged and isolated mud-drum, divided into two compartments, M N, the former of
which communicates with the circulation-pipe and the water-space and the latter with
the discharge-pipe and the compartment M, substantially as described.
4. The combination of the boiler, the mud-drum and means for discharging the
same, and the automatic circulation-pipo F, with the coupling E, provided with a
removable cap to adapt the apparatus to the application of a hose for cleaning
purposes, substantially as described.
& Deanmhan 1000