IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Howard, of Bedford, in the County of
Bedford, Agricultural Engineer, and Edward Tenney Bousfield, of
Bedford, aforesaid, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM BOILERS,"
Sealed the 1st March 1870, and dated the 30th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Howard and
Edward Tenney Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 30th December 1869,
We, JAMES HOWARD, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Agricul-
tural Engineer, and EDWARD TENNEY BOUSFIELD, of Bedford, aforesaid,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The tubular steam boilers for which we have already obtained Letters
Patent have been constructed of groups of tubes consisting of horizontal
main tubes. and vertical tubes rising from them, the steam being
collected. from the upper end of each vertical tube by a discharge pipe
common to the whole of the vertical tubes in the group. Boilers
composed of groups of tubes thus arranged although generally successful
[Price 8d.]

page_text: have been found under some circumstances to possess some disadvantages.
Thus, for example, a considerable height or headway is required to
remove a section or group of tubes or a single tube from the group,
which in confined situations is objectionable. The short connecting
tubes and the horizontal tubes over them also render the examinatiou
and removal of a vertical tube somewhat difficult. In our proposed
plan these disadvantages are overcome and other advantages are also
secured, this class of boiler being specially adapted to marine and
locomotive purposes, and also for taking up and utilizing the waste heat
derived from furnaces used in smelting, in forging metals, and in other
like works.
We construct our improved boilers of sections or groups of tubes so
arranged that the main connecting tube or chamber will be in a vertical
position with smaller tubes projecting from one side of it, say, at right
angles thereto, and secured to it by any approved method. By pre-
ference the opposite ends of the horizontal tubes are not connected by
water and steam ways with each other, but the free end of each tube is
closed with a cap or lid, which can readily be removed for cleaning or
examining the tubes. The lower rows of tubes of the groups or sections
are water tubes, and with a part of the vertical tubes or chamber form
the water space of the boiler and the upper rows of tubes constitute the
steam space.
We provide for the rapid circulation of the water necessary
to prevent the accumulation of mineral and earthy deposit in the tubes
somewhat after the manner described in our Patent dated October 20th
1869, No. 3060. Each horizontal water tube is fitted with an inner
tube or trough or with a tube carrying on its upper side a trough or
open gutter. These inner tubes are open at both ends, the end near the
cap or lid being left free, and the other end projecting into or through a
plate or tube running up the centre of the vertical tube for the purpose
of dividing the water into two colu:nns. When the heated gases of the
furnace impinge on the outside of the water tubes the steam and heated
water pass along the horizontal tubes and rise in the vertical tube.
The water having parted with its steam at its surface falls behind the
division plate or down the centra tube, and by means of the inner
horizontal circulating tubes it again passes into the outer horizontal
tubes, by which means a rapid ci.culation of the water is kept up in
every part of the boiler. Instead of building up the boiler with a
number of tubular sections we sometimes prefer to form a vertical

page_text: chamber of boiler plates with a central tube plate dividing the chamber
vertically into two parts, and this chamber we employ for circulating
the water and steam through all the horizontal tubes of the boiler.
This arrangement will greatly facilitate the disposition of the horizontal
tubes so as to form a fire chamber or a serpentiue fiue within the boiler.
In constructing our improved boilers as self-contained boilers for
marine and traction purposes, the horizontal tubes lying at the top and
sides of the boiler may be placed sufficiently close together to form the
shell of the boiler.
In applying our improved boiler to the taking up of waste heat from
smelting, puddling, and other furnaces, the sections of tubes are placed
with the horizontal pipes transversely of the flue or heating chamber.
One side of the heating chamber should be closed by folding doors
through which a ready access is gained to the horizontal tubes, and in
order to protect the doors from the action of the heat we propose to line
them with fire-brick or to place fire-brick blocks between the tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Howard and Edward Tenney Bousfield in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HOWARD, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Agricultural Engineer,
and EDWARD TENNEY BOUSFIELD, of Bedford, aforesaid, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Howard and Edward Tenney
Bousfield, Her special licence that we, the said James Howard and
Edward Tenney Bousfield, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said James Howard and Edward Tenney
Bousfield, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might

page_text: 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 BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Howard and Edward Tenney Bousfield,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Howard, on behalf of myself
and the said Edward Tenney Bousfield, do hereby declare the nature of
our 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say): —
The tubular steam boilers for which we have already obtained Letters
Patent have been constructed of groups of tubes consisting of hori-
zontal main tubes and vertical tubes rising from them, the steam being
collected from the upper end of each vertical tube, by a discharge pipe
cominon to the whole of the vertical tubes in the group. Boilers com-
posed of groups of tubes thus arranged although generally successful
have been found under some circumstances to possess some disadvan-
tages. Thus, for example, a considerable height or headway is required
to allow of the removal of a section or group of tubes or of a single
tube from the group, and this in confined situations is objectionable
and cannot always be secured. The short connecting tubes and the
horizontal tubes over them also render the examination and removal of
a vertical tube somewhat difficult. By our present improvements these
disadvantages are overcome and other advantages are also secured,
thus rendering the boiler specially suited to marine and locomotive
purposes, and also for taking up and utilizing the waste heat from
furnaces used in smelting, in forging metals, and in other like works.
We construct our improved boilers of sections or groups of tubes so
arranged that the main connecting tube or chamber of each section
will be in a vertical or slightly inclined position, and have the smaller
tubes projecting from one side of it, say, at right angles thereto, and
secured to it by any approved method. The horizontal tubes may be

page_text: connected by water and steam ways with each other at both ends or at
one end only; when the latter arrangement is adopted the free end of
each tube is closed with a cap or lid, which caps can readily be removed
for cleaning or examining the tubes.
In the accompanying Drawings both these arrangements of the
boiler are shewn, Sheet I. shews what is known as a self-contained
boiler constructed according to our Invention and having the horizontal
tubes connected together by vertical tubes at the ends, the outer
casing and the furnace fittings being omitted the better to exhibit the
construction of the boiler.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the boiler; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken
in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a partial horizontal section taken
in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 2.
a, a, a, are a series of wrought-iron vertical tubes made with flattened
sides that they may fit close together and form a closed back for the
furnace. Connected with each of these tubes is a group of horizontal
tubes b, b, b; these tubes 6 may be screwed directly into the tubes a,
but we prefer to adopt the screwed coupling collars c, claimed under
our Patent of the 20th October 1869, No. 3060. In forming the
sections which constitute the sides of the boiler we place the tubes b, b,
close together as shewn at Fig. 1, and they thus form the side walls
of the furnace. The front ends of the tubes bare closed with a screw
cap d, fitted with a short central tube. These short tubes communicate
with vertical tubes e, e, which extend the whole depth of their several
sections, and are closed at top and bottom and serve to connect the tubes
b, b, b, together at their front ends for the purpose of equalizing the level
of the water. The lower rows of tubes of the groups or sections are water
tubes and with the lower part of the vertical tubes a, a, form the water
space of the boiler. The upper rows of tubes 6 and the upper parts
of the tubes a constitute the steam space. We provide for the rapid
circulation of the water necessary to prevent the accumulation of
mineral and earthy deposit in the tubes somewhat after the manner
described in our Patent, dated October Twentieth, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine, No. 3000. Each horizontal water tube we fit
with an inner tube f, or it may be a trough, or the tube may carry on
its upper side a trough or open gutter, as will hereafter be further
noticed. These inner tubes f are open at both ends, the end near the
cap or lid being left free or supported in a central position merely by

page_text: struts or spurs. The other end of these tubes projects into or through
a tube g, which runs up the centre of the vertical tube a and stops short
of the water level. The use of these tubes g in each section is to divide
the water in the tubes a into two columns, one of which will be hotter
than the other, and thereby a rapid circulation of the water through
the several tubes of each section will be induced and kept up. Thus
when the heated gases of the furnace impinge on the outside of the
water tubes the steam and heated water will pass along the horizontal
tubes and rise in the vertical tube a. The water after parting with
its steam (at its surface) falls down the centre tube g, and being thence
distributed through the inner horizontal circulating tubes f it again
passes into the outer horizontal tubes, where more heat is imparted
to it, thereby giving it a tendency to rise as before and give off a
further supply of steam at the apper part of the boiler. The horizontal
tubes above the water line are not fitted with internal tubes but division
plates h, h, are inserted therein, the saine extending nearly the whole
length of the tubes and dividing up the steam space of the vertical
tubes. Thus the steam is caused to take a zig-zag course before it
reaches the steam pipe or chamber i, and it is thereby superheated.
The steam pipe or chamber i is placed transversely at the back of the
boiler, and it is connected with the vertical tubes of the several sections.
Rods are inserted between the tubes, as shewn at Fig. 1, to give a zig-
zag course to the ascending flame and beated gases.
In Sheet II. our improvements are shewn as applied to a pair of
marine boilers, Fig. 1 being a front elevation (partly in section) shewing
two boilers with double fire-places set side by side, and Fig. 2 a
transverse section taken in the line 1-2, of Fig. 1. In this arrangement
a, a, a, are the vertical tubes forming the back of the boiler, and b, b, b,
the horizontal tubes projecting therefrom, but being unconnected at their
front ends; these tubes 6 are fitted with internal circulating tubes f, f,
as before explained. The tubes a, a, are divided down the middle for a
certain portion of their length by a plate g, into which the tubes f are
screwed as into the internal vertical tubes in the first described
arrangement. The office of these division plates it will be seen is the
same as that of the tubes g before mentioned, and the system of water
circulation in this boiler only differs from that shewa in Sheet I. in that
in this arrangement the front vertical tubes are dispensed with,
the front ends of the tubes 6 being unconnected except by supporting
or stay bars, Fig. 1. In the tubes immediately over the fires we

page_text: provide troughs for catching and retaining any sedimentary matter that
the water may deposit. These troughs we form on the top of the
internal tubes f, f, (as shewn in the sectional portion of Fig. 1)
Sheet II. The boilers we enclose in cases, which are not however
needed either for giving structural strength thereto or for confining the
action of the fire, as the outer sections form the side walls and the
vertical tubes the back walls of the furnaces. The boilers are fitted in
other respects as usual and the feed water is admitted to the boiler
through a transverse supply pipe k, which is connected with the front
ends of the lowest row of horizontal pipes or those that underlie the
ash-pit.
A further modification of our Invention is shewn in Sheet III., which
represents our improved boilers in longitudinal vertical section. In this
example the sections are each composed of two vertical tubes a, a¹,
connected together by inclined water and steam tubes b, b. The water
tubes 6 are severally fitted with an internal water circulating tube fas
before explained, the upper ends of which are cut off at a sharp angle.
The lower tubes f extend into and project nearly across the vertical
tube a', but the others that lie nearer the water level we make shorter
or so as not to extend into the tube. By this arrangement of the
tubes and f division plates or internal tubes will not be required in
the tubes a for facilitating the circulation. Openings are made in the
front side of the tubes a¹ in line with the tubes b which are coupled
thereto to provide ready access to the tubes 6 for cleaning them and for
placing and removing the internal tubes as required; these openings are
closed by screw plugs as shewn. In other respects the construction of
the sections and the mode of connecting them together to form a boiler
is substantially the same as described with reference to Sheets I. and II.,
and any one section may readily be removed access thereto being had at
the front of the boiler. In order to provide facilities for removing a single
horizontal tube we propose to divide the tubes a, a, into short pieces and
socket them together.
This arrangement is shewn in longitudinal sectional elevation in
Sheet IV. In this Figure 1, 1, are the short pieces provided at their
opposite ends with suitable socket connections; these pieces fit together
and form vertical tubes, which are closed at top and bottom by cap
pieces 2, 2. Connected with the several sections of the boiler by the
back tubes a is the steam pipe 3, the coupling pipe 4 through which

page_text: water is supplied to the boiler connects the several sections of which the
boiler is composed. The short pieces 1, 1, are held together by means of
tie rods 5, which are composed of jointed links and pass up through the
middle of the compound tubes a, a². The ends of the jointed rods of the
front tubes project through the cap pieces 2, 2, and are screwed to receive
tightening nuts. A similar provision is made for the lower ends of the
tie rods of the back tubes, but their upper ends or heads rest in lugs
cast with the top pieces 1 of the tubes a. This allows of the insertion
of short tubes 6 in the top caps 2 of the back tubes a for connecting each
section with the steam pipe 3. The tubular pieces 1 are cast with sockets
to receive the ends of the tubes b, and opposite these sockets are screwed
openings closed by screws 7 for the purpose of giving access to the joints
of the tie rods 5. It will now be understood that by disconnecting the
joints of the tie rods of any section any selected tube 6 may be readily
withdrawn, a portion of the vertical tubes a being carried away with the
removed tube b.
In applying our improved boiler to the taking up of waste heat from
smelting, puddling, and other furnaces the sections of tubes are placed with
the horizontal pipes transversely of the brick fine or heating chamber that
carries off the waste heat from the furnace.
This arrangement is shewn in Sheet V., where Fig. 1 represents the boiler
in side or end view; and Fig. 2 is a section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
In these views A is the heating chamber, in which are set the boiler sections
composed of vertical and horizontal (or it may be inclined) tubes a and b,
and fitted as above explained. One side of the heating chamber we may
close by folding doors, in order to afford a ready recess to the horizontal
tubes, and to protect these doors from the action of the heat they may
be lined with fire-brick, or we may place fire-brick blocks between the
tubes as shown at B, B, thus enveloping the boiler with brickwork, but
leaving the ends of the tubes accessible for the purpose of cleansing or
renewing the same.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in
Steam Boilers," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Lotters
Patent we claim,-
First. Constructing the sections of which our improved boiler is composed
in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.

page_text: Secondly. Providing for the circulation of the water in the boiler sections
in the manner above described.
Thirdly. The arrangement above described for utilizing the waste heat
of furnaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Howard, have bereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JAMES HOWARD. (L.S.)