IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORSTEAM GENERATOR
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Smith, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM GENERATORS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th November 1872.
I, ROBERT SMITH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
GENERATORS," to be as follows:-
:―
This Invention relates to a simple arrangement for the purpose of
displacing the central portion of the body of water contained in
cylindrical or other shaped boilers, thereby reducing the volume
of water under the action of the surrounding fire, and causing
steam to be generated more quickly than in boilers not having this
arrangement.

page_text: According to this Invention a tube or cylinder of boiler plate of a
proportionate diameter to the size of the boiler, and closed at both ends
and water tight, is suspended (in the case of a vertical cylindrical boiler)
in the interior of such boiler, and nearest to the bottom end which is
subject to the action of the fire (or furnace); it may be supported or fixed
by brackets or stays rivetted or bolted to the sides of the boiler in any
way that is most convenient. There may also be a small escape pipe
affixed to the displacer and brought through the boiler, by which any
accumulation of water caused by leakage may be drawn away.
It will be obvious that in this arrangement there will be an annular
space between the outside diameter of the displacer and the inside
diameter of the boiler, and that the water filling this annular space will
be much more quickly heated (from the outside) than if the water
occupied the whole of the boiler space subject to the action of the fire,
consequently steam will be more rapidly generated, and there will be a
corresponding saving of fuel. The displacer can be applied to either
vertical or horizontal boilers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SMITH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Smith, Her special license, that I,
the said Robert Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Robert Smith, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
'time and 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 GENERATORS,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Smith, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Robert Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 a simple arrangement for the purpose
of displacing the central portion of the body of water contained in
cylindrical or other shaped boilers, thereby reducing the volume of
water under the action of the surrounding fire, and causing steam
to be generated more quickly than in boilers not having this arrange.
ment.
According to my Invention a tube or cylinder of boiler plate of
a proportionate diameter to the size of the boiler, and closed at both
ends and water-tight is suspended (in the case of a vertical cylindrical
boiler) in the interior of such boiler, and nearest to the bottom end
which is subject to the action of the fire (or furnace); it may be
supported or fixed by brackets or stays rivetted or bolted to the sides
of the boiler in any way that is most convenient. There may also be a
small escape pipe affixed to the displacer and brought through the
boiler, by which any accumulation of water caused by leakage may be
drawn away.
It will be obvious that in this arrangement there will be an annular
space between the outside diameter of the displacer and the inside
diameter of the boiler, and that the water filling this annular space will
be much more quickly heated (from the outside) than if the water
occupied the whole of the boiler space subject to the action of the fire,
consequently steam will be more rapidly generated, and there will be a
corresponding saving of fuel. The displacer can be applied to either
vertical or horizontal boilers.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in both Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings is a vertical section showing the application
of my said Invention to a vertical boiler heated by external flues; and
Figure 2 is a cross section along the line 1, 2; A is the boiler shell of
any ordinary construction; B is the water displacer secured inside the
boiler by any convenient arrangement of stays and angle irons a, a;
the lower end of the displacer is by preference made concave to
facilitate the insertion of the rivets which secure it to the body of the
displacer.
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 what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application
and use to and in the interior of a steam generator of a water displacer,
substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Smith, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.