IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS."-A communi-
cation from abroad by John Benjamin Root, of the City of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 17th April 1868, and dated the 5th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th November 1867.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in a novel means of connecting by return
pipes or bends tubes arranged in a tier one above the other over the fire-place,
and containing the water to be heated while the fire plays outside the tubes.
These return pipes communicate with apertures one over the other at the
ends of the tubes, and connect each tube with one above and below it whereby
a perfect circulation is kept up, foaming prevented, and the steam kept
drier.

page_text: The Invention also consists in attaching these return pipes to the tubes by
free socket joints provided with packing and outside clamps carried and
secured by stud bolts, whereby every provision is made for unequal expansion
of the parts, and the return pipes are allowed to tip or twist without straining
the main tubes.
Likewise the Invention consists in constructing the ends of the boiler of a
series of plates of square or parallelogramic form, fitted to or cast with each
main tube, and serving by means of apertures to connect the main or water
tubes with each other by pipes or bends,
And, furthermore, the Invention consists in a connection of cross water pipes
with the main tubes by means of return pipes or bends, as aforesaid, and
arranged to communicate with the tubes or certain of them at their ends
without breaking the continuity of the tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my 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 make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and. Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," being a communi-
cation to me from abroad by John Benjamin Root of the City of New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing uuder my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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 William Edward Newton, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:
The principal objects' arrived at in this improved boiler, and which are
claimed to be effected in a most perfect manner, are safety or freedom from
serious and general explosion, cheapness, lightness, compactness, durability,'
and economy in working.
The Invention consists, firstly, in a novel means of connecting by return
pipes or bends tubes arranged in a tier one above the other over the fire-place
and containing the water to be heated while the fire plays outside the tubes.
These return pipes communicate with apertures one over the other at the ends
of the tubes, and connect each tube with one above and below it, whereby a
perfect circulation is kept up, foaming is prevented, and the steam kept
drier.
The Invention also consists in attaching these return pipes to the tubes by
free socket joints provided with packing and outside clamps carried and secured
by stud bolts, whereby every provision is made for unequal expansion of the
parts, and the return pipes are allowed to tip or twist without straining the
main tubes.
The Invention further consists in constructing the ends of the boiler of a
series of plates of square or parallelogram form fitted to or cast with each
main tube, and serving by means of apertures to connect the main or water
tubes with each other by pipes or bends.
The Invention also consists in a connection of cross water pipes with the main
tubes by means of return pipes or bends, as aforesaid, and arranged to com-
municate with the tubes or certain of them at their ends without breaking the
continuity of the tubes.
Having thus described the object and nature of the Invention, its description
will be proceeded with in reference to the accompanying Drawing.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of a steam boiler constructed
according to this Invention; Fig. 2 an end view thereof with one of the
return bends removed and another shown only in part; Fig. 3 is a transverse
section of the boiler through the liue x, x, in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is an

page_text: enlarged vertical section of a portion of the end of the boiler taken longi-
tudinally through the latter in illustration of the manner of connecting the
main tubes.
may
In the accompanying Drawing A, A, are tubes made of wrought iron of
any suitable length, diameter, and thickness of metal, and any desired number
may be arranged to lie one above the other, and of which there be several
series lying side by side with flue or air spaces a, a, around each of the tubes
that are here represented as occupying inclined positions to the horizon sloping
upwardly from the rear towards and over the fire-place S. These tubes A, A,
are screwed or fitted at their opposite ends into independent plates or blocks B, B,
of square or parallelogramic form, which when combined and in their places
constitute the ends of the boiler, and through which the connections of the
tubes A, A, with each other in each vertical series are established. If preferred
the tubes A, A, may be of cast metal with the plates B, B, cast thereon. To
establish the connection between the tubes A, A, each plate B is provided
with apertures b, b, the one lying above the other, and around each of such
apertures there is an annular socket c within which may be inserted an india-
rubber ring d or other soft and elastic packing, and into these sockets the ends
of return pipes or bends C, C, are fitted, and thus connect the upper aperture b
at each end of one tube A with the lower aperture 6 at the same end of the
next tube A above. They are secured or held to their places by clamping
bars D, D, lapping over or on lugs or projections e, e, and fastened by nuts
and stud bolts f connected with the plates B, the clamping bars being
preferably so constructed and arranged as that either one bar serves to bear
on or hold two of the return pipes or bends C, C. Cross pipes E, E, F, F,
are or may be arranged above and below the tubes A, A, at opposite ends.
These cross pipes should be connected. with the upper and lower rows of the
tubes A, A, by or through bends or pipes C2, C3, thus connecting the nearest
of the apertures 6 of the tubes with apertures g in a similar socketted manner
to that used in establishing the connection of 'the return pipes C, C, and
similarly held or secured by clamping bars and stud bolts connected with the
.cross pipes. These clamping bars lie at right angles to those previously
described, so that all the clamps or clamping bars may be alike. All the
plates or blocks B, B, and return pipes or bends C, C, and C, C, likewise
main pipes or tubes A, A, are also alike, by which similarity or duplication of
parts not only is there economy in construction, but increased facility afforded
for the fitting or changing of parts and extending or diminishing the capacity
of the boiler at pleasure by increasing or lessening the number of tubes. It
will readily be pereceived that by this construction any of the tubes A, A, may

page_text: be removed without disturbing the others. The bends or return pipes being
small may be made of cast iron, but light and strong enough to prevent them
from bursting in advance of the tubes A, A, while the latter not being con-
nected either with each other or the cross pipes excepting through the end
plates B, B, are not cut away or weakened. If desired the lower arms or
legs of the return pipes may be made longer than the upper ones, so as to
admit in an inclined position of the boiler as represented of the ends of the
tubes A, A, and their plates B, B, lying in a vertical plane. The boiler
generally, at least at its sides, may be set in brickwork, but its ends if desired
may be covered by sheet iron jackets to prevent loss by radiation from the
ends and the return pipes or bends. In some cases the upper E¹ of the
lower cross pipes may be dispensed with, the same serving mainly as a bearer
also where a steam drum M (shown in red lines) is not used, or under other
circumstances the lower one F of the upper cross pipes may likewise be
omitted, leaving the upper one (F¹) of such pipes to answer as a steam chest
or drum.
From this description it will be seen that by the system here shown of return
pipes pipes or bends connecting the ends of the tubes A, A, as by apertures b, b,
one above the other, steam from the lower tube or tubes carries water up with
it into the tube or tubes above, but that this water drops or runs back into
the lower tube or tubes again at the lower end, so that the lifting of water
for more than one length of tube or thereabouts and foaming is prevented
and the steam passes off into the upper portion of the boiler comparatively
dry. In this way a most perfect circulation is kept up, condensed steam or
water carried up by the steam from below being returned by the lower of the
apertures b, while the drier and more highly heated vapor or steam works its
way above by the upper of such apertures, and circulation generally of the
water is kept up without any possibility of water being driven into the steam
space with any force or pressure on the safety valve blowing off. Incidental to
the construction of this boiler it may here be noticed as an important feature that
by the socketted and clamped attachment of the return pipes or bends C, C,
provision is made for unequal expansion and tipping or twisting of the pipes
or bends without straining on the tubes A, A. It furthermore will readily be
admitted that a boiler constructed as described may not only be got up cheaply
and light, compact, durable, and -economical to work, but that such a boiler
will be secure against serious or general explosion of its parts.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me as
aforesaid, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent,―

page_text: First. The combination of the water tubes A, A, with the return pipes
or bends C, C, arranged to connect such tube with one above and below it, as
specified.
Second. Establishing the connection of the return pipes or bends with the
water tubes by free or socket joints furnished with packing, and held to their
places by independent outside clamps and stud bolts and nuts or their
equivalents, as shewn and described.
:
Third. In combination with the tubes A, A, the plates B, B, of square or
parallelogramic form, and to which plates the tubes are fitted or may be cast,
the same also serving to establish connection with each other by means of
pipes or bends, such plates being made to constitute or make up the ends of
the boiler, as described.
Fourth. The cross pipes E, E¹, and F, F¹, or either of them, connected with
the tubes A, A, at their ends by means of independent pipes or bends C¹ or C³,
as shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)