IMPROVEMENTS IN in the of, for the Invention of MARINE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stocks Walker, of 169, Gresham House,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
in the City of London, for the Invention of
MARINE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stocks Walker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th February 1875.
I, ROBERT STOCKS WALKER, of 169, Gresham House, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in marine and other
steam boilers. For these purposes I employ a cylindrical shell set in
an upright position. It is made in lengths with angle iron flanges
bolted together, and the top is enclosed with a hemispherical dome.
Within this shell I arrange a series of cylindrical boxes or chambers
concentric with the shell, leaving a sufficient water space between.
Within the lowest box or chamber is the furnace, it has a domed top
of sufficient strength to sustain the pressure. The fire-box com-

page_text: municates at the back by means of a short junction piece of oval form
and flanged at the top and bottom with the box or chamber next above
it. Through this box or chamber a series of water tubes pass, they are
set into its top and bottom plates.
The products of combustion ascend from the back of the fire-box or
furnace into the second box or case, and they travel horizontally from
back to front amongst the vertical water tubes, and so they return to
the front or fire-door side of the boiler. They then ascend up through
a junction piece similar to that already mentioned, and this connects
the second internal box or chamber with a third, which is similar to the
second, and is placed above it. The products of combustion in this box
or chamber return from front to back amongst the vertical water tubes
which this box or chamber contains. In this way the products of com-
bustion pass horizontally to and fro through as many boxes or chambers
as the boiler may contain. I usually employ three tubes, boxes, or
chambers. From the upper part of the last box or chamber a flue pipe
passes out through the dome of the boiler to the chimney.
I put together the several boxes or chambers and the sections of the
outer shell with screw bolts and studs, so that they may be readily
taken apart for repair or to enable the interior to be cleansed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Stocks Walker in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
STOCKS WALKER, of 169, Gresham House, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Stocks Walker,
Her special license that I, the said Roberts Stocks Walker, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert

page_text: "
Stocks Walker, 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 law-
fully 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 MARINE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Stocks
Walker, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 Robert Stocks Walker, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in marine and other
steam boilers. For these purposes I employ a cylindrical shell set in an
upright position. It is made in lengths with angle iron flanges bolted
together, and the top is cuclosed with a hemispherical dome. Within
this shell I arrange a series of cylindrical boxes or chambers concentric
with the shell, leaving a sufficient water space between.
Within the lowest box or chamber is the furnace, it has a domed top
of sufficient strength to sustain the pressure. The fire-box com-
municates at the back by means of a short junction piece of oval form,
and flanged at the top and bottom with the box or chamber next above
it. Through this box or chamber a series of water tubes pass, they are
set into its top and bottom plates.
The products of combustion ascend from the back of the fire-box or
furnace into this second box or case, and they travel horizontally from
back to front amongst the vertical water tubes, and they return to the
front or fire-door side of the boiler. They then ascend up through a
junction piece similar to that already mentioned, and this connects the
second internal box or chamber with a third, which is similar to the
second and is placed above it. The products of combustion in this box
or chamber return from front to back amongst the vertical water tubes

page_text: ;
which this box or chamber contains. In this way the products of com-
bustion pass horizontally to and fro through as many boxes or chambers
as the boiler may contain. I usually employ three tube boxes or
chambers. From the upper part of the last box or chamber a flue pipe
passes out through the dome of the boiler to the chimney.
I put together the several boxes or chambers and the sections of the
outer shell with screw bolts and studs, so that they may be readily taken
apart for repair or to enable the interior to be cleansed.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section of a
boiler constructed according to my Invention.
a', a, a, a, are flanged cylindrical sections placed one above the other
and bolted together, they form the outer shell of the boiler. is a
hemispherical dome which closes the shell at the top. c1, c2, c³, c, aro
cylindrical boxes arranged one over the other within the shell a¹, a³, a³, a³.
The lowest box c¹ is rivetted upon a ring or flange d fixed within the
'section a'. A tubular connection e is formed between the side of the
box cand the side of the section a', and to the mouth of this passage
the fire-door is fitted. The bottom of the box c¹ is formed by the fire-
.bars, and its top by a dome cover bolted on. There is an opening
through the dome cover at the back opposite to the fire door; through
this opening the draft from the fire ascends. The boxes c², c³, and c¹,
are similar the one to the other, and they are connected with the parts
above and below them by similar flanged junction pieces f.f, the points
being made with screw bolts or screw studs, so that they may be readily
taken apart.
Each box consists of a cylindrical casing closed at the top and bottom
by tube plates which receive a large number of short vertical water
tubes, and each tube plate has an opening where the junction piece f
meets it so that there is free passage for the products of combustion from
box to box and finally to the flue pipe g which passes through the top
of the dome b; h, h, are circulating tubes for insuring a more regular
flow. of water through the water tubes, as is well understood.

page_text: Advantages arising from this arrangement are simplicity and strength,
facility of repair, efficient combustion, and very complete utilization of
the calorific power of the fuel arising from the enlargement of the com-
bustion spaces, the long travel for the fire before reaching the chimney,
and the extensive heating surface.
Other collateral advantages are also obtained, the weights of the
boiler and the water it contains are comparatively small, and so also is
the space occupied. These boilers can also be placed in ships and
removed from them without disturbing the decks and houses.
I would remark that an important feature in the boiler which I have
described consists in causing the products of combustion to traverse
horizontally amongst upright water tubes fitted in boxes one over the
other. This arrangement is applicable where the boiler is not of the
vertical type.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 4 a transverse section
of a boiler provided with boxes of upright water tubes, amongst which
the products of combustion pass to and fro horizontally.
•
The outer shell a of this boiler is a horizontal cylinder with flat ends;
within it two cylindrical fire-boxes b, b, are fitted, and the outlet from
each of them is into a rectangular tube box c, which by a bend d is
connected with another rectangular tube box e above, through which
the flame passes to the uptake; the tube boxes e are stayed transversely
by means of horizontal water tubes; ff, are stays connecting the flat
ends of the boiler; g is the steam dome.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood, that I
claim the construction of steam boilers, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stocks Walker, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelvth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-