Improvements in Hot Water Apparatus for Domestic or other Purposes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 13th Apr., 1893-Accepted, 17th June, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hot Water Apparatus for Domestic or other
Purposes.
I JAMES WALKER of 39 West Derby Street Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of this invention is to so construct a domestic hot-water apparatus,
that it will not explode or collapse, in winter or other times, either through excessive
frost or other common causes.
Also to so construct the apparatus, that its safety may at no time depend upon
personal superintendence; and that it may be in its working parts so automatically
safe, that no accidents may occur through negligence, or through non-attendance
to any of its parts.
The following is a brief description of the invention.
It consists of a copper cylinder connected by flow & return pipes to a low
pressure boiler the copper cylinder is fitted with an inner chamber in its lower
part, or if preferable a dividing or false bottom.
The circulating pipes between cylinder & boiler, are connected to the small or
heating chamber of cylinder only.
.
The upper chamber of cylinder is supplied in the usual manner from store cistern
in the higher parts of the building.
The lower chamber of cylinder is supplied by or from a small cistern fixed at
the desired level so as to supply both the low pressure boiler and the aforesaid
chamber.
The small cistern is fitted with a ball cock and is supplied with water from hot
pipe above cylinder.
There is a short steam pipe from boiler also a steam pipe for lower chamber of
cylinder.
An indicating tap is fixed to steam pipe of boiler.
A. syphon feed pipe is used in connecting feed cistern and back boiler.
A continuous pipe or small coil with a reversed action may be preferable to the
inner chamber.
The usual steam pipe is fixed to cylinder.
Dated the 22nd day of August 1892.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hot Water Apparatus for Domestic or other
Purposes.
I JAMES WALKER of 39 West Derby Street Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Plumber, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The main objects of my invention are:-
To so construct domestic hot water apparatus that it will neither explode nor
collapse, in winter or at other times either through excessive frost or other common
causes, and also to so construct the said apparatus that its safety may at no time
depend on personal superintendence, and that it may be in its working parts
377

page_text: automatically safe so that no accidents can occur through negligence or through
non attendence to any of its parts.
The following is a brief description of the invention.
A copper or metal cylinder is connected by flow and return pipes to a low
pressure boiler, and the said copper or metal cylinder is fitted with an inner
chamber or its equivalent in its lower parts, or if preferable with a dividing piece or
false bottom.
The circulating pipes between the cylinder and boiler are connected to the small
or heating chamber of the cylinder only.
The upper chamber of the cylinder is supplied in the usual manner from the
store cistern in the higher parts of the building.
The lower chamber of the cylinder is supplied from a small cistern fixed at the
desired level so as to supply the low-pressure boiler and the above said chamber.
The small cistern is fitted with a ball cock and is supplied with water from the
hot water supply pipe above the cylinder.
There is a short steam escape pipe from the boiler, also a steam escape pipe for
the lower chamber of the cylinder.
An indicating tap is fixed to the steam escape pipe of the boiler.
A syphon feed pipe is used in connecting the feed cistern and the back or
low pressure boiler.
It may be for some cases preferable to use a continuous pipe or small coil or a
number of pipes instead of the inner or lower chamber. The pipes or walls of the
chamber may be corrugated so as to increase the heating surface.
The usual steam escape pipe is fixed to the cylinder.
Explosions are brought about by the efforts of steam to find an outlet at the
times when the proper steam outlet is stopped.
Frost is the common cause of stoppages, and the boilers being generally in the
kitchens, and the outlets from boilers, and cylinders generally near the roof or in
some cold part of the building, hence the majority of explosions in winter when
fire is ou, water boiling, and steam outlet frozen.
This invention is intended to remove the principal cause of explosion by con-
structing a workable apparatus with steam outlets near the fire in addition to the
ordinary outlets near the roof, also by keeping the whole of the water circulating
through the upper part of the building below boiling point at all times.
Also to prevent explosions which are brought about in a different way to that
already described is, when the supplies are stopped, boilers often become empty
and sometimes red hot and owing to a thaw or other cause, the supply frequently
comes on and the water passes from cistern into hot boiler with various bad results.
I prevent the above danger by using a specially arranged syphon feed pipe to
boilers in place of the feed in common use, so that when a sudden influx of water
fills the empty cistern it cannot pass into the boiler if the latter be empty, being
prevented from doing so by the construction and arrangement of the said feed pipe
which connects boiler to its supply cistern.
I further prevent the collapsing of cylinders which is generally brought about by
a stoppage of the expansion pipe at a time when the cylinders are partly or wholly
emptied of water, and the air therein rarified and driven out by the intense heat.
The collapse is here considered to be the opposite in action to the explosion or
an effort of the outside atmosphere to find an inlet to cylinder and restore the
equilibrium at a time when a comparative vacuum exists therein.
As the ordinary cylinder is too weak to resist the pressure of a full atmosphere
at this time, the sides give way and become flattened by the natural weight of the
atmosphere.
I remove this tendency to collapse by fixing cylinders in such a manner that they
must always remain full of water and so that they cannot be emptied by ordinary
use or syphonage, and so that the contents of same cannot be heated to boiling
point or at any time be subject to steam pressure; also by providing an additional

page_text: inlet for air which may be left open at a time when the usual inlet is likely to be
closed.
The accompanying drawings illustrate what I consider to be a proper way of
carrying my invention into effect.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of one form of apparatus under my invention. a.is a low
pressure kitchen boiler of any usual construction, connected by the flow and return
pipes b, b', to a chamber c. This chamber is fitted with a flat bottom below the
usual concave bottom of the cylinder d.
The cylinder is fixed as close as convenient to kitchen range and on the same
floor preferably.
The main body of water in cylinder is heated by contact with lower chamber c,
and the latter is heated by the water circulating between itself and back boiler
through the pipes bbl. e are two vent pipes opening up from crown of bottom
chamber e through top of cylinder to the atmosphere, and also acting as two
additional outlets for boiler a. f is a steam pipe open from boiler to the atmosphere
with the outlet turned down to be in view at all times.
is the cold water feed coming down from the usual store cistern in the upper
part of the building to supply cylinder with water.
To prevent any emptying or syphoning of the said cylinder, no cold water tap
fixed below the level of the cylinder is supplied from this pipe g. The cold water
taps in the upper parts of the building may be attached to this pipe, as frequently
done.
is the usual expansion and hot water draw off pipe from the cylinder carried up
above the store cistern and having its end left open..
The back boiler a and small chamber c are supplied with water from the small
cisterni. The latter is supplied with water through the pipe j which is a branch
taken from expansion or hot water draw off pipe the ball tap on this branch
pipe is open to the atmosphere when the water is lowered in said cistern i.
The ordinary method of conducting water from cisterns to boilers is in this
invention dispensed with and following. method substituted; a syphon of any
suitable metal is fixed to the cistern in any approved manner so that the inlet to
the syphon is near the bottom of the cistern and the bend or crown, above the
water level and overflow; the pipe m connected to the syphon and is continued on
to the boiler as shown.
The overflow n is fixed to the cistern as shown, to prevent water rising higher
than shown, should the ball tap be leaky or out of order.
The feed to the boiler a is started in the first instance simply by placing one
hand on the mouth of the overflow and pressing the ball down until the water
rises in the cistern, charges syphon, and sets the feed in operation which when
started requires no further attention.
The feed pipe m is purposely fixed with a fall from boiler towards a trap screw
fixed at the lowest part of the pipe so that the said pipe will contain water when
boiler is empty; this is intended to make the arrangement more secure against any
inadvertent or thoughtless attempt to refil the boiler as the syphon cannot be started
in the manner described unless the water in this pipe is first run off by means of
the trap screw o thereby leaving a clear course for the air in syphon to escape when
charging with water.
The branch pipe p with tap is fixed as shown to give a supply of hot water
without emptying boiler a, the chamber c or the cistern i thus leaving a good
reserve of water which can be lowered only by evaporation.
When the said tap p is running, it shows that the apparatus is in good working
order.
If preferred the same principle of syphon feed may be fixed to store cisterns at
the tops of buildings and connected to the usual supply pipes taken therefrom to
feed cylinders or boilers.
The course the circulating pipes would take between cylinder and boiler if no
small chamber were used is shown by the dotted lines q.

page_text: Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of a modification of the invention.
The boiler a is here dispensed with and the apparatus is worked by the action of
heat applied direct to the bottom of the chamber e the water therein heating the
main body of the water in the cylinder as described before.
In this modification the pipe p with draw off tap is turned upwards from
chamber with outlet at the desired height to give hot water supply without
emptying chamber c or cistern i.
C
When the said tap is running, it indicates that the apparatus is in working
order.
The syphon and feed pipe m are fixed as before described, but as the back
boiler is dispensed with, the feed pipe m goes direct to bottom chamber cas
shown.
This apparatus may be worked by placing the cylinder on the top of a kitchen
range by gas or any preferred way.
shows gas heating apparatus in position.
What is known in the trade as thic hot water return pipe may be fixed in the
usual way.
Referring to Fig. 1 it will be evident that no explosion can take place in back
boiler a as it is in free communication with the atmosphere through steam pipe f
supplemented with two more outlets through the pipes e.
The feed pipe m may be considered as another ontlet which would act under
slight pressure, but it is not expected to be ever brought into operation that way,
as there are already three free outlets provided, all within a few feet of the boiler
and any one of these in operation is practically sufficient.
With regard to cylinder dit is evident that no explosion can take place in its
bottom chamber e as it is open to the atmosphere through the two short pipes e and
with the co-operative steam pipe fit practically possesses the same number of
outlets as the boiler.
It will be seen that the upper chamber of the cylinder is free from all danger of
explosion as its contents cannot be raised to boiling heat being heated by water
which is open to the atmosphere.
Should the supply to cistern be stopped, the cistern may be kept partly full by
hand and the fire kept on, the open ball tap admits air to cylinder if at all
*required.
Should the back boiler be neglected and get red-hot, it cannot communicate a
boiling heat to water in the cylinder and there would be no danger at such a time,
assuming that all the upper pipes were frozen.
Should the water supply come on suddenly, or water be thrown into the
cistern indiscriminately when the boiler was empty and red hot, there would be
no danger attending, and no damage done thereby, as the syphon will never take
water automatically when the boiler is not in proper and safe condition to receive
it, for when the water in the cisterni has by evaporation been brought down to the
mouth or inlet of the syphon the latter ceases to be selfacting, and the feed must
he started again in the manner already described before any water will cuter back
boiler.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The combination of a water circulating cylinder or its equivalent and
connections with a subsidiary chamber container pipes or like devices containing
water to which heat is applied.
Second. The combination of a water circulating cylinder or its equivalent and
connections with a subsidiary chamber container or like devices containing water,
and boiler connected to the said subsidiary device by circulating pipes.
Third. In combination with apparatus under the first or second claim a feed
cistern for the boiler or subsidiary device connected thereto by a syphon.

page_text: Fourth. The combination of a feed cistern under the third claim with a ball
cock and feed pipe connected to the outflow pipe from the circulating cylinder or
chamber.
Fifth. The combination of steam escape pipes, with apparatus under my inven-
tion substantially as set forth.
Sixth. Apparatus for heating and circulating water substantially as specified and
illustrated.
Dated this 4th dow of Anvil 1002
JAMES WALKER.