AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING AND COOLING VAPOUR AND FLUIDS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
CONDENSING AND COOLING VAPOUR AND FLUIDS."-A Communication from
abroad by Ananias Smith, of Niagara Falls, in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 30th December 1859, and dated the 1st November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st November 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS
FOR CONDENSING AND COOLING VAPOR AND FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
The main object of this Invention is to cause exhaust steam to impinge
directly upon a large extent of cooling surface, and become condensed. To
this end the Inventor proposes to employ a bucket or wheel revolving in the
cooling liquid, and communicating with the exhaust steam pipe, so that when
the wheel or bucket is revolving, the exhaust steam will rush through the
same, strike against the cooling liquid, and be condensed. The exhaust steam
pipe leads the exhaust steam directly from the steam chest to the revolving
971

page_text: bucket or wheel, which is driven by a belt passing over a pulley on the bucket
or wheel shaft. This bucket is constructed with curved floats, so as to leave
issuing ports thereto, and is placed in a vessel of water kept at the desired
temperature by means of a water jacket, through which cold water is con-
tinually made to circulate, or through a series of pipes. By revolving the
wheel or bucket in the proper direction, its interior will, by centrifugal force,
be kept free of the water surrounding the wheel, and thus free ingress will
be allowed for the exhaust steam into the interior of the wheel; the steam,
finding an exit between the curved floats will strike against the water in the
surrounding vessel, and become condensed; this water may rise to a tem-
perature of 00° Fahrenheit, which is sufficiently low to condense steam, and
the portion that overflows in the vessel is taken by a pump, and fed into the
boiler, thus feeding the boiler with warm and distilled water, the advantages
of which in the saving of fuel, &c., are evident, and, moreover, keeping the
water in the boiler always at one and the same level, thus serving as a perfect
water gauge. A reserve water tank is to be provided for supplying the boiler
by means of the pump with the small quantity of water required to compensate
for leakage in the joints, &c. It will be evident that the apparatus may be
successfully applied, with but slight modifications, which will not vary its
essential principles, to the cooling of liquids, or for passing air or gas, or any
kind of vapor into or through water or any other fluid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-niue, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent 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

page_text: lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an In-
vention for *AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING AND COOLING
VAPOUR AND FLUIDS," being a communication from abroad by Ananias Smith,
of Niagara Falls, in the United States of America, upon the condition,
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instru-
ment 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 perforined, 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 Alfred Vincent 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 accompanying Drawing,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign corres-
pondent, is to secure the results heretofore aimed at in condensing apparatus,
such as supplying the boiler with pure water, and thereby preventing the
formation of scale and the deposit of impurities in the boiler, using the
same feed water over and over again, feeding the boiler with heated water;
and thereby effecting a saving in the consumption of fuel, keeping the water
in the boiler at one uniform level so as to form a perfect water gauge.
In the improved apparatus forming the subject of this Invention, the
exhaust steam is condensed in such a manner and by such a mechanical
device that a vacuum or a partial vacuum or space is formed between the
apparatus and the cooling liquid, so that the exhaust steam will impinge
directly upon a large extent of cooling surface and become condensed, the re-
frigerating element being kept cool or at the desired temperature by a water
jacket, or by coils of pipes through which cold water. is made to flow, or in
any proper manner. The apparatus employed consists of a bucket or wheel
revolving in the cooling liquid, and communicating with the exhaust steam
pipe, so that when the wheel or bucket is revolving the exhaust steam will
rush through the same, strike against the cooling liquid, and be condensed.
The simplicity of this arrangement, the non-liability of its getting out of order,
and the effectiveness of its operation, secure the desideratum long sought
for, viz., a practical condensing apparatus, by which the boiler could be fed
with its own condensed steam, or pure water that forms the constant and
never failing supply thereto.

page_text: Having thus premised the general features of the Invention, I will now
proceed to describe in detail the construction of the apparatus :-
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing a steam
cylinder, boiler, &c., with the condensing apparatus applied thereto, and
Figs. 2 and 3 are views in detail of portions of the apparatus. a, a, a, Fig. 1
represent a steam boiler that may be made of any desired form or construc-
tion; b, b, the cylinder of an engine; c, e, the steam chest; d, d, the steam
pipe from the boiler, and e, e, the exhaust steam pipe. The exhaust steam
pipe communicates directly with a bucket wheelf, f, revolved by a belt on a
pulley g mounted on the outer end of the bucket wheel shaft h. The bucket
wheel ff, is constructed with curved floats so as to leave issuing ports thereto
along its periphery as shown in the sectional plan view Fig. 2, and is placed
in a vessel of water i, i, i, kept at the desired temperature by means of a water
jacket, through which cold water is continually made to circulate, or through
a series of pipes, k,le, from which the cooling water is conveyed by the inlet and
outlet pipes and 1*. It will now be understood that by revolving the
wheelf, in the direction of the arrow Fig, 2, its interior will, by centrifugal
force, be kept free of the water in the vessel i,i,and will thus leave free ingress
to the exhaust steam which passes from the cylinder by the pipe e,e. As
the exhaust steam enters the bucket wheel ff. it will become condensed by
striking against the water in the surrounding vessel i,i. This water may rise
to a temperature of 200° Fahrenheit, which is sufficiently low to condense
steam. The overflow in the vessel i, i, is taken up by a pump m, and dis-
charged into the boiler. The boiler is thus fed with warm and distilled water,
the advantages of which in the saving of fuel, &c., are evident; and, moreover,
the water in the boiler will always be maintained at a uniform level, thus
serving as a perfect water gauge. n is a reserve tank for supplying the
boiler by means of the pump m, with the small quantity of water required to
compensate for leakage in the joints, &c. When a supply is not wanted from
this tank, a cock n* shuts off its communication with the pump m. It will
be evident that the apparatus may be successfully applied with but slight
modifications, which will not vary its essential principles, to the cooling
of liquids, or for passing air or gas, or any kind of vapor into or through
water or any other fluid.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Condensing and Cooling Vapour and Fluids," as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manuer
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim forming a vacuum or partial

page_text: vacuum between the vapour or fluid to be cooled or condensed, and the
surface of the refrigerating element, in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)