IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND ECONOMIZING FUEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rundell Hodge and Richard Retallack
Hodge, of Union Iron Works, Millwall, in the Parish of All Saints,
Poplar, and in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Boiler Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND ARRANGEMENT OF BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND ECONOMIZING
FUEL."
Sealed the 1st November 1872, and dated the 3rd May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rundell Hodge
and Richard Retallack Hodge at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd May 1872.
We, WILLIAM RUNDELL HODGE and RICHARD RETALLACK HODGE,
of Union Iron Works, Millwall, in the Parish of All Saints, Poplar, and
in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Boiler Manufacturers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENTS OF BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND
ECONOMIZING FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved form of tubular boiler suitable
for marine or land purposes, having one or more furnaces arranged

page_text: inside, and the firing therefore internal, and having two or more sets of
tubes of the same or other suitable diameter or proportion arranged and
disposed connecting the fire and smoke boxes, which may be of the
same or other suitable diameters and proportions, the products of com-
bustion being led or conveyed through the tubes and returned back
again, and in some cases passed through external flues, finally passing
into the uptake or chimney, which has the desired effect of arresting
and practically absorbing nearly all the heat evolved by the combustion
of the coal or other fuel employed, so that the heat finally leaving the
boiler is reduced to a very low temperature, and is only what is necessary
to provide the ascensional power in the uptake or chimney to give the
natural draught for effecting combustion.
The advantages claimed by this Invention are that by the novel com-
bination and disposition of internally fired furnaces and tubes of suitable
proportions, arranged in manner as described, the maximum effect with
a minimum consumption of fuel and the reduction of the wasto gases
escaping into the chimney or uptake to the lowest possible temperature
is obtained, thus effecting a considerable saving of fuel as compared with
the best type of Lancashire, Cornish, or other boilers known; also, that
boilers being internally fired as herein described, the grosser impurities
held in mechanical suspension in the water subside by gravitation where
they can have no objectionable influence, as no active combustion is
there applied, and cannot result in the damaging effects so commonly
occurring to externally fired boilers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Rundell Hodge and Richard Retallack
Hodge, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
RUNDELL HODGE and RICHARD RETALLACk Hodge, of Union Iron
Works, Millwall, in the Parish of All Saints, Poplar, and in the County
of Middlesex, Engineers and Boiler Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Rundell Hodge and Richard
Retallack Hodge, Her special licence that we, the said William Run-
dell Hodge and Richard Retallack Hodge, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Rundell lodge
and Richard Retallack Hodge, our 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, usc, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF
BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND ECONOMIZING FUEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Rundell Hodge and
Richard Retallack Hodge, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said William Rundell Hodge and
Richard Retallack Hodge, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawings :—
This Invention relates to an improved form of tubular boiler suitable
for marine or land purposes, having one or more furnaces arranged inside
and the firing therefore internal, and having two or more sets of tubes
of the same or other suitable diameters and proportions arranged and
disposed so as to connect the fire and smoke boxes and the lattor with
the back of the boiler, the products of combustion after leaving the
furnaces pass into the back fire-box or boxes, from which connection is
made with the front smoke box by one or more sets or series of tubes,
and another set or series of tubes connecting the front smoke box with
the back of the boiler, from whence they may be taken away at once by
a chimney or funnel, or may be passed under and around the boiler in

page_text: external flues one or more times as may be most convenient before
finally passing into the chimney. In the ordinary marine boiler the
products of combustion traverse the boiler longitudinally twice inside,
whereas by this Invention they traverse it inside thrice, which has the
desired effect of arresting and practically absorbing nearly all the heat
evolved by the combustion of the coal or other fuel employed, so that
the heat finally leaving the boiler is reduced to a very low temperature,
and is only what is necessary to provide the ascensional power in the
uptake or chimney to give the natural draught for effecting combustion.
The advantages claimed by this Invention are, that by the novel
combination and disposition of internally fired furnaces and tubes of
suitable proportions arranged in manner as described, the maximum
effect with a minimum consumption of fuel and the reduction of the
waste gases escaping into the chimney or uptake to the lowest possible
temperature is obtained, thus effecting a considerable saving of fuel as
compared with the best type of marine multitubular, Lancashire, Cornish,
or other boilers known; also that boilers being internally fired, as herein
described, the grosser impurities held in mechanical suspension in the
water subside by gravitation, where they can have no objectional
influence as no active combustion is there applied, and cannot result in
the damaging effects so commonly occurring to externally fired boilers.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a
boiler arranged as herein described; Figure 2 is a half sectional view
taken at the line a-b, Figure 1; and Figure 3, a half or front clevation
of same, in which it will be seen that the products of combustion after
leaving the furnaces A, traverso the flues as indicated by the arrows to
the back fire-box B, from whence they return through the first set of
tubes to the front smoke box C, from which they are again conveyed to
the back of the boiler D, by the second set or series of tubes, they are
then passed or led into the chimney or uptake.
In some cases it may be preferred before permitting the waste gases to
finally escape in manner just described to further pass them through
flues surrounding the shell of the boiler, and cause them to traverse its
length once or more times, as may be desired or convenient.

page_text: boiler having two furnaces, it is equally applicable in cases where one or
more arrangements of furnaces are employed.
In witness whereof, wc, the said William Rundell Hodge and
Richard Retallack Hodge, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.