IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING INCRUSTATION IN BOILERS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
DAM, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederic Dam, my exors, adññiors, and assigns Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederic Dam, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic Dam, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney.
Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING INCRUSTATION IN
BOILERS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Frederic Dam, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said.
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately,
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,.
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederic Dam, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of employing hydrate of potash or of soda as a means
of throwing down the impurities in the water which usually produce the effect
of incrusting the interior of a boiler, and I prefer that such material should
be from time to time introduced into the boiler in quantities proportioned to
the quantity of water evaporated by the boiler, in order that the hydrate may
at all times be in excess, by which not only will the incrusting of the boiler be
prevented, but in case the boiler has become incrusted by previous use, without
preventive herein mentioned, such incrustation will be removed. I dissolve
the hydrate of potash or soda in water, and produce a saturated solution
thereof, which I introduce into the boiler from time to time, either by means of
a tube having two cocks thereon at a distance from each other, closing the cock
nearest the boiler when filling the tube, and closing the outer cock when
allowing the liquor to flow into the boiler by opening the cock nearest the
boiler, or I introduce such liquor by means of a force pump or other conve-
nient means. Or, in place of applying the liquor to the water when it is in
the boiler, the preventive liquor may be introduced into the water before it
goes into the boiler, and the water may or may not be allowed to stand any
length of time before it is introduced into the boiler after applying the pre-
ventive liquor. In all cases, however, the preventive liquor should be in
excess of that quantity which, on testing any water which is proposed to be
used in a boiler, may appear to be required to precipitate the impurities
contained in the water; and, in order to ascertain the quantity of the solution
to be employed for the water which is to be used in a boiler, I take a measured
quantity thereof, and drop in several drops of solution as long as it appears to
produce a cloudy or milky effect. I then filter the water, and again drop in
more of the solution; and if no further precipitation takes place, the quantity
previously used indicates the quantity which should be introduced into the
boiler from time to time, in proportion to the number of such measures of
water introduced into the boiler. The effect of using such liquor material in
a boiler is to throw down the impurities, but the same will not adhere to the
interior surfaces of the boiler, and thereof, in order to prevent accumulations,
the same should be blown out from time to time from the boiler, as is well
understood; and in addition thereto it is found that in some cases a scum rises
to the surface, and it is desirable occasionally to remove the same by blowing
it through a guage cock (at or about the water line of the boiler), large enough

page_text: for such purpose. Although I have named the use of a saturated solution of
hydrate of potash or soda I do not confine myself thereto, as the same may be
used in a weaker state whenever proportionably larger measure of liquor is to
be introduced into the water.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
application of hydrate of potash or soda for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Dam, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
aken and acknowledged by Frederic
Dam (party hereto) at Antwerp, in
the Kingdom of Belgium, this Tenth
FREDERIC DAM. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Samuel Carpmael, the
Specification aforesaid was enrolled word for word as above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.