APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING THE EXHAUST OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, ALFRED GREIG, of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds in the County of York,.
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of any invention for "APPARATUS FOR
CONDENSING THE EXHAUST OF STEAM ENGINES" and in what manner the saine
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
Engines of the portable class have frequently to be worked at a distance from a.
water supply, and therefore it is necessary to provide as far as possible for the feed
of their boilers by employing for that purpose the water of condensation. Also
such engines, and also traction engines or locomotives generally have often to pass
along streets and roads where the appearance and noise of the escaping exhaust
steain are very objectionable. In such engines as I have referred to, the exhaust
steam is often employed to act as a blast in the chimney to promote the furnace
draught, and on this account the condensation of the exhaust introduces difficulties
in working, unless provision is made for draught independently of the use of the
exhaust for that purpose.
My invention relates to apparatus for condensing the exhaust of portable, partly
portable, traction and locomotive steam engines generally, in such a manner as to
avoid the appearance and noise of escaping steain, to collect the water of conden-
sation as feed for the boiler, and at the same time to promote the chimney draught.
The apparatus which I employ for this purpose may be arranged in various ways
to suit the special construction of the various engines to which it is applied. It
consists of a box or casing containing a number of tubes presenting an extended
surface, through which tubes the exhaust steam is led, and a ventilating fan which
draws a large volume of air through the box or casing, this air cooling the tubes
and so effecting condensation of the steam passing through them. The ventilating
fan, which is driven by any convenient gear from the engine, or it might be by a
separate small engine, draws also from the chimney so that, while it causes the
current of air which cools the condenser tubes, it also promotes the draught for
the fire. The exhaust steam generally carries with it vapour or minute particles
of the lubricant employed in the cylinder; and this matter is apt to settle in the
condenser tubes and form therein a coating which, being a very bad conductor of
heat, materially interferes with the condensation. To avoid this, I cause the
exhaust stean, before it enters the condensing tubes, to pass in a zig zag course
through a box or casing in which there are a number of screens of porous fabric
that take up and retain the particles of lubricant from the steam.
These screens
are made removeable, so that from time to time they can be taken out and cleansed.
Such being the general character of the apparatus which I employ, I will now
describe with reference to the accompanying drawings several arrangements of it,
as examples of its application to engines of several different forms.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a side view partly in section and Fig. 2 is a plan shewing one arrange-
ment of tramway traction engine with condensing apparatus according to my
invention. Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively longitudinal and transverse sections, drawn
to an enlarged scale, of what may be termed the "oil trap," provided to clear the
exhaust steam from the lubricant matter which accompanies it.
A being the cylinder or cylinders of the engine, the exhaust steam passes by the
pipe B through the oil trap C and thence by the pipe D to a casing from which it
is distributed through a large number of small tubes E arranged within the box or
casing F, which is open at its lower part, as for example at for may have its bottom
or the lower parts of its sides or end made of metal freely perforated. G is the
ventilating fan mounted immediately over the casing F which is open at the top
to the suction side of the fan. This fan, driven by bands and suitable gear from
the engine shaft H, causes a large volume of air to pass through the casing F
around and over the tubes E, cooling them and causing condensation of the steam
that passes through them. The water of condensation flows by pipes K into tank L
(indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) whence is taken the principal supply of the
distilled water for feeding the boiler. The chimney M opens to the suction side of
the fan G, which causes an upward draught in it, that can be regulated by a hinged
flap. N.
In the oil trap C Figs. 3 and 4, P are the removeable screens of absorbent fabric
arranged so that the steam from the pipe B passes them in a zig zag course, as
indicated by the arrows, finally issuing through a perforated crown plate Q and
flowing by the pipe D to the condenser tubes.
In the arrangement shewn in Fig. 5 which is an elevation partly in section and
in Fig. 6 a plan, the condenser F with its tubes E is arranged under the boiler,
and the air from E passes by a channel R to the smoke box T surmounted by the
fan G, which also causes draught through the boiler tubes S. The oil trap may be
placed at any convenient part, such as C, of the course of the pipe D which leads
the exhaust from the cylinders A to the condenser tubes E. In the arrangement
shewn in Fig. 7 which is an elevation partly in section, and in the plan Fig. 8, the
condenser casings F F are placed one on each side of the boiler, both opening
laterally into the smoke box T, at the top of which is mounted the fan G.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. For condensing the exhaust steam of portable, traction and such like engines,
the construction of apparatus consisting of a number of tubes presenting extended
surface arranged within a casing through which air is drawn by a fan which also
draws from the chimney or smoke box, substantially as and for the purposes herein
Bet forth.
2. In combination with condensing apparatus of the kind referred to in the
preceding claim, an oil trap consisting of a casing containing removeable screens
of porous absorbent fabric over which the exhaust steam passes depositing the
lubricant matter which it carries, substantially as described. .
Dated this 20th day of Docamber 1884