AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING AND USING STEAM FOR DRIVING STREET RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING
AND USING STEAM FOR DRIVING STREET RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER
VEHICLES."-A communication from abroad by Emile Lamm, of New
Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America.
Sealed the 10th September 1872, and dated the 25th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th March 1872.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARatus
FOR SUPPLYING AND USING STEAM FOR DRIVING STREET RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND
OTHER VEHICLES," a communication, to be as follows:-
The purpose of this Invention is to store heat in a mass of water or
in water superheated until its temperature in a steam boiler corresponds

page_text: to two hundred pounds pressure to the square inch, more or less. This
superheated water is then forced into a strong iron reservoir placed on
a street railway carriage or other vehicle in which a steam engine con-
nected to or with the said reservoir is adapted. The surplus heat which
has been produced in the stationary boiler is carried along with the
water when transferred into the reservoir on the carriage or other
vehicle. This superheated or stored heat without any additional fire
on the carriage causes about fifteen per cent. of the water in the
reservoir to fly off into steam with an average pressure of one hundred
pounds to the square inch, thereby allowing the carriage to run or be
driven a distance of at least seven or eight miles. The above result is
luc to the large capacity of water for heat.
The sole and great difference between the aforesaid reservoir and an
ordinary cylindrical steam boiler is in its neither having or requiring
a furnace or fire for working the engine. The reservoir may be well
covered with some non-conducting material to prevent as much as
possible the radiation of heat into the atmosphere. An ordinary steam
engine is connected in any of the usual well known ways with the
upper end of the reservoir by means of a pressure pipe. It is provided
with an exhaust pipe and another pipe that serves to drive the required
charge of superheated water from the stationary steam boiler at the
beginning and to discharge it from the reservoir at the end of each trip.
To prepare the carriage for the day's work I put the reservoir together
with the engine in steam connection with the stationary boiler by means
of the last-mentioned pipe for the purpose of heating them to the
required temperature. As soon as this is accomplished the steam from
the stationary boiler is cut off, and the reservoir is put in connection
with the superheated water in the said boiler, and the water rushes in
and fills the reservoir to the level desired, care being taken not to fill
completely the reservoir so as to leave sufficient steam room therein.
The carriage is thus prepared for the trip and as it returns to the station
at the end of the trip the water yet remaining in the reservoir is dis-
charged into a close vessel and may thence be pumped back into the
stationary boiler.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her
special licence, that I, the said William Robert Lake, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert
Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING AND USING STEAM
" a communi-
FOR DRIVING STREET RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND OTHER VEHICLES,'
cation to me from abroad by Emile Lamm, of New Orleans, Louisiana,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 forming a part of this Specification:-
The purpose of this Invention is to store heat in a mass of water or
in water superheated until its temperature in a steam boiler corresponds
to two hundred pounds pressure to the square inch more or less. This

page_text: superheated water is then forced into a strong iron reservoir placed on
a street railway car or other vehicle to which a steam engine con-
nected to or with the said reservoir is adapted. The surplus heat which
has been produced in the stationary boiler is carried along with the
water when transferred into the reservoir on the car or other vehicle.
This superheated or stored heat without any additional fire on the car
causes about fifteen per cent. of the water in the reservoir to fly off
into steam with an average pressure of one hundred pounds to the
square inch, thereby allowing the car to run or be driven a distance of
at least seven or eight miles. The above result is due to the large
capacity of water for heat.
.

page_text: station at the end of the trip, the water yet remaining in the reservoir
is discharged into a close vessel and may thence be pumped back into
the stationary boiler. I thus provide a machine which intrinsically is
not only as economical as the cheapest motor at present known, but
which for the purpose intended is practically much cheaper and safer
than the ordinary steam engine. Any number of carriages can be run
by an indefinite number of steam engines by means of one single fire
at a central depot. There is no danger of explosion because a steam
boiler with no fire under it and consequently a decreasing pressure
cannot explode, and there being no danger of explosion from the
reservoir, a skilful man is not needed to drive the engine. Moreover,
I avoid discharging the water on the car the temperature of which
is lowered by the steam expended in working the engine during the
trip. Thus instead of replacing this same water in the reservoir by other
and hotter water taken from the stationary boiler I cause steam of the
required temperature to rush into and condense in the reservoir until
the pristine force or heat of the water is restored.
In Figure 2 w, w, denote the water line; B is an iron tube bolted
through the heads of the reservoir A. This tube is closed at one end,
and at the other end is provided with both a throttle valve c and the
one half of a union coupling D. This tube is perforated inside the
reservoir by a number of small holes, the apertures of which are turned
downwards. The said holes are placed about six inches apart through
the whole interior length of the tube; their total area should equal that
of a cross section of the tube.
When the car returns from a trip the end of the tube B is con-
nected by means of the union coupling D to the steam pipe of a
stationary boiler. As soon as communication is established by the
proper opening of the throttle valves between the reservoir on the
car and the stationary boiler, the steam from the said boiler rushes
into the reservoir, and by its condensation which begins at the bottom of
the water heats the whole of it upward and in an equal degree through-
out the entire length of the reservoir until the same water is, if desired,
in equilibrium with the temperature and corresponding pressure of the
stationary boiler. The car is then ready for another trip without further
application of heat.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, and the manner of

page_text: spondent, I wish it understood that I claim, the use or application of
superheated water for the purposes specified.
I also claim the reservoir A with its superheated water in combination
with the steam engine B for the purpose specified.
I also claim a stationary boiler for supplying superheated water to 5
one or more locomotive engines or carriages as and for the purpose
specified.
I also claim the heating of water above the boiling point under
atmospheric pressure by means of the condensation of stcam caused to
flow into it by the process and apparatus described, or by any other 1
equivalent process or apparatus accomplishing the purposes and object
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy- 1
two.
Witness,
W. J. LowE.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)