IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND THE PREVENTION OF INCRUSTATION THEREIN.
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Sykes, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil
Merchant, and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, M.D., both of Cleckheaton,
in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
BOILERS, AND THE PREVENTION OF INCRUSTATION THEREIN.
Sealed the 26th September 1861, and dated the 30th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin
Clifford Sykes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 30th March 1861.
We, THOMAS SYKES, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil Merchant, and
BENJAMIN CLIFFORD SYKES, M.D., both of Cleckheaton, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature, of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
STEAM BOILERS, AND THE PREVENTION OF INCRUSTATION THEREIN," to be as
follows:-.
Firstly, the improvements consist in placing partitions in steam boilers in
such a manner as to cause an increase of circulation of the water therein;
thus in the case of double fire-box boilers we place a partition betwixt the

page_text: two flues, and in the case of boilers, with three or more flues or multitubular
boilers, we place one, two, or more partitions therein dividing the boiler into
compartments, and arrange them so as to cause the water to pass along each
compartment in succession.
Secondly, in so arranging the feed water pipes when there is a series of
boilers working by the side of each other, and in conjunction, as that the
second boiler shall receive its supply of water from the first, the third from
the second, the fourth from the third, and so on for the rest, and we prefer
that the water of each boiler be caused to make the circuit of the boiler as
above set forth before it goes to the supply of the next one, and then from
the last one it may be run out through a pipe and tap, and be made to
beat the feed water as described in the Specification of a Patent granted
to the aforesaid Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, and to James
William Crossley, No. 732, dated March 21st, 1860.
Thirdly, in separating the solid matter or dirt from the dirty water of
steam boilers by means of a filter, and in returning the filtrate or purified
water back again to the boiler or boilers in a hot condition and in such a
manner as not to lose much heat by the purifying process. By removing
in this manner the earthy salts (precipitated by the heating and evaporation
of the water in the boiler) and other dirt we remove the cause of incrustation.
This filter may be of an ascending, descending, or of a horizontal character,
having a receptacle for the accumulation of dirt on one side of the filtering
medium, which receptacle is provided with a pipe and tap, through which
to expel the dirt at pleasure. This dirt receptacle communicates by means
of a pipe and tap with the boiler, where it is most desirable to withdraw
the dirty water, and on the other side of the filtering medium the filter
communicates by a pipe and tap, or valve with feed water pump by which
the hot purified water is again thrown into the boiler, or any suitable vessel
for holding a quantity of filtered water may be interposed between the filter
and the boiler, and connected with them by pipes and taps in such a manner
as that when the communication between the filter and the said vessel is
open, the filtered water will run into the said vessel, a small tap placed in
the top part of the said vessel being open to allow the air to escape as the
water rushes in, and when the said communication and air tap are closed,
and two communications between the said vessel and boiler are open, one
of the said communications being between the top part of the said vessel
and the steam chamber of the boiler, the other being between the lower
part of the said vessel and the water of the boiler, the hot filtered water will

page_text: then run into the boiler. The whole or the most part of this apparatus.
may be clothed with some non-conducting material so as to prevent the
radiation of heat from the external surfaces thereof.
on in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Latent, nieu
by the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wе, TпомAS
SYKES, Manufacturing Chemist and Oil Merchant, and BENJAMIN CLifford
SYKES, M.D., both of Cleckheaton, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queeu Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, Her special licence
that we, the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Sykes
and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND THE PREVENTION OF INCRUSTATION
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Sykes
and Benjamin Clifford Sykes, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford
Sykes, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:
.
The first part of our Invention of improvements in steam boilers, and the
prevention of incrustation therein, consists in placing partitions in steam

page_text: boilers so as to divide the water chamber into compartments, and to cause the
water to flow along each compartment in succession, and obtain a large circu-
lation thereof.
And in order more fully to ascertain and particularly to describe our Inven-
tion we have annexed two Sheets of Drawings, to which we make reference.
The Figures from one to ten, both inclusive, of Sheet 1, referring to the first
part of our Invention.
Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, represent a cylindrical boiler B, in which A is
the partition dividing the boiler B into compartments, and is placed hori-
zontally along the boiler B at a little distance beneath the water line C, and
extends to within a little distance of each end of the boiler B, but the back
end of the partition depends 'downwards to within a few inches from the
bottom of the boiler, as shown at D. The partition is fastened to each side of
the boiler so as to make a good joint. It will be now seen that the hot water,
when the boiler is working, will rush along the lower compartment of the
boiler under the partition to the front end of the boiler to deliver its steam
into the steam chamber E, and then pass over the top side of the partition
and down between that part of the partition which depends downwards and
the back end of the boiler, as shown at F, back again into the lower compart-
ment under the partition A, as shown by the direction of the arrows.
Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 1, represent a cylindrical boiler, with one flue
through, in which the partition A extends right to the back end of the boiler B,
and is fastened to the end of the boiler B, as it is to the sides; and in order to
provide for the passage of the water from the compartment above the par-
tition A into the compartment under the partition there are two pipes D
placed in the partition, as shown in the Drawing, through which the water
descends into the lower compartment, and moves in the direction of the
arrows.
Figure 5 and 6 represent a cylindrical boiler, with two flues through. In
this case the partition may be placed over the crown of both flues, in the same
manner as it is placed over one flue in Figures 3 and 4, or as is here shown it
may assume the shape of an inverted T, so disposed as to cause the water to
travel along each compartment in succession, as shown by the arrows; or it
may be a simple upright partition between the flues, and fastened to the
bottom and one end of the boiler, it being left short at the other end of the
boiler, as shown at S and T, Figures 6, 8, and 10, in order to allow the water,
after it has flowed along one flue, to turn round the short end of the partition,
and then flow along the other flue, as shown in Figures 7 and 8 in Sheet 1.
Figures 9 and 10 in Sheet 1 represent a multitubular boiler, having a par-

page_text: tition or partitions somewhat of the shape of the letter X, dividing the water
chamber into four compartments, and extending from one end of boiler to the
other end, openings in the partition or partitions at each alternate end of the
boiler being provided to allow the water to pass along each compartment in
succession. Thus, if we may suppose the water of the boiler to be supplied
to the compartment No. 1 at the back part of the boiler B, it will pass along
to the front end of the boiler, then through an opening in the partition sepa-
rating the compartment No. 1 and 2 into compartment No. 2, then along this
compartment to the back part of the boiler, then through an opening H in
partition separating compartments No. 2 and 3, then along compartment 3
from back to front, then through an opening in the front part of partition
separating compartment No. 3 from No. 4, and along compartment No. 4 to the
back part of the boiler, thence through a pipe W placed in partition separating
compartment No. 4 from No. 1, which pipe extends downwards and terminates
within a short distance from the bottom of compartment No. 1, thus preventing
the return of the water by the way of this pipe.
These are some of the modes of separating boilers into compartments, and
are, perhaps, sufficient to set forth the nature of this part of our Invention.
The second part of our Invention consists in arranging the feed-water pipes
of steam boilers when there is a series of steam boilers working by the side
of each other and in conjunction, as that the second-boiler shall receive its
feed water from the first, the third from the second, the fourth from the third;
and so on for the rest; and we prefer that the water of each boiler be caused
to make the circuit of the boiler, as above set forth, before it goes to the supply
of the next one, and then from the last boiler it may be run out through a
pipe and tap, and be made to heat the feed water, as as described. in the
Specification of a Patent granted to the aforesaid Thomas Sykes, Benjamin
Clifford Sykes, and to James William Crossley, No. 732, A.D. 1860, or the
water of the last boiler may be conveyed to the filter to be described below.
Figure 11, Sheet 1, represents a series of boilers G working in conjunction
with each other, and so connected together by the feed pipes and taps H as
that they may receive their feed water as above described; or any two or any
three may so receive their feed water whilst the may be cleaning, repairing,
or otherwise unemployed.
5 The third part of our Invention consists in separating the solid matter or
dirt from the dirty water of steam boilers by means of a filter, and in returning
the filtrate or purified water back again to the boiler or boilers in a hot con-
dition, and in such a manner as not to lose much heat in the purifying process:
By removing in this manner the earthy salts precipitated by the beating and

page_text: evaporation of the water in the boiler and other dirt, we remove the cause of
incrustation. This filter may be of an ascending, descending, or of an hori-
zontal character, having a receptacle for the accumulation of dirt on one side
of the filtering medium, which receptacle is provided with a pipe and tap,
through which to expel the dirt at pleasure. This dirt receptacle communi-
cates with the boiler by means of a pipe or pipes and tap, where it is most
desirable to withdraw the dirty water from the boiler, and on the other side of
the filtering medium the filter communicates by a pipe or pipes and a tap or
valve, or both, with a pump, by which the hot purified water is again thrown
into the boiler; and we prefer, in the abscence of partitions being placed in the
boiler or boilers as above described, to take the dirty water out of one end of
the boiler to the filter, and pump the filtered water into the boiler at the other
end thereof; but if the boiler or boilers are provided with the said partitions,
then we prefer that the dirty water be taken from the last compartment formed
by such partition or partitions, after the water has made the entire circuit of
the compartments to the filter, and that the purified water be pumped into the
first compartment; or instead of pumping the filtered water back again into
the boiler, it may be caused to run back into the boiler by means of its own
force of gravity, as is well known; thus, if we place a vessel capable of bear-
ing the pressure of the steam of the boiler at a higher elevation than the
water line of the boiler, and fit it with an air tap at the top so as to allow the
air to escape, and if we now connect that part of the filter which receives
the filtered water with the said vessel or cistern by means of a pipe or pipes
and tap, when the communication is open between them and the air tap open,
it is evident that the filtered water will run into the said vessel or cistern pro-
vided its elevation be within the limit of the pressure of the purified water
with which it rushes from the filter; if, now, this vessel or cistern be filled with
purified water from the filter, and then the air tap be closed, and also the com-
munication between filter and the said vessel or cistern be closed, and if now
a communication between the top part of the said vessel or cistern and the
steam chamber of the boiler, and also another another communication between
the bottom part of the said vessel or cistern and the water chamber of the
boiler be opened, the pressures in the boiler and the said vessel or cistern
being equal, the water will run from the higher level to the lower one; this
last apparatus is not new, and therefore we do not claim it. But if we now
connect another pipe or pipes and tap with the bottom part of this said vessel
or cistern with the hot well or other source of supply of the feed water of the
boiler, and close all the other communications with the said vessel or cistern
whilst it is full of steam, but leave this one open, the cold feed water will con-

page_text: dense the steam and rush into the said vessel or cistern if its distance in eleva-
tion above the water in the hot well or other source of supply be within the
limits of the amount of vacuum produced, to allow the pressure of the atmo-
sphere upon the surface of the feed water to force it into the cistern. Now,
in this case, if the said vessel or cistern' be allowed to fill itself, say, one-
quarter or one-half full, and then the feed-water tap closed, and the communi-
cation between said vessel and the filter be opened, the energy of the filter will
be increased.
In order to give a general idea of the character of the above filter and its
mode of application to the purification of the dirty water of steam boilers, we
present a Drawing of one form thereof.
Figure 1, Sheet 2, is a front elevation of a Cornish boiler A, having the
filter B attached thereto by the dirt pipe C; and Figure 2, Sheet 2, is a side
elevation thereof, showing the pipes F that convey the filtered water to the
pump D, and thence to the back end of the boiler A; the hot well or other
source of feed water supply for the boiler is shown at E. This filter, as shown,
is a flat bottomed cylindrical vessel, having having a loose lid fastened down
by bolts, &c.; at a certain distance from the bottom of the cylindrical vessel,
say, one-third of the height, there is provided a rib G, which projects from the
circumference towards the centre, on which rests the grate or perforated
plate G; on this grate or perforated plate are placed a few thicknesses of
some textile fabric II, which are held firmly in their place by the grate or
perforated plate G³, and cross bar and screw I. The water from the boiler is
brought by the dirt pipe C into the lower part of the filter K, and as the clear
water passes through the textile fabric to the top side of the filter the dirt is
retained behind, and may be ejected through the pipe and tap L, whilst the
clear water is carried by the pipes F to the pump, and thence to the boiler.
The pipes F from the filter are shown in the Drawing to communicate with
the barrel of the pump D, which is larger than the piston or plunger D³, and
the hot water from the filter will always be pumped into the boiler first, so
long as there is a sufficiency to supply the pump, but when there is not a
sufficiency the hot well E supplies the rest; but the pipes F might communicate
with the pump pipes under the valve M, or a separate pump might be used
exclusively for the filtered water.
Having thus fully described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be performed, we wish it to be understood that we
do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein set forth, as the same
may be modified without departing from the peculiar features of our Invention,

page_text: or do we claim any of the well-known parts which are shown and referred to,
or the purpose of illustrating the application of our improvements.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Sykes and Benjamin Clifford
Sykes, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-third day
of September, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
(L.B.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Thomas Sykes and
Benjamin Clifford Sykes, in the
presence of
WALTER BRIERLEY,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
BENJ. C. SYKES. (L.S.)