IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND SUPERHEATING STEAM AND: AIR WITHOUT DECOMPOSITION
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Nelson, of 13, Johnson's Place, Ranelagh
Road, Thames Bank, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND SUPERHEATING STEAM AND:
AIR WITHOUT DECOMPOSITION."
Sealed the 18th April 1868, and dated the 16th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Nelson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th October 1862.
:
I, EDWARD NELSON, of 13, Johnson's Place, Ranelagh Road, Thames Bank,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "
"IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND SUPERHEATING
STEAM AND AIR WITHOUT DECOMPOSITION," to be as follows:-
I employ for the purposes of my Invention a porcelain tube, which I prefer
to have a spiral form, the same to be imbedded in a hollow cylinder of porous
fire-clay, which cylinder is surrounded by another cylinder of iron somewhat
larger than the porous clay, and I fill the intervening space with plumbago,
magnesia, or rottenstone, which arrangement prevents cracking by alter-
nations of temperature. This apparatus, which I call my superheater, can be
readily fixed where desired, so as to be subjected to any required heat.

page_text: I manufacture my superheater thus:-I procure fire-clay of the finest grind,
and mix with it an equal weight or thereabouts of coarsely ground fire-brick,
and to this mixture add twenty-five per cent. or thereabouts of horsedung or
other suitable material, together with a small per-centage of treacle, or other
cheap organic or mineral substance that has the property of keeping clay moist;
I then place this mixture, when of proper consistence, into strong bags, and
subject it to bydraulic or screw pressure in a press so constructed that air or
steam of the temperature of 400° or upwards of Fahrenheit's thermometer
can be introduced between the plates, by which means I get rid of all
superfluous moisture and air from the clay, and am able to unite the porcelain
clay subsequently used more perfectly, and render it less liable to crack in the
kiln I next procure porcelain or other clay more fusible than the fire-clay,
and by means of a squeezing pipe-making machine form a tube, in which is
inclosed an air and water tight calico cylinder filled with air; I then build
up, as it were, this porcelain clay tube in a cylindrical wall of the fire-clay
mixture, so that it is of a spiral form and completely imbedded in the fire-
clay cylinder; this done, I place it in a strong iron case so formed that I have
my green superheater completely surrounded externally, internally, and top
and bottom with the iron; I then, by suitable means, subject the enclosed
porcelain clay tube to the pressure of water internally, by which I burst the
calico tube and obtain a good union of the two kinds of clay, and the iron case
prevents change of form. By suitable means I wish that it should be
understood that after the green superheater is placed in the iron casing I
connect to the lower end of the porcelain clay and calico tube, which is made
to pass out of a hole in the side of the outer iron cylinder, an hydraulic pump;
the other and upper end of the aforesaid tube passes out of a hole in the top
plate, and is fitted with a valve capable of being loaded to any required
pressure. The superheater is now removed from the iron case, and placed
in another case of such a construction that there is a highly porous hollow
cylinder within and without, and, again, iron cylinders within and without
these with top and bottom; superheated steam is now passed through the
spiral tube, by which means any air that might subsequently occasion the
cracking of the superheater, while undergoing the burning process, is got rid of.
The superheater is then removed, and when sufficiently dry can be burnt in
an ordinary "brown stoneware kiln," and then fitted with an iron case and
interposed plumbago, as already described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Nelson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD.
NELSON, of 18, Johnson's Place, Ranelagh Road, Thames Bank, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Nelson, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Nelson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Nelson, my 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, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND SUPERHEATING STEAM AND
AIR WITHOUT DECOMPOSITION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said. Edward Nelson, 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 Edward Nelson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, wherein the accompanying Drawings, comprising Figs. 1
to 6, are referred to. The same letters of reference being marked at different
figures to denote the same parts when shewn thereat:-
3'
My improvements in manufacturing apparatus for heating and superheating
steam and air.without decomposition consist principally in the use of highly
refractory materials, in such manner as to prevent decomposition, and render
the apparatus perfectly air and steam tight.
Firstly, I procure fire-clay, the purest and best that can be obtained, I
levigate and wash the same until it will pass through a fine sieve; I then

page_text: allow it to settle down, and draw off the supernatant water, adding to the dry
clay an equal weight of "rough" (that is burnt) stuff, made by powdering fire-
bricks to the size of mustard seed, and adding thereto twenty-five per centum
of dried horse-dung rubbed through a sieve of twelve meshes to an inch (or
any other carbonaceous matter in powder or in the state of a semi-fluid), to
which composition I can also add to increase its plasticity, if desired, a suitable
quantity of vegetable or animal gluten dissolved in decoction of malt, barley,
beer, or solution of biborate of soda, or caustic potass or soda. To ensure
perfect humidity while fabricating the apparatus and drying the same, I also
add coarse brown sugar or molasses, or other cheap organic or mineral matter
that will keep clay moist; and to prevent fermentation I introduce into the
semi-fluid or slip mixture a small portion of bi-chloride of mercury, or
other preparation that will ensure non-fermentation. I now "blunge" the
mixture thoroughly in a vat, whilst in a creamy state, until all is thoroughly
incorporated, continuing so to do while ladling or drawing off the mixture
into bags to be pressed, which bags, shewn by the Drawing, see Figure 1
at A, I prefer to make either of cotton or woollen, woven in cylindrical
lengths without a seam, about thirty inches long and twelve inches wide,
or made in the web, and the two selvages sewn together, each end having
sewn therein a piece of cotton cord one-eighth or one-quarter of an inch
thick, which is secured with a rod clip formed of a half tube made of brass,
and a rod made so as to fit when the bag is placed between it and the hollow
half round tube aforesaid, the end of which is secured by a cap fastening on
one end of the rod and half tube, the other end of the rod and half tube being
fastened in the same way, thus securing one end of the bag, which is then ready
to receive the fire-clay slip, an ascertained convenient quantity whereof being
poured into the bag, and the other end secured in like manner as the end
before referred to while the workman holds it. The bags, if of woollen or
hemp, are previously wetted to swell them, and prevent the fine clay from
exuding. Whatever may be the fabric of which the bags are made I
previously tan or dye the same, in a bath prepared by boiling together
equal parts of catechu and sumach, to prevent them from mildewing or
rotting.
By reference to the Drawing Fig. 1 it will be seen that I place a number
of these bags in an hydraulic or screw press, with a hollow plate (B)-between
each of the clips of the half round tube and rod securing the slip in the bag,
being provided with projecting eyelets at each end for the purpose of permitting
the same to be passed through them and through the holes in the plates, four

page_text: guide rods C, C, (two only shewn in the Drawing) being passed through holes,
in the loose follower. (D) belonging to the press. The flooring of the room is.
fitted with a tramway, on which is placed a carriage for the follower (made;
with a cup to fit the ram) resting loosely on its wheels and axles. Through
the floor four.holes are made for the guide rods to descend, and while piling
the bags and plates these guide rods arc, made to rise from time to time to:
keep all upright, being secured in their positions by thumb screws or any other:
adjustments. When sufficient is got ready to fill the press, the press: is
cnclosed with removable doors or shutters, for the purpose of enclosing the
steam or air, which is to be admitted or forced therein while impinging the:
hollow plates, and rarefying the air in the slip. The cup of the plate or
follower receives the ram, and the guide rods are provided top and bottom
with keys E, to secure the pile in an upright position while travelling along,
the tramway, and when under pressure the bottom.keys are knocked out to
allow the follower to ascend. The pile passing under. the press lengthways,.
and fitting exactly the space between the uprights crosswise, cannot get out
of place, the guide rods C securing it at the end. The steam or air is to be
introduced at four hundred degrees Fahrenheit; but when the clay under
pressure arrives at two hundred degrees, I turn the steam or air off, and when.
the superincumbent weight ceases to press out air and water, I then gradually,
apply hydraulic or screw pressure, but not too quickly, as, should such clay as
Dorsetshire clay without admixture be under treatment, a thickness would by:
sudden application of pressure form at the edges, enclosing the water, preventing
the
same from exuding. During the pressure being applied the doors or shutters
aforesaid may be taken away, and when the workman is of opinion that the
clay is sufficiently stiff for his purpose the pressure is to be withdrawn, the
pile lowered on the carriage under the press, and drawn along the tramway to
a table to be unloaded, the guide rods descending through the holes in the
floor, and the plates and bags being lifted off. Instead of preparing the slip:
by pressure as herein-before described, I can produce the slip by boiling in a
slip kiln in the ordinary manner.
(Secondly,) I next prepare a porcelain body fusible at a lower heat than
fire clay or silicate of alumina by the processes used in. pottery manu-
factories, that is by levigating, lixiviating, "blunging," and pressing or boiling,
as already described, and adding thereto gluten.
The material thus prepared I place in an apparatus known as a squeezing
box pipe making machine, (shewn by the Drawing at Fig: 2,) with a hollow
die a, which has a cylindrical conduit in lieu of a core formed so as to allow

page_text: a calico pipe to exude at the same time with the clay pipe as hereafter
described. This pipe-making machine is provided with an exit for the clay,
not underneath, as usually made, but at the point b, 6 The die, core, or dod
pass horizontally through the machine or cylinder, firmly fixed into its right
place to form the core in the die. The squeezing box is to be filled with the
fusible body or porcelain composition just described, which must be free from
air, and pressure is applied to exude a small portion at first as waste, which
is to be cut off from the orifice b, b. A calico tube made out of a sheet by
water-proofing it on one side is, when dried to be cut into slips like bandages,
and wound round a mandrill made solid or in pieces previously well rubbed
with French chalk powder to enable it to slip off easily, the overlapping
portions of the calico to be cemented with india-rubber solution, or sewn
together. When removed from the mandrill, and dried it is ready to be
passed into the interior of the hollow die a, (see dotted lines Fig. 2,) when
a few inches are drawn through, and the end tied prior to its being inflated
with air or injected with or filled with water, which is done to enable the
workman to handle it, and keep the pipe in process of manufacture from
collapsing whilst being laid in the bed of refractory material firstly
herein-before described, which material I form into a ring on a board
well sanded to prevent it adhering thereto, and form therewith the base
of the superheating apparatus, which I do in the same manner as that
adoped by makers of plate glass cisterns and pots, namely, by taking a
lump of the prepared refractory material, slapping, wedging, and forming into
sausage-like rolls to get it uniform, plastic, and perfectly free from any air
the mass may perchance contain, I hold the roll in the left hand, rub it down
with the right thumb to make sure of it being amalgamated, and thus com-
plete the ring which is to form the bed for the superheater pipe. All being
ready for depositing the pipe, pressure is applied in the squeezing box,
and as the clay pipe exudes from. the squeezing-box machine (which should be
in convenient proximity), the workman draws the inflated calico pipe through
the hollow core on a proper receiving table, which has a groove let in to keep
it in shape.
By referring, to the plan view (Fig. 4) of the arrangements adopted for
building up the apparatus, it will be seen that I have an internal iron or
metal cylinder c, which is to be of the height of the superheater apparatus
when complete, forming a central support, around which I build the inner
wall of refractory material c*, with conduit holes through the same, (some
only being marked in the Drawing,) and when this is built up to the height of

page_text: .
the internal cylinder, I then wind round a sheet or wide bandage of cloth,
building up against it the porcelain pipes, and when the first turn of the coil
pipe is completed, I place a thickness of half an inch of soft refractory clay
between it and the second turn of the coil, filling the side c therewith, then
proceeding to build up outside the coil a cylinder of the said soft refractory
clay, d, and winding around the same a bandage of calico or cloth; I then
build up the outer wall d* of burnt refractory material aforesaid (in sections),
supporting them with a bandage of cloth, and when fall is built up to the
height of the superheater, I place on the outer cylinder of iron or metal e, so
as to surround and secure.the whole. Where the coil meets the piping is to
be covered with the refractory composition one and a half inch thick, when
the pipe is, say, three inches in diameter outside, and another groove is to bo
made in the soft refractory material, with the same template, to receive the
next coil, which is to be imbedded in like manner until of the height of about
four feet. The top coil is to be covered with a thickness of one inch of the
refractory material, when it is to be trimmed outside, and a sheet or bandage
wound round it to prevent adhesion to the outer iron casing, which is by
means of a crane to be dropped over the superheater, and the top rim secured
by bolts and nuts to the flanges of the inner and outer casing. Connection is
now made to the inside of the porcelain tube through the opening near the
bottom of the outer casing, secured by a union joint on to the pipe of a force
pump, when water is injected until the calico pipe inside of the porcelain pipes,
as aforesaid, bursts, and the pressure reaches the load placed on the valve of
the exit pipe f, section view, Fig. 5, which may be five or fifty pounds
avoirdupois on the square inch, whereby I ensure a humid cementation of the
corrugated porcelain pipe with the refractory clay. Should the weight not
be sufficient to keep it steady when making small superheaters, the encasing
can be secured to the floor by bolts made fast to the top rim, or the whole can
be secured tight under an hydraulic press previous to attaching the force
pump, that most convenient being a portable one. After applying pressure
the top rim is removed, and the inner iron casing is withdrawn by placing an
iron or wooden rim so as to fit the outside of the inner iron casing flush with
the flange of the outer iron casing, and fastened with clips, when, by means of
a crane, the inner iron casing (which may be made in sections if any difficulty
arise from having to work very soft material) is to be withdrawn, and the
cylindrical wall in sections surrounding the inner iron casing is also removed,
and placed to dry. The superheater in progress of manufacture is now left
supported only by the outer cylindrical wall and iron cylinder, and, after the

page_text: drying and contraction of the superheater, the outer iron casing and cylin-
drical wall can be easily removed by the same means as the inner cylinder,
when the workman finishes all ready for the ultimate drying, and then places-
it in the kiln, where the firing must be got up very gradually, on account of
the thickness, in order that all the moisture be perfectly evaporated before it
reaches too great a heat, when the firing is completed, and the superheater,
when drawn out of the kiln, is to be placed on a round board, to have an
iron cylinder, the outside of which is less in diameter than the open space.
inside the superheater by about one and a half inch, to allow of packing all
round the inside of the superheater and iron cylinder with a mixture of equal
parts of burnt fire-clay and plumbago, or the last-mentioned alone. When
this packing, which must be perfectly free from damp, is rammed between,
and reaches the top of the inner and the corresponding height of the outer
iron cylinder, the diameter inside of which is also about one or one and a half:
inch more than the outside of the superheater, the same mixture as just above
mentioned is to be here interposed, during which time, the ingress and.
egress of the pipe in the superheater is temporarily stopped near the bottom-
and top.of the outer cylinder, holes being tapped to admit the connecting.
pipes, which are tapped outside also, and made to pass into the superheater,
having a nut and washer for securing the pipe of the superheater, which
washer, is forined by putting asbestos in a piece of iron or copper wire gauze
made in a coil of the required size.
I may here remark that instead of using the arrangements shewn at
Figs. 4 and 5, or the squeezing box pipe-making machine arrangements
herein-before described, I could effect the same objects, though in dilatory
and expensive manner, by moulding or by spinning on a potter's wheel
according to the known process of manufacture; and I would also remark,
that heating and superheating apparatus manufactured according to my said
Invention will be found particularly useful in the processes of dessicating,
ventilating, distilling, evaporating, decomposing, disintegrating, fusion of metals,
boiling of water and fats, making chemical mother liquors, boiling potter's
slip, generating steam, and sugar boiling so as to dispense with vacuum
pans.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim the improvements in the manufacture of apparatus for heating and
superheating steam and air without decomposition, as berein-before set forth,
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings; but I do not claim the mere

page_text: mechanical details described, except when used in the manner set forth and
described, or in any merely equivalent manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Nelson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
B. WALKER,
71, Fleet St.,
London, E.C.
EDWARD NELSON. (L.B.)