IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE CIRCULATION OF WATER AND COLLECTING THE DEPOSIT CAUSED BY THE EBULLITION AND EVAPORATION OF WATER IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Long at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th June
1871.
I, RICHARD LONG, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR INCREASING THE CIRCULATION OF WATER AND COLLECTING THE DEPOSIT CAUSED
BY THE EBULLITION AND EVAPORATION OF WATER IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as
follows:-
The object of my. Invention for "Improvements in Apparatus for
Increasing the Circulation of Water and Collecting the Deposit caused
by the Ebullition and Evaporation of Water in Steam Boilers" is to
increase the circulation of water in steam boilers, and to direct the
circulation in such a manner that it will cause currents which will carry
with them any deposit left by the evaporation of the water, and place
such deposit upon plates specially formed for this purpose, which plates

page_text: also serve to direct such currents, and to a certain extent mitigate the
great evils known in steam boilers as incrustation and priming.
The application of my Invention is as follows:-I form plates by
preference of cast iron, which plates are supported by suitable feet or
legs, and placed, say, about four inches above the crown of the furnaces,
thus leaving a space between the plates and the crown of the furnace.
These plates extend across the boiler, but run in lines parallel with the
furnaces, and are arranged with spaces in such a manner that the water
may find outlets to rise. The action is thus :-The water in contact with
the crown of the furnaces evaporates, the steam finds its escape through
the spaces left between the plates at their highest parts, thus causing
an upward current. The water evaporated is replaced by water passing
through the lower spaces between the plates, thus causing a complete
circulation or current, which current is so strong that it will carry any
deposit of salt, mud, or other substance left by the evaporation with it,
and leave or deposit it on the upper surface of the plates, thus pre-
venting incrustation on the crown of the furnaces. These trays also
receive or catch the deposit falling from the evaporation of the water
caused by the tubes or flues above, and prevent it falling on the crown
of the furnaces and incrusting there. I make the trays of such a size
that in most cases it will be able to pass them through the man-holes in
the front of the boilers, and then bolt them together, thus securing them
in position.
That this my Invention may be more perfectly understood I will
explain its application to circular boilers having their furnaces under-
neath, and thus having a concave crown, to which boilers this Invention
is especially suitable, although it can be adapted to any form or shape
of boiler. The plates or trays I form of a width of, say fourteen inches,
suitable to pass through the man-hole in front of the boiler. The plates
are rounded to the same radius as the boiler; they are fitted with legs
or feet, which support them, and thus leave a space of about four inches
between the plate and the crown of the furnace. The plates fit edge to
edge and extend the length of the furnace and the width of the boiler.
In the centre and at the lowest plate are suitable spaces to allow the
water to flow in between the plates and the furnaces. The action of
the trays thus applied is as follows:-The water upon ebullition is
carried with the steam formed in an upward direction, the currents thus

page_text: produced passing between the boiler skin and the under side of the
plates. The water then falls down into the centre of the boiler, and
the strength of the current is such that any deposit formed is carried
with it and deposited on the upper side of the plates, preventing it from
collecting and incrusting on the crown of the furnace, which is thus left
clean, thereby facilitating evaporation, saving fuel, and preventing the
crown of the furnace from burning.