IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING COMBUSTION, CREATING Draft, BURNING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, BURNING SMOKE, AND SAVING FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lee Powleson, of San Francisco, in the
County of San Francisco, and State of California, one of the
United States of America, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING COMBUSTION, CREATING Draft, BURNING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lec Powleson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
on the 29th August 1874.
I, WILLIAM LEE POWLESON, of San Francisco, in the County of
San Francisco, and State of California, one of the United States of
America, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING COMBUSTION, CREATING Draft,
BURNING SMOKE, AND SAVING FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for super-
heating steam and introducing it into the furnaces of steam boilers or

page_text: other furnaces where it may be necessary to use it, by which com-
bustion is greatly promoted, and the smoke entirely consumed.
-
In applying my Invention to a steam boiler furnace the boiler is set
in a suitable, manner, and has a steam drum or dome from which a
steam pipe leads down to the furnace front. This pipe enters the
furnace below the grate, and leads wet or ordinary steam to the super-
heater. This superheater is cast with a passage through it, curved,
and having all of its angles acute angles, to break and distribute the
jets of steam and expose it to the greatest amount of heat. The said
superheater may be placed across the furnace just in front of the bridge
wall, or it may be placed in any suitable portion of the heating space
where it will not interfere with the fuel and its combustion. After
leaving the superheater the steam passes by a pipe near the grate bars
directly to the front of the furnace again, and this pipe leads across the
entire width of the front. Supplementary pipes extend upward from
the said pipe, and each one is provided with a nozzle which enters the
furnace through the front. These nozzles are so fitted that they may
be turned in different directions to discharge the superheated steam into
and among the fuel or flame of the furnace at any point.
In order to spread the discharged steam and cause it to fill the
furnace I flatten the ends of the said nozzles so that the steam issuing
from the combined nozzles will be spread out in a thin sheet and cover
the entire breadth of the furnace chamber. By this arrangement I am
enabled to give the requisite diffusion to the body of entering steam.
Suitable cocks serve to govern and shut off the passage of steam in the
different pipes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Lcc Powleson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM* 3
LEE POWLESON, of San Francisco, in the County of San Francisco, and
State of California, one of the United States of America, Engineer, send
greeting.
Office on the 29th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 30
LEE POWLESON, of San Francisco, in the County of San Francisco, and
State of California, one of the United States of America, Engineer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Lee Powleson, Her special licence that
I, the said William Lee Powleson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as the said William Lec Powleson, 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,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING COMBUSTION, CREATING DRAFT, BURNING
SMOKE, AND SAVING FUEL IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Lec Powleson, 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
Scal 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 Lee Powleson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
The apparent simplicity of the means employed to secure a perfect
draft and complete combustion is liable to lead to the impression that
little or no Invention is necessary in order to effect the same; but
such is not the case, as I have found it necessary to spend several years
of careful experiment and investigation, and have found that, like the
vulcanizing of india-rubber, the process, though simple, must be exact.
My Invention will be more fully understood by reference to the
accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in
section; Figure 2 is a side sectional elevation.
Figures 3 and 4 are views of the nozzle through which the superheated
steam passes directly into the fire.

page_text: A represents a steam boiler; B, a steam dome or chamber; C, the
supply pipe which connects with the heater; D is the heater; Fis.the...
pipe leading to the discharge pipe G and nozzle H, the construction of
the nozzle is shown by Figure 4, and that of the nozzle H in Figure 2.
The following is the arrangement and operation of the same, that is t
to say, the heater D is placed in that part of the furnace where it will
receive the greatest amount of heat, and when firing be least in tho
way of handling the fuel, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The steam
passes to the same from the steam dome B through the pipe C, and is
superheated so as to secure decomposition as soon as it comes in contact 1
with the fire in the furnace to which it passes through the pipes F and G
and the nozzle H. The nozzle is constructed with a flat aperture which
is so provided as to emit a horizontal fan-shaped blaze, and immediately
decompose the steam when passing into the fire.
It will be seen that the nozzle is attached so as to admit of lateral 1
and vertical adjustment, and so that the slot in the same remains hori-
zontal laterally. The object of this device is to supply the steam to
the fire in a broad sheet covering the whole breadth of the furnace."
The liberated oxygen of the steam uniting with the unconsumed
carbon of the smoke increases the intensity of the fire, while the liberated 2
oxygen burns and developes a high degree of heat.
In the practical operation of an ordinary furnace a strong draught
carries off a large amount of carbon which passes out of the smoke.
stack unconsumed. When my Invention is employed and a fresh charge
of bituminous coal is placed in the furnace scarcely a sign of smoke is 2
seen at the top of the smoke stack, and by actual use a saving of fifty
per cent. is had.
I have found by experience that by the application of too strong
a jet of steam the effect is a failure, as the expansion is too great,
forcing back the smoke and preventing the necessary contact for uniting
the carbon of the smoke with the liberated oxygen. While when an
extremely thin sheet or current is passed into the fire and so attached
as to come in immediato contact and be decomposed, creating com-
paratively little agitation, the required amount of oxygen uniting with
the unconsumed carbon of the smoke consumes the same completely.
I deem it proper to allude to the difference between my Invention
and that of the use of steam combined with carbonaceous gases, in

page_text: which case the steam being decomposed unites with the carbon and
repels the smoke by the act of its own combustion; or in other words,
by the union of the carbon ejected with the oxygen of the water or
steam, creating an expansion to throw off and prevent the contact with
the smoke.
The advantages that I claim are the complete combustion of the
waste material, which would otherwise pass off in the smoke, and the
increase of draft.
In the employment of my Invention with the ordinary steam boiler
furnace, I close the greater portion of the draft space under the fire-box
or the grate, and still have an increased draft and a far more intense
fire.
In the employment of my device it is necessary to adjust the supply
of steam to the amount required, which may be determined by the
apperance of the smoke.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, together
with the method of carrying the same into practical effect and operation,
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I claim the novel arrange-
ments, combinations, and methods of construction and operation, and
arrangement of apparatus for effecting the desired objects, as herein set
forth and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Dated this Eighteenth day of December. A.D. 1874.