IMPROVEMENTS IN, CONDENSING THE VAPOUR OF WATER LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED, THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS, PATENT to John, Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN, CONDENSING THE VAPOUR OF WATER
LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED, THEREIN.”—A communication
from abroad by Placide Nezeraux, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Mechanician.
Sealed the 16th February 1869, and dated the 25th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th August 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSING THE VAPOUR OF WATER AND
OTHER LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication
Prine Rd 1

page_text: from abroad by Placide Nezeraux, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Mechanician, to be as follows;―
This Invention relates to a system or mode of and apparatus for
condensing steam and other condensible vapours, whereby a considerable
economy is effected in the quantity of refrigerating water or liquid
required, and facility is afforded for applying the improved condenser to
steam engines of every kind.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in carrying off the
heat from the refrigerating water or liquid as fast as it is imparted
thereto by blowing cold atmospheric air through it, and hence the
Inventor gives the name of "hydro-atmospheric condenser" to the
apparatus he employs in carrying out his Invention.
A
This apparatus may obviously be constructed in various forms so-as
to render it applicable to different forms and constructions of engines
and to different purposes where a condensing or cooling effect is required,
but in practice it has been found that a good result may be obtained
from the following arrangement which is applicable in most cases.
It consists of two shallow vessels through which pass a group of any
number of horizontal tubes, which tubes are to be kept covered with
the refrigerating water in the said vessels. These tubes open at one
énd into a mouth piece or chamber which receives the steam or vapour
from the engine or other source, whilst their opposite ends open into
a closed reservoir for the reception of the water of condensation.
perforated false bottom is placed in each condensing vessel, and below
each of these is an air blast pipe in connection with an air force pump
or other suitable blowing apparatus whereby a blast of air may be
blown up through the perforated false bottoms of the condensing
chambers and through the refrigerating water therein, such air carrying
off the heat from the water and escaping either into the free atmosphere
As the
or into the furnace of a steam boiler to assist combustion.
first one of the two chambers is not required to be at so low a tem-
perature as the second the blast pipe leading underneath the false
bottom of that chamber is provided with a throttle valve or other
regulator. The water of condensation is pumped out of the closed
reservoir back through some of the horizontal tubes in the condensing
chambers and takes up a certain amount of heat therefrom as it passes

page_text: through the first chamber before referred to, in which state it
fed into a steam generator or otherwise utilized.
may
be
In some cases a single condensing chamber only may be used, a jet
of water being admitted inside such chamber if required, but generally
the same bulk of refrigerating water is employed without any further
change or addition beyond that necessary to compensate for loss from
evaporation and leakage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
'filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, or 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 CONDENSING
THE VAPOUR OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," a communication from abroad by Placide Nezeraux, of Paris,
in the Empire of France, Mechanician, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The said Invention relates to a system or mode of and apparatus for
condensing steam and other condensible vapours, whereby a considerable
economy is effected in the quantity of refrigerating water or liquid
required, and facility is afforded for applying the improved condenser to
steam engines of every kind.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in carrying off the
heat from the refrigerating water or liquid as fast as it is imparted
thereto by blowing or otherwise causing cold atmospheric air to pass
through it, and hence the Inventor gives the name of "hydro-atmo-
spheric condenser" to the apparatus he employs in carrying out his
Invention.
This apparatus may obviously be constructed in various forms so as
to render it applicable to different forms and constructions of engines
and to different purposes where a condensing or cooling effect is
required.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that pur-
pose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
The same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal vertical
section of one form of the "hydro-atmospheric condenser" disposed
horizontally.
It is composed of two shallow cast-iron vessels or cisterns A, B,
traversed from end to end by tubes C. These cisterns are filled with
water to a certain height so as to completely cover the tubes which
terminate at one end in a chamber D where the steam arrives from the
eduction port and at their other end in a receptacle G containing the

page_text: water of condensation. The bottom E of each cistern is moveable; it
has cast on it a tube e which conducts the air supplied by any con-
venient force pump and is covered by a false bottom H composed of
sheet iron or copper perforated with holes for the passage of the air.
On the top of the two cisterns are disposed receivers F of cast or sheet
iron with which pipes communicate to conduct the hot air, which is
more or less saturated with water, either into the atmosphere or into the
furnace of the boiler in order to accelerate combustion.
The apparatus operates in the following manner:-The steam from
the eduction port enters through a pipe into the chamber D and thence
passes into the tubes C, as indicated by the black arrows, where it is
condensed and runs off in the form of water into the receptacle G. The
water contained in the cisterns A, B, absorbs the heat of the steam and
occasions its condensation. This water is not renewed but is deprived
of the heat which it receives from the steam by a blast of air. The air
is forced by a pump into the space which exists between the bottoms E
and the false bottoms H; the latter being perforated with holes or made
of wire guaze offers a passage to the air which penetrates into the mass
of water contained in the two cisterns and extracts the heat, from the
water and then escapes through the receivers F and the pipes attached
thereto, as shewn by the red arrows. It is necessary to regulate the
admission of the air into the first cistern A in order to maintain the
water which it contains at a sufficiently elevated uniform temperature.
For this purpose the pipe e which appertains to this cistern is provided
with a butterfly valve the position of which is adjusted by means of a
lever or by any other means. The air however enters in a full current
into the second cistern B, the temperature of the water of which requires
to be lowered as much as possible.
The modified form of apparatus shewn in Figure 2 is composed of a
series of refrigerating tubes A disposed vertically, the two extremities of
which are connected to tube plates B, B; these plates are secured in
any suitable manner to the cylindrical casing C which forms the body
of the condenser. The steam from the eduction port entering the
apparatus through the pipe H fills the whole of the space which exists
between the tubes and becomes condensed by contact with the latter,
and the water of condensation resulting therefrom is withdrawn through
the pipe I by means of a pump. Below the angle iron which terminates

page_text: -the lower portion of the cylindrical casing C there is disposed a metal
plate D perforated with an indefinite number of small holes, the object
of which is to minutely divide the air which is forced into the body of
water E, a constant supply of which is kept up by the tube F and the
level maintained in the apparatus by the overflow pipe G. K is a
conduit forming continuation of the condenser and affording an exit to
the air which is saturated with steam and which escapes freely into the
atmosphere.
The apparatus operates in the following manner; -The air which is
'forced in traversing the body of water E carries with it steam of a low
temperature, which being a good conductor of heat cools in its course
the internal surfaces of the tubes and produces condensation together
with a vacuum in the casing C. The principal feature of this arrange-
ment consists in forcing air into the smallest possible height of water in
order to obviate the necessity for a powerful blast and to utilize the
condensing property of the steam which the air conducts with it by
traversing the body of water.
The arrangement of plate beneath the apparatus, shewn in red lines
at X, may in some cases be advantageous, its object is (if the blast is
sufficiently powerful) to admit of the projecting into the tubes of a
small quantity of water which vapourizes by contact with them whilst
producing condensation..
Figure 3 of the Drawing represents an apparatus similar to that shewn
at Figure 2, but differing in its operation. In this apparatus the refri-
gerating water fills the interior of the tubes A and is cooled separately
in order to be used again; after having absorbed the caloric of the steam
in the apparatus it is discharged through the overflow pipe E which
conducts it on to the circular plate D of a conical form in cross section;
it is diffused over this plate which is perforated like that of the preceding
apparatus for the passage of the air which is forced through it. The air
cools the water, which then passes into the reservoir G, whence it is
drawn by the pump L and forced into the lower part of the apparatus.
The air saturated with steam proceeding from the cooled water escapes
underground through the aperture K. The refrigerating means em-
ployed in this arrangement being separate from the condenser proper, it
may be applied with facility to ordinary condensers by directing the

page_text: water which is supplied by the air pump of the engine on to a perforated
plate D operating in the manner herein-before described.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of a similar apparatus which offers in its
working some important advantages. In the mouth of each of the
tubes A at their upper end are inserted small tube ends a perforated
with holes split, or in lieu thereof surrounded with a covering of cotton
or other suitable material a' (as shewn in Figures 5 and 6), the object
being to admit of the water penetrating through it and damping the
internal surface of the tubes A. Water being conducted on to the upper
tube plate B is diffused and surrounds all these tube ends and percolat-
ing through damps the interior of the tubes. During the operation of
the blast the air by passing into the tubes extracts from the water the
heat transmitted to it by the steam and the latter becomes condensed.
The chief feature in this arrangement is that by introducing the
refrigerating water on the top of the whole surface may be sensibly acted
upon, and consequently the necessity for forcing the air through a large
body of water which involves a considerable expenditure of power is
obviated.
The use of a special blast or air forcing apparatus may even be
dispensed with, as by means of a chimney a sufficient natural draught
may be produced to supply the necessary quantity of air. In this case
the arrangement shewn by the red lines in Figure 4 is employed. The
current of air will then follow the opposite direction to that indicated by
the red arrows, and such current may be accelerated by a vertical steam
jet from a pipe t. This combination has the advantage of leaving the
upper end of the tubes open, which facilitates their cleaning and of
admitting of the chimney T being situate apart from the apparatus.
The water may also be cooled by allowing it to fall in the form of a
shower in any airy medium, say, for example, in a column in which a
natural or forced draught is produced.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The system or mode of cooling the refrigerating water or other
iquid employed in condensing the vapour of water and other liquids

page_text: by causing atmospheric air to pass through it, substantially as herein-
before described.
Second. The peculiar constructions and arrangements of condensers
and their application and use to and in the condensing of the vapour
of water and other liquids, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of
February, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.