IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE AND OTHER BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Meriton, of Number 3, Leadenhall Street,
in the City of London, and of Hamburgh, Engineer, for the Invention of
Sealed the 25th March 1862, and dated the 29th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Meriton at the
'Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
January 1862.
I, THOMAS MERITON, of Number 3, Leadenhall Street, in the City of
London, and of Hamburgh, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE AND OTHER BOILERS FOR GENERATING
STEAM," to be as follows:
My improvements in marine and other boilers, for generating steam, consist
chiefly in so constructing them that I am enabled to introduce at the back of
the fire-grate in the part usually known as the up-take, a series of vertical or
inclined tubes, of a circular, oval, or any convenient form, connecting the
water space at the top of the boiler with the water space at the bottom of the
boiler behind the bridge at the back of the grate, and thereby materially
increasing the heating surface, and consequent evaporative efficiency of the
steam boiler. At the same time by this improved arrangement I am enabled
to render all the tubes and parts of the boiler more accessible for the purpose
of repairs and cleaning and clearing operations than any other form of boiler
hitherto used; the important advantages of my improvements being, the facility
with which boilers constructed upon my principle may be thoroughly repaired,

page_text: and the parts most subject to wear may be renewed without laying up the
vessel for any length of time, as is necessitated with all other descriptions of
boilers in usc. Boilers constructed upon my improved principle may be used
for a very much longer period without requiring lifting than ordinary boilers.
x
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Meriton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MERITON, of Number 3, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, and of
Hamburgh, Engincer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Meriton, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Meriton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Meriton, 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 "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN MARINE AND OTHER BOILERS FOR GENERATING STEAM," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Meriton, my exe-
cutors 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 Thomas Meriton, 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, that is to say:-
My improvements in marine and other boilers for generating steam, consist
chiefly in so constructing them that I am enabled to introduce at the back of
the fire-grate in the part usually known as the "up-take" a series of vertical

page_text: or inclined tubes, of a circular, oval, or any convenient form, connecting the
water space at the top of the boiler with the water space at the bottom of the
boiler behind the bridge at the back of the grate, and thereby materially
increasing the heating surface, and consequent evaporative efficiency of the
steam boiler. At the same time, by my improved arrangement, I am enabled
to render all the tubes and parts of the boiler more accessible for the purpose
of repairs and cleaning or clearing operations than any other form of boiler
hitherto used; the important advantages of my improvements being, the
facility with which boilers constructed upon my principle may be thoroughly
repaired, and the parts most subject to wear may be renewed without laying
up the vessel for any length of time, as is necessitated with all other
descriptions of boilers in use. Boilers constructed upon my improved principle
may be used for a very much longer period without requiring lifting than
ordinary boilers.
In order that the nature of my Invention, and the means by which I effect
the same may be clearly described, I append to this Specification a Sheet of
Drawings having figures and letters of reference marked thereupon, similar
letters being used to denote the like parts in each Figure.
In these Drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation, with doors at one side
removed; Figure 2, a longitudinal section, and Figure 3, a plan of an ordinary
marine tubular boiler to which my improvements are applied, and it will be
seen by these Drawings that my improvements do not interfere with the
present construction of boiler, but consist in introducing, as before stated, into
the "up-take? A a series of tubes B, B, B, B, which may either be placed
vertically, as shown in Figure 2, or inclined at such angle as may be found
desirable, and the tubes themselves may be made either circular in section, as
shown at the right-hand side of the plan, or oval as at the left-hand side of
the plan, or of any other suitable sectional form. The smoke and heated
currents of air pass from the fire-boxes C, C, around the tubes B, B, B, B, and
thence along the tubes placed as in ordinary marine tubular boilers horizontally
into the smoke chamber D and funnel. It will be observed further that the
man-hole doors m, m, are so placed or disposed that access can be readily had
to all the tubes and all the parts of the boiler for the purpose of cleaning
or repair.
.
Figure 4 is a modification of my Invention, also applied to a marine tubular
boiler, of which it is a longitudinal section, and in which the connection
between the water space at the top of the boiler and the water space at the
bottom of the boiler is maintained by a tube or tubes B, but the currents of
beated air or gases are made to pass through the other tubes b, b, b, b, instead

page_text: .
of around them, the boiler being constructed as shown, so that the tubes are
in this instance surrounded by water, the currents of heated air and gases
passing from the fire-boxes C, C, up through the tubes b, b, b, b, thence in a
downward direction to the horizontal tubes, and through these tubes to the
smoke chamber D and funnel. At G is a plate which prevents the currents
of heated air and smoke passing directly to the horizontal tubes, and is at the
same time so constructed that it can with facility be removed and replaced for
cleaning'or repairing the tubes or other parts of the boiler.
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 6 a plan of my Invention as
"applied to 'an upright or vertical boiler, in which B, B, are the tubes com-
*municating between or connecting the water space above and below. These
tubes also utilise to a very great extent the currents of heated air and gases,
and materially increase the heating surface of the boiler. I propose also to
place a deflector H of metal, or other suitable material of the shape indicated
in the Drawing, or of other shape should I find such more suitable, the
object being to deflect or throw off the currents of heated air and gases, so as
"to cause them to impinge against the tubes B, B, and inner shell or casing of
the boiler, in order to get the greatest possible amount of heat before the
currents of heated air and gases are allowed to escape. The deflector H may
be made of metal, and hollow; and tubes may be 'connected therewith, as
indicated by the dotted lines h, h, for the purpose of superheating or drying
the steam:
1
. Having now fully described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in' which the samé is to be performed, I do not in the wider sense claim the
construction of steam boilers in the manner in the Drawings to this Spec-
fication appended shown; but what I claim is, the introduction into steam
boilers of, or construction of steam boilers with tubes in the up-take," in the
modes shown in the Drawing, or in this Specification described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Meriton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
✓ and sixty-two.
Witness,
MATTHEW AUGUSTUS SOUL,
Patent Agent.
THOMAS MERITON. (L.s.)