IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THE SURFACES OF THE TUBULAR FLUES FREE FROM INCRUSTATION
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of Pratt Street, Lambeth, Manu-
facturing Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
TO BE APPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THE SURFACES OF THE
TUBULAR FLUES FREE FROM INCRUSTATION."
Sealed the 25th February 1859, and dated the 8th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
September 1858.
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of Pratt Street, Lambeth, Manufacturing Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
TO BE APPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THE SURFACES OF THE TUBULAR
FLUES FREE FROM INCRUSTATION," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be applied
to steam boilers, in order to keep the surfaces of the tubular flues free from
incrustation. For these purposes, where a boiler has numerous parallel
tubular flues, plates are employed having as many passages through them as
there are tubular flues, and the holes or passages through the plates are
made only slightly of larger diameter that the outside diameter of the tubular
flues, so that, by moving the plates slowly to and fro within the steam boiler,
all sediment or incrustation is prevented settling or forming on the surfaces
of the flues. Provision is made for moving the plates as the diameter of the

page_text: holes or passages through them enlarge, so as to insure the edges of the
holes in the plates coming sufficiently near the tubular flues to remove any
deposit or incrustation therefrom. The plates are connected together, and
kept parallel to each other, and the motion given to them is sufficient to cause
the tubular flues to be acted on from end to end. This motion may be com-
municated to the plates by a steam cylinder and piston rod, or by a screw or
otherwise. The rods which pass through from the exterior to the interior of
the boiler pass through suitable stufling boxes. In some cases wire or other
brushes are applied to the parts of the plate where it comes near to a flue
or flues, in order that the wire or other brush may (in place of the edges of
the passages through the plate) remove all sediment from the surface of the
flue or flues.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of Pratt Street, Lambeth, Manufacturing Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said William
Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 TO BE APPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS, IN ORDER TO KEEP THE
SURFACES OF THE TUBULAR FLUES FREE FROM INCRUSTATION," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Parsons, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Parsons, 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 thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be applied
to steam boilers, in order to keep the surfaces of the tubular flues free from
incrustation. For these purposes, where a boiler has numerous parallel
tubular flues, plates are employed having as many passages through them as
there are tubular flues, and the holes or passages through the plates are
made only slightly of larger diameter than the outside diameter of the tubular
flues, so that by moving the plates slowly to and fro within the steam boiler
all sediment or incrustation is prevented settling or forming on the surfaces
of the flues. Provision is made for moving the plates as the diameter of the
holes or passages through them enlarge, so as to insure the edges of the holes
in the plates coming sufficiently near the tubular flues to remove any deposit
or incrustation therefrom. The plates are connected together, and kept
parallel to each other, and the motion given to them is sufficient to cause
the tubular flues to be acted on from end to end. This motion may be com-
municated to the plates by a steam cylinder and piston rod, or by a screw or
otherwise. The rods which pass through from the exterior to the interior of
the boiler pass through suitable stuffing boxes. In some cases wire or other
brushes are applied to the parts of the plate where it comes near to a flue or
flues, in order that the wire or other brush may (in place of the edges of the
passages through the plate) remove all sediment from the surface of the flue
or flues.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section of a locomotive steam boiler; Figure 2
shows a longitudinal diagram or section thereof, the tubular flues being
omitted. a, a, and b, b, are two pairs of plates perforated with holes corres-
ponding with the tubular flues of the boiler. These four plates are connected
together by means of rods c, c, in such manner as to admit of slight move-
ment up and down of the plates where the rods pass through them, and d, d,
are springs by which one of the plates a, a, and one of the plates b, b, will be
lifted, so as to come against the under surfaces of the tubular flues, whilst
the other of the plates a and b will rest on the upper surfaces of the flue;
e is a screw shaft passing through the screw nut f, and through a stuffing

page_text: box 9. By this arrangement the plates a, b, can be moved to and fro, so as
to clean the surfaces of the tubular flues, or in place of a screw other means
may be resorted to for moving the plates a, b, to and fro as often as it may be
considered necessary.
When my
Invention is applied to Cornish and such like tubular boilers, I
prefer to use one or more wire brushes to each flue, and from end to end
thereof, such brushes being used longitudinally of the flues. For this purpose
I strengthen the flues at their ends by means of angle iron or other bars
around the flues, and I place on each of such bars a cogged or toothed ring,
and I apply friction rollers on the inside of such rings, and between them
and the angle iron or other bars fixed around the flues. The brush or brushes
are fixed to the two toothed rings in such manner that the wire brush or
brushes will be in contact all along the surface of the flue, and by means of
a shaft with pinions fixed near its ends, which take into and drive the toothed
or cogged rings carrying the brush or brushes; such brush or brushes are
caused to rotate round the flue, and where two flues are used near together,
the pinion at each end of the shaft may be arranged to take into the cogged
or toothed rings of the two flues, and give motion to both sets of brushes.
The end of the pinion shaft passes through a stuffing box, and receives its
motion in any convenient manner on the exterior of the boiler.
What I claim is the application of apparatus as herein described to steam
boiler flues.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.S.)