IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,"
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of ". IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM
BOILERS." A communication from abroad by Henry Feyh and George
Towle Emery,' of Columbus, in the State of Ohio, United States of
America.
Sealed the 11th December 1866, and dated the 16th October 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th October 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM
BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to promote a forced circulation of water in
tubular boilers, whether of an upright or horizontal construction.
In constructing a vertical boiler according to this Invention the shell forming
the fire chamber is surrounded by a concentric shell which constitutes the
water and steam chamber. The inner shell is fitted with a ring of tubes of
comparatively large diameter, which pass up from below the bottom of the fire
chamber and terminate at the top thereof: These tubes are severally connected
at bottom by means of coupling boxes-with-a-group of tubes-of-much-smaller

page_text: diameter. The larger tubes serve to supply water to the smaller tubes, which
may be termed steam generating tubes, and which extend upwards through
the fire chamber and the top plate thereof, and terminate above the water
line of the boiler. The gases of combustion are led off from the fire chamber
by pipes which pass through the top of the boiler. The water descending
through the large tubes, which may be vertical or inclined, passes through
the coupling boxes below the fire chamber, and is distributed into the smaller
tubes, where it is rapidly converted into steam. As the upper end of these
steam generating tubes is above the water line the steam escapes directly into
the steam chamber, and the vacuum which it leaves in the tubes is immediately
filled with water from below. The tubes may be grouped in threes or any
other desired number, a corresponding number of sockets being made in the
coupling boxes to receive the lower ends of the tubes.
In applying the improvement to a horizontal boiler the connected tubes
pass in like manner through and beyond the fire chamber,. which chamber is
surrounded by a water space formed by the outer shell of the boiler as in the
vertical arrangement. At the end of the fire chamber a water chamber is
formed, with which the steam generating tubes communicate, the feed water
tubes passing through this chamber (or beyond the steam generating tubes)
to the water space formed by the outer shell of the boiler.. This chamber
extends upwards above the water line and serves to conduct the steam as it is
generated in the smaller tubes directly to the steam chamber. The groups of
tubes in this case are ranged one above the other, and the gases of combustion
are led off by an ordinary flue.
*SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th April 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
.the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
hould at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
imes thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
nake, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to promote a forced and increased circulation
of the water in steam boilers for the purpose of obtaining a more rapid and.
economical evaporation, and a sure and effectual protection for the boiler
Without
plates, tubes, and material interposed between the fire and water.
free circulation of the water in boilers for generating steam rapid evaporation
will displace the water in small apertures and tubes when exposed to a high
degree of heat. It has been attempted to attain an increased circulation of
the water by inclining the boiler tubes, so that the difference of temperature
in the more and less exposed sides would create ascending and descending
currents in the same tubes; also the use of tubes and shells, or a tube
within a tube, where the inside and less exposed tubes become feeders of water
O for the external or steam generating tubes. In the first case cited the agency
is inadequate and uncertain, particularly where anthracite coal is used as the
fuel, and the temperature is nearly or quite uniform throughout the fire-
chamber; and in the second case cited the steam apertures or the spaces for
generating steam are necessarily so small that the arrangement is entirely
5 inadmissible with feed water holding salt or mud in solution or suspension,
as the small apertures would soon become filled and the tubes burnt out.
The first part of this Invention consists in producing rapid circulation of tlie
water in upright steam generators by means of connected-tubes-of-differen
diameters, which are so arranged and proportioned that the larger tabes shal

page_text: serve as feeders for the smaller tubes, in which latter the water is rapidly con-
verted into steam, and the steam conducted directly into the steam space above:
the water level, as will be hèrein-after described.
The second part of the Invention relates to a mode of increasing the
circulation of water in horizontal boilers for generating steam; it consists in
the employment of pipes of different diameters, which are connected together
and exposed to the action of the fire in the fire-box of a boiler in such manner,
that by the difference of temperature of the water in said pipes the small
pipes become the steam generators, and the larger.pipes the means for feeding
water to the smaller pipes from the main body of water in the boiler, thus
creating a forced circulation and facilitating the conversion' of water into
steam, as will be herein-after described.
:
:
.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I., . is a vertical central
section through an upright boiler showing the improved arrangement of tubes
therein; Fig. 2 is a horizontal seetion through the boiler shell, taken in the
plane indicated by the red line x, x, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the
boiler; Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged views of the coupling boxes at the lower:
extremities of the tubes.
:⚫Fig. 6; Sheet II., is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the
centre of a horizontal boiler, having the improvement applied to it; Fig. 7 is
a horizontal section through the boiler, taken in a plane through the upper
series of tubes E¹; and Fig. 8 is a vertical cross section through the boiler, taken
in front of the smoke flue J. The section of vertical boiler, Fig. 1, shews a
number of tubes arranged within the shell, some being vertical and some
inclined.
A represents the cylindrical shell of the boiler, which is closed at its upper
end by the crown sheet B, through which a number of vertical flues a, a, pass
for conducting off the products of combustion from the fire-chamber C. The
top of this boiler should be covered by a suitable hood leading into a smoke
pipe. Within the outer shell A is an inner shell D, which leads up a suitable
distance from the bottom plate E of the fire chamber, and has a space sur-
-rounding its sides and top. Within the circular fire chamber C, and arranged
.concentrically around the centre thereof, is a number of small tubes b, b, (see
Fig. 2) which may be inclined, as shown in Fig. 1. The lower ends of these
small tubes project through the bottom plate E, and communicate with three-
way coupling boxes G, and the upper ends of these pipes project through the top
plate of the fire-chamber, through which plate they are screwed and terminate
at a point which is above the water level, indicated by the red line y, y, in
Fig. 1. There is also a series of larger tubes c, c, which are arranged in a

page_text: circle outside but concentric with the tubes 6, and set up within the fire
chamber C. These tubes: c communicate at their lower ends with the tubes
b, b; by means of the coupling boxes G. The upper ends of these larger tubes
pass through and are suitably secured to the top plate of the shell D, but they
do not.project above this plate, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 1. The
coupling boxes Gare each adapted for receiving one of the large pipes c and
two of the smaller ones b, b, and forming a communication between the three
pipes, so that water flowing through the feeding pipes c will pass into the
lower ends of the steam generating tubes 6, 6, and rise to a level therein.
The tubes, as above described and shewn in the Drawings, are connected to
the coupling boxes in triples, but any number of small tubes may be thus
made to communicate with a larger feeding pipe, according to the capacity of
the latter. When the boiler is supplied with the proper quantity of water,
and a fire is made in the chamber C, within which the tubes 6 and care
exposed, the water, which is in the tubes will become heated and begin to
circulate, that which is in the smaller; tubes 6 will first be converted into
steam, which will cause the 'water, to circulate. through the tubes c. and
coupling boxes G. to supply the place of the water which was converted into
steam in the.tubes b. In this way a continued. and forced flow, of water will
take place, caused: by, the difference in, the temperature, of the large and small
tubes in conjunction with the difference in evaporative power of said tubes.
It will be seen, by reference; to Fig. 1, that the upper. ends of the feeding
-tubes.c terminate below the lowest point for the water level, and consequently
will not.fail to supply water to the steam generators b, b; these tubes b extend
above the water level and discharge the steam into the upper chamber, of the
boiler, thus the steam on its way to the steam space does not enter the
water. -
+
The body of the. horizontal steam boiler represented in Figs. 6, 7, and 8,
consists of two shells A', B', which form the water space a and steam space a
At the rear end of the fire-box H.a water back D¹ is formed, which leads
upward above the crown sheet of said box Hand terminates above the water
Jine indicated in dotted red lines, in Figs. 6 and 8. The smoke pipe J may
be carried out through the crown sheets of the boiler as shewn in the Drawing.
The water from the water space a is conducted forward through the
chamber D and through the fire-box H by means of pipes E¹, E, which may
be arranged in horizontal or inclined planes. These pipes are secured firmly
into the front and rear-walls of the chamber H by means of "screw..threads.
formed on them or in any-other-suitable--manner. The front-ends-of-the-

page_text: -
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three-way coupling boxes Gsuitably secured to them, by means of which
they each communicate with two smaller pipes, tubes, or steam generators.
F, F, which are thereby 'supplied with water. The tubes F, F, pass
through the fire-box, and are secured at their rear ends into the back wall of
the fire-box, as shown in Fig 6, and they open' into the chamber D'. The
coupling boxes G which form communications between the pipes E' and F',
at their front ends-may be constructed as shown in the Drawings, and secured
steam-tight to those pipes in any convenient manner. When more than two
pipes Fare to be used in conjunction with each one of the larger or feed
pipes E the waterways in the couplings G must be increased in number
correspondingly. The large and small pipes E, F, should be so applied to
the boiler that they can be readily removed when occasion requires. When
the boiler is properly.supplied with water and a fire is made in the fire-box H
the back plate of this box becomes heated and the water commences to boil in
the chamber D and rises; this chamber is supplied through the smaller
tubes F, which draw their supply in turn through the large tubes E¹ from the
outer or main water space a, the water of which is of a 'comparatively low
'temperature. The steam which is thus generated rises in the chamber D',
and escapes from it above the water level into the steam space'a'.
It will be seen from the above description that there are two bodies of
water in the boiler, one of which is more directly exposed to the heat than the
other; consequently the larger body of water will be rapidly conducted into the
chamber containing the smaller and more highly heated body of water, and in
its passage through the small pipes F¹ it will be converted into steam.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in the
construction of steam boilers, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim,-
First, constructing tubular steam boilers with water pipes of different
diameters, arranged so as to be exposed to the direct action of the fire, and
connected together substantially as above described, for producing a forced
'circulation of the water in such boilers.
Secondly, the combination of the feeding pipe c leading from the water
space and below the water level with the end couplings G and with pipes b
leading from said couplings above the water level in the boiler, substantially
as described.
Thirdly, the arrangement of feed pipes leading from the main water chamber
through the fire-box, and communicating with the steam generating "pipes,

page_text: which also lead through the fire-box, but which enter into a water chamber D'
that extends above the water level for producing a forced circulation of water
in steam boilers, substantially as described. .
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.B.)