IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE THEREIN
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simson Young, of Leith, in the County
of Midlothian, North Britain, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE
THEREIN."
Sealed the 10th August 1855, and dated the 26th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simson Young
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th May 1855.
I, WILLIAM SIMSON YOUNG, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, North
Britain, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER FURNACES, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE
THEREIN," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of steam boiler
furnaces in such a manner as to effect the entire combustion of the smoke,
whilst at the same time the furnace is rendered peculiarly efficient and econo-
mical in the cousumption of fuel. The Invention is applicable to most kinds
of steam boiler furnaces, whether such furnaces are external to the boiler or
inside of it, being, however, more conveniently adapted to boilers with internal
furnaces. According to one modification, two furnaces are employed, and. are

page_text: made to communicate with a single smoke chamber at their back ends, the
heated gases being conveyed thence in any convenient manner.
In carrying out the Invention, the the two furnaces must be fired alternately,
so that the green smoke of the one may be mingled with the smokeless pro-
ducts of the other. The smoke chamber is supplied with heated air by means of
any convenient number of pipes passing through the water spaces of the boiler,
and opening at one end into the smoke chamber, whilst at the other end they
communicate with the atmosphere, and are fitted with any suitable valve for
regulating the supply of air. The passing of the air pipes through the water
spaces is a very convenient arrangement in practice, and the pipes are thereby
protected from being injured by the heat.
In boilers where more than two furnaces are employed, as in marine boilers,
for example, the furnaces may be coupled together in pairs, each pair com-
municating with a single smoke chamber, the furnaces being fired alternately;
or three or more furnaces may be made to communicate with a single smoke
chamber, the furnaces being fired in rotation. The supply of air may either be
made regular, by a permanent adjustment of the induction valve or valves, or it
may be increased at the periods of firing by self-acting mechanism, which will
cause it to be gradually diminished as the production of green smoke from the
newly supplied fuel is lessened.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Simson Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SIMSON YOUNG, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, North Britain, Mer-
chant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Simson Young, Her special license that I, the said William
Simson Young, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1,
the said Willian Simson Young, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 STEAM BOILER FURNACES, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Simson Young,
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 calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Simson Young, 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 in writing, referenco being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of steam
boiler furnaces in such a manner as to effect the entire or nearly entire com-
bustion of the smoke, whilst at the same time the furnace is rendered
peculiarly efficient and economical in the consumption of fuel. The Invention
is applicable to most kinds of steam boiler furnaces, whether such furnaces
are external to the boiler or inside of it, being, however, more conveniently
adapted to boilers with internal furnaces. According to one modification, two
furnaces are employed, and are made to communicate with a single smoke
chamber at their back ends, the heated gases being conveyed thence in any
convenient manner.
In carrying out the Invention, the two furnaces must be fired alternately, so
that the green smoke of the one may be mingled with the smokeless products
of the other. The smoke chamber is supplied with heated air by means of any
convenient number of pipes passing through the water spaces of the boiler, and
opening at one end into the smoke chamber, whilst at the other end they com-
municate with the atmosphere, and may be fitted with any suitable valve for
regulating the supply of air. The passing of the air pipes through the water
spaces is a
very convenient arrangement in practice, and the pipes are thereby
protected from being injured by the heat.
In boilers where more than two furnaces are employed, as in marine boilers,
for example, the furnaces may be coupled together in pairs, each pair com-
municating with a single smoke chamber, the furnaces being fired alternately;
or three or more furnaces may be made to communicate with a single smoke

page_text: chamber, the furnaces being fired in rotation. The supply of air may either be
made regular, by a permanent adjustment of the induction valve or valves, or it
may be increased at the periods of firing by self-acting mechanism, which will
cause it to be gradually diminished as the production of green smoke from the
newly supplied fuel is lessened.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the explanatory Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front end view, half in transverse
section and half in elevation, and Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, of
a cylindrical stationary steam boiler and furnaces, shewing one convenient mode
of working out my Invention in practice. A convenient mode of applying my
said Invention to marine steam boilers is shewn in Figures 3, 4, and 5, on the
same Sheet of Drawings; Figuro 3 being a front end view, half in transverse
section and half in elevation; Figure 4, a vertical longitudinal section; and
Figure 5, a horizontal section; each half of it being taken at a different level.
The stationary boiler, represented in Figures 1 and 2, is cylindrical in form with
flat vertical ends, and is fitted with two internal furnaces A, B. The grate bars
of these furnaces extend backwards in parallel cylindrical flues as far as the
bridge C, Figure 2, behind which is the mixing or combustion chamber D for
the
gases.
This chamber at its front or bridge end is of sufficient width to join
both furnaces A, B, but it is conical in form, gradually diminishing in width to
the line E, where it becomes circular in transverse section, and coincides with
the cylindrical flue F, extending to the back end of the boiler, and commu-
nicating with the flues G surrounding the boiler, and formed in its brickwork
casing H. The gases from the two furnaces thus become commingled in the
chamber D; and to assist in effecting their thorough combustion, I introduce a
supply of atmospheric air into this chamber. For this purpose, pipes I are
passed through from the front of the boiler to the chamber D, and these pipes
being surrounded by the water in the boiler, the air entering through them is to
a certain extent heated by the water, so as to have less tendency to reduce the
temperature of the gases in the chamber D. I find in practice that a regular
and uniform supply of atmospheric air answers the end in view sufficiently well,
and if the pipes 1 are of a sis justly proportionate to the requirements of the
furnace, no valvular or supply regulating mechanism need be fitted to them;
but where found necessary or desirable, any suitable arrangement of valves may
be used, either for adjusting a regular supply, or for admitting more air at one
time than at another, as, for example, when fresh fuel is put into either furnace.

page_text: In the marine boilers represented in Figures 3, 4, and 5, on the Sheet of
Drawings hereuuto attached, four furnaces A, B, C, D, are shown, and there are
two combustion or mixing chambers E immediately in the rear of the bridges F,
each chamber communicating with two of the furnaces. The same routine of
firing is to be observed with each pair of these furnaces as with the single pair
already described. The chambers E become contracted as they recede, and
they communicate with the upward flues G, from which flues the gases pass
back towards the front of the boiler over the furnaces through the tubes H,
finally passing off up to the funnel at I. The arrangements for supplying
atmospheric air to the mixing chambers E are similar to those adopted in the
stationary boiler already described. A series of tubes J are passed from the
front end of the boiler through the water spaces between and over the furnaces
to the mixing chambers E, the bridges F being perforated to admit the air
from such tubes as open behind it. These air tubes may be variously pro-
portioned, either few in number, and of comparatively large transverse sectional
area, as represented upon the left-hand side of Figure 3, or many, and of
proportionally smaller transverse sectional area, as represented upon the right-
hand side of Figure 8. The upper half of the horizontal section Figure 5 is
taken through the furnaces, and shows the air tube J passing through the
central water space between the furnaces A and B. The lower half of this
section is taken above the furnaces C, D, and shows some of the smaller air
tubes in longitudinal section. These air tubes may be fitted into the boiler
according to the ordinary mode of fixing flue tubes in boilers, or in any
convenient way.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but 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 effecting the combustion of smoke in steam
boiler furnaces, by arranging two or more furnaces in combination with a
single mixing chamber or main flue to each two or more furnaces, such furnaces
being fired alternately or in rotation, and such mixing chambers or main flues
being supplied with atmospheric air by tubes passing through the boiler or
boilers, as herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the application and use in steam boilers, where two or more furnaces
communicate with a single mixing chamber or main flue, of air tubes passing
through the boiler or boilers, and admitting atmospheric air into such chamber
or main flue, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simson Young, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.