IMPROVEMENTS IN FUEL ECONOMIZERS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Needham, of Dukinfield, in the County
of Chester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUEL
ECONOMIZERS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Needham at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th December 1868.
I, RICHARD NEEDHAM, of Dukinfield, in the County of Chester,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN FUEL ECONOMIZERS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to
be as follows:-
In the first place my Invention relates to the means of driving the
gearing which gives motion to the scrapers of fuel economizers, and
consists in obtaining the necessary motion for this purpose from the
force of the feed water as it is fed into the fuel economizers. This I may

page_text: accomplish in various ways; for instance, the water might be made to
raise a clack valve, the motion of which is communicated to a ratchet
wheel by means of a catch and lever, or an Archimedian screw might be
caused to revolve by the action of the feed water, and the motion thus
obtained might be transferred to the driving gear by any of the means
usually adopted for such purpose. In short it might be accomplished by
any of the means generally employed to obtain motion from water under
pressure.
In the second place my Invention relates to a simple arrangement of
mechanism for imparting motion to the scrapers of fuck cconomizers
which require an up-and-down or to-and-fro motion. This consists of a
revolving screw, which has a right and left hand thread formed upon
it. The nut to which this screw gives motion has not a complete thread
cut in it, but has a projecting pin which fits into the thread cut in the
The effect of this is to impart a to-and-fro motion to the nut,
for when the nut is caused by the revolution of the screw to arrive at
one end it is turned into the other groove and caused to travel back
again to the other end, and so on; and this to-and-fro motion may be
imparted direct to the scrapers or converted into an up-and-down motion
and transmitted to the scrapers by means of chains or other suitable
contrivance. It is evident that this may also be accomplished by using
two separate screws or a single thread screw with a reversing motion.
In the next place my Invention relates to those fuel economizers in
which a number of rows of pipes are used connected together by branch
pipes at either end, and consists in casting a row of these pipes together
with their connecting pipes, instead of making each pipe a separate
casting, and consequently having afterwards to make a large number of
joints as heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Needham in the Great Seal Patent Office 30
on the 8th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD.
NEEDHAM, of Dukinfield, in the County of Chester, Engineer, send
Frecting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, 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 Richard Needham, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Needham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Needham, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FUEL ECONOMIZERS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Needham, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Richard Needham, 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 the first place my Invention relates to the means of driving the
gearing which gives motion to the scrapers of fuel economizers, and
consists in obtaining the necessary motion for this purpose from the
force of the feed water as it is fed into the economizer. This I may
accomplish in various ways. For instance, the water might be made to
raise a clack valve, the motion of which is communicated to a ratchet
wheel by means of a catch and lever, as in Fig. 1 of the accompanying
Drawings, where a is the clack valve, which rises and falls as the feed
water is forced through the pipe b, and thus acts on the lever c, which is
connected by means of the connecting rod d to the ratchet lever e. This
5 ratchet lever is thus caused to actuate the ratchet wheel f, which is
keyed on the shaft which gives motion to the driving gear of the

page_text: scrapers. Or an Archimedian screw might be caused to revolve by the
action of the feed water, and the motion thus obtained might be trans-
ferred to the driving gear by any of the means usually adopted for such
purpose.
In Fig. 2a is the apparatus commonly known as the Archimedian
screw. The feed water in passing through the pipe imparts a slow
revolving motion to this screw, which may then be transmitted to the
driving gear by any suitable means. In short, the necessary motion for
driving the scrapers might be obtained by any of the means usually
employed to obtain motion from water under pressure.
In the second place my Invention relates to a simple arrangement of
mechanism for imparting motion to the scrapers of fuel economizers
which require an up-and-down motion or a to-and-fro motion. This
consists of a revolving screw which has a right and left hand thread
formed upon it. The nut to which this screw gives motion has not a
complete thread cut in it, but has a projecting pin or tongue which fits
into the thread cut on the screw. The effect of this is to impart a to-
and-fro motion to the nut, for when the nut is caused by the revolution
of the screw to arrive at one end it is turned into the other groove
and caused to travel back again to the other end, and so on; and this
to-and-fro motion may be imparted direct to the scrapers or converted
into an up-and-down motion and transmitted to the scrapers by means
of chains or other suitable contrivance.
In Fig. 3, a is the screw with right and left hand threads cut upon it;
b is the nut which by means of this screw is caused to travel backwards
and forwards; c, c, are the scrapers connected to this nut by means of
the chains d, d. The pipes of the fuel economizer are shewn at e, e.
The screw a has a slow revolving motion imparted to it by means of any
suitable gear, the arrangement of worm and worm wheel shewn at fin
the Drawing being the mode I prefer.
In the next place my Invention relates to those fuel economizers in
which a number of rows of pipes are used connected together by branch
pipes at either end, and consists in casting a row of these pipes together
with their connecting pipes instead of making each pipe a separate
casting, and consequently having afterwards to make a large number of

page_text: joints as heretofore. A set of pipes cast together as described is shown
in Fig. 4, and in end view in Fig. 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Needham, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
RICHARD NEEDHAM. (L.S.)