IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS."
A communication from abroad by William Judson, of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 17th December 1863, and dated the 8th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th October 1863.
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
CONDENSERS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to prevent the rapid destructive action to
which tubular condensers as now constructed are liable both from the
variations in temperature to which the parts are exposed, and also from the
corrosive effect of the water. To allow for the tubes contracting and
expanding without injury to the tube sheets, elastic couplings are provided.
By one method recesses are formed in the tube sheets around the tube
sockets, which recesses form sockets for vulcanized india-rubber packing rings
or collars that embrace the condenser tubes. These collars are compressed
by nuts upon the condenser tubes so as to form a tight joint between the tube
Price 8d.1

page_text: A
sheet and the condenser tubes, at the same time permitting these tubes to
expand and contract as they lengthen and shorten. These vulcanized india-
rubber tubes may be applied on one or both sides of the tube sheet.
washer should be placed under the nuts that screw up the condeuser tubes to
the tube plates. If the rubber collars are used only on the outside of the
tube sheets with nuts on the condenser tubes to compress them, great facility
will be secured for removing the condenser tubes from either end of the tube
sheets as required, provided the tubes are of uniform diameter throughout.
Another method of securing an elastic attachment is by inserting pieces of
vulcanized india-rubber tubing in the holes of the tube sheet, and permanently
securing them therein by means of hollow brass conical wedges. The other
ends of the rubber tubes extend from the interior side of the tube sheet
towards the ends of the condenser tubes, and are permanently secured to the
tubes by clenching rings. This arrangement allows the condenser tubes to
expand and contract freely.
Another part of the Invention consists in constructing the tube sheets of
surface condensers by the use of what is known as "vulcanite," the object
being to avoid the rust and decay incident to the materials heretofore used for
that purpose. These tube sheets should be of sufficient thickness to resist the
pressure to which they will be exposed, or they may be furnished with a
metal backing. The tube plates should be secured to the shell of the
condenser by interposing an india-rubber joint so as to allow for the difference
of expansion between the vulcanite tube sheet and the shell of the condenser.
Another part of the Invention consists in reducing the diameter of the
tubes at either one or both of their extremities for a sufficient length to allow
of their being packed with the elastic packing as above described. The
object of this reduction of their diameter is to permit of the tubes being
brought close together when it is desirable to reduce the condeuser to the
smallest possible compass. If the area of the tubes is diminished at one eud
only their other ends may be secured by a ferule to the tube sheet.
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 8th April 1864.
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, seud greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS," being a com-
munication from William Judson, of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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 aud 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 performed, 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, as communicated to me by my foreign cor-
respondent, is to prevent the rapid destructive action to which tubular
condensers as now constructed are liable, both from the variations in tem-
perature to which the parts are exposed, and also from the corrosive effect of
the water upon the metal of which the condensers are constructed. To allow
for the tubes contracting and expanding without injury to the tube sheets,
elastic or yielding couplings are provided. The application of the principle
admits of various modifications, as will be presently explained; but the con-
traction and expansion of the tubes will in all cases leave the tube sheets
unaffected.
In one arrangement recesses are formed in the tube sheets around the tube
sockets, which recesses are intended to receive vulcanized india-rubber packing
rings or collars that embrace the condenser tubes. These collars when com-
pressed by nuts upon the condenser tubes will form tight joints between the
tube sheet and the condenser tubes, and at the same time permit the tubes to

page_text: expand and contract in length and diameter under the varying temperatures
to which they may be exposed. These vulcanized india-rubber rings or collars
may be applied on one or both sides of the tube sheet, and at one or both
ends of the tubes. If the india-rubber collars are used only on the outside of
the tube sheets, with uuts on the condenser tubes to compress them, great
facility will be secured for removing the condenser tubes from either end
of the tube sheets as required, provided the tubes are of uniform diameter
throughout.
Another method of securing an elastic attachment is by inserting pieces of
vulcanized india-rubber tubing in the holes of the tube sheet, and permanently
securing them therein by means of hollow brass conical wedges. The other
ends of the rubber tubes extending from the interior side of the tube sheet
towards the ends of the condenser tubes are to be permanently secured to the
tubes by binding rings. This arrangement allows the condenser tubes to
expand and contract freely.
The second part of the Invention consists in reducing the diameter of con-
denser tubes at either one or both of their extremities for a sufficient length
to allow of their being packed with the elastic packing, as above described,
without necessitating a reduction of the number of tubes for a given measure-
ment of tube surface. If the area of the tubes is diminished at one end only,
their other ends may be secured by a ferule to the tube sheet.
The third part of the Invention consists in constructing the tube sheets of
surface condensers by the use of what is known as "vulcanite," the object
being to avoid therustand decay incident to the materials heretofore used for
that purpose. These tube sheets should be of sufficient thickness to resist the
pressure to which they will be exposed, or they may be furnished with a
metal backing. The tube plates should be secured to the shell of the con-
denser by interposing an india-rubber or other yielding packing in the joint,
so as to allow for the difference of expansion between the vulcanite tube sheet
and the metal shell of the condenser.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents in longitudinal section one
mode of obtaining the yielding coupling between the tube and tube sheet
Around the hole for receiving the condensing tube a recesses are formed on
both sides of the tube sheet A, which recesses form sockets for the reception
of the vulcanized rubber rings or packing b. A flange c coned on its inuer
face is permanently attached to the condensing tube a, and forms a socket for
securing the interior vulcanized rubber tube b as a packing; d is a washer of
similar form, which bears against the exterior rubber ring or packing 6. A
screw uute applied to the screwed end of the tube a bears against the

page_text: washer d, and serves to give the rubber packing any requisite degree of
compression.
Fig. 2 represents the application as an elastic packing of thin vulcanized
rubber tubing e, which is passed through and permanently secured in the
holes of the tube sheets by means of brass tapering metal tubes f, which act
as wedges when forced into the interior of the rubber tube. These rubber
tubes extend from the inner side of the tube sheet to near the end of the con-
densing tubes a, where they are permanently secured to the condensing tubes
by binding rings h forced over the rubber tubes e. It is evident that a water
and steam-tight connection will be thus formed between the condensing tubes
and the tube sheet, the vulcanized rubber tubes having the property of
extending and contracting with the expansion and contraction of the cou-
densing tubes.
In the modification shewn in Fig. 3, the condensing tubes have a screw nut
applied to either end for the purpose of pressing a washer into contact with
the vulcanized rubber ring or packing o, which enters a recess in the tube
sheets, as shewn in Fig. 1. As, however, there is no packing on the inner
face of the tube sheets, it is evident that the condensing tubes can be with-
drawn without any difficulty from either end.
Fig. 4 shews in section the mode of securing the condenser tubes with
reduced or contracted ends formed according to the second part of the Inven-
tion. In this Figure it will be seen that india-rubber tubes p, p, are placed
on the reduced diameter of the tube at both sides of and in contact with the
tube sheet, and that by means of a screw nut q the rubber is compressed as
required.
Fig. 5 shews a condensing tube with a contracted end applied to a tube
sheet, in both faces of which recesses are made to receive the rubber packing.
Fig. 6 shews the rubber collar applied to the reduced end of the tube, but
on one side only of the tube sheet. Fig. 7 shews a similar arrangement, but
with the tube sheet recessed to receive the packing ring or collar.
Fig. 7 shews a mode of fastening one end of the condenser tubes to the
tube sheet by a ferule which projects beyond the tube, so as to be easily
caught by a pair of nippers and withdrawn. The tube also extends through
the sheet A, so as to be easily withdrawn when the ferule is removed. This
plan can be used on one end of the tube in connection with any of the other
plans shewn for packing the ends of condenser tubes.
The third part of this Invention is shewn as applied to a tubular condenser
at Fig. 8. a is the vulcanite tube sheet, which has, when desired, a metal
backing as at b. The whole is secured to the shell A of the condenser by

page_text: bolts and nuts, a strip of india-rubber packing cbeing interposed between the
tube sheet and coupling flange of the condenser to allow for the difference of
expansion between the shell and the vulcanite tube sheet.
Fig. 9 shews a tube inserted into a tube sheet made solely of vulcanite.
Figures 10 and 11 represent a nest of tubes to illustrate the closeness with
which they can be placed if the tube ends are reduced according to the second
head of the Invention.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
the Construction of Condensers," 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, connecting the condenser tubes of surface condensers with the tube
sheets by means of elastic or yielding couplings, as herein described and
shewn.
Secondly, the contraction of one or both ends of condenser tubes in the
manner and for the purpose above set forth.
And thirdly, I claim the use of what is known in trade and.commerce as
"vulcanite "in the constriction of the tube sheets of surface condensers, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four."
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON.
(L.S.)