CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING OR SUPPLYING STEAM BOILERS WITH WATER
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBINSON SHAW, late of Leeds, in the County of York, but now of the Town
and County of the Town of Derby, Engineer, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the thirty-first day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Robinson Shaw, her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Robinson Shaw, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Robinson Shaw,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
FEEDING OR SUPPLYING STEAM BOILERS WITH WATER;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Robinson Shaw,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Robinson Shaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):
My Improvements in Feeding or Supplying Steam Boilers with Water consist
in the construction of a novel apparatus, and adapting the same to a locomo-
tive engine for the purpose above stated.
In order to render the construction and adaptation of my Invention or im-
provement clearly understood, I have appended to this my Specification a
Drawing representing the same, and the position in which I propose to attach
it to the boiler of a locomotive steam engine.
This
Fig. is a vertical section of the apparatus, shewing the positions or
arrangements of its several parts and its contiguity with the boiler of the
engine. A is a cylindrical vessel intended to receive water at its lower part
from a tank below through the pipe and cock D, and B is a pipe and
cock through which steam from the boiler is admitted into the upper part
of the said cylindrical vessel A. C is a bent tube forming a communication
between the bottom of the cylinder A and the boiler, to which a valve E is
attached, opening into the boiler. The situation of the apparatus as respects
its connection with the boiler should be such that the lower end of the cylinder
A may be coincident with the level of the water in the boiler, or nearly so.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal view of the top of the apparatus; and Fig 3 a section
taken horizontally through the cylinder A at the line x, y, of Fig. 1.
cylinder A is the feeder or vessel through which water is to be conducted from
the tank to the boiler, and it contains a circular float of wood G, G, nearly
fitting the internal diameter of the vessel in which it is intended to act like a
piston. The ways through the pipes B and D being opened by turning their
cocks, steam will immediately rush into the cylinder and fill it, the float G
being then at the bottom of the vessel, but on closing the pipe B the steam will
immediately condense within the cylinder and produce a partial vacuum therein.
In consequence of this vacuum the water will instantly rise from the tank
below, through the pipe and open cock D, and partially fill the cylinder A,
carrying with it the float G towards the top of the vessel. On now closing the
way of the pipe D, by turning its cock and opening the pipe B, steam from the
boiler will again be allowed to blow into the cylindrical vessel; but it will not

page_text: immediately condense, in consequence of the non-conducting properties of the
wooden float or piston G. It will be perceived that the elastic pressure of the
steam in the boiler is now acting equally upon the piston G downward through
the pipe B, and against the valve E of the pipe C; but the water in the vessel
A being above the level of that in the boiler, it will, by its gravity, descend
through the pipe C and valve E into the boiler. On the water having been
thus discharged from the vessel A, the valve E will close and prevent its
return from the boiler. The cock of the pipe B must now be again shut and
that of the pipe D opened, when, by the pressure of the water in the lower
part of the cylinder, the steam occupying the cylinder will again become
condensed and a partial vacuum take place as before; the water will then
immediately rush up the pipe D and fill the cylindrical vessel, carrying up the
float or piston G with it. The same operation as that above described
will again discharge the volume of water from the cylindrical vessel
into the boiler, and by continuing the opening and shutting of the
cocks in the order pointed out, the boiler will be constantly fed or
supplied with water. The working of the cocks of the apparatus, or
other kinds of valves in their places, may in a variety of ways be accom-
plished by machinery connected with moving parts of the locomotive
engine; it will therefore only be necessary to advert to one method as an illus-
tration, without intending to confine myself to that or any other particular
mechanical agents which may be found suited to the purpose. A wheel may
be connected to the plug of the cock D, with a worm working into it, driven
from one of the axles of the engine, or by a pulley and band from the tender..
A connecting rod may be applied to couple the plugs of the two cocks or
valves B and D together (they being so arranged that when one is opened the
other may be shut, and vice versa), which may be done by a reciprocating or
rotary contrivance, either of which would immediately suggest itself to any
competent engineer, as its movements would be like those of the ordinary
valves of the engine, and these may be actuated from the reciprocating parts
of the engine or otherwise, or they might be worked by hand, but that I
should not recommend.
Having now described my improvements in feeding or supplying water to
the boilers of steam engines, and shown, by the accompanying Drawing and.
foregoing description, the best mode of constructing and adapting the same that
I am acquainted with, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to con-
fine myself to cocks as described, for the apparatus may be worked by means of
valves or slides, nor to the particular form and arrangement of the parts shewn in
the Drawing by which I effect my improvements, as different forms and arrange-

page_text: ments of parts of mechanism may be found capable of effecting the same
object; and indeed the various construction of steam engines in common use,
to which this improvement may be applied, will necessarily require different
modifications of mechanism for the purpose of bringing the principal of my
improvement into operation. But that which I claim as the particular feature
of improvement secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent
is, the construction and adaptation (particularly to a locomotive steam engine)
of a steam vacuum pump or vessel of the kind described and shewn at A, A,
in the Drawing, with its steam and water pipes, and cocks or valves B, D, and
E, however they may be varied in form or arrangement, and the floating
piston G, for the purpose of preventing the instantaneous condensation of the
steam before the water has become discharged from the cylinder.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robinson Shaw, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our