AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS INTO VAPOUR OR STEAM FOR THE WORKING STEAM ENGINES, FOR THE HEATING OF WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS EMPLOYED IN BREWING, DISTILLING, DYING, BLEACHING, TANNING AND OTHER PROCESSES' CONNECTED WITH ARTE AND MANUFACTURES: CALCULATED ALSO TO MAKE A STRONGER EXTRACT THAN CAN BED THE
Year: 1803

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
WOOLE, of Wood Street, Spa Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Third,
in and by His Letters Patent under His Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth
day of July, in the forty-third year of His reign, for Himself, His heirs, and
successors,did give and grant unto me,the said Arthur Woolf,my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority that I, the said Arthur Woolf, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Woolf,my executors,administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, 'should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS INTO
VAPOUR OR STEAM FOR THE WORKING STEAM ENGINES, FOR THE HEATING OF WATER
OR OTHER LIQUIDS EMPLOYED IN BREWING, DISTILLING, DYING, BLEACHING, TANNING
AND OTHER PROCESSES' CONNECTED WITH ARTE AND MANUFACTURES: CALCULATED ALSO
TO MAKE A STRONGER EXTRACT THAN CAN BE OBTAINED BY THE PROCESSES COMMONLY

page_text: IN USE FROM A GIVEN QUANTITY OF ANY VEGETABLE OR OTHER SUBSTANCE FROM WHICH
EXTRACTS ARE OR MAY BE MADE, WITHOUT THE DANGER OF BURNING, SCOROHING, OR
SINGEING SUCH VEGETABLE OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS OTHER
PROCESSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Arthur Woolf, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of iny said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
mouth next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Arthur Woolf, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascer-
tained in manner and form following, and in the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say -
Mynew or improved apparatus doth consist, first, of two or more cylindrical
vessels properly connected together, and so disposed as to constitute a strong and
fit receptacle for water or any other fluid intended to be converted into steam,
whether at the usualheats orat temperatures and under pressures uncommonly
high, and also to presentan extensive portion of convex surface to the current
of the flame or heated air or vapor from a fire. Secondly, of certain other
cylindrical parts or receptacles placed above the said first-mentioned cylinders
and properly connected therewith for the purposes of containing water and
steam,and for the reception, transmission, and useful application of the steam
generated from the heated water or other fluid. And, thirdly, of a furnace so
adapted to the cylindrical parts just mentioned as to expose the greater part
of the surface of all and each of them, or as much of the said surface as may
be convenient or desirable, to the direct action of the fire or heated air and
vapour. And in order that the construction, disposition, application, and
advantages of this my said apparatus may be more fully and clearly under-
stood,I do proceed to exhibit by Drawings and descriptions some of the precise
methods of carrying the same into practice and effect. Fig. 1 represents a
boiler, made of cast iron or any other fit material, consisting of eight tubes
inarked a, which have a communication with each other and with the cylinder A
placed above them, by means of connecting cylinders or tubes attached to the
respective parts in a good and workmanlike manner: see 6, Fig. 2, which
exhibits an end view of the apparatus. Fig. 3 shews a side view, and exhibits
the manner in which the fire is made to act apon it; A being the main cylinder,

page_text: and a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, the smaller ones. The fire, which rests upon the bars
at B, being reverberated from the arch which passes over the two first smaller
cylinders, goes under the third, over the fourth, under the fifth, over the sixth,
under the seventh, and partly over, partly under, the eighth smaller cylindric
tube. The direction of the flame, till it reaches the last-mentioned tube, is
shewn by the dotted curved line and arrows. When it has reached that end
of the furnace, it is carried by the flue C to the other side of a wall builtunder
and in the direction of the main cylinder A,and then returns under the seventh
smaller cylinder, over the sixth, under the fifth, over the fourth, under the third,
over the second, and partly over, partly under, the first, when it passes into the
chimney. The wall before mentioned, which divides the furnace longitudi-
nally, answers the double purpose of lengthening the course which theflame
and heated air have to traverse. giving off heat to the boiler in their passage,
and of securing from being destroyed by the fire the flanges or other joinings
employed to unite the smaller tubes to the main cylinder. The ends of the
smaller cylindric tubes rest on the brickwork which forms the sides of the
furnace, and one end of each of their is furnished with a cover, secured in its
place by screws or any other adequate meaus, but which can be taken off at
pleasure, to allow the tubes to be freed from time to time from any incrustation
or sediment which may be deposited in them. To any convenient part of the
main cylinder a steain tube or steam tubes are affixed, to convey the steam to
the steam engine or to any vessel intended to be heated by means of steam.
Fig. 4 is a view and cross section of two such boilers as I have been describing
and their furnaces, in which A, A, represent the two main cylinders, a, a, two
of the smallercylinders,having the joining between them and the main cylinders
built into the wallsW,W,which divide the furnaces F, F, F, F, longitudinally,
as before mentioned. From A, A, rise the steam tubes S, S, which convey the
steam to any part desired by menus of the tubes T, T, T. The fuel is intro-
duced into the fire-places P, P, at the mouth-pieces M, M,which I have here
represented of the form adopted by Mr. John Roberton, of Glasgow, and for
which he has obtained His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent. Of course this
method cannot be employed by any person without the license of the
Patentee, nor do I claim any other right to it than what any one may
purchase, nor is it essential to my apparatus, as any of the doors in common
use for furnaces will answer; but I prefer his for reasons not necessary to be
detailed in this place. B,B, are the bars of the furnaces,and Z, Z, the ash pits.
The brick or mason work is represented in yellow. Fig 5, 6, 7, and 8, are sec-
tions of another boiler,constructedon principles similar to the one justdescribed,
but having the cylindric tubes of which it is composed arranged and combined

page_text: in a manner somewhat different from the former. In Fig. 5, A is the main
cylinder, crossing the sinaller cylinders a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, half way between
their middles and the ends marked a, but not joined to them at the points at
which it crosses them. It is put in this place that it may come over that part
of the furnace S, S, S, S, S, S, S, >, through which the flame first passes and
receives its direct action, which it does over nearly a half of its surface, as inay
be seen by looking at the vertical section A, S, S, Fig. S. The smaller cylinders
have a communication with the main cylinder in the following manner. Three
small cylinders C, C, C, are placed parallel to the main cylinder A, over the
smaller cylinders a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, in such a manner that each of the
cylinders C, C, C, take in three of the smaller cylinders a, a, a, being united to
and connected with them by nicks and flanges (or other fit joining), as shewn
in Fig. 6, which is a longitudinal vertical section of that part of the apparatus.
The cylinders C, C, C, have a direct communication with the main cylinder A
by the pipes or tubes P, P, P, as may be better seen by the cross ver-
tical section, Fig. 8, in which the same parts are marked with the same
letters as in Fig 5 and 6. The three tubes C, C, C, are preferred to
one long tube, to prevent any derangement taking place in the furnace or in
the tubes, by the expansion and contraction occasioned by changes of tem-
perature, which would be much more considerable in one tube of the whole
length of the furnace than when divided into three portions; and it is for the
same reason that the tube A is not made to communicate directly with the
sinaller tubes a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, but mediately by means of the tubes
marked Cand P. N.B.-The two outermost of the tubes marked P may be
carried from C to A. from the parts of the tube C marked with the letter m,
and instead of going parallel to the middle tube P, may be inclined towards it
so as to join the cylinder A near the middle, or any other direction may be
given to them to prevent derangement by expansion. (Fig. 15 shews another
way of establishing a communication between the different parts of such a
boiler. A and C are sections of the cylindric tubes, marked with the same
letters in Fig 5 and 6, and the openings c, d, e, f, are the places by which they
communicate with the lower tubes a, a, a. When this way of making a com-
munication between the different tubes which compose the prime boiler is
adopted, the tube C may be placed directly over the middle of that half of the
furnace, and closed in with brickwork, exactly in the same manner as the
tube A, Fig. 8, which is placed over the other half of the furnace.) Fig. 7 is a
longitudinal vertical section of the boiler and furnace through the center of the
axis of the main cylinder, shewing the course which the flame and heated air
are forced to take. The first three smaller cylinders are completely surrounded

page_text: with flame, being directly over the fire; the flame is stopped by the brick-
work W over the fifth, and forced to pass under it, and then over the sixth,
where it again meets with an interruption which forces it to go under the
seventh. over the eighth, and partly over, partly under the ninth. It then
turns round the end of the longitudinal wall which divides the furnace, and
passes over the eighth smaller cylinder, under the seventh, and so on, alternately
over and under the other tubes till it reaches the chimney B. The wall that
divides the furnace may be seen in Fig. 5, N, N, and at N, Fig. 8. In these
boilers, as in the common boilers for steam engines, the water evaporated by
the heat must be replaced by water forced in by the usual means; but to insure
its reaching the smaller tubes with certainty, the supply is sent directly into
then by the pipe o, o, which has a communication with each of them by a short
branch, as shewn in the Drawing, Fig. 5; the other ends of the smaller
cylinders a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, are fitted with caps, or any proper contrivance
that can be taken off occasionally to clean out the boiler. Fig. 9 is another
section on a larger scale of one of the tubes, marked C in Fig. 5 and 6, shewing
a different way of joining it to the lower tubes a, a, a. Here, instead of
employing flanges, the branches from the tubes or cylinders a, a, a, are adapted,
but not to fit close to parts made to correspond in the tube C, and the space
between them is filled with any proper cement, as a mixture of iron filings,
flowers of sulphur, and sal ammoniac, and the tubes a, a, a, and C, are kept
secure by the bolts b, b, b, and the screws and nuts d, d, d. To facilitate the
introduction of the cement before mentioned into the joinings of the tubes C
and a, holes are made in the cylinder C, opposite the parts to which the
tubes a, a, a, are to be joined, large enough to admit a man's hand; to these
holes are adapted covers, which are secured in their places by the same bolts
and nuts that secure the tubes Cand a from separating. A very secure and con-
venient way for closing the end of the cylindric tubes is shewn in this Figure
at f, which is the cover of the tube C. It is inade of an eliptical form, as is
also the opening in the tube C, so that its shortest diameter can enter by the
longest diameter of the opening C. When introduced, it is then turnedin such
a manner as to make the longest diameter off coincide with the longest
diameter of the opening in C; to which it is fitted. It is then brought home to
its place, and secured there by the bolt, the nut, and cross bar, shewn in the
Drawing. Fig. 10 is an end view of the tube C, shewing the opening. This
method of closing vessels which are to sustain a great internal pressure, is one
of the best that can be employed, as the cover fits the closer the greater the
pressure; but I do not claim it as new or as any part of my Invention, nor is
it material to my Invention in what way the tubes are closed, provided they are

page_text: made sufficiently close to resist the great expansive force of the steam, and
provided they can be opened when necessary for the purpose of cleaning. In
cases where it may be wished to increase the power or production of steam
without employing the very high degrees of heat which boilers constructed on
the principles before described are capable of sustaining, my Invention inay be
applied to boilers already in use, as in the case of the common oblong boiler,
now in very common use for steam engines. To increase very considerably the
quantity of steam produccable by such a boiler, my Invention may be applied
in the following or any analogous manner. Fig. 11 represents a common
oblong boiler of a steam engine, and Fig. 12, an end view of the same. The
flame is made to pass through the body of the boiler by a channel, pipe, or
flue F, F, Fig 11 and 12; the bottom m is arched, as shewn in Fig. 12, and
marked by the line m, m, in Fig. 11. Below such a boiler, place the
tubes a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, connecting each of them with the body of the main
boiler by a pipe P, Fig. 12, and let the ends of the tubes at C, Fig: 12, be fur-
nished with moveable covers, to be taken off at pleasure, for the purpose of
cleaning out the tubes when that may be necessary; the arrows in the Drawing
shew the course of the flame from the fire-place A till it enters the flue F,
which passes through the body of the boiler. Another very powerful boiler,on
similar principles,may be made by constructing an oblong boiler in two main
parts A and B, Fig. 13, and connecting the two by vertical tubes, as shewn in
that Figure and in the horizontal section through the line a, b, Fig. 13, repre-
sented in Fig. 14, in which the arrows shew the direction of the flame. To
give any further illustration of the great variety of modifications of which my
Invention is susceptible is unnecessary, as in the foregoing descriptions I have
endeavoured to be as clear and explicit as possible, that the public may fully
enjoy the benefit of my Invention when the term of my Patent is expired;
and from the examples I have given, no person acquainted with the nature and
uses of boilers can be at a loss to apply my.said Invention, modified according
to circumstances, to any case that may present itself. It may not be improper,
however, to call the attention of those who may hereafter wish. to construct
such apparatus to one circumstance, which, indeed, can hardly escape notice
from the description which I have given, namely, that in every case the tubes
composing the boiler should.be so combined and arranged, and the furnace so
constructed as to make the fire, the flame, and heated air to.act around, over,
and among the tubes, embracing the largest possible quantity of theirsurface.
It must be obvious to any one that, the. tubes may be made of any kind of
metal,, but I prefer cast iron as the most convenient. The size of the tubes
may be varied, but in every case care should be taken not to make their

page_text: diameter too great; and it must be remembered that the larger the diameter
of any single tube of such a boiler, the stronger must it be made in proportion
to enable it to bear the same expansive force as the smaller cylinders. It is not
essential however to my Invention, that the tubes should be of different sizes;
but I prefer that the upper cylinders, especially the one which I call the main
cylinder,should be larger than the lower ones, it being the reservoir, as it were,
into which the lower ones send the steam to be thence conveyed away by the
steam pipe or pipes. The following general direction may be given respecting
the quantity of water to be kept in a boiler on my construction; it ought
always to fill, not only the lower tubes, but the main cylinder A and the
cylinders C to abont half their diameter, that is, as high as the fire is allowed
to reach, and in no case ought it to be allowed to get so low as not to keep
full the necks or branches which join the smaller cylinders marked with the
letter a to the cylinders A or C, for the fire is only beneficially employed when
applied, through the medium of the interposed metal, to water to convert it
into steam; that is, the purpose of my boiler would in some measure be
defeated if any of the parts of the tubes exposed to the direct action of the
fire should present in their interior a surface of steam instead of water, to
receive the transmitted heat, which must more or less be the case if the lower
tubes, and even a part of the upper, be not kept filled with the liquid. Though
I have only mentioned such arrangements of tubes as present them in an
horizontal or in a vertical direction, yet they may be put in other positions, at
the pleasure of the workman, without destroying the effect intended to be pro-
duced, if the instructions I have given in this Specification be properly attended
to. As to the construction of the furnaces, though that must be obvious from
the Drawings, it may not be improper here to remark, that they should
always be so built as to give a long and waving course to the flame and heated
air or vapour, forcing them the more effectually to strike against the sides of
the tubes which compose the boiler,and so to give out a large portion of their
heat before they reach the chimney; unless this be attended to, there will bea
much greater waste of fuel than necessary, and the heat communicated to the
contents of the boiler will be less from a given quantity of fuel. My Inven-
tion is not only applicable to all the uses to which the boilers in common
use are generally applied, but to all of them, with much better effects than the
latter, and can besides be applied to purposes on which boilers constructed as
they have hitherto been would be of little or no use.. The working of all kinds
of steam engines is one important application of my Tuvention; for the steam
may be raised in a boiler constructed in the manner before described to such a
temperature,andconsequently to such an expensive force, as toworkanyengine,

page_text: even without condensing the steam, but by simply allowing it to escape into
the atmosphere after it has done its office, as proposed by Mr. James Watt,in
the Specification of his Patent, dated January Fifth, One thousand seven
hundred and sixty-nine, where he says, engines may be worked by the
force of steam only, by discharging the steam into the open air. In all
cases where it is desirable to heat or boil water or other fluids and sub-
stances without the direct application of fire to the vessel or vessels containing
them, which in such cases become secondary boilers, the use of my apparatus
will produce effects superior to any obtainable by other means, no more being
necessary than to make the vessel or secondary boiler, containing the water or
other fluids and the substances immersed or dissolved in or blended or mixed
with the water or other fluid, to communicate by means of a tube or tubes with
the prime boiler constructed in the manner before described. In such cases,
as in inaking extracts of every kind.for the various purposes of arts and manu-
factures, and for the simple boiling of water or watery fluids, the steam should
go directly into the vessel or secondary boiler, whose contents are to be heated or
boiled, and the orifice or orifices of the pipe or pipes through which the steam
is conveyed should go to a considerable depth in the finid, that the steam may
be the better able to give off its heat and be condensed before it can reach
the surface; and in every such case an allowance should be made for the
increase which will be made to the quantity of liquid in the vessel to be heated,
by the quantity of steam which will be condensed in the same before the
process be ended. The vessels into which the steam is thrown may be either
open or close as the nature of circumstances inay require, but where extracts
are to be made from vegetable or other matters from which extracts are or
may be made, as from hops, bark, drugs, and dye stuffs, for brewing, tan-
ning, dying, and other processes, the material will be much more completely
exhausted of all their valuable parts, and in many instances they will be
completely dissolved, by employing close vessels, which in that case must be
made very strong, a thing not difficult to be accomplished, when it is recol-
lected that they may be at a distance from, and consequently out of the power
of being deranged by, the fire, and that they may be surrounded with, and
as it were buried in, massy stone or brick work, in addition to other and
obvious means of securing them. My apparatus so employed becomes in fact
an improved Papins digester on a small scale. I do not wish to be understood
as claiming the merit of having been the first who applied steam in the
manner just described to boil water and other fluids, but merely as pointing
out an important use to which my apparatus is applicable, and in which
the effect obtained will be much greater than by any other means.

page_text: Another important use to which my Invention can be applied with better
effect than the means now in use, is that of distillation on the large scale,
and that by either sending the steam directly into and among the contents of
the still or alembic, or by inclosing the still in another vessel, and making the
steam of a high temperature to circulate in and to occupy the space between
the exterior surface of the still and the interior surface of the containing
vessel. In either case all danger of burning or singeing the materials operated
upon is done away, and a much more pleasant and pure spirit will be obtained
than by the methods now in common use. I need not stop here to shew the
reason why even in the case of throwing the steam directly into the still, the
spirituous part will be the first to rise and pass over into the receiver. I might
mention many other useful applications that may be made of my Invention, but
I shall only state one more; namely,to the drying of gunpowder, and lessening
the danger of explosions in the manufacture of that article. By means of my
Invention,any desired temperature necessary for that purposemay be produced
where the powder is to be dried, without the necessity of having fire in or so
near the place asto endanger its safety; for by employing steam only, conveyed
through pipes and properly applied and directed, without allowing any of it to
escape into the room or apartment where thepowder is,anycompetentworkman
canproduce a heat equal tothat foundnecessaryfordrying gunpowder,ormuch
higher if required. Nor is the lessening of the danger of explosions the only
advantage which this way of drying gunpowderholds out; it prosents another,
and an essential one for the goodness of the article; theheat can be completely
regulated so as to prevent or at least lessen the partial decomposition of the
powder by the sublimation of the sulphur, which is found to take place by the
methods at present in use. In every case, I use one or more safety valves in
my apparatus, to prevent the danger of explosions from the force of the con-
tained steam, and when necessary to regulate its temperature. Besides such
valves as I have just mentioned, when the steam is intended to be passed into
a secondary boiler, I sometimes introduce another valve, which I shall now
describe, to regulate the degree of elastic force which the steam must acquire
before it can escape from the primary boiler. Fig. 16 represents a section of
the main cylinder of one of my boilers, and the valve which with its appen-
duges regulates the elastic force of the steam. A is the main cylinder;
B, B, the neck or outlet for the steam, surmounted by the steam box C,
which is joined with the neck B, B, by flanges a,a,or in any other workman-
like manner. The top or cover of C,marked with the letter D, which is also
made secure by a flange or by any other proper means, has a hole through it,

page_text: for the rod of the valve, so contrived as to answer the purpose of a stuffing
box, to make the rod work up and down steam-tight, the stuffing being
kept in its place by means of the male screw which works in the female screw
that forms the stuffing box, as shewn in the section. By means of a pin or
nail b, and the two vertical pieces e,e, or by any other convenient means, the
piston rod is made fast to m, which is a cover of and joined to the hollow
cylinder n, n. The cover m fits steam-tight into the collar o, o, which is made
fast in C by cement or otherwise. The cylinder n,n, is open at the bottom,
having a free communication with A, the main cylinder of one of my boilers,
and has two, three, or more vertical slits, one of which S, is shewn in the
Drawing. The sum of the surface of all these slits or openings should be
equal to the area of the opening of the collar o, o, in which the cylindor n, n,
works. When the steam acquires a sufficient degree of elastic force to raise
the valve (that is, the cylinder n, n, with its cover m, and the rod R, R). and
whatever weight it may be loaded with, then the openings S,getting above the
steam-tight collare 0,0, allows the steam to pass into the steam box C, and the
quantity of steam that passes will be proportioned to the elastic force it has
acquired, and the weight with the valve is loaded, and the rise of the open-
ings S above the collar o,o, will be in the same proportion. This valve may be
loaded in any of the usual methods, but I prefer the one shewn in the
Drawing, in which the upper part of the rod R,R, is made in the form of
a rack, working in a segment of a wheel W, which carries an arm the axis
of which is represented by the line L, W, which carries a weight, that
may be moved near to or farther from the centre of the wheel W,according
as the pressure of the valve is wished to be increased or diminished. As the
valve rises, the weight moves upwards in the arch n,n, giving an increased
resistance to the farther rising of the valve proportioned to the greater hori-
zontal distance from the centre W, which the weight attains by its rise in the
said arch, the said distance being measured in the line W,p,by a perpendicular
from the said line W,p, passing through the centre of the weight. Thus, if
the weight Z press with a force equal to twenty pounds ou the square inch of
the aperture in 0,0, in its present position in the line W, L, it will, when it
rises to the position at i, press with a force equal to thirty pounds, and at p.
with a force equal to forty pounds on the square inch; so that the rod L, W,
may be made to serve at the same time as an index to the person who attends
the fire, nothing more being necessary for this purpose than to graduate the
arch described by the end L of the rod W, L. In the side of the steam
box C, there is an opening E, to allow the steam to pass from it by a pipe