IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONDENSERS OF STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th October 1868.-A communication from abroad by
S. A. Goodwin, of Buffalo, in the United States of America.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman;
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONDENSERS OF STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows :—
The object of this Invention is to dispense with the air pump of
condensing steam engines so as to save the power expended in its
working, reduce the cost of construction and repairs, and increase the
efficacy of the engine.
The Invention consists in clevating the condenser above the water
level to a point above that at which the weight of the atmosphere will
support a column of water, and connecting it by means of a pipe with
the hot well, thus forming a syphon crowned with the condenser of
which the first pipe is the short leg and the last the long leg. The
exhaust pipe of the engine also discharges into the condenser. By this
arrangement the water of condensation is raised into the condenser by

page_text: atmospheric pressure and removed from it together with the condensed
steam by gravity. The term water level as here used means the surface
of the water in the hot well or cistern into which the water of con-
densation is discharged after it has performed its office, and the term
cold well signifies the cistern or vessel which contains the water to be
used in condensation.
Referring to the accompanying Drawing the following is a description
of the Invention:-
A is a condenser of any proper form and dimensions; B is the exhaust
pipe of the engine; C is the pipe which conducts the water of con-
densation from cistern E into the condenser; D is the pipe through
which the water of condensation and the condensed steam fall by
specific gravity into the hot well or cistern I', from which they escape
through the waste pipe d. The pipes D and C-must be of such
respective lengths that according to the amount of vacuum it is found
in particular instances advantageous to maintain the water of con-
densation shall flow up through C by reason of the atmospheric pressure,
and (together with the condensed steam) down through D by reason of
gravity,
The mode of operation is as follows:-A vacuum is first formed in the
condenser by raising the water by means of a pump or otherwise
through C until the condenser is filled with it so as to expel the air
it contained. This water is then allowed to flow down through D
while it continues to flow up through C on the principle of the
circulation of water by means of a syphon. The engine is then started.
The steam escapes through the exhaust pipe B into the condenser A,
where it meets with the cold water flowing up through C (on the
principle of a syphon as before explained) and is then condensed and
falls together with the water of condensation through D into the
cistern F and out into the open air through the waste pipe d. The air
and vapor mixed with the water of condensation and with the steam
are also carried out of the condenser and down the pipe D with the
water as in the device known as the "trombe." Instead of one pipe D it
will generally be found advantageous to employ two or more such pipes,
as by this means the air and vapor are more speedily removed from
the condenser and the vacuum made more perfect. The pipe C should
be of such a size as to offer but little resistance by friction to the passage
of the water through it.

page_text: The Inventor is aware that it was long ago proposed to place the
engine at least 34 feet above the level of a cistern containing water,
and to make it communicate with it by a pipe. It however happens
so rarely that a proper situation can be found to carry this plan into
effect that it has never been applied to practice, and has ceased to
be even thought of by those concerned in the construction of engines.
The object of this Invention is to overcome the difficulty just
mentioned by providing an automatic and entirely inexpensive method
of raising the water into the condenser where there is a not a sufficient
head. This is accomplished by means of a syphon arranged and con-
structed substantially as herein-before described.