An Improved Method for Increasing the Pressure of Steam or other Pressure Medium before it Enters the Motor.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1897
An Improved Method for Increasing the Pressure of Steam or other
Pressure Medium before it Enters the Motor.
A communication by GUSTAV DÜRR, of 84, Grafenberger Chaussée, Düsseldorf,
in the Empire of Germany, Director.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention which will be described with reference to the accompanying
diagrammatic drawing has for its object a method for essentially increasing the
tension or pressure of steam or other pressure medium such as hot air, gas or the
like, coming from the accumulator of power A, before its entrance into the working
cylinder B of the corresponding motor.
The present steam superheaters have it is true the advantage that damp steam
passed through them is dried, and any unevaporated particles of water are
subsequently evaporated, but an essential increase of pressure is impossible,
for the reason that the superheaters stand in open connection with the steam
generator.
According to the present invention the superheater C is closed, after the
entrance of the steam into the same, by means of regulating devices, such as
slides, valves or taps. The increase of pressure takes place mainly through the
direct expansion of the steam in consequence of its being superheated, and any
particles of water carried with it are also finally evaporated. The higher pressure
obtained makes itself felt only at the entrance into the motor, and has no longer a
back action on the steam boiler. The pressure in the boiler may therefore be
considerably lower than that admitted to the motor.
In this lies the essential novelty of the present invention. In the case of rapid-
running engines, as the time for superheating during one stroke would not be
sufficient, several superheaters are fed in succession and deliver steam to the engine
in equal succession.
The advantages of this method of superheating as against others are the
following:-
(1.) The boilers do not need to sustain the maximum pressure at which the
steam engine is to work, and may therefore be made lighter in construction, or be
more spared in the working.
(2.) If a portion of the first heating gas escaping from the fire chamber be
utilized for heating the superheater, the heating gases can be better utilized, as
the lower boiler temperature admits of a lower discharge temperature of the
heating gases. The superheaters therefore work more economically.
(3.) A further economical advantage consists in that the water contained in the
boiler does not need to be brought to a temperature corresponding to the highest
pressure in the superheater, the steam alone being required to be so heated, but
[Price 8d 1

page_text: which requires only about a third as much heat for heating it in order to increase
its pressure.
The differences of the improved method as against existing methods of
superheating are characterized by the above mentioned points.
The effective power of compressed air and other engines may also be increased
in a similar manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
The method of increasing the pressure of steam or other compressed gases drawn
from a boiler or other pressure producer, which consists in causing said gases,
before their entrance into the engine, to pass into a separate heating apparatus,
which during the superheating is kept closed both to the engine and to the boiler,
and in allowing said steam or the like when the desired increase of pressure is
attained to pass into the engine, whilst in the case of engines working at a
higher number of revolutions several superheaters may be employed, fed in
series, and each in turn deliver to the engine, substantially as hereinbefore
-set forth.
Dated this 4th day of November 1896.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.