IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING APPARATUS, AND IN APPLYING HOT AND WARM AIR TO MANUFACTURING AND OTHER PURPOSES WHERE THE SAME ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SWAN, of Kircaldy, in the County of Fife, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Swan, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexander Swan, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Alexander Swan,
my exors, adiiors, 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 expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING APPARATUS,
AND IN APPLYING HOT AND WARM AIR TO MANUFACTURING AND OTHER PURPOSES
WHERE THE SAME ARE REQUIRED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Alexander Swan, should cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately 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
Alexander Swan, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Draw-
ings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Firstly, my improvements in heating apparatus have for their object the
economizing of fuel employed in generating steam, in evaporating fluids, and
in the distillation of coal, peat, or other like substances. Figures 1, 2, and 3
exemplify its application to a steam boiler. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section
of the boiler, furnace, and appendages; Figure 2 is a cross section on the
line a, b, of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is an end elevation. A is the furnace;
B, the furnace door; C, the ash pit; D, a small cylindrical boiler, which
occupies a place in the interior of the furnace, and is prolonged backwards to E,
between which and the furnace A it forms the core, around which a spiral
flue F, F, is constructed. The heated products of combustion arising from the
furnace are thus made to traverse over nearly the whole of the exterior surface
of the boiler D before arriving at the fluc G, where they come in contact with
the exterior surface of the boiler H, and ultimately pass into the chimney by
the internal flue I. By this arrangement the greater portion of the heat
generated in the furnace is absorbed by the boiler and its contents before the
gases enter the chimney. K, K, are pipes which connect the boilers D and H
together, and through which the steam and water have free course to circulate.
L is an apparatus for regulating the draft through the chimney, according to
the pressure of the steam inside the boiler. When the pressure increases
through a too great intensity of fire in the furnace or from other causes, the
regulating apparatus closes the damper M and slackens the fire, while, on the
contrary, a decrease of pressure of the stean causes the regulator to open
the damper. A view of this regulating apparatus, partly in section, is given on
an enlarged scale in Figure 4. N is an upright cylinder, fixed on the top of
the pipe O, which last has free communication with the boiler; P is a metal
plunger, which fits loosely into the cylinder N at bottom. This plunger rests
upon a diaphragm 0, of vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable elastic sub-
stance capable of resisting the force of the steam, and at top it carries a
rack Q, which takes into a pinion R, affixed to the shaft of a grooved pulley S.
The damper M is suspended from a chain on the pulley S, and counterpoised

page_text: by a weight T upon the opposite side of the pulley, which weight also acts
against the pressure of the steam on the diaphragm; when the steam increases
beyond the pressure to which the weights of the different parts are calculated,
it raises the plunger, by pressing upon the elastic diaphragm, and acting thereby
upon the pulley S, causes the damper to descend. A reverse action takes place
when the pressure of steam is reduced.
Figure 5 represents this system of heating applied to the evaporation of
lees. A, A, are two cast iron tubes, which are connected together at one end
by a pipe B, and the other end communicate with a cistern C through the
pipes D and E. The uppermost of the tubes A is wholly enveloped by a spiral
flue, but the lowermost occupies a place partly in the furnace F and partly in
a spiral flue G. The heated gases of the furnace, after having circulated
around the lower tube, pass up around the pipe B and circulate around the
upper tube, escaping at H. The lees in the lower tube A, as they become
heated, ascend into the upper tubo through the pipe B. The increased heat
causes the lees to be ejected from the upper tube A through the pipe D into
the cistern C, in which there is a division plate, against which the lees are
forced, which causes a separation of the steam from them, the steam escaping
by the pipe I, while the lees descend into the lower tube A by the pipe E.
This circulation of the lees is continued until they have been sufficiently
evaporated, when they are let off by a pipe at K. The lees are introduced
through a pipe at L. M, M, are the handles of the scrapers or tube cleansers.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 7 is a cross section, of a tube
for evaporating lees; it is fitted inside with a moveable division plate A, A, A,
with bevelled flanges on its surface, as represented in section. The lees are
admitted at B, circulate between the flanges, and escape at C in a recovered
state. The heat is to be applied to the external surface of the tube by means
of a furnace and spiral flue, as has been described in reference to Figure 5.
Figures 8 and 9 shew the application of this spiral flue system to the dis-
tillation of coal or peat. Figure 8 is a longitudinal section of a furnace and
retort, and Figure 9 is a cross section on the line a, b, of Figure 8. A is the
furnace; B, the retort for containing the coal or other substance from which
the gas is to be manufactured; C is the spiral flue; and D, D, return flues,
leading to the chimney; E is the pipe for conveying the gas to the hydraulic
main.
Secondly, my Invention consists in the application of the spiral flue system,
before described, to the beating of air for drying purposes, such as the drying
of yarns, cloth, paper, grain, and other fabrics and substances, and also to the

page_text: heating of houses and other buildings. Figure 10 is à representation of a
drying house fitted with my improved apparatus. A, A, is the apartment
in which the goods to be dried are disposed; B is the furnace, which is placed
at one corner of the building; C, a spiral flue, which surrounds an internal
metallic air flue D. The spiral flue together with the air flue is carried round
the building under the sparred flooring E. Cold air is admitted to the flue D
immediately over the furnace, and after becoming heated in its progress
escapes by the upright pipes F, F, F, into the drying apartment. The air as
it gets saturated with moisture is allowed to escape through apertures in the
roof of the building. The admission of heated air into the drying room is
regulated by valves placed in the upright pipes F, F, F, by which the heated
current may be directed more or less upon any desired spot. Where a very
great extent of heating surface is wanted, coils of tubing might be substituted
for the straight internal tubes or flues aforesaid, and the spiral flues be carried
around the same.
Figure 11 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus for evaporating fluids
and heating apartments. A is the evaporating cistern; B, B, C, C, the hot
air tubes; D, hot air chamber. The pipe E is employed when the appa-
ratus is used for heating apartments. F is a water vase for moistening the
atmosphere.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which
I claim as constituting my said. Invention are as follows:-.
First, I claim the steam boiler, before described, in so far as regards the
manner in which straight or rectangular cylinders or tubes are therein com-
bined with curved tubes or flues carried spirally around the others, for the
purpose of generating steam.
Second, I claim the apparatus for the destructive distillation of coal, peat,
and other like substances, as before described, in so far as regards the similar
combination therein of straight or rectangular cylinders or tubes with curved
tubes or flues carried spirally around the others, and the application of such
combination to the distillation of coal, peat, and other like substances.
Third, I claim the apparatus for evaporating lees, as before described, in so
far as regards the application to such purpose of the combination of straight
or rectangular cylinders or tubes with curved tubes or flues carried spirally
round the others, and also the means adopted for separating the steam from
the lees.
And, fourth, I claim the application of the peculiar combination aforesaid of

page_text: straight or rectangular cylinders or tubes, or coils of tubing with curved tubes
or flues carried spirally round them, to heating, drying, and dessicating purposes,
as before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Swan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
ALEXANDER (L.s.) SWAN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Alexander Swan come before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.