IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM ENGINE AND OTHER BOILERS TO PREVENT EXPLOSIONS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Routledge, of Salford, in the County
Palatine of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM ENGINE AND OTHER BOILERS TO PREVENT
EXPLOSIONS."
Sealed the 8th July 1856, and dated the 16th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Routledge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
April 1856.
I, WILLIAM ROUTLEDGE, of Salford, in the County Palatine of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM ENGINE AND OTHER BOILERS TO PREVENT
EXPLOSIONS, to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to the insertion of one or more tubes or tubular
flues in boilers, so situated and constructed, that while one end passes through
the water and communicates with the furnace or main flue, the other end shall
rise above the water level and pass out through the steam space into a side flue,
or otherwise; and such tube or tubes, at and below any fixed line of water
level that may be desired, must be drilled with a number of holes, each of which
is afterwards to be plugged up with a conical plug of lead or a fusible metallic

page_text: alloy from within side the boiler, allowing the ends of such plugs to protrude
into the tube or tubes, to be there acted on by the heated products of com-
bustion passing from the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Routledge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1856.
-
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROUTLEDGE, of Salford, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Routledge, Her special licence that I, the said William
Routledge, iny executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Routledge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, 'an Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM ENGINE AND OTHER BOILERS TO PREVENT EXPLOSIONS, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Routledge, my exccutors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of. the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Routledge, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My said Invention relates to the insertion of one or more tubes or tubular
flues in boilers, so situated and constructed, that while one end or portion

page_text: thereof passes through the water and communicates with the furnace or main
flue, the other end shall rise to within a few inches of the usual water level,
and pass out. into a side flue, or otherwise; and such -tube or. tubes, at and
below any fixed desired line of water level that may be desired as a levél, not
to be exceeded during evaporation, 'must be drilled with a number of holes,
each of which is afterwards to be plugged up with a conical plug of lead or a
fusible metallic alloy from withinside the boiler, allowing the opposite ends
of such plugs to be acted on by the heated products of combustion passing from
the furnace through the tubes thus plugged.
And for the better understanding of my said improvements, I will now pro-
ceed to give the details of the same, reference. being, had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, in which the same letters indicate like parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of a cylindrical boiler, with my
improvement applied to and connecting the internal or fire tube and shell of
the boiler; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a
transverse sectional elevation of a tubular boiler, with my improvements
applied to and connecting the bottom and side of shell of the boiler; Figure 4
is a like section of a common cylindrical boiler, with similar application; and
Figure 5 is an enlarged view, showing the perforated end of my improved
safety pipe or tube. A, A, is the external brickwork; B, B, the boiler;
C, C', the furnace; D, D, side flues; E, E', E", the safety apparatus.
Figure 5, a perforated tube or pipe, the perforations stopped up with lead or
fusible metal plugs; this pipe is fitted by a flange or other suitable means to
openings made for the purpose in the boiler plate, and being bolted, rivetted,
or otherwise fastened thereto; the hot air passing from the furnace or flues
entering the end a, passes out at the end b, which should therefore be so
arranged as never to have less than three inches or thereabouts of water con-
tinually above its top surface; for, on the water falling below and exposing
the end of the pipe, the fusible plugs therein at c will melt, occasioned by
the excessive heat consequent on the insufficient supply of water in the
boiler, and the result will be the blowing off of steam and water through the
safety tube into the furnace and flues, according as it may be situated.
Having thus fully described the nature, construction, and several modes of
applying my said improvements in steam boilers, I would here observe that I
do not restrict myself to the precise form, dimensions, materials, or situation
for the tubes, or any particular fusible metal or alloy of metals, so long as the

page_text: main features of my Invention are maintained; and I do declare that what
I claim is, namely, the peculiar construction of safety tubes or flues fitted
with lead or fusible metal plugs, and their application to steam boilers, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Routledge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
1056
WILLIAM ROUTLEDGE. (L.S.)
WILLIAM ROUTLEDGE. (L.S.)