with water.
Year: 1886

page_text: with water.
I, HEINRICH GERDES of No. 4 Ostbahnhof Berlin in the Kingdom of Prussia'
and German Empire 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:—
The automatic apparatus hereinbefore employed for supplying steam boilers with
water present the serious disadvantage that in consequence of the number of
mechanical parts such as levers supports or bearinga valves and the like with
which they are necessarily provided owing to the complicated nature of their
construction they are liable to get out of order very readily and wear out rapidly
in such a manner that they work either improperly or not at all. The object of
the present invention is to provide an apparatus which shall be entirely free from
these disadvantages being constructed without any moveable parts such as levers
or the like and being brought into operation automatically by the action of a single
valve as hereinafter described.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
...
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents an apparatus constructed
according to this Invention applied to an ordinary steam boiler and Figure 2
drawn to a larger scale illustrates a portion of the apparatus showing the
connections hereinafter referred to.
.
....
Figures 3 and 4 represent in elevation and vertical section respectively an
apparatus constructed according to this Invention.
•
This apparatus consists essentially of a cylinder Å provided at its lower part.
with an orifice figure 4 and at its upper part with an orifice 3³ figure 3 and in
which a float a is placed so as to be capable of rising and falling therein to a
limited extent thereby alternately opening and closing a valve D. attached to the
said float and controlling the communication with the interior of the cylinder
through an orifice D' which is provided with a suitable valve seat D₁. The,
orifice communicates with a tube "figure 2 and the orifice y' communicates
A

page_text: with a tube y figures 1 and 2 leading to the boiler indicated at K figure 1. The
tube also passes into the boiler being secured to the plates by a flanged collar a
figure 2 and descends in the interior of the boiler to such a depth that its
extremity will be immersed even when the surface of the water is standing at
its lowest working level figure 1. The tube y is secured to the boiler by a flange 5
at y figure 2 and descends in the interior of the boiler so as to just touch the
surface of the water when the latter is standing at its normal working level.
Above the cylinder A is a junction piece T figures 3 and 4 containing valves u
and v and a central passage z' communicating with the cylinder A and with a
tube z ascending to the upper part of a chamber B secured to the junction piece T 1
by an air tight joint.
The valve u controls the communication through a pipe u between the
chamber B and the water supply and the valve controls the communication
through a passage v and tube M between the chamber B and the boiler. The
tube M opens into the boiler at a point below the water level so that the water in 1
the boiler is forced up into the chambers B and A which are always filled with
water when the apparatus is at rest and under these conditions the float a rises
and closes the valve D.
1,
When the level of the water in the boiler falls so low as to uncover the lower
end of the tube y the water flows out of this tube into the boiler and its place is 1
occupied by steam. Directly the cylinder A is filled with steam entering through
the tube y figures 1 and 2 in consequence of the equilibrium being destroyed
the water contained in A flows back into the boiler through the tube a. When
the level of the water in the cylinder A sinks below certain limits the weight of
the float pulls down and opens the valve D thus establishing communication
between the chamber B and the boiler. The boiler pressure then acting in the
chamber the water previously contained therein flows by its own weight into the
water space in the boiler the valve v being opened by the pressure provided of
course that the chamber B is situated at a higher level than the surface of the.
water in the boiler. The flow of water from the chamber B raises the level of the
water in the boiler until the water touches the opening of the pipe y whereupon
water from the boiler ascends into the cylinder A through the tubes a and y
simultaneously the steam in the chamber B being condensed and so long as the
valve D remains open in consequence of the condensation of steam the water also
ascends into the cylinder A and chamber B the pressure in this chamber being
lower than that in the boiler. As the cylinder A fills with water the float rises!
and gradually closes the valve D. The condensation proceeding in the chamber B
creates a vacuum therein and causes water under atmospheric pressure to enter
through the supply valve u and fill the chamber.
The steam which rises in to the apparatus to restore the equilibrium of pressure
being drawn direct from the surface of the water in the boiler a considerable
quantity of water passes over with the steam but is immediately returned through
the tube until the rise of the water in the boiler prevents the steam from
escaping through the tube y.
'
Above the chamber B there is provided a small chamber C containing a float c
provided at its upper end with a valve c¹ and at the lower end with a valve c².
The object of this arrangement is to provide for the escape of any air that may be
drawn into the apparatus along with the water and also for the oscape of any
superfluous steam resulting from any expansion that might possibly take place in
the chamber B. For this purpose the relative areas of the valve orifices in the
chamber C are so adjusted that when the pressure is below a certain limit the
float c descends closing the lower and larger valve of and opening the upper and
smaller valve c¹. When owing to a slight expansion of the steam in the chamber B
the pressure exceeds the limit fixed the reverse action takes place and the float C
closes the upper valve c¹ and opens the lower valve c². The operation of filling
the cylinder is thus accelerated and the apparatus is enabled to be used for
sunnlving the boiler with hosted food watan

page_text: In case it is impossible to place the chamber B above the level of the water in
the boiler the chamber B and the float o are dispensed with and a feed pump is
employed which pumps in a supply of water continuously this water not being
admitted to the boiler except when the valve D is opened.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
A new or improved apparatus for automatically supplying-steam boilers with
water constructed and operating as hereinbefore set forth and consisting essentially
of the valve D in the cylinder A which cylinder, communicates at its upper part
with the boiler K through a tube y extending to a point coinciding with the
normal level of the water in the boiler and communicates at its lower part with
the boiler through a tube x descending to a point below the lowest working level
of the water in combination with the chamber B and the float valves c¹ o² or a
feed pump all substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accom-
panying drawings.
J. HENRY JOHNSON,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C...