IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Chaplin, of No. 11, Adam Street,
Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain,
con for the Invention of 66 Tenn
S PA
Sealed the 17th April 1866, and dated the 23rd October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Chaplin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd October 1865.
I, ALEXANDER CHAPLIN, of No. 11, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in arranging or combining the
parts of steam boilers in order, with simplicity of construction, to obtain
extensive and efficient heating surface together with a large combustion
chamber or fire-box, in order to consume inferior qualities of fuel and to
burn smoke. A boiler embodying the improvements is of the vertical
cylinder class, having a high internal fire-box with a curved or slightly
coned top, from the centre of which a single flue tube, made by preference)
to widen upwards, leads to the uptake or funnel above. A number of

page_text: tubes with closed bottom ends are fixed by screwing or otherwise in the
top of the fire-box, so as to project downwards into the fire-box in slightly
inclined directions converging towards the centre. It is preferred to
dispense with appliances within the tubes for inducing circulation, such
appliances being found practically unnecessary. An important feature of
the Invention is the causing of the fire gases to diverge towards the sides
of the fire-box, so that in necessarily finding their way towards the central
flue tube above these gases must strike in converging lines across the
downwardly projecting water tubes. This is effected by the convergent
inclination of the tubes combined with the closing up with fire-clay of
the space within the central circle of tubes (and in some cases the space
between the central and adjacent circles of tubes), this closing appliance
being at or near the bottoms of the tubes. The water tubes may be more
or less inclined, and they may be introduced partly down the sides as well
as at the top of the fire-box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Chaplin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CHAPLIN, of No. 11, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex,
and of Glasgow, North Britain, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Chaplin, Her special licence that I, the said
Alexander Chaplin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alexander Chaplin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with; and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter 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 BOILERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Chaplin, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: 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 Alexander Chaplin, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in arranging or combining the
parts of steam boilers in order, with simplicity of construction, to obtain
extensive and efficient heating surface together with a large combustion
chamber or fire-box, in order to consume inferior qualities of fuel and to
burn smoke. A boiler embodying the improvements is of the vertical
cylinder class, having a high internal fire-box with a curved or slightly
coned top, from the centre of which a single flue tube, made by preference
to widen upwards, leads to the uptake or funnel above. A number of
tubes with closed bottom ends are fixed by screwing or otherwise in the
top of the fire-box, so as to project downwards into the fire-box in slightly
inclined directions converging towards the centre. It is preferred to
dispense with appliances within the tubes for inducing circulation, such
appliances being found practically unnecessary. An important feature of
the Invention is the causing of the fire gases to diverge towards the sides
of the fire-box, so that in necessarily finding their way towards the central
flue tube above these gases must strike in converging lines across the
downwardly projecting water tubes. This is effected by the convergent
inclination of the tubes combined with the closing up with fire-clay of
the space within the central circle of tubes (and in some cases the space
between the central and adjacent circles of tubes), this closing appliance
being at or near the bottoms of the tubes; or, if the water tubes
be caused to converge at the bottom so much that their lower ends touch
each other (or nearly so), the filling up of the interstices with fire-clay at
or near the bottom may be dispensed with. The water tubes may be more
or less inclined, and they may be introduced partly down the sides as well
as at the top of the fire-box.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in Steam. Boilers," I will now proceed to describe more in detail the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly understood I
have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a steam boiler
constructed according to one modification of my Invention; a, a, is the
body of the boiler, and b, b, the internal fire-box. The top c, c, of this
fire-box is made curved or slightly conical, and from its centre a single
flue or tube d, d, widening upwards, leads to the uptake or funnel e, e, above.
Into the top c, c, of the fire-box are fixed (by screwing or otherwise) a
number of hanging tubes f,f, having their lower ends closed, but with
their upper ends open to the water space in the boiler. These tubes f,f,
are inclined inwards, and caused to converge towards the centre at their
lower extremities, so that at this part they are brought nearer together than
at their upper ends, and the space within the central circle of tubes is
closed with fire-clay, as at g, g. In some instances I propose also to close
the spaces between the other circles of tubes at or near the bottom in a
similar manner. The converging of the tubes at the bottom, and the
stopping up of the interstices at that part with fire-clay, prevent the flame
and gases from passing directly upwards to the uptake, causing them to
diverge towards the sides of the fire-box, and on their passage thence to
the uptake or flue to strike in converging lines at right angles or nearly so
across the hanging water tubes f, f, as shewn in the Drawing. Figure 2
in the Drawing shews a vertical section of a modification of the above,
wherein the hanging tubes f,f, are placed at a greater incline, and caused
to converge together in such a manner that their lower ends touch (or
nearly so), and the filling up of the interstices with fire-clay is entirely
dispensed with.
The arrangement of the lower ends of the tubes is clearly shown at
Figure 3, which is a horizontal section of the boiler taken through about
the line A, B, in Figure 2, and looking upwards towards the curved or
conical top c, c, thereof.
"
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
Improvements in Steam Boilers," together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention the constructing of
vertical cylindrical steam boilers with an internal fire-box, having water

page_text: tubes with closed ends projecting downwards or hanging from the top
thereof, the said tubes being inclined or converging together at their lower
ends, substantially in the manner shewn in the Drawings annexed and
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Chaplin, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ALEX. CHAPLIN. (L.s.)