IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR UTILISING THE MOVEMENTS OF MARINE OR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR THE REGULATION OF THE FURNACE DRAUGHT
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 28, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention
of "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR UTILISING THE MOVEMENTS OF
MARINE OR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR THE REGULATION OF THE FURNACE
DRAUGHT." A communication from abroad by Henry Alexander Brognard,
of Philadelphia, in the County of Philadelphia, in the United States of
America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Charles Denton Abel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th May 1880.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR UTILISING
THE MOVEMENTS OF MARINE OR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR THE REGULATION OF THE
FURNACE DRAUGHT." A communication from abroad by Henry Alexander
Brognard, of Philadelphia, in the County of Philadelphia, in the United States of
America.
This Invention relates to means and apparatus for utilising the movements
of locomotive engines, whether land or marine, for the regulation of the furnace
draught.
The causes of disturbance which are to be overcome are present in respect to
marine engine furnaces and to land locomotives in a less degree, and their treatment
In marine engine
is so similar that it is impracticable to disassociate them.
furnaces, the draught is principally disturbed by the centrifugal action upon the
column of air in the chimney when the ship rolls, and by the alternate acceleration
and retardation of the moving column in the chimney when the ship rises and
sinks with the waves. The movement of air over the chimney in a direction
perpendicular to its axis, consequent to the flow of the wind or the motion of the
chimney through a still atmosphere is also a disturbing cause, exceedingly irregular
in its action. A marine engine furnace draught is ordinarily affected by the
complication of these, and the disturbance is all the greater because at one moment
these causes may be more or less in conflict, and at the next in harmony.

page_text: To neutralize these disturbances, and place the draught partially under control,
fan blowers have been employed with marine engines, and with land locomotives it
has been customary to exhaust into the stack. Both of these methods are
objectionable because they absorb power, and are proportionately costly.
This Invention neutralizes these disturbances, but owing to their irregularity it
may not be possible at all times to dispense with extraneous draught producing
devices. So far however, as the disturbing cause can be utilised under control to
impel the draught, so far will power be economised, while the extra loss will be
obviated entirely. The draught of a furnace is in fact an ascending column of hot
air, carrying with it the products of combustion, and uniform steaming requires a
uniform flow of air through the fire. This column of hot air ascending and escaping
at the top of the chimney is accelerated or retarded in its rate of flow by the causes
named, and consequently the flow through the fire is correspondingly irregular.
Wind blowing across the top of the chimney accelerates it. The oscillation or roll
of the ship by centrifugal force, accelerates it. The rising and sinking of the ship
álternately retard and accelerate it.
The cause of disturbance can be neutralised by producing simultaneously equal
disturbances in an opposite direction, that is to say, if when the ship risos, the
outflow from the chimney is retarded, that retardation must be neutralised by an
increased inflow and augmented pressure at the bottom. When the ship sinks into
the trough of the sea, the consequent acceleration of the column in the chimney will
be neutralised by a corresponding retardation or diminution of pressure at the
bottom.
These effects may be produced by counterbalancing columns of air connected with
the column in the chimney at the fire chamber, and normally moving in an opposite
direction, so that any effect of acceleration or retardation of the column moving
upward in the chimney will be simultaneously counterbalanced by an effect of
retardation or acceleration of the feeding column moving downward to the fire
chamber. This counterbalancing column of air supports combustion in the fire
chamber which ordinarily receives support from no other source.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate the application of this Invention to a
marine boiler.
Figure 1 represents in vertical transverse section a marine furnace and steam
generator, to which this Invention is applied. Figure 2 is a longitudinal section
of the vessel, showing the furnaces on one side and the chimney in elevation.
Figures 3 and 4 represent in horizontal and vertical section, a typical form of the
Invention, for the purpose of illustrating its mode of operation, and its applicability
to all required purposes of a furnace. A is the fire box of the steam boiler, and a
are the grates; B is the ordinary chimney provided at its top with a cap composed
of annular inclined plates d, d, which cause all currents of air striking the top of
the chimney to produce an effect of exhaustion upon its interior space.
This cap
acts as an ejector of the column of hot air and products of combustion rising in the
chimney B, and escaping at its top. The counter balancing columns are in the
feeding tubes E, E, the vertical length whereof is about equal to the vertical length
of the chimney B, and their capacity to carry cold air is as nearly as possible equal
to the capacity of the chimney B to carry hot air. The counter balancing effect of
these columns of air will be evident in view of the foregoing statements.
To equalize and ensure the feeding flow through the tubes E, and to prevent any
exhaustion from their inlets by reason of adjacent atmospheric currents, these inlets
are provided with annular inclined plates e, e, so adjusted that from whatever
direction atmospheric currents may encounter these plates they will be diverted
and driven into the tubes E. The plates e, e, constitute an injector.
If the furnace were at rest or subjected to disturbance from one direction only, a
single counter-balancing column might be adjusted so as to be entirely efficient, but
such conditions do not occur.
A marine engine furnace is subjected to disturbing motions of every possible
complication of lateral and vertical movements. And in common with the land

page_text: locomotive it is subjected to atmospheric currents from every direction between
horizontal and vertical, and having movements with every complication as to
direction. Under these circumstances it is practically impossible to arrange a single
feeding column to meet all possible condition of disturbance, unless it be made
annular surrounding the chimney B, as shewn in Figure 1, so that it is equally
exposed from all directions.
It will appear evident that the essential condition of this Invention is the
substantially equal length vertically of the feeding and discharging columns, and
that the feeding spaces may be arranged in a great variety of ways other than those
shown, to suit the convenience of surrounding circumstances, also that any
known forms of injectors and ejectors may be applied to the inlets and outlets
respectively.
It is manifest that so far as atmospheric disturbances due to wind are concerned,
this Invention is equally applicable to locomotive engine furnaces, and that in
addition to its beneficial results herein described, it may also be readily arranged to
operate as a spark and cinder arrester, applicable to stationary as well as to loco-
motive furnaces. Recurring again to the Drawing, F represents the water and steam
spaces of a boiler or steam generator, and steam may be taken therefrom by suitable
pipes in the usual way. In Figures 1 and 2 the the Invention is shown as applied
to a marine furnace, the feeding tube or space E being annular as to the chimney.
The feed air conducted through the space E is distributed to the furnaces by means
of wind trunks G, and the inflow into these trunks may be controlled and limited
by doors H. It is well known that a large percentage of the heat generated in the
furnace is discharged through the chimney to the upper air. A considerable portion
of this waste heat will be radiated laterally from the pipe B. To obviate the
disturbing effect of this radiation upon the air in the feeding space E an air space
jacket I is interposed between the chimney B and the feeding tube or space E.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim,
First. Regulating tho draught of marine or locomotive furnaces by the arrange-
ment of descending columns of air to support the combustion so as to counterbalance
the columns ascending in the chimnies, substantially as set forth.
Second. The combination with a furnace A and chimney B, of feeding tubes E,
arranged to receive air near the level of the top of the chimney, and discharge it
into the fire box, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Third. The use of deflecting plates & and e, to operate respectively as ejector and
injector, in combination with a furnace A, chimney B, and feeding tubes E,
substantially as set forth.
Fourth. A furnace chamber and stack B provided with ejectors, combined with
feeding tubes E provided with injectors, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
CHA³. D. ABEL. (L.S.)