IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING STEAM
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOB
PERKINS, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of July, in the second year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jacob
Perkins, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Jacob Perkins, my exors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Jacob Perkins, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at al 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, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING STEAM;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Jacob Perkins, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months 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 Jacob
Perkins, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained
n and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings

page_text: hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is
to say)-
My Invention is that of a new method or methods of producing a rapid
generation of steam, and consists in an apparatus that may be constructed
with or superadded to the steam boiler or generator of steam. This apparatus
may be considered as a lining to the internal surface of the boiler or generator,
admitting the water to circulate between the two by passages that are left open
at the lower and upper parts of the lining, whereby the heat given off from the
inner surface of the boiler will be rapidly carried up to the surface of the water
and given off with the steam; and such boilers may have a higher degree of
heat applied thereto without injuring the metal.
This Invention may be more fully understood and carried into effect by the
Drawings hereunto annexed, which represent the apparatus as applied to three
descriptions of steam boilers, by way of example; and I would observe, that in
each of these Drawings and the Figures there shown, the same letters refer to
similar parts.
Drawing, marked No. 1, represents the apparatus applied to a boiler con-
structed with a number of tubes or compartments descending from the main
body, so as to come each into contact with the fire in the furnace, and thereby
presenting a more considerable surface to the heat, as will be evident by
inspecting this Drawing. These tubes are denoted by the letter a respectively;
the letter c represents internal tubes to the tube a, open at bottom and also at
top, and these are the linings which constitute Invention or improvements.
The inner tubes c rest on the inner area of the bottom of the tubes or com-
partments a, on the legs or supports d, which keep the inner tubes or linings c
in their proper places, and leave a space all around as well as at the bottom
to produce the circulation, more fully described hereafter.
This boiler is formed of two separate parts e and f. Figure 1 represents a
cross section of the boiler; g being a steam pipe which connects the upper
parts of the two, and is for the purpose of equalizing the steam therein; his
another pipe which connects the water and keeps it on an equal level in the
two; i, the water supply pipe; j, the steam pipe leading to the engine.
Figure 2 is the plan of the bottom of one of the parts or boilers e and f
shewing the position of the tubes a and c. With respect to the other necessary
parts of the boiler, which are known to every person acquainted with this sor
of machinery, it is not deemed necessary to enumerate them, as they are no
essential to explain the Invention.
On lighting the fire in the furnace the heat will strike against the oute
surfaces of the tubes a, and thus give off heat to the water which is in contac

page_text: with the metal, and such heated water will rise to the surface, and give off so
much of it as is converted into steam, whilst the inner column of water con-
tained in the tubes c will descend and continue to fill up the space of that part
which has become heated, and is rising to the surface; and thus will a very
rapid circulation of the water take place in each of the tubes a caused by the
tubes or lining c, and by such rapid circulation, however great the degrees of
heat applied to the outer area of the tubes a, the rapid circulation will carry up
the same, and give it off at the surface with the steam, and thus at all times
keep the tubes a at a temperature which will not injure the metal, which
would be the case were the inner tubes or linings c not used.
In Drawing No. 2, Figure 1 represents the section of a cylindrical steam
boiler, such as is usually employed for high-pressure engines; and Figure 2
is a section of what is termed a waggon boiler, such as is used for low-pres-
sure engines. In each of these two Figures I have not thought it necessary
to show the construction of those boilers more particularly, they being well
understood and in very general use, the only difference being the addition of
the linings c, which are curved plates running from end to end of the interior
surface of the boilers, but kept apart from each other at the bottom to
admit the passage of the water between them and the water, and kept open
and apart from the boiler at the top for the same purpose, such plates being
kept to the positions shown in the Drawings by means of short rods, which are
rivetted or otherwise affixed to the sides of the boiler, and also to the linings c.
The linings care for the purpose of obtaining a rapid circulation of the water,
as described with respect to Drawing No. 1. In Figures 1 and 2, Drawing
No. 2, it will be seen that I use two separate fire-places or furnaces, the
object of which is that the partition of brickwork, which runs the whole length
under the boiler, should prevent the fire acting under that part of the boiler,
by which means the water over such brickwork always contains less caloric
than that which is directly acted upon by the fire; and by the action caused
by the partitions or linings c, a rapid circulation will be produced, which will
take up the heat more quickly from the inner surface of the boiler, and give
it off with the steam.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and having shown my
improvements as applied to three descriptions of steam boilers, it will be
evident from the nature of the Invention that the shapes of the boilers may
be varied without departing from my Invention, which I hereby declare to
consist in applying the linings c by any apparatus, upon the principles and
by the methods above described, for the purpose of obtaining a rapid circula-
ion of the water in steam boilers or generators, and thus causing the water to

page_text: take
пр
the heat from the inner surface of such steam boilers or generators,
and thereby producing a rapid generation of steam with less injury to the
metal or material of the boiler, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacob Perkins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.