IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Randolph Sees, of the City of New York, in
the United States of America, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Randolph Sees at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th August 1856.
I, JOHN RANDOLPH SEES, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED WATER OF STEAM
BOILERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is principally applicable to that form or construction of
steam boilers wherein return flues are employed passing through the body
of the boiler into a chamber at the forward end thereof (called the "breeching"
or smoke box), from whence the smoke and other products of combustion pass
off to the chimney. The Invention consists of a series of heating pipes placed
in the smoke box in connection with a double-acting check valve placed outside
the boiler. The ordinary feed pipe is connected to the lower end of a
cylindrical valve box, and at the point of junction therewith is furnished with

page_text: a conical valve seat, in which is fitted a conical valve opening upwards. This
valve is mounted upon a rod supporting a second conical valve which opens
downwards, and is at the lower end of a return or circulating pipe in con-
nection with the lower part of the steam boiler. These two valves are so
arranged that when one valve is open the other is closed, and vice versa. The
upper end of the valve rod passes through a stuffing in the top of the valve
box, and has a weight placed thereon, which has a tendency to keep the lower
valve closed and the upper one open, but when the feed pump is in operation
the current of water forces open the lower valve and closes the upper one.
Between these two valves is a pipe, which communicates from the valve box
to a branch pipe placed inside the smoke box. To this branch pipe are
connected two or more smaller heating pipes, which extend to the other end of
the smoke box, and return to a similar branch pipe placed in the smoke box
above the former; to this second branch is connected a pipe which com-
municates with the body of the boiler. The heating pipes are made of such a
size that their united area shall be about equal to that of the feed pipe. By
thus diffusing the amount of capacity among two or more pipes instead of
confining it to one, the same body of water is subjected to a given heat in a
much less quantity of pipe that presents less obstruction to the draft of the
boiler. When the feed pump stops its supply, the lower valve is closed and the
upper one opened by the current of water from the boiler through the return
pipe, which passes to and circulates in the heating pipes and keeps them filled,
to avoid the liability of their being overheated by the water being driven out of
them, which would occur if the circulation was not kept up therein. The supply
and return pipes are attached to the boiler below the lowest water line, for the
purpose of ensuring a perfect circulation of water through them at all times.
The heating pipes and their appendages may be placed in a similar manner
in the smoke box of a locomotive or a direct flue boiler, and be operated upon
by the escape heat, in the manner herein-before described.
by the said John Randolph Sees in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RANDOLPH SEES, of the City of New York, in the United States of America,
Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Randolph Sees, Her special licence that I, the said John Randolph Sees, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Randolph Sees, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING
THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Randolph Sees, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 John Randolph Sees, 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 in writing, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:--
This Invention is principally applicable to that form or construction of steam
boilers wherein return flues are employed passing through the body of the
boiler into a chamber at the forward end thereof (called the breeching or
smoke box), from whence the smoke and other products of combustion pass off
to the chimney.
The Invention consists of a series of heating pipes placed in the smoke
box in connection with a double-acting check valve placed outside the
boiler.
The ordinary feed pipe is connected to the lower end of a cylindrical valve
box, and at the point of junction therewith is furnished with a conical valve
seat, in which is fitted a conical valve opening upwards; this valve is mounted
upon a rod supporting a second conical valve, which opens downwards, and is
at the lower end of a return or circulating pipe in connection with the lower
part of the steam boiler. These two valves are so arranged that when one
valve is open, the other is closed, and vice versâ. The upper end of the valve

page_text: rod passes through a stuffing box in the top of the valve box, and has a weight
placed thereon, which has a tendency to keep the lower valve closed, and the
upper one open, but when the feed pump is in operation the current of water
forces open the lower valve and closes the upper one. Between these two valves
is a pipe which communicates from the valve box to a branch pipe placed
inside the smoke box. To this branch pipe are connected two or more smaller
heating pipes, which extend to the other end of the smoke box, and return to
a similar branch pipe placed in the smoke box above the former; to this
second branch is connected a pipe which communicates with the body of the
boiler. The heating pipes are made of such a size that their united area shall
be about equal to that of the feed pipe. By thus diffusing the amount of
capacity among two or more pipes instead of confining it to one, the same
body of water is subjected to a given heat in a much less quantity of pipe that
presents less obstruction to the draft of the boiler. When the feed pump stops
its supply, the lower valve is closed and the upper one opened by the current
of water from the boiler through the return pipe, which passes to and circulates
in the heating pipes and keeps them filled, to avoid the liability of their being
overheated by the water being driven out of them, which would occur if the
circulation was not kept up therein. The supply and return pipes are attached
to the boiler below the lowest water line, for the purpose of ensuring a perfect
circulation of water through them at all times.
The heating pipes and their appendages may be placed in a similar manner
in the smoke box of a locomotive or a direct flue boiler, and be operated upon
by the escape heat, in the manner herein-before described.
In the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front end of
a return flue boiler, with the heating pipes arranged within the breeching or
smoke box, so as to be heated by the escape heat; and Figure 2 is a vertical
section of the double-acting check valve detached.
A is the forward end of an ordinary return flue boiler, with the front of the
breeching removed in order to shew the arrangement of the heating pipes; B,
the body or cylindrical part of the boiler; C, the front end of the return flues
through which the products of combustion pass to the breeching in their
passage to the smoke stack or chimney; D, the pipe from the feed pump,
attached to the lower end of the double-acting check valve E; F, a pipe con-
necting the check valve E with the lower branch G of the heating pipes; H, the
upper branch of the heating pipes, connected to the body of the boiler by the
pipe I; J, the heating pipes, connected at their lower ends to the branch G, and
running to the opposite side of the breeching, and from thence running back to

page_text: the branch H, to which they are connected at their upper end; they are
made of such size that their united area shall be about equal to the area of the
feed pipe D. By thus diffusing the amount of capacity among three pipes
instead of confining it to one, the same body of water is subjected to a given
heat in a much less quantity of pipe that presents less obstruction to the draft
of the boiler. K, a circulating pipe, attached at one end to the boiler and at
the other to the top of the check valve E, for the purpose of creating a circula-
tion of water from the boiler through the heating pipes when the supply of
water from the feed pump is shut off; L, a double conical valve, so constructed
that when the feed pump is in operation the lower valve is held open (by the
current of water passing it) to permit the feed water to pass to the heating
pipes, while the upper one is closed to shut off the supply from the circulating
pipe K, and when the feed pump stops its supply the lower valve is closed
and the upper one opened by the current of water from the boiler, which
passes to and circulates in the heating pipes and keeps them filled, to avoid
the liability of their being overheated by the water being driven out of them,
which would occur without the circulation being kept up through them. The
pipes I and K are attached to the boiler below the lowest water line, and the
heating pipes J are placed below the same line for the purpose of ensuring a
perfect circulation of water through them in the case above mentioned, it being
impossible to effect that purpose when the heating or circulating pipes are
connected to the boiler or placed above that line.
The heating pipes and their appendages may be placed in a similar manner
in the smoke box of a locomotive or a direct flue boiler, or in the breeching of
a return flue cylinder boiler, and be operated upon by the escape heat, as
herein described. By placing the heating pipes at the end of the boiler, when
the heat escapes to the smoke stack or chimney they are not subjected to the
intense heat that they would be if placed within the furnace or other highly
heated portion of the boiler, where they are liable to be burned out, and where
they abstract from the heating surface of it a portion of the heat; while they
heat the feed water as hot as is desirable to work it with the escape heat, that
is otherwise lost and valueless, resulting, as shown in practice, in a valuable
economy of fuel, instead of feeding the boiler with cold or nearly cold water,
as ordinarily used.
In conclusion, I would remark, that I claim as my Invention the heating
pipes J placed in the breeching or smoke box, and the branch pipes G and H
in connection with the chamber containing the double-acting check valve L
and the circulating pipe K, all arranged below the lowest water line of the

page_text: boiler, in the manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Randolph Sees, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN RANDOLPH SEES. (L.S.)