A CONTINUOUS SELF-ACTING CONDENSER, BEING A NEW BOILER FEEDING APPARATUS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julian Brière, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Mechanician, for the Invention of "A CONTINUOUS SELF-ACTING
CONDENSER, BEING A NEW BOILER FEEDING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 3rd February 1863, and dated the 18th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julian Brière at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th August 1862.
I, JULIAN BRIÈRE, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CONTINUOUS
SELF-ACTING CONDENSER, BEING A NEW BOILER FEEDING APPARATUS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide an automatic arrangement for
feeding steam boilers. Between the boiler and the water tank a rock
shaft is situate carrying a pair of hollow cylindrical valves. The lateral
passages of one of these valves communicate respectively with a water supply
pipe leading from the water tank and a water supply pipe leading to the boiler,
and those of the other valve connect the steam pipes which lead respectively
from the boiler to the water tank. The rock shaft and valves are operated

page_text: by means of a rock lever of which the shaft is the fulcrum. This lever
carries at one end a weight and at the other a steam-tight chamber. Into
this chamber project to near the upper end thereof pipes which are connected
to the central bore of the cylindrical valves, the object being to supply this
chamber alternately with water and steam, and thus to cause it to fall, when
overbalancing the weight, and to rise when of less gravity. Steam is supplied
from the boiler by a steam pipe (dipping down to the permanent water level
line) to the rocking chamber, and as it condenses therein a partial vacuum is
formed which is filled by water from the supply tank. As this accumulates
the chamber falls and through its rock lever shifts the position of the valves.
The chamber being now lightened will rise and the valves will be shifted
again allowing a fresh supply of water to enter the chamber, and opening a
way for the steam to escape therefrom into the water supply tank when the
supply water is required to be heated. To facilitate the latter operation the
water may be discharged on to trays in the tank and fall in thin streams from
one to the other, the steam let into the tank passing up and mingling
therewith.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Julian Brière in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIAN
BRIÈRE, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Julian Briére, Her special license that I, the said Julian Briére, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Julian
Briére, 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 "A CONTINUOUS SELF-
ACTING CONDENSER, BEING A NEW BOILER FEEDING APPARATUS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Julian Briere, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my hand and seal 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 Julian Brieré, 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,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
-
The object of this Invention is to provide an automatic arrangement for
feeding steam boilers.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in partial plan view, and
Fig. 2 in longitudinal section the improved arrangement of feed water
apparatus, the same being interposed between the boiler to be supplied and
the tank forming the source of supply. A is the supply tank, and B the
steam boiler; C is a rocking frame mounted upon and keyed to a rock shaft D
which is made hollow through the greater portion of its length and furnished
with lateral openings. This shaft therefore besides carrying the frame C
forms also a pair of rocking cylindrical valves. The valves are each furnished
with two lateral passages and they are mounted in valve boxes E, E', which
are formed with two diverging passages a, b. The passage a of the valve
box E communicates with a water supply pipe a leading from the water
tank A and the passage b, communicates with a water supply pipe 6', leading
to the boiler B. A similar arrangement is adopted with respect to the valve
box E', one passage being connected to a steam pipe a leading to the tank
and the other b to a steam pipe 6 leading to the boiler. The rock shaft d is
coupled at its extremities with pipes c, c, which lead into a closed or steam-
tight chamber F (which I call a condenser) mounted on one end of the
rocking frame C, and above the water level of the boiler B. The other end
of this frame carries an adjustable weight G which is intended to counter-
balance the weight of the condenser and its contents at a certain period of the
action of the apparatus, and thereby rock the frame into the dotted position for
the purpose of shifting the valves and stopping or diverting the passage of
the water and steam through the apparatus for the purpose to be presently more
particularly explained. The pipes c, c, enter the chamber or condenser F at
the bottom, and the pipo c projects to near the upper end thereof, while the
pipe c' stops short at or near the bottom. The object of these pipes c, c',. is

page_text: to supply the condenser alternately with water and steam. As, therefore, the
water accumulates in the condenser the weight G will be overbalanced, and as
the water is discharged therefrom the condenser will rise. When the water
in the boiler falls below the proper water level, say the line 1, 2, steam is
supplied to the condenser from the boiler B by the steam pipe 6³, which dips
down from the crown of the boiler to a point a little below the water line 1, 2.
The pipe 6 being coupled, as already explained, with the valve box E', conveys
steam to the interior of the valve contained in that box (the valve being at
the time in the position of the valve shewn in section, in Fig. 2). As the
pressure of the steam in the boiler and condenser is equalized (the valve in
the valve box E being at this moment in the position shewn at Fig. 2), the
water will flow down from the condenser by the pipe c', to the valve in the
valve box E thence down the passage 6 to the pipe 6', and by that pipe into
the boiler. The condenser being lightened by the discharge of water therefrom
the counterweight G will come into action and through the rocking frame C
shift the valves to the position shewn at Fig. 1*, thereby opening through
the valve in the box E¹ a passage for the escape of the uncondensed steam
(if any) from the condenser, and by the valve in the box E opening a passage
for the supply of water from the tank. Water descending by the pipe a
will enter the passage a and passing through the valve in the valve box E
will flow by the pipe c¹ into the condenser. The chamber F being now filled,
will fall and the valves will be shifted again to the position shewn at Fig. 2,
thereby allowing a fresh supply of water to descend from the condenser or
chamber F into the boiler, and at the same time opening a way for the steam
to escape therefrom as before noticed. This escape steam after having per-
formed its office in the chamber F may, at the next shift of the valves, be
conducted from the chamber F by the pipe a³, into the water supply tank
when the supply water is required to be heated, or it may be discharged into
the atmosphere. To facilitate the heating of the feed water the water may be
discharged from its primary source on to trays in the tank and fall in thin
streams from one to the other, as shewn at Fig. 2, the steam let into the tank
passing up and mingling therewith. For the purpose of acting as a check to
the vibration of the rocking frame C it may be convenient to provide a brake
apparatus as shewn at H consisting of a water cylinder and loose piston, the
latter being connected by a cross head to the framing. The play of the piston
in this cylinder will offer a sufficient resistance to the movements of the
rocking frame to prevent a too sudden or beating action.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of a new boiler feeding

page_text: apparatus and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim the use of an automatic rocking feed water apparatus constructed and
operating as above described.
In witness whereof,. I, the said Julian Briere, have hereunto set my
hand and seal the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JULIAN BRIÈRE. (L.S.)