IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR GENERATORS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th August 1865.-A communication from abroad by Henry Clark
Sergeant, of Columbus, in the State of Ohio, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery;
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR
GENERATORS," to be as follows:-
The present Invention has for its object the rapid production or generation
of steam with a minimum consumption of fuel. This result is effected by:
inserting between that portion or portions of the boiler subjected to the..
direct action of the fire from the furnace and the main body of the water.
contained therein, an inner dividing metallic plate or partition, parallel or-
nearly so to the same, and with a small space or chamber between them.:
This plate extends around the boiler to the top edge of the fire-pot, or nearly,
so, and allows the water in the boiler to freely communicate with and circulate-
through the space between it and the fire-plate, whereby but a comparatively':
small quantity of water, that is, that contained, between the inner casing and:
the boiler plate) is subjected to the action of the heat from the furnace fire, thus:

page_text: causing steam to be rapidly generated therefrom, which as it passes out of the
chamber escapes to the upper portion of the boiler in a complete, or nearly so
disengaged state. The passage of the steam is thus over and upon the fire surface
of the boiler, which obviously tends to superheat it, and also produces such a
strong and powerful current within the intermediate narrow chamber or
space as to cause the water therein to be drawn up as it were with the steam,
which passing over and along the fire surface is quickly generated into steam,
the water by such action being carried above the water line of the boiler, in
consequence of which it receives not only heat from the action of the furnace
fire in one direction, but also in a considerable degree from the steam within
the boiler chamber, the advantages of "which are manifest.
In adapting the Invention to a vertical boiler the fire-pot or furnace with
tits grate, and also the vertical tubes, are entirely surrounded by an outer
casing. The vertical tubes are fixed in a crown plate which is attached to
the top of the fire-pot and forms the dividing partition. Between the side
plate of the fire-pot and the boiler plate is a space or chamber, which is
divided into two separate chambers or spaces by an intermediate plate fixed a
short distance from and parallel to the sides of the fire-pot and extending a
short distance above the top of the same: Communication is had between
'these two spaces at the lower end of the dividing plate, which is slightly raised
or fixed above the bottom plate of the boiler. A series of vertical flues or
fire tubes extend from the crown plate of the fire-pot to the top plate of the
boiler and pass through the steam chamber thereof. Around each one of these
tubes and concentric therewith, but with a space between them, is
another tube extending for a portion of its length and nearly to the crown
plate of the fire-pot. Within the chamber around the fire-pot the water is
fed through any suitable conducting pipe leading thereto from the reservoir,
and by the action of the fire in the fire-pot that portion of the water
contained in the intermediate chamber soon becomes heated to that degree
necessary to generate steam, which as fast as thus produced escapes therefrom
and passes upward through the space in contact with the fire surface and
escapes into the upper portion of the boiler, from whence it is conducted
through any suitable pipe or pipes to the steain chest of a steam engine or
any suitable receiver. A horizontal plate is placed within the upper portion
or steam space of the boiler a short distance above the crown plate of the fire-
pot, 'the flue tube casings passing through it, and made of a little less diameter
than the internal diameter of the boiler, leaving a space between its edge and
the same, but of sufficient diameter to extend over and beyond the vertical
plane of the partition plate in the water chamber of the boilers. The object

page_text: of this plate is to serve as a barrier to prevent the sediment, such as salt and
lime, carried with the steam through the steam generating spaces of the boilers,
and out of the same into the steam chamber thereof, from dropping upon
either the crown plate, or from resting upon any portion of the fire surface;
the plate will catch and retain all such sediment, from which it can be removed
when desired. The water chamber around the fire-pot is extended a short
distance below the fire grate thereof, whereby a reservoir or trap is formed as
it were, which retains a considerable quantity of the sediment, the ebullition
and agitation of the water by boiling, as well as in consequence of the strong
current produced by the steam, having so little effect upon it as hardly to
disturb its condition.