IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN FIXING THE SAME."
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Balmforth, William Balmforth, and
Thomas Balmforth, all of Clayton, in the County of Lancaster,
Iron Masters, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
BOILERS, AND IN FIXING THE SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Balmforth,
William Balmforth, and Thomas Balmforth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 5th October
1852.
We, JOHN BALMFORTH, WILLIAM BALMFORTH, and THOMAS BALM-
FORTH, all of Clayton, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Masters, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN FIXING THE SAME," to be as follows, and by
which we gain an economization of fuel, and a great saving of space or
room on which the boiler stands :-
We fix the boiler in a vertical position, that is, standing on its end
on four cast iron pillars, with a flue through the centre which serves for
a chimney; thus no brickwork is necessary for the seat of the boiler,

page_text: but we recommend a casing of bricks at the top part of the flue, or
that part which is exposed to the weather.
The greatest advantages of this plan of boiler will be obtained where
air furnaces are used, or other kinds of furnaces where a great heat is
required for particular purposes, the said heat escaping when the
required purpose has been accomplished, which by this plan the said
heat is directed under the boiler and through the flue, and will thus
heat the water in the boiler without any additional fuel.
The flue, by reason of being fixed on end, will require no cleaning,
and for the same reason any sediment that may deposit in the boiler can
easily be cleaned out by blowing, even while at work. There will also
be less danger of explosions.
The steam can be taken out at any height in the boiler.
It is also evident that these improvements are applicable to all kinds
of boilers, and especially to multibular boilers; the heat will pass up
or ascend through any number of flues, and thus heat the surrounding
water.
We also fix a peculiar combustion chamber in or about the centre of
the boiler, by which a still further economization of fuel and consump-
tion of smoke will be effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Balmforth, William Balmforth, and
Thomas Balmforth in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
2nd April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN BALMFORTH, WILLIAM BALMFORTH, and THOMAS BALM FORTH, all
of Clayton, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Masters, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, and in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Balmforth, William Balmforth, and

page_text: Thomas Balmforth, Her special licence that we, the said John Balm-
forth, William Balmforth, and Thomas Balmforth, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such other as we, the said John
Balmforth, William Balmforth, and Thomas Balmforth, our 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS, AND IN FIXING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Balmforth, William Balmforth, and
Thomas Balmforth, or one of us, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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; as reference being thereunto had will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Balmforth, William
Balmforth, and Thomas Balmforth, do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:
Our Invention, relates to boilers or vessels for generating and con-
fining steam, into which we introduce one or more tubes or flues of the
ordinary description, but in all cases we fix them in a vertical or per-
pendicular position, instead of the horizontal, as heretofore adopted. We
will describe two kinds of these boilers or vessels: the first with one tube
or flue through the centre or any convenient position; the second with
any convenient number of them, as shewn and illustrated in the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the same letters of reference
are used to represent the same part or parts where different views or
diagrams are shewn. Fig. 1; represents a sectional elevation of our

page_text: .
improved boiler, with one tube or flue up or through it, which tube or
flue answers the purpose of a. chiinney, thus saving the expence of
brickwork, &c. . This boiler stands in a vertical position on iron pillars;
and to illustrate the advantages more clearly we have represented it as
attached to an air furnace, the excessive heat from which is conveyed
to and ascends the tube or flue, and thuis' heats the water in the boiler
by which it is surrounded. By this contrivance the heat from the fur-
nace (which would otherwise be entirely lost) answers all the purposes
of the fuel, which would in ordinary cases be required to create the
"steam. Fig. 2, is a sectional elevation of a boiler with a number of
tubes or flues, and a combustion chamber in the centre for the more
effectual combustion of the gasses and consuming the smoke. "Fig. 3,
is a plan of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4, a plan of Fig. 2. This boiler stands on
an iron frame with fire hole under it, so that the heat ascends up the
We make the top
.flues and heats the water which surrounds them.
Alues of a greater diameter than the bottom ones, so that if any of them
require repairing a man can enter the combustion chamber through the
man hole, and take any of the bottom tubes through the top ones, and
out at the top of the boiler, and replace them or others in the same
way. The advantages of these kinds of boilers consist of economy of
construction, as they require no brickwork either for the seat or chim-
ney, except at the top part of the flue, where we recommend a casing
of bricks; they are easily cleaned or repaired, and less liable to accidents
than the ordinary boilers now in use, and they effect a considerable
saving of fuel, as it is evident where furnaces are used the heat from
them is sufficient to generate the steam without any extra fuel; and in
the Drawings a, représents the water space in the boiler; b, the tubes
or flues; c, the combustion chamber; d, the man holes; e, the feed
pipe; f, the steam pipe, through which the steam passes to the cylinder
of the engine, but it is evident it may be taken out at any convenient
height; ; g, the valve; and h, the damper. The usual taps, stop cocks
guages, &c. may be used, none of which we claim exclusively. But
what we claim as new and of our Invention is, the construction of
'boilers as herein described, and fixed in a vertical or perpendicula

page_text: position, answering the purposes of both chimney and boiler, whether
the same be heated from the furnace or fixed in the manner described
by Fig. 2.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Balmforth, William Balmı-
forth, and Thomas Balmforth, or one of us, have hereunto set
our hands and seals or hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
one or all the said parties
hereto in the presence of
JOHN BALMFORTH. (L.S.)
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.