Improvements in Car Heating Apparatus.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Sept., 1891-Accepted, 10th Oct., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE LELAND CAR HEATER AND STEAM
COUPLER COMPANY, a Corporation organised under the laws of the State of
New York, and whose Offices are at 90, John Street, in the City of New York,
United States of America.]
Improvements in Car Heating Apparatus.
I, ERNEST DE PASS, of 78 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this 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
accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :--
This invention relates to certain improvements in car-heating apparatus, and the
purpose thereof is to secure a largely increased heating surface for the water
traversing the heater; to simplify and improve the construction of the latter; to
provide for the speedy and ready attachment of the steam outlet and inlet pipes
from the end, or cap, of the heater, and from the interior steam-head, and to so
construct and organize the several parts that the live steam from which the water
derives its heat shall be supplied to a series of annular steam-chambers, or spaces,
which not only enclose water-passages, but are surrounded by a water-space, or
spaces, whereby a small body of steam may be distributed over a very considerable
surface, and impart heat to water-contacting surfaces having more than double the
area of heating surface afforded by heaters having water-pipes in the drum
surrounded by steam, besides effecting the desired increase of temperature with a
comparatively small expenditure of steam and thus decreasing the demands made
upon the locomotive-boiler. It is also one purpose of this invention to provide a
steam-heater having a construction by which the unequal expansion and contraction
of the interior parts and exterior jacket shall be permitted without racking, or
straining the apparatus.
To these ends the invention consists in the several novel features of construction
and new combinations of parts hereinafter fully set forth, and then more particularly
pointed out and defined in the claims following this Specification.
In order that the invention may be readily understood, I will proceed to
describe the same in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in
which:
Fig. 1 is a central vertical section of a steam heating apparatus embodying the
invention, and
Fig. 2 a horizontal section of Fig. on the line x, x.
In the drawings 1 designates the cylindrical outer drum of the heater, having its.
lower end closed by a cap 2 furnished with an internally threaded flange which
receives the end of the drum, the latter being provided with a male thread. The
upper end of the drum is likewise closed by a cap 3, secured in a similar manner.
Through the centre of the cap 2 is tapped a pipe 4 by which the cold water, or the
water which has parted with a portion of its heat, is admitted to the heater, and
through the upper cap 3 is inserted, in a similar manner, a pipe 5 through which
the water, which has traversed the heater, finds exit.
This outlet pipe is usually connected to any suitable form of expansion tank, or
chamber, not shown in the drawings, and thence to the circulation-pipe, or radiators,
in the interior of the car.
Tapped into the lower cap 2 upon opposite sides of the inlet pipe 4, are two
separate pipes 6 and 7, the former being connected with the train-pipe in any
suitable manner, in order that live steam may be supplied thereto.

page_text: The pipes 6 and 7 have communication with short tubular pieces 8 and 9, having
right and left hand male threads upon their opposite ends, respectively, one end of
each being inserted in the threaded openings in the cap 2 and screwed in upon the
interior of said cap, which is thickened to provide threaded openings of sufficient
length to receive these tubular pieces, as well as the pipes 6 and 7. Upon the
inwardly projecting ends of said pieces are turned couplings 10, having right and
left-hand female threads on each, and to these couplings are connected tubular
pieces 12 and 13, each having one end screwed into one of the couplings 10. Into
the tubular opening in the piece 12 is inserted a thin copper tubing 14, having its
end brazed, or similarly fastened, in said tubular piece, above which the tube
projects for some distance, its upper open end passing the centre of the heater.
Into the tubular piece 13 is inserted in a similar manner, a tube 15 of about the
same length as the tube 14, and brazed in the piece 13. The length of these tubes
may be subject to variation, but it is preferred to use the proportions shown, or
substantially the same.
16 denotes a steam-head, composed of two substantially similar metallic discs
having a diameter somewhat less than the interior diameter of the drum 1 of the
heater. One of these discs is provided with a flange 17, concentric therewith, and
projecting from its flat face at a little distance from the edge of the disc, a male
screw-thread being cut upon the outer surface of said flange. Upon the other disc
is formed a like flange 18, the outer surface of which is flush with the edge of the
disc, while its inner surface is provided with a female thread, adapted to receive the
male thread on the flange 17. When thus attached a chamber 19 will be formed
between the said discs, as shown in Fig. 1.
In the upper of the two discs is formed a series of circular openings which
receive the ends of pipes 20, brazed or otherwise secured in place in said openings.
In the lower disc, and concentric with said openings, is formed a series of openings
which are less in diameter than those in the other disc and which receive the ends
of pipes 21, which pass upward within the pipes 20. In one of the openings in the
lower disc, which is threaded for that purpose, is screwed the end of the tubular
piece 12. In the part 13, in a similar manner, is inserted the end of the pipe 15,
which is provided with perforations at close intervals and lies in one of the tubes 20.
The steam-head 16 is situated some little distance above the lower end of the
heater.
In, or near, the upper end of the heater, is a second steam-head, 22, constructed
in the manner already described and enclosing a chamber 23, the pipes 20 of
greatest diameter penetrating the lower disc only, while the smaller concentric
pipes 21, pass through both the lower and the upper disc. It will be seen from this
construction that the series of pipes 20 have free communication with the two
chambers 19 and 23 in the lower and upper steam heads, respectively, while the
pipes 21 traverse both these chambers, as well as the surrounding pipes 20, and
communicate with the space enclosed by the drum 1 and its caps 2 and 3.
If steam be introduced through the steam inlet pipe 6, it will flow in the directions
indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, filling the annular spaces 24 between the pipes 20
and 21, while the water entering by the inlet-pipe 4 will not only flow through the
pipes 21, but passing through the annular space 25 between the edge of the steam
head 16 and the inner face of the drum 1, it will surround the larger pipes 20,
thereby giving two series of water-contacting surfaces; one being the interior
surfaces of the pipes 21, and the other the exterior surfaces of the pipes 20.
Moreover the steam being confined to the annular spaces 24, these surfaces are
heated with a comparatively small body of live steam.
By this construction not only is the use of an interior steam-drum avoided, but
an economy of steam is obtained, and in virtue of the largely increased heating
surface contained within the drum 1, there is obtained a much more rapid heating
of the water and a more speedy circulation of the same.
It will be seen that as the heat imparted by the steam increases, there will be a
certain amount of expansion both of the body of the drum, and of the pipes within

page_text: the same, through which the water and steam circulate. Experience has shown
that this expansion is not equal, that of the pipes being the greatest, in an ordinary
sized drum, by about one eighth of an inch. The steam heads and pipes being of
brass and copper, respectively, and the drum of iron, the cause of this difference is
found in the different coefficient of expansion of the one metal as compared with that
of the other.
This difference will, in practice, speedily destroy any heater in which the pipes
are made fast to the ends, or caps of the drum unless special devices are provided.
To arrange the pipes in coils is exceedingly objectionable, as the friction and the
tortuous path to be followed greatly retard the circulation, and to provide yielding
attachments at either end of the drum largely increases the cost, besides causing
leaks which require constant attention.
In order to permit this expansion and the consequent contraction and avoid the
expense and objection attending other forms, the pipes are connected at one end of
the drum only by means of the couplings 10, or other suitable devices, leaving the
head 22, at the other end of said pipes, wholly disconnected from the drum and
free to rise and fall within the same. This construction is simple and-inexpensive,
and produces the desired results perfectly, offers no impediment to the rapid
circulation of the water, and removes all strain from the drum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim, as communicated
to me :-
1. In a railway car-heating apparatus, the combination of an enclosing drum
having a water-inlet at one end and a water-outlet at the other end, steam-heads
arranged within the drum and each having a steam-chamber, steam conducting
pipes penetrating the adjacent walls of the steam-chambers, concentric water
conducting pipes, of smaller diameter, traversing the steam-pipes and extending
through both steam chambers and terminating inside the drum for conducting
water through the steam pipes from the water-inlet end of the drum to the water
outlet end thereof, and a steam inlet and outlet for the steam-chambers and steam-
pipes, substantially as described.
2. In a railway car-heating apparatus, the combination of a drum having
a water-inlet and outlet in its respective ends, steam heads each composed
of two separable, flanged discs, steam-conducting pipes arranged between said
steam-heads and having communication with steam-chambers therein, concentric
water-conducting pipes traversing the steam-pipes and chambers, and passing
through the steam-heads, and terminating inside the drum, and a steam-inlet and
outlet, the steam-heads being arranged concentrically in the drum to provide an
annular water-passage between their edges and the inner surface of the drum,
substantially as described.
3. In a steam heater for railway car-heating apparatus, the combination with
a drum having a water-inlet at one end and an outlet at the other, of steam-heads
arranged within the drum and each having a steam-chamber, straight steam pipes
penetrating the adjacent walls of the steam-chambers, concentric water conducting
pipes of smaller diameter traversing said steam-pipes and extending through both
steam-chambers for conducting water from the water-inlet end of the drum through
the steam pipes to the water-outlet end, and a steam inlet and outlet to which one
of the steam heads is rigidly connected, the other head being free to move within
the drum, substantially as described.
4. In a steam heater for railway car-heating apparatus, the combination with a
drum having a water-inlet and outlet in its respective ends, of steam heads each
composed of two separable flanged discs, arranged within the drum, straight steam
conducting pipes arranged between said steam heads and having communication
with the steam-chambers therein, the straight concentric water conducting pipes
traversing said steam-pipes and chambers and passing entirely through the steam-
heads, for conducting water from the water-inlet end of the drum to the water

page_text: outlet end thereof, and a steam inlet and outlet, the steam heads being arranged
concentrically in the drum to provide annular water-passages between their edges
and the inner face of the drum, one of said steam heads being mounted rigidly
upon said steam inlet and outlet, while the other steam-head is free to move with
the expansion and contraction of the pipes, substantially as described.
5. In a steam heater for railway car-heating apparatus, the combination with
steam-heads each enclosing a steam chamber, of a series of interposed steam-con-
ducting pipes, the ends of which have communication with the steam chambers, a
corresponding series of smaller, concentric, water-conducting pipes passing entirely
through the steam pipes and through both the steam chambers and the steam
heads, a steam-inlet opening between the ends of one of the steam-conducting pipes,
a perforated steam outlet, similarly arranged in a diametrically opposite steam
conducting pipe, and a drum enclosing the said parts and having a water inlet and
outlet, one of the steam heads being rigidly attached and the other free to move
within the drum, substantially as described.
6. In a steam heater for railway-car-heating apparatus, the combination with a
drum, having a water inlet and outlet in its respective ends, of steam-heads
arranged within the drum, pipes connecting said heads and permitting the passage
of water through and between said pipes, a steam-inlet pipe and a steam-outlet
pipe penetrating one end of the drun and entering one of the steam-heads, to
which said pipes are rigidly connected, the other steam head being entirely dis-
connected from the heater, and being of less diameter than the interior thereof to
permit free expansion and contraction and allow passage for the water around the
same, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day September 1891.
ERNEST DE PASS,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 6, Victoria Street, Nottingham.