Improved Liquid Fuel-supplying Arrangements for Marine Boiler Furnaces.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 19th July, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 19th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 19th July, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Liquid Fuel-supplying Arrangements for Marine Boiler
Furnaces.
I, JAMES FORTESCUE FLANNERY, of 9, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, and WILLIAM BOYD, of North House, Long-
benton, in the County of Northumberland, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows;-
The object of my invention is to enable liquid fuel to be stored in ballast
tanks on board ship, with, or alternately with, water ballast; to be utilized as
ballast; and to be supplied to and consumed in the ship's boiler furnaces without
the risk of serious accidents that has heretofore been found to arise in consequence
of the liability of water that has remained in the ballast tanks being conveyed to
the service tanks, fed to the furnaces, and, by sudden conversion into steam, pro-
ducing dangerous explosions.
For the purpose mentioned, I provide, in connection with the apparatus whereby
liquid fuel is actually projected or introduced into a furnace or set of furnaces
(hereinafter for distinction called the feeding apparatus") two sets (or there
might be more) of liquid fuel supplying appliances, so constructed and arranged
that, whilst the one set is supplying liquid fuel to the feeding apparatus, the
other set may receive a supply of liquid fuel from a ballast tank or tanks, and
the liquid fuel so supplied may have separated and removed from it, any water that
may have passed with it from the ballast tank or tanks into the said supplying
appliance.
My invention may be carried out in various forms. Usually, such an arrange-
ment will comprise, for each furnace or set of furnaces, (a set of furnaces may be
distributed over one or more boilers) two or more separate and independent
service tanks or chambers or sets of service tanks or chambers (they might be
separate compartments of one tank or chamber) each provided with suitable com-
munication with the ballast tank or tanks, constituting the main liquid fuel
reservoir or reservoirs; with means for pumping or transferring liquid fuel from
such ballast tank or tanks to the service tanks or chambers, and, likewise, with
means for indicating the presence of water, and for enabling such water to be
withdrawn, and each, furthermore, capable of being readily shut off from com-
munication with the ballast tank or tanks, and of being readily placed in com-
munication with, so as to supply liquid fuel to, the feeding apparatus, which may
conveniently be some type of injector or injectors adapted for spraying liquid
fuel into the furnace or combustion chamber or furnaces and combustion
chambers, whether by means of steam or otherwise, as well understood.
In all cases, the arrangement is such that, whilst liquid fuel is being transferred
from the ballast tank or tanks to a service or gravitation tank or chamber or set
of such and until the water, if any, has been allowed to settle, and has been
removed from the liquid fuel in such service tank or chamber, or set of such, that
service tank or chamber, or set of such, can be (as it must be) cut off from com-
munication, for the time being, with the feeding apparatus whilst the sister

page_text: service tank or chamber or set of tanks or chambers is during the same time
capable of keeping up the supply of liquid fuel to the feeding apparatus and of
being in its turn afterwards shut off from the feeding apparatus and used for the
purpose of water separation and so on alternately.
With such an arrangement, after separation and removal of the water, the
liquid fuel-containing service tank or chamber can, whenever required, be placed
in communication (for instance, by opening a suitable cock or cocks) with the
feeding apparatus so as to supply the furnace or furnaces, whilst the service tank or
chamber or tanks or chambers of the other set of fuel-supplying appliances is or
are cut off from communication with the feeding apparatus, placed in com-
munication by pumps, or otherwise with the ballast tank or tanks, supplied with
liquid fuel, and such fuel has removed from it any water that may have accom-
panied it into such service tank or chamber or tanks or chambers.
Sometimes service tanks arranged at opposite sides of a vessel have been
connected so as to simultaneously supply oil to feeding apparatus and such an
arrangement if duplicated may be adopted in carrying out my present invention.
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.
Improved Liquid Fuel-supplying Arrangements for Marine Boiler
Furnaces.
We, JAMES FORTESCUE FLANNERY (Knight), of 9, Fenchurch Street, in the
City of London, Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, and WILLIAM BOYD,
of North House, Longbenton, in the County of Northumberland, Engineer, 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 follow-
ing statement:—
The object of this invention is to enable liquid fuel to be stored in ballast
tanks on board ship, with, or alternately with, water ballast; to be utilized as
ballast; and to be supplied to and consumed in the ship's boiler furnaces without
the risk of serious accidents that has heretofore been found to arise in consequence
of the liability of water that has remained in the ballast tanks being conveyed to
the service tanks, fed to the furnaces, and, by sudden conversion into steam, pro-
ducing dangerous explosions.
For the purpose mentioned, there are provided, in connection with the apparatus
whereby liquid fuel is actually projected or introduced into a furnace or set of
furnaces (hereinafter for distinction called
(or there might be more) of liquid fuel supplying appliances, so constructed and
the feeding apparatus"), two sets
arranged that, whilst the one set is supplying liquid fuel to the feeding apparatus,
the other set may receive a supply of liquid fuel from a ballast tank or tanks,
and the liquid fuel so supplied may have separated and removed from it, any
water that may have passed with it from the ballast tank or tanks into the said
supplying appliance.
The invention may be carried out in various forms. Usually, such an arrange-
ment will comprise, for each furnace or set of furnaces, (a set of furnaces may be
distributed over one or more boilers) two or more separate and independent

page_text: service tanks or chambers or sets of service tanks or chambers (they might be
separate compartments of one tank or chamber) each provided with suitable com-
munication with the ballast tank or tanks, constituting the main liquid fuel
reservoir or reservoirs; with means for pumping or transferring liquid fuel from
such ballast tank or tanks to the service tanks or chambers, and, likewise, with
means for indicating the presence of water, and for enabling such water to be
withdrawn, and each, furthermore, capable of being readily shut off from com-
munication with the ballast tank or tanks, and of being readily placed in com-
munication with, so as to supply liquid fuel to, the feeding apparatus, which may
conveniently be some type of injector or injectors adapted for spraying liquid
fuel into the furnace or combustion chamber or furnaces and combustion
chambers, whether by means of steam or otherwise, as well understood.
The accompanying drawings illustrate four examples of liquid fuel supplying
arrangements in accordance with this invention.
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are longitudinal and transverse sections and plan respectively
of a portion of a vessel with a pair of double-ended boilers provided with the
improved liquid supplying means; the ballast tanks being built with the ship at
the bottom and sides thereof; and the service tanks, of which there are two, being
arranged at opposite sides of the vessel.
Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse and longitudinal sections of a portion of a vessel
with two single-ended boilers whose furnaces are supplied in accordance with
this invention with liquid fuel from a pair of service tanks suitably carried by
the framing of the vessel, the ballast tank at the bottom being built with the
ship.
Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are longitudinal and transverse sections and plan respectively
of a portion of a vessel with three single-ended boilers. In this case the furnaces
of the boilers are fed with liquid fuel from two cylindrical service tanks arranged
in an upper part of the vessel, the bottom ballast tanks being shown supplemented
by upright tanks arranged transversely of the ship.
Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are similar to Figs. 6, 7 and 8 respectively except that in
this example the service tanks are at opposite sides of the vessel and built there-
with.
نا
In each example 1 is a ballast tank from which liquid fuel is supplied to the
service or gravitation tanks 2, 2, by means of a pump 3 having a suction pipe 4
communicating with the ballast tank 1 at the bottom of the ship, and also having
other suction pipes 4 leading to the upright ballast tanks when such are em-
ployed. From the pump 3 the liquid fuel is forced through a delivery pipe 5
having branches 5", 5, each of which leads to the upper part of a service tank 2
and each provided with a shut off cock 5. A draw-off pipe 6 having a cock G
leads from within each service tank 2 (a short distance above the bottom thereof)
to one or more gravitation pipe or pipes 7 which or each of which is provided with
suitable branches 9 leading to the liquid fuel injectors 10 indicated by way of
example in Fig. 2. Each service tank 2 is provided with a gauge glass 11 for
indicating the presence of water, and also with a drain pipe 12 having a cock 12".
This drain pipe; the upper end of which opens into the lowest part of the tank,
serves to draw off any water which may have passed from the ballast tank with
the liquid fuel and has settled to the bottom of the service tank. 13, 13 are over-
flow pipes from the service tanks to the ballast tanks, and 14, 14 are air escape
pipes for the service tanks. It will be obvious that separate ballast tanks may be
employed instead of those built with the ship.
In all cases, as will be seen, the arrangement is such that, whilst liquid fuel is
being transferred from the ballast tank or tanks to a service or gravitation tank
or chamber or set of such, and until the water, if any, has been allowed to settle,
and has been removed from the liquid fuel in such service tank or chamber, or
set of such, that service tank or chamber, or set of such, can be (as it must be)
cut off from communication, for the time being, with the feeding apparatus, whilst
the sister service tapk or chamber or set of tanks or chambers is during the same

page_text: time capable of keeping up the supply of liquid fuel to the feeding apparatus and
of being in its turn afterwards shut off from the feeding apparatus and used for
the purpose of water separation and so on alternately.
With such an arrangement, after separation and removal of the water, the
liquid fuel-containing service tank or chamber can, whenever required, be placed
in communication (for instance, by opening a suitable cock or cocks) with the
feeding apparatus so as to supply the furnace or furnaces, whilst the service tank or
chamber or tanks or chambers of the other set of fuel-supplying appliances is or
are cut off from communication with the feeding apparatus, placed in com-
munication by pumps or otherwise with the ballast tank or tanks, supplied with
liquid fuel, and such fuel has removed from it any water that may have accom-
panied it into such service tank or chamber or tanks or chambers.
Sometimes service tanks arranged at opposite sides of a vessel have been
connected so as to simultaneously supply oil to feeding apparatus and such an
arrangement if duplicated may be adopted in carrying out the present invention.
In some cases, for instance, where there is but little head room over the boilers
the liquid fuel supplying appliances may be advantageously modified by providing
two or more tanks arranged at or below the level of the boiler and adapted to be
alternately used as settling tanks wherein to separate and remove from the liquid
fuel any water that may have been passed with it from the ballast tanks, a small
service tank arranged above the level of the boilers and means such as a pump or
pumps whereby liquid fuel freed from water in either of the said settling tanks
may be transferred thence as required for use into the service tank whence it can
flow by gravity to the feeding apparatus. Such settling tanks may be variously
constructed for instance cofferdams, that is to say the space, usually empty between
the wall of a tank and the chamber adjacent, may be made to serve as such, or
the tanks may be built into the cross or side bunkers of the ship.
Figs. 12 and 13, Figs. 14 and 15 and Figs. 16 and 17 are respectively similar
views to Figs. 1 and 2 illustrating examples of arrangements such as just above
referred to. In each case 15, 15" are the settling tanks and 16 is the service tank.
17 is a pump by which liquid fuel is transferred from the ballast tank 1 (or other
oil containing space) through the suction pipe 4 and valve box 17", delivery valve
box 5 and pipe 5, 5 to the settling tanks 15, 15ª, alternately; liquid fuel is
also transferred from the said settling tanks alternately to the service tank_16
by the pump 17 through suction pipes 18 and 18" and valve box 17", delivery valve
box 5° and pipes 5b. The draw off pipe 7 of the service tank is attached directly to
the cock 6 The service tank 16 is drained by means of a drain pipe 20 having
a cock 20". Other parts are marked with the same reference numerals as are
applied to the corresponding parts in the previously described arrangements.
Having described the nature of the said invention and in what manner the
same is to be carried into practical effect, we desire to have it noted that we do
not claim broadly the so arranging service tanks in connection with ballast
tanks and with liquid fuel feeding apparatus that liquid fuel can be transferred
from the ballast tanks to the service tanks and thence to the feeding apparatus,
but we declare that what we do claim is:
1. In liquid fuel-supplying arrangements for marine boiler furnaces, pro-
viding in connection with the feeding apparatus whereby liquid fuel is actually
projected or introduced into a furnace or set of furnaces, two or more sets of
liquid fuel supplying appliances, adapted for alternate use in the manner herein-
above described, the construction and arrangement being such that whilst one
or more of the said sets is or are supplying liquid fuel to the feeding apparatus,
liquid fuel from a ballast tank or tanks or reservoir, can be introduced into and
have any contained water separated therefrom within another or others of the
said sets of liquid fuel supplying appliances as set forth.
2. For supplying liquid fuel to marine boiler furnaces in the alternate manner
hereinabove described, apparatus constructed, arranged and operated as shown in

page_text: and explained with reference respectively to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive; Figs. 4 and 5:
Figs. 6 to 8 inclusive; Figs. 9 to 11 inclusive; Figs. 12 and 13; Figs. 14 and 15,
and Figs. 16 and 17 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 19th day of Anril 1899.
or the Applicants,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.