IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH STEAMSHIPS OR VESSELS AND THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.” PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, of the Firm of Yarrow and
Company, of the Isle of Dogs, Poplar, Ship Builders, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH STEAMSHIPS OR VESSELS AND THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Fernandez Yarrow at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th September 1878.
ALFRED FERNANDEZ YARROW, of the Firm of Yarrow and Company, of the Isle
of Dogs, Poplar, Ship Builders. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH STEAM-
SHIPS OR VESSELS AND THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
My Invention relates more particularly to torpedo and other fast vessels, and
has reference to methods of securing, and immunity from danger to the engineers
on duty and others, in the event of a failure of some portion of the boiler or boilers
taking place, the attainment of, which result formed in part the object of a former
Invention, in respect of which I obtained Letters Patent, dated the 4th day of
March 1878, No. 872.
According to my present Invention I employ a single fan, or two or more fans
or blowing apparatus, and I cause a portion of the air to pass direct to the fire or
fires in order to support combustion, and a portion to pass into the closed stoke-
hole; the portion of air which passes into the stoke-hole may pass on to assist in
supporting combustion in the manner described in the Specification to my said
former Letters Patent, or may be allowed to escape to a sufficient extent to give
ventilation.
My Invention may be carried out in various ways. For example, I may employ
two or more fans or blowing apparatus, one or more of which is or are arranged
within the compartment containing the boiler or boilers, or otherwise communi-
cating with the ash pan, so as to conduct the requisite amount of air thereto in
I Prine f71

page_text: order to support combustion, and the other or others communicating with the stoke-
hole, which is closed or isolated from the boiler compartment, as described in the
Specification to my said former Letters Patent. Or I may employ a single fan, or
two or more fans or blowing apparatus, situate either in the boiler compartment
or elsewhere, as is found convenient, but so arranged as to either conduct the whole
of the air into the said boiler compartment, whence a portion is allowed to pass
into the stoke-hole through a small opening or openings, or to conduct the main
body of air into the boiler compartment, and to allow the remaining portion to pass
from the conducting pipe or pipes into the stoke-hole, the latter being in the last-
'mentioned case closed or isolated from the boiler compartment in the inanuer
described in my said former Specification. Or I may arrange the fan, or fans, or
blowing apparatus, in any otlier convenient manner, so as to secure the required
sub-division of the current or supply of air. I find it advantageous to utilize the
suction or inlet of my fan, or fans, or blowing apparatus, for the purpose of
ventilation.
In order to effect this object I conduct pipes, or otherwise open a communication
between the suction of the fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, and the parts of the
vessel to be ventilated, thereby utilizing the fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, for
the double purpose of promoting combustion in the furnace or furnaces and
ventilation."
If the fan or fans or blowing apparatus were in direct communication with the
fire without the interposition of the valve or valves referred to in my said former
Specification to stop a current in the opposite direction there would be great danger
in the event of accident of the flame, gases, steam, and the like, passing, back
through the fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, into those parts of the vessel from
which the air is drawn. In order therefore to obviate this danger I interpose on the
suction side of the fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, a valve or valves opening in
the one direction and closing in the event of a current in the opposite direction.
"
When more than a single fan is employed, and a portion of the air is caused to
pass direct to the fires, and a portion to pass thro' the stoke-hole on its way to
the fire, I place a valve or valves of the description herein-before referred to either
on the suction or delivery side of the fan or fans, which propel the air direct to the
fire and on the delivery side of the fan or fans which deliver into the stoke-hole,
that is to say, between the stoke-hole and the furnace or furnaces.
By means of my Invention a supply of air to the fire or fires is effectually main-
tained for the purpose of supporting combustion, and an efficient ventilation of the
vessel is secured, whilst the danger of any return current from the fire or fires is
either obviated or greatly diminished.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
tho said Alfred Fernandez Yarrow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
March 1879.
""
ALFRED FERNANDEZ YARROW, of the Firm of Yarrow and Company, of the Isle
of Dogs, Poplar, Ship Builders. IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH STEAM-
SHIPS OR VESSELS AND THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
My said Invention relates more particularly to torpedo and other fast vessels, and
has reference to methods of securing an immunity from danger to the engineers on
duty and others in the event of a failure of some portion of the boiler or boilers
taking place, the attainment of which result formed in part the object of a former
Invention, in respect of which I obtained Letters Patent, dated Fourth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, No. 872.
According to my present Invention I employ a single fan, or two or more fans or
blowing apparatus, and I cause a portion of the air to pass direct to the fire or
5 fires in order to support combustion, and a portion to pass into the closed stoke-
hole, so as to maintain a pressure of air in the stoke-hole; as has previously been
done, for the purpose of preventing the egress of the flame and hot gasses from the
fire-door during the act of stoking. The portion of air which passes into the stoke-
hole may pass on to assist in supporting combustion in the manner described in the
0 Specification to my said former Letters Patent. or may be allowed to escape to a
sufficient extent togive ventilation. ⚫
The fan, or fans, or blowing apparatus, employed for maintaining the supply of
air may also be utilized for promoting the ventilation of the vessel.
My Invention may be carried out in various ways, examples of which I have
5 shewn on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which I shall now proceed par-
ticularly to describe, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
0
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are longitudinal sections of portions of ships or vessels,
illustrating four respective modifications of my said Invention.
According to one mode of carrying out my said Invention, which is illustrated
by Figure 1, I employ two or more fans or blowing apparatus, one or more of
which is or are arranged within the compartment containing the boiler or boilers,
or otherwise communicating with the ash pan, so as to conduct the requisite
amount of air thereto in order to support combustion, and the other or others
5 communicating with the stoke-hole, which is closed or isolated from the boiler
compartment.
:
In the example illustrated in Figure 1 two fans, marked respectively A and B,
are employed, the former A being arranged within the compartment C, containing
the boiler D and communicating with the ash pan E, so as to supply the requisite
0 amount of air thereto in order to support combustion in the fire or fires, whilst the
other fan (B) is arranged within or in communication with the stoke-hole G, which
is covered in, and is also by means of a bulkhead H isolated from the boiler com-
partment C, as described in the Specification to my said former Letters Patent.
The fans A, B, draw air from the external atmosphere through pipes I, K,
5 respectively. Or I may employ a single fan A, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, or two
or more fans or blowing apparatus, situate either in the boiler compartment C, as
represented in Figure 2, or in a chamber L communicating by means of a pipe or
pipes M with the ash pan E, which is closed in or isolated from the stoke-hole G,
as shewn in Figure 3; the apparatus being however so arranged as to either conduct
0 the whole of the air into the said boiler compartment, whence a portion is allowed
to pass into the stoke-hole G through a small opening or openings a, as represented
in Figure 2. Or to conduct the main body of air into the ash pan E, and to allow
the remaining portion to pass from the conducting pipe or pipes M into the stoke-
hole G through a small pipe M¹, as indicated in Figure 3. Or I may arrange the

page_text: fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, in any other convenient manner, so as to secure
the required division or distribution of the current or supply of air between the stoke-
-hole and the fire or fires.
I find it advantageous to utilize, the suction or inlet of my fan, or fans, or
blowing apparatus, for the purpose of ventilation.
Figure 4 illustrates a mode of effecting this object, I open a communication
'between the suction I, I, of the fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, and the parts of
the vessel (as, for example, the cabin O) to be ventilated, thereby utilizing the fan,
or fans, or blowing apparatus, for the double purpose of promoting combustion in
the furnace or furnaces and ventilation. If the fan, or fans, or blowing apparatus
were in direct communication with the fire without the interposition of the valve
or valves referred to in my said former Specification to stop a current in the
opposite direction there would be great danger in the event of accident of the flame,
gases, steam, and the like, passing back through the fan, or fans, or blowing
apparatus, into those parts of the vessel from which the air is drawn. In order
therefore to obviate this danger I interpose on the suction side of the fan or fans,
or blowing apparatus, a valve or valves P, Figure 4, opening in the one direction
and closing in the event of a current in the opposite direction.
When more than a single fan is employed, and a portion of the air is caused to
pass direct to the fire or fires, and a portion to pass into the stoke-hole, I some-
times interpose a valve or valves P¹, Figures 1 and 4, between the stoke-hole and
the furnace or furnaces; the said valve or valves being so arranged that when the
pressure of air in the stoke-hole sufficiently exceeds the pressure of air in the
ash pan or boiler compartment they will allow the air to pass on to assist in
supporting combustion, at the same time preventing a return current, as described
in my said former Specification.
By means of my said Invention a supply of air to the fire or fires is effectually
maintained for the purpose of supporting combustion, whilst the danger of any
return current from the fire or fires is avoided in some cases and greatly diminished
in others, and an efficient ventilation of the vessel is secured.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
will observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
First. The employment in ships or vessels in which a forced draught is used of a
fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, arranged in such a manner as to divide or
distribute the current or supply of air between the fire or fires and the stoke-hole,
substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The combination of a fan or fans, or blowing apparatus, used for the
'double purpose of supporting combustion and promoting ventilation, and of a valve
or valves placed on the suction side of the said fan or fans, or blowing apparatus,
and arranged in such a manner as to prevent any injurious return current, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.