CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of August, in the thirteenth year, of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors, admors, and
assigns,, and such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors,
adiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS," being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that, the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of these improvements is to construct steam boilers or steam
generators in such a manner that the greatest possible heat may be obtained
in the least possible space, and to apply such heat to the smallest possible
surface necessary to produce the desired effect; or, in other words, to increase
the intensity of the fire in proportion to the quantity of steam required, so
that by applying a larger quantity or given amount of heat to a less extended
heating surface the intended objects (such as the production of steam) may be
obtained in a more effectual, more economical, and satisfactory manner than
in boilers or steam generators now usually employed.
The object of the Invention will perhaps be best understood by the following
description of a steam generator constructed according to the present improve-
ments, and shewn in the accompanying Drawings :-
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section taken through the boiler
near the middle; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section; and Fig. 3 is an
external elevation. The fire-place or furnace is shown at a. The fire-bars b, b,
are supported at both ends as usual, and are surrounded by a wall of fire
bricks c, c, which are built upon a ledge or platform p, made of sheet or
wrought iron, and set in the masonry. The wall of fire bricks thus forms a
kind of shallow well, the bottom of which is formed by the fire-bars b, b. The
fuel is supplied to the fire-place through an opening or aperture d, Fig. 2.
The upper part of the fire-place or furnace, where the heat from the fuel is
developed, is constructed of a conical shape as shewn at e, with an aperture at
the top for the escape of the non-combustible gases up the flue ff. The water
of the boiler surrounds this conical fire chamber and vertical flue, and the effect
of this arrangement is that the greater portion of the rays of heat which radiate
from the incandescent fuel impinge against-the-sides-of-the-cone, and most of
them are absorbed by the water which surrounds the same, while the rest are
reflected back upon
the fuel, and the heat in the fire-place is thereby very con-
siderably increased; so that as the combustible gases are evolved from the fuel
they are immediately consumed, instead of passing into the flue or chimney, and
escaping uselessly into the atmosphere. The conical chamber c, c, and the

page_text: flue ff, leading therefrom, the Inventor prefers to construct of sheet copper,
that metal being a much better conductor of heat than iron. The base or lower
part of the conical chamber e, e, is secured by screw bolts to the ledge or plat-
form p, as shewn in the Drawing. The vessel ", a. which contains the water
is made of sheet iron, and is surrounded on all sides by a bed of sand or other
bad conductor of heat, for the purpose of preventing as far as possible loss of
caloric by radiation. The boiler is by means of a supply pipe h kept nearly
full of water, as shewn, and the steam that is generated in the boiler passes
therefrom through a pipe into the steam chamber or vessel i, where it will
deposit any water that may come over with the steam, allowing only dry steam
to pass from the upper part of the vessel i down the steam pipe ; to the
engine. The steam chamber i is furnished with a safety valve k*, as shewn,
and the upper end of the fluc or chimney f is provided with a throttle valve
for the purpose of regulating the draft.
Air to support combustion is supplied by the pipe to the ash pit, where it
becomes warmed before it acts. upon the fuel. As the conical chamber or fire-
place e and the copper flue f will, in the course of time, be weakened by the
continued action of a high degree of heat, it will be found necessary to replace
these parts by new ones, which, after removing the top or cover g* of the
boiler, may be done with facility by merely detaching the base of the cone e
from the cast iron platform p, and the feeding aperture d from the sides of the
vessel g, after which the flue and conical chamber e may be lifted out of its
seat without deranging or displacing anything else, and a new chamber e
adapted to the boiler in its place.
In Sheet II. I have shewn sectional views of three modifications of the
boiler or steam generator above described, the principle of construction being
in all three nearly the same, the principal difference being that of form, which
will, however, in some measure affect the combustion of the fuel. In Figure 4,
the grate or fire-bars are placed at the bottom of a fire-place constructed in
the brick work in the form of an inverted cone. The combustible vapours as
they are given off from the fuel in the fire-place rise into. the enlarged conical
heating chamber, and are there consumed by the intense heat which is there
generated and kept up. Figure 5 is a modification of Figure 4, the only
difference being that the sides of the fire-place instead of being inclined, as in
Figure 4, are made perpendicular. In this instance there is a greater extent
of grate or fire-bars, and a much larger body of fuel may be laid thereon than
in Figure 4. Figure.6 is another modification, in which there is a larger
grate or more extended surface of fire-bars than in Figure 4, and the sides of

page_text: the fire-place are inclined inwards, leaving a contracted opening above for the
passage of the heated gases into the enlarged conical fire chamber e* of the
boiler. In order to prevent the rays of heat from the chamber e* from passing
uselessly up the chimney a reflector m made of fire clay is suspended by means
of a rod in front of the opening which leads from the top of the enlarged
conical chamber e* to the chimney. By means of this rod the reflector m may
be raised and lowered as desired, and the draft in the fire-place thereby regu-
lated. By this arrangement a very intense heat is generated in the fire-place
below, and the gases pass through the opening f* in a'red' hot state into the
enlarged fire chamber e* above, where they give out their caloric to the water
which surrounds the chamber...
Having described the construction of the improved boilers, and the object of
the improvements, I will now conclude by setting forth more clearly the prin-
ciple upon which the Invention is founded and the above-described apparatus
is constructed, and will add thereto some observations made by the Inventor in
explanation of the principle upon which the apparatus is constructed.
He says, the principle of the generation of steam is based upon the differ-
ence in density or temperature of two bodies (viz.), the incandescent fuel and
the water, which have always a tendency to balance themselves or maintain an
equilibrium. Thus in order to obtain a given expansive force of steam certain
conditions are necessary (viz.), first, the combustion of a given quantity of fuel
in the fire-place; second, a certain temperature of the fluids in the flue or
chimney must be maintained, dependant of course upon the temperature
required in the boiler; third, the metal of which the inner parts e and f of the
boiler are constructed, and which transmit the caloric from the fire to the
water, must be one of the best conductors of heat, and be placed in a condition
to conduct the heat as quickly as possible from the fire to the water; fourth,
the metal of which the 'outer part of the boiler is constructed should be
preserved, as much as possible, from radiation, and prevented from conducting
away the caloric.
".
The above conditions are necessary, because the volume of steam will corre-
spond to the volume or quantity of. fuel employed, and upon the temperature
maintained in the chamber e and chimney f will depend the rapidity with
which heat will-be-transmitted-and-steam-can-be-produced;_the_quicker and
more powerful the transmission of caloric may be, the less extent of surface
will be required. The pressure in the boiler will correspond with or be in pro-
portion to the temperature of the water, and this pressure will increase or
diminish as the temperature of the water increases or diminishes. Now the

page_text: rays of heat being divergent, and the temperature of the gases which pass off
by the orifice of the chimney being in direct proportion to the intensity of the
fire, or equal to that of the steam contained in the boiler, we may conclude
that the heating surface of the chamber, e and flue fis more than sufficient to
take up and transmit the largest quantity of caloric which can be given out by
the fire, and that the speed with which this heating surface transmits the
caloric to the water is equal to the rapidity with which the caloric is given off
from the incandescent fuel; and further, that the large extent of heating sur-
face which it has always hitherto been considered necessary to employ in
constructing steam boilers or generators-is-not a principle-or natural-law;:
but merely a rule laid down by; constructors and engineers, and admitted
a priori.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and the best means with which I am at present
acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
I-lay no claim to vertical flues or tubes surrounded by water, nor to circular or
conical fire-places; nor do I intend to confine myself exclusively to the peculiar
construction or arrangement of parts herein shewn and described, as they may
doubtless be varied without departing from the nature and object of the
present Invention; as, for instance, the enlarged heating chamber e may be
made with a dome-shaped top and cylindrical or conical sides. But that which
I consider to be new in the above-described improvements, and therefore wish
to claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is,―
The combination with a vertical flue of a conical fire-place or enlarged
heating chamber at the lower part of the same, or any mere modification
thereof, whereby the intensity of the fire in the fire-place may be greatly
increased by a portion of the caloric given out from the incandescent fuel
being reflected back upon the fuel or combustible gases in the enlarged heating
chamber, and which fuel and combustible gases are thereby more effectually
and economically consumed than in steam boiler furnaces with a more
extended heating surface and less intensity of heat.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
W. E. (L.S.) NEWTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of February, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid William Edward Newton came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped, according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.