FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR ENGINES BY MEANS OF A COMBINATION OF STEAM AND AIR, FOR THE PREVENTION OF RACING IN STEAM AND AIR MARINE ENGINES, FOR A CONDENSER APPLICABLE TO STEAM AND AIR ENGINES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Parker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
September 1868.
I, JAMES PARKER, of No. 6, Lilford Road, Camberwell, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR
ENGINES BY MEANS OF A COMBINATION OF STEAM AND AIR, FOR THE PREVENTION OF
RACING IN STEAM AND AIR MARINE ENGINES, FOR A CONDENSER APPLICABLE TO
STEAM AND AIR ENGINES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
By the first part of this Invention I reheat or superheat steam and air
when combined together according to my previous Invention, the subject
matter of the Letters Patent granted to me on the 23d October 1863,
No. 2620, by forming the pipe by which the steam and air is conducted
from the nozzles to the cylinder or receiver with one or more angles,
elbows, bends, or curves (according to the degree of heat desired for
each particular engine), which angles, elbows, bends, or curves I pass
through or immediately over a small fire, or through a hot flue or oven
or steam jacket, or through the boiler either in the steam or water space
or partly through both, and from thence to the cylinder either direct or

page_text: through a receiver. In large engines or when it is desired to superhcat
to a high degree several smaller pipes may with advantage be substituted
for a single pipe in the space which is subject to the action of heat for
reheating or superheating, and also in the hot feed water and condensing
apparatus herein-after described. I prevent racing in marine, steam, and
air engines by moderating when required the process of reheating or
superheating the steam and air. To effect this the degree of reheating
when the vessel is in a heavy sea must be confined to about the point
just sufficient to prevent partial condensation in the steam and air pipe.
At this stage the mere expansive power of the combined steam and air
entering at the nozzles is not sufficient to cause the engines to race, and
(unlike the ordinary steam engine) the quantity of steam drawn from
the boilers by a steam and air engine is regulated by the jets exclusively
and is scarcely affected by the speed of the engine.
The second part of this Invention consists of a mode of heating the
feed water of the boiler. This I effect by enclosing a portion of the
exhaust steam and air pipe (which for this purpose must be formed with
angles, elbows, bends, or curves as already described with respect to the
steam and air reheating or superheating pipe) in a larger pipe or vessel
through which the feed water is to be forced by a pump or otherwise
into the boiler. The water is first to enter the enclosing pipe at the end
farthest from the entry of the exhaust steam and air in the enclosed pipe,
and thus the water is made to flow along the pipe towards the boiler in
the opposite direction to the exhaust steam and air, which is allowed
ultimately to discharge itself into the atmosphere, care being taken
to have a sufficient area of discharge for the exhaust to prevent back
pressure.
The third part of this Invention is for a condenser and apparatus to
produce a partial vacuum in a cylinder worked by steam and air. To
effect this I use, cither in conjunction with or separate from the hot feed
water apparatus already described, an additional exhaust pipe formed
with angles, elbows, bends, or curves, which additional exhaust pipe I
call the condenser, and I place it in a trough or vessel which is supplied
with cold water by any of the methods in ordinary use. The exhaust
steam and air received from the hot feed water apparatus, if that
apparatus be used, or otherwise direct from the cylinder by the condenser,
and in passing through the latter the exhaust steam and air is cooled
and the residuum is then drawn off either by a sufficient number of jets

page_text: of steam acting through air nozzles or by an air pump in the ordinary
way whereby a partial vacuum is obtained.
The fourth part of this Invention consists in the arrangement of a
slide in the inside of the steam jet pipe worked by a handle or rod
through a stuffing box by which the slide can be passed across the
apertures from which the steam jets issue, and thus clear away any lime
or other obstruction that may collect in that part of the steam jet pipe
and interfere with the free discharge of the steam through the jet
apertures, and a discharge cock should be placed to blow off any lime or
other matter thus loosened.
The fifth part of this Invention consists of an improved method of
forming the jets and nozzles so as to secure their correct action. For this
purpose I use for each set of jets and nozzles two pieces of metal, one
for the jets and the other of sufficient thickness for the nozzles. I fix
these pieces of metal firmly together and then drill out the nozzles
and also the small perforations for the jets whereby perfect centreing
is obtained. The interstices in the thick or nozzle plate between the
perforation for the nozzles are then cut away or removed to the requisite
depth to allow the atmospheric air free access round each nozzle. The
two strips thus drilled and prepared I then fit to two pipes longitudinally
formed with suitable flanges to receive them. The two pipes when
thus completed constitute the one containing the small perforations, the
steam jet pipe, and the other containing the air nozzles, the steam and
air pipe, and these are then to be used as described in the Patent
granted to me on the 23d day of October 1863, No. 2620. Instead of
one set of jets and nozzles for one engine several sets of jets and nozzles
may be used for one engine.