IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INSTANTANEOUS GENERATION OF STEAM
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, of Teramo, in the Kingdom
of Naples, lately residing at No. 26, Great Prescot Street, in the City of
London, but now residing at No. 35, Alfred Street, Bedford Square,
W.C., London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INSTANTANEOUS
GENERATION OF STEAM,"
Sealed the 7th February 1861, and dated the 9th August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Filippo Grimaldi at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th August 1860.
I, Doctor FILIPPO GRIMALDI, of Teramo, in the Kingdom of Naples, but
now residing at 26, Great Prescot Street, in the City of London, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INSTAN-
TANEOUS GENERATION OF STEAM," to be as follows:-
According to the present system steam is instantaneously generated in
fixed vessels. My improvements consist in making the vessels to revolve.
The manner of proceeding is the following:-My generator consists of a
metallic cylinder of a suitable size, terminated at each end by a semi-spherical
or otherwise shaped side. Each end is provided with a suitable spindle or
axle, upon which the cylinder is intended to revolve. One of these spindles or
axles is tubular, for the purpose of giving passage to a pipe intended to feed
with water the interior of the generator, and of giving exit to the generated

page_text: steam. The generator is so placed on the furnace that when it is put in
motion by any suitable means the wholecylindrical exterior surface is exposed
to the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Filippo Grimaldi in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Doctor
FILIPPO GRIMALDI, of Teramo, in the Kingdom of Naples, lately residing at
No. 26, Great Prescot Street, in the City of London, but now residing at
No. 35, Alfred Street, Bedford Square, W.C., London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Herréign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, Her special licence, that I, the said Doctor Filippo
Grimaldi, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the
said Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, my executors, administrators, and assigns,should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might makė,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE INSTANTANEOUS GENERATION OF STEAM," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
'the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My.improvements in the instantaneous generation of steam are grounded
on the following principle, viz., that the water must always touch a fresh
'evaporating surface of the generator, and that the whole of the same surface,

page_text: exposed to the direct action of the heat in the furnace, must come in contact
with the water.
Accordingly my improved generator is composed of a cylindrical vessel.
ended either by two calottes or flat plates placed in the furnace, and supported.
by two axles mounted on suitable bearings, so that the vessel may rotate
thereon as on journals, and present successively every part of its cylindrical
surface outside to the direct action of the fire below, and inside to the water
it contains. I propose merely to describe one arrangement of my steam gene-
rator, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the generator, and a transverse one of the
furnace; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the generator, and a longitudinal
one of the furnace; Fig. 3 is another longitudinal section of the generator,
and Fig. 4 and 5 are a side viewand an end view of a self-revolving generator,
with a section of the steam drum. The same letters denote the same parts in
all the Figures. A is the generator, made of wrought-iron plates, or any
other suitable metal. It is placed in the furnace F, and is supported by two
axles; one of these axles, consisting of a spindle fixed to the end 6 of the
generator, is mounted on the bearing f (Fig. 1) and is provided with a
pulley d driven by a strap from a suitable mover, so as to give the generator a
rotary motion of a suitable velocity. The other axle c consists of a tubular
shaft opening into the generator, aud connected with the tube m by a stuffing
box, so as to make a steam-tight joint,and yet not impede the vessel's revolving.
The tube mis supported on the bearing i, and it conveys the steam to the
steam chest C. Two small pipes pass through the tube m, and within the
tubular shaft c find their way into the generator. One of these pipes goes
straight till it reaches the centre of the generator, where it curves a little
downwards; that is the feed pipe, and is provided with a horizontal disk o
under its opening in order to let the water spread in all directions. The other
pipe approaches the bottom of the vessel, and is intended to show the level
of the water within the latter; therefore it is fitted outside with a glass
gauge e, two stop cocks p and n, oue above and the other behind the water
line, and with the blow-through cock g. The furnace F (Figs. 1 and 2) is of
any suitable construction, and sometimes a double casing may be substituted
for the brick arch, or even it may quite substitute the masonry, like the fur-
nace of locomotive boilers, so that the feed water may be previously heated in
it, and afterwards introduced into the generator; but in the arrangement we
now describe the furnace is entirely made of brick. In order that the flames
and the blast may surround the cylindrical part of the generator, and not
touch its ends, which are not intended to evaporate the water, the right lateral

page_text: wall of the furnace (Fig. 1) receives in a niche the corresponding end 6 of
the generator, and the left receives the opposite end q in the opening B
fastened by the iron door k, and both the anterior and posterior walls, in
reaching the level of the generator, leave a suitable clearance between the
latter for the circulation of the products of the combustion, which ultimately
escape through the flue P placed on the centre of the ceiling of the furnace
(Figs. 1 and 2). The steam chest C is placed in a widening of the flue P, far
enough from the fire to protect it from destruction, and yet in a position
to be kept hot by the products of the combustion, which, after having sur-
rounded it, escape through the flue Q into the chimney. On the cover of
the steam chest C are fitted the safety valve, the steam pipes, and the usual
appendages of a boiler.
The generator must be continually provided with water, the level of which
can be kept-less-or-more high, but never so very high as to reach the opening
of the tubular shaft c. In order that the attendant may regulate the supply of
water, the feed pump is so arranged that the stroke of its plunger may be
varied at pleasure.
When the feed water is of bad quality, in order to prevent the calcareous
sediments destructive to the plates and injurious to the speed transmission of
the heat, a wire brush D (Fig. 3) might be placed into the generator and fixed
to the tubem, so as to clean the former continually by rubbing the turning
interior surface of the same; is the man-hole.
Sometimes we make a self-rotating and feeding generator by using the re-
acting force of the steam issuing from the generator through one or more
tubular arms s, 8, (Figs. 4 and 5) bent at right angles, and mounted on the
tubular shaft c of the generator; t is the plunger rod of the feed pump. In
this
case the steam pressure within the generator is kept higher than that of
the steam within the drum G, by means of making the openings of the tubular
arms s smaller than they ought to be were the steam to escape freely from the
generator. We adopt this contrivance, especially when the steam is employed,
not merely as a force, but as a heating means.
In the case of the generator being a powerful one, it may be necessary to
employ a donkey engine to give it the rotary motion, and to work the feed
pump even in the engine stoppage, or in the lighting of the fire. But as to
small engines, in order to prevent the generator from burning, it will be
sufficient to divert the blast by opening the damper I of the flue O placed
behind the furnace, and by fastening the flue P by means of the damper R.
And having now described. the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my

page_text: Invention is, the construction of rotating cylindrical steam generators, sub-
stantially such as herein-before described, self-revolving or driven by any
suitable mover, supplied with water previously heated or not; provided
with means for the injection of feed water and exit of steam, and with a
steam chest or drum kept hot or not, and with a furnace so arranged that
the vessel may rotate, and be exposed to a high temperature within it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Doctor Filippo Grimaldi, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
DOCTOR FILIPPO GRIMALDI. (L.S.)