AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO IN PART TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Me-
chanical Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO IN PART TO THE
CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS."-A communication.
Sealed the 30th November 1853, and dated the 21st September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 21st September 1853.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM BOILERS,
APPLICABLE ALSO IN PART TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of boilers and condensors
with continuous straight or angular spaces, alternately making a water
flue and then a fire or heating flue; these may be made two or three or
more inches in the clear at their extreme breadth, running to a point
or flatted or rounded at the end to one or more inches or parts of an
inch; they may be one, two, three, or more feet deep. The flues
thus formed may run vertically, horizontally, or may be formed in arches
or rounds diverging from a centre; by these means the heating surface
and water flues are condensed to the most limited spaces. An ad-
vantage is obtained by making the flues somewhat angular, as the heat

page_text: is the better communicated to them, and the water has more freedom in
boiling. The grate surface of the boiler may be placed immediately
under the flues or otherwise. By thus forming the flues it is believed
that a considerable saving of fuel will take place, as a very large
heating surface will be thereby obtained. The like arrangement is
also applicable for obtaining a large cooling surface in condensers. To
allow of a free circulation of water through the flues back and front
a pipe or flue is made to run below the flues communicating with and
running across them. This flue or pipe answers to blow out; also
by having a hand hole at one end thereof will give great facility for
removing the scale or deposit from the boiler. Condensers formed on
this principle may readily be kept clean, so that their effects will not
be destroyed by furring or coating, nor will the expansion or con-
traction of the metals occasion leaks. The efficiency of the condensor
may be further improved by applying thereto metallic plates in the form
of Venetian blinds, whether the vertical or horizontal flues be used.
These plates can be made to withdraw for the purpose of being cleaned.
In rivetting the boiler or the flues thereof, if it is desired to bring
the top flues or ends to a sharp angle, they are to be bent or inclined
at their extreme edges, so that the rivetting hammer can be applied.
The plates to form the flues are first put up in pairs, and stays are
inserted between them at the proper distances; the lower ends are then
rivetted together, and the flues are then formed by jointing the pairs of
plates together at their top ends.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-

page_text: sors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO IN
PART TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONDENSERS," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspon-
dent, relates to the construction of boilers and condensers with continu-
ous straight or angular spaces, forming alternately in the boiler a water
flue and a fire or heating flue, and in the condenser alternately a water
space and a steam space; these may, in their cross section, be two or
three or more inches in the clear at their extreme breadth, and run to
a point, or they may be flatted or rounded at the end to one or more
inches or parts of an inch, and they may be one, two, three, or more
feet deep. The flues thus formed may run vertically, horizontally, or
may be formed on arches or rounds diverging from a centre. By these
means the heating surface and water flues are condensed to the most
limited spaces. An advantage is obtained by making the flues some-
what angular, as the heat is the better communicated to them, and the
water has more freedom in boiling. The grate surface of the boiler

page_text: may be placed immediately under the flues or otherwise. By thus
forming the flues it is believed that a considerable saving of fuel will
take place, as a very large heating surface will be thereby obtained.
The like arrangement is also applicable for obtaining a large cooling
surface in condensers. Boilers and condensers formed on this principle
'may readily be kept clean, so that their efficiency will not be destroyed
by furring or coating, nor will the expansion or contraction of the
metals occasion leaks. The efficiency of the condenser may be further
improved by applying thereto metallic plates in the form of Venetian
blinds, whether the vertical or horizontal flues be used. These plates
can be made to withdraw for the purpose of being cleaned.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1, shews in longitudinal sec-
tional elevation a steam boiler constructed according to this Invention ;
Fig. 2, is a cross section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1 ; and Fig. 3, is
a cross section taken in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 1. a, is the fire chamber;
b, the shell of the boiler; g', the grate bars; g, the furnace door; b¹,
the circulating space in the boiler; e, the side of the flues and water
spaces, the fluc space being represented by e, and the water spaces
by e²; c, is the steam chamber; d, a pipe leading to the extra steam
chamber d', situate below the floor of the furnace in a position to
allow of the steam being superheated; the steam passes out from this
chamber to the cylinder of the engine; f, is the smoke stack. The
course of the draft in the flues is shewn by the arrows in Fig. 1. a', a¹,
Figures 1, and 3, are the fire bridges in each flue for deflecting the draft
upwards in the flues; d, shews the floor of the furnace flues, which
floor is entire across the furnace with the exception of the spaces
represented at d³, d, for the draft front and rear for each flue; a³, a",
are dampers, which are operated in the usual way for regulating the
draft. The circulating space b¹, surrounds the plate flues, so as to
afford ample circulation to meet the rapid and extensive action from
the great fire surface in this boiler. It will be seen that the heat is
applied in a reverberatory manner to the flues, there being a short
bridge or deflecting plate a¹, to give an upward direction to the draft:
The mode of putting together the plates forming the flue and water
spaces in this improved construction of boiler is as follows:-A plate
of the required size and weight having been provided, it is cut as

page_text: shewn at Fig. 4, in the Drawing. The portions at the lower corners
p', p', are cut away, and the upper corners are divided at the line p², p².
This plate P, is to form one half the wall of the flue and water space.
A second plate, to form the other half, is to be cut in the same manner,
with the exception of being somewhat smaller, in order that its laps
may be embraced within the overlaps of the plate P. The lap p
(Fig. 4,) is bent backward, and the side laps p', are bent forward at
right angles to the plate. The lap p', is bent forwards and downwards
at right angles to the plate, and the projecting lip or ear is bent over
and close down upon the lap p', and thus one half of the flue structure
is prepared before putting together. The plate forming the other half
is prepared in the same way, and then connected with the plate P, as
shewn at a, in Figures 5, and 6, by means of rivets at their tops and
ends. The laps of each adjacent pair of plates are also rivetted together
to form the bottom of the series of water spaces. The series of plate
flues thus put together are fixed to the floor plate d², and they are also
connected by suitable attachments to the boiler shell for the purpose of
securing them in position. The furnace may be arranged in various
ways, and yet permit of the reverberating action of the flame, but the
arrangement shewn in the Drawing is that most preferred.
In adapting this arrangement of flues to a locomotive the shell of
the boiler might be oval instead of round. It would be seen that from
the arrangement of the space b', entirely around and dropping below
the water spaces, that sediment will be there deposited, but it may be
readily removed therefrom by blowing it out at the pipe m, Fig 1. The
flues are made three feet deep or high, two and three quarter inches
at their widest, and one and a half inches at their narrowest parts,
but these dimensions may be varied. The flues form a continuous or
attached range, and being closed at their tops and bottoms and at
their ends, as set forth, there is a complete water chamber formed
around them, affording ample circulation, and also in a somewhat
confined space a large heating surface is obtained, which ensures a
great economy of fuel..
Fig. 7, shews in sectional elevation the application of this Inven-
tion to the construction of condensers. The condenser consists' of an
outer casing a, in the upper part or head of which a pipe b, is fitted for

page_text: conducting the exhaust steam thereto. The inner end of this pipe is
provided with a vessel of wire basket work c, for scattering the steam
or dividing it into minute streams. It next passes between plates d, d,
arranged like the slips of Venetian blinds, which further assist in
dividing the steam. The steam then circulates over and around the
water spaces e, e, which are constructed by preference after the manner
of the steam boiler flues, as above described. Water is supplied to the
water spaces e, at their upper ends by means of a pipe f, which is con-
nected with the several water spaces. A similar provision is made
at the lower part of the water spaces (by connecting them together as
shewn at g.) for the purpose of running off the water as it becomes
heated. The steam as it condenses falls down into the chamber h,
whence it is pumped off into the boiler.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Mode of
Constructing Steam Boilers, applicable also in part to the Construction
of Condensers," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,-
First, the application to steam boilers of the arrangement of flues, as
described, whereby a large heating surface is obtained, while at the same
time provision is made for a free circulation of the water in the boiler.
Secondly, the application to condensers of chambers constructed
and arranged upon the principle of the flues of the steam boiler, as
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)