CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH-PRESSURE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS, COMBINED WITH A NEW MODE OR PRINCIPLE OF SUPPLYING THEM WITH WATER
Year: 1841

page_text: VON RATHEN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTHONY
BERNHARD VON RATHEN, of the Borough of Kingston upon Hull, Engineer,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition represent to Her most Excellent Majesty
Queen Victoria that I had invented "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH-PRESSURE
AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS, COMBINED WITH A NEW MODE OR PRINCIPLE OF SUPPLYING
THEM WITH WATER;" and Her said Majesty, being willing to encourage all
useful Inventions, did issue Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the fifth year of Her reign, whereby Her.
said Majesty did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant to me,
the said Anthony Bernhard Von Rathen, Her especial license that I, the said
Anthony Bernhard Von Rathen, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Anthony Bernhard Von Rathen, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick
upon Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my said Invention in certain improvements in the high-pressure and other
steam boilers, combined with a new mode or principle of supplying them with
water; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Anthony Bernhard Von Rathen, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be

page_text: enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited 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 Anthony Bernhard Von Rathen, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described in and by the following statements thereof, reference being had unto
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked re-
spectively thereón, that is to say:-
The nature of my Invention is indicated in the title, consists in a new mode
or principle of supplying the steam boiler with water and in improvements in
the construction and leading of the flues, combined with this principle, that is
to say, I supply the water not immediately to the steam boiler, but successively
through a number of separate and closed water vessels, pipes, or water
chambers; the water is conveyed from one water vessel, pipe, or chamber to the
other. The cold or condensed or otherwise prepared or warmed fresh water
is forced by the water pump or water column from the water reservoir at first
into the water chamber at the end of the flues (generally the next to the
chimney). When this is entirely filled, but not before then, the second water
chamber, vessel, or pipe is provided; and if the second is also fully supplied, then
the water is forced into the third, and so through any given number of separate
water pipes or chambers till the water enters the steam chamber or the
compartment where room is left for the steam to disengage itself from the
heated water. By the term 'steam chamber' I understand either a part or
division of the steam boiler, or the whole steam boiler, as the case may be, and
in this steam chamber the function of regulating the water for the supply of the
first or cold water chamber is carried on in the ordinary way. The flues
through which the flame, smoke, or gaseous matter is carried into the chimney
are so constructed that the heated air must pass through the water vessels,
pipes, or chambers, and thus warm and heat the water contained in the said
water vessels, pipes, or chambers respectively in a degree diminishing in pro-
portion with the increase of the distance of the said water vessels, pipes, or
chambers respectively from the fire box. These flues I call external metallic
flues or double water pipes, through the inner pipe of which the flame, smoke,
and heated air is carried to the chimney after having left the internal flues of
the boiler. It is evident that by this mode of supplying the water, and con-
ducting the same in an opposite direction with the heated air and smoke into
the steam boiler or chamber, the water will gradually become hotter the nearer
it comes to the steam chamber, which is fixed over and next to the fire box,

page_text: and the flame, smoke, or heated air passing through the flues in the interior of
these water pipes will in the inverse proportion diminish in heat the more their
distance is increased from the fire box and the nearer they come to the
chimney. These external water pipes, with the flues in their interior, or those
external auxiliary flues surrounded by the water pipes can be added to every
kind of boiler now in use. I have in the annexed Drawings and following
description represented and explained the manner of the practical application
of my Invention to four different kinds of boiler, a manufactory or stationary,
a locomotive, and two kinds of marine boilers; and I sincerely believe that any
engineer having a knowledge of his profession would, from this Specification, be
enabled to apply this Patent Invention to any kind of boiler at present in use,
or to construct any new one upon my principle. To carry out this principle so
far as it may be desirable, I have also shewn in two specimens (namely, in a
manufactory or stationary and a locomotive boiler) the way in which divisions
or water chambers separated from the steam chamber could be formed in the
interior of the steam boiler itself, in conjunction with the external metallic
flues. The object of the Invention here generally described is to carry the
absorbtion of heat in steam boilers as far as possible, and reduce the loss of
heat in the smoke, flame, or heated air to a minimum, which object it is
obvious can in a great measure be attained by carrying the smoke, flame, or
heated air through the interior of water vessels or pipes, in which the water is
continually lowering in the degree of heat, and therefore continually increasing
the capability of absobbtion. I have also, to quicken still further the absorb-
tion of heat by the water in the steam boiler, covered the upper part of the
flues with wire threads woven or united in such a way that the points of the
vertical wire threads repose upon or touch the upper part of the flues, and
passing through the water, thereby communicate the heat more rapidly thereto
by radiation. But I claim the exclusive right of this addition only when it is
used in conjunction with my original principal Invention, as herein-before
described.
I now proceed to the explanation of the Drawings, and will first describe a
manufactory or stationary boiler :-Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of
a manufactory or stationary boiler, with the head flues, but without the externa
metallic flues. Figure 2 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the same boiler,
with the external metallic flues added to it. I will first describe Figure 2.
H,f, is the head flue or tube; A,f, 1, the first auxiliary metallic flue; and A, f, 2,
the second auxiliary metallic flue. The arrow's flight shews the direction or
course of the smoke or heated gaseous fluids, and their entrance into the
auxiliary flues when leaving the head smoke chamber. At the end of the first

page_text: auxiliary flue is the auxiliary smoke chamber (A, s,) made of bricks, which (by
passing under the boiler) connects the second auxiliary flue with the first. At
the end of the second auxiliary flue the smoke or heated gaseous matter enters
the chimney. "I remark here that the first and second auxiliary flues could
have been connected together exactly as.they are shewn in Figure 3' in the
exterior plan view of a locomotive boiler without the intermediate smoke
chamber of bricks. According to our general rule, the cold or condensed fresh
water enters at the farthest point from the fire box, which is here the end of
the second metallic auxiliary flue at the entrance in the chimney. In this case
the first separation in the surrounding water pipe next to the chimney will be
the cold water chamber, and in Figure 3 (representing an exterior bird's eye
view of the same steam boiler, with its two auxiliary flues) the curved water
pipe (C, W, p) shows how the water from the replenished cold water chamber
is supplied to the first hot water chamber (H, W, 1, in Figure 2); and from
thence through the water pipe C, W, p, 2, in Figure 3, passing under the boiler
into the second hot water chamber (H, W, 2, in Figure 2), and from thence
through the third water pipe into the third hot water chamber, and then
through the fourth water pipe (C, W, p, 4, in Figure 3,) into the first chamber
of the head boiler, which would in our case be the fourth hot water chamber
(H, W, 4, in Figure 1) on the fifth separation, provided the head boiler should
have been divided, as shewn in Figure 1, into four separate rooms or spaces,
then the eighth compartment (beginning to number from the cold water
chamber) would be the steam chamber or the space in which the steam would
be allowed to disengage itself from the water. I am quite satisfied that"
a practical boiler-maker could have no difficulty in making a water-tight
separation in the water pipes surrounding the auxiliary flues, but if any such
difficulty should be found it would be obviated (and I would advise it) by
constructing two separate pipes and connecting them together by screwing or
otherwise; for the object of cleansing the water pipes the covers are fixed with
screws to them, as shewn in the Drawings. Figure 4 is a vertical section
taken in the line A, B, in Figure 1, showing the position of the auxiliary flues
next to the smoke chamber. The auxiliary flue A, f, 1, in Figure 2, goes in
an inclined line from the head smoke chamber down to the auxiliary smoke
chamber (passing under the boiler), and the second auxiliary flue A, 2, in
Figure 2, may indifferently' be carried on a level or ascend into the chimney.
I here remark, that the place indicated for my metallic auxiliary flues is only
accidentally advised to be the same which is now occupied by the "external"
flues made of brickwork, and carried around the ordinary manufactory or
stationary boiler. I limit the application of my external metallic or auxiliary

page_text: flues passing through the interior of the water pipes in nowise either to a
certain number, or to certain localities, or to be always applied exactly as here
described. It is sufficient that those metallic water pipe flues are constructed
and supplied. with water as aforesaid, to be. included in my Patent right what-
ever their number may be, or if they contain more or less water chambers or
separations, and however they are placed, or if the head steam boiler to which they
are attached contains itself more or less of such separations as here described,
or none at all, or if they are used for one single boiler or for several boilers
connected together in a main flue, as it has already been mentioned. The cold
water chamber is first replenished, and, by the pressure, of the pump or the
water column of the reservoir working upon the cold water chamber when full,
the water would overcome the reaction of the steam, and thus fill successively
all the hot water chambers; and supply also, lastly, the steam chamber so far as
réquisite. It is evident that all the water. chambers will and must always
remain full of water, as the separations when carefully executed and made
water-tight will only allow the water to flow out into the next chamber when
the chamber from which it is to be supplied is full. Besides this, the reacting
pressure of the steam would not allow the water to enter the next chamber
without the higher pressure effected by the forcing pump, or (in, low pressure
steam boilers) by the water column from the water reservoir, which pressure
can only become effective when the water chambers are full. In the interior
of the steam chamber the regular water line is uniformly preserved by the
common water regulator, arranged exactly in the same way as if the steam
boiler had no separation at all, but with this distinction, that by the play of the
water regulator in the steam chamber, more or less water will enter the cold
water chamber, according to the more or less rapid evaporation, and the
consequent falling or rising of the water line in the steam- chamber.. The
water guage, the steam exit pipe, safety valve, and the water regulator are here
only indicated to be applied to the. steam chamber, and require no further
description. In order that every part of the steam boiler may be cleansed
separately, cach chamber has its own man-hole, and in the steam chamber the
safety valve is fixed upon the man-hole, as indicated in the Drawings. It is
unnecessary to describe the manner of fixing a separation water-tight to the
circumference of the flue,, and, the interior circumference of the boiler. consider-
ing that such work is known to every common boiler-maker. The woven wire
cloth is here only indicated as a pattern. The object of this improvement is to
bring a number of metallic points in contact with the head flue of the steam
boiler. In whatever way this may be effected, or.in whatever way this may be
effected, or in whatever way wire cloth may be woven together, it is sufficient

page_text: for this purpose that the wire points come in contact with the head fluc, and that
they form a sort of radient segment of a circle round the head flue or tube. The
pieces of such wire cloth must not be larger than the man-hole. The vertical
section of the steam boiler, with its two auxiliary metallic flues, (Figure 4,)
shews the manner in which the wire cloth is fixed to it. W, C, is the
wire cloth half round the head flues. I, S, shews some slight iron bars or stays,
by which the wire cloth is kept firm upon the head flues, and these iron wires
are fixed to some iron bars I, B, placed across or lengthwise to the boiler, the
workmanship of which is so easy that any engineer of ordinary skill would
readily accomplish it without further description. However usefully this
covering of the head flues of steam boilers may be applied in connexion with
my principal Invention, expressed in the title of my Patent, I have only intro-
duced it here as instructions for the better carrying out my Patent Invention,
and I therefore disclaim any exclusive use of or Patent right upon the appli-
cation of this method of covering the head flues with wire cloth, except when it
is applied in connexion with my Patent Invention, indicated in the title of my
Patent, and herein-before described. A and B, next to Figure 4, respectively
shew two pieces of wire cloth, which, as before mentioned, must be in such
proportion as easily to pass the man-hole. In Figure 5 is shown the form of
a communication water pipe (C, W, P), which connects two separate chambers
or divisions in the water pipe together.
I proceed now to describe the application of my Invention to a locomotive
boiler. In Figure 1 the locomotive boiler is divided in the middle into two
parts, united together by a water ring (W, R), which surrounds a space between
the two divisions of the boiler, which I call the flame space (F, S). This water
ring has on the lower part a man-hole (M, H), which is covered by a double
or hollow plate of iron, and the lower plate is connected with an air-conducting
pipe (A, p), from which the air passes thro' little holes into the flame space.
The plate of the man-hole is so fitted in the space of the water ring that it can
be taken away at will, together with the piece of the air pipe annexed to the
lower plate.
The water ring here separated is on all sides screwed to the
two parts of the locomotive boiler. The steam pipe (S, t, p), when passing
through the flame space, is surrounded by a water pipe (W, P), which is open,
and communicating with both boilers at the upper part only. The chimney
has a separation at C, s, which prevents the smoke and heated air, when
leaving the small fire pipes (f,p), from ascending immediately into the chimney,
and obliges it to enter one of the two metallic auxiliary flues, and when carried
through both, then the smoke is allowed to ascend. Figure 1 shews the loco-
motive boiler in two parts, with the water ring. Figure 2 shews the half of

page_text: a longitudinal horizontal section, and one part of the auxiliary metallic flue
(A, f, 3), through which the smoke returns to the chimney, as indicated by
the arrow's flight. Figure 3 is an external birds eye view of the locomotive,
with its three auxiliary flues. The smoke issuing from the small fire 'pipes
into the lower part of the chimney or smoke chamber (S, C,) enters from that
part immediately into the metallic auxiliary flue (A, f, 1), and passes round
into the metallic fluc (A, f, 2), from thence into the metallic auxiliary flue
(A, f, 3), and from thence into the chimney. The water takes the opposite
course, being first supplied at the commencement of the water pipe surrounding
the auxiliary flue A, f, 3, in the cold water chamber; from thence it passes
through the communication water pipe (C, W, p, 1, in Figure 3), into the first
hot water chamber H, W, 1, (in Figure 2,) and through the communication
water pipe (C, W, p, 2, in Figure 3) into the second hot water chamber, and
through the communication water pipe (C, W, p, 3,) in Figure 3, into the water
ring (W,R), and from thence by the fourth communication water pipe (C, W,p,4,)
into the second separation of the locomotive, or the fourth hot water chamber;
from thence it goes through the water pipe which surrounds the steam pipe into
the steam chamber (S, t). Figure 4 is a vertical section, with the two metallic
The
flues taken in the line E, F, in Figure 1. Figure 5 is a vertical section taken
in the line C, D. Figure 6 is a vertical section of the chimney and smoke
chamber. W, G, is a piece of wire gauze stretched across the opening from
the smoke chamber to the auxiliary flue, Number 1, where the opening is made
larger in order that the wire gauze may not spoil the draught. C, S, shows
the separation in the chimney, and Figure 7 is an elevation of the same.
small fire pipes (f, p, in Figure 1). are surrounded, for the quicker conducting
of the heat, by rings made of woven wire cloth as aforesaid. But I repeat the
remark also here that I only claim the Patent right upon the wire cloth when
it is adopted in conjunction with my chief Invention, and not otherwise. I here
remark that the separation of the locomotive boiler into two compartments is
not necessarily required, and my Invention can be usefully applied to it without
any alteration in the locomotive boiler by merely adding the two metallic
auxiliary flues to it in the way here described with the proper alterations in
the chimney. And I further remark, that the water pipes could be constructed
in the same manner as a locomotive boiler, with small pipes, through which
the heated air would be carried to the chimney. I have added two Drawings
as specimens of the manner in which my Invention of water pipe flues or
auxiliary metallic flues can be applied to marine boilers, one representing a
round marine boiler equally applicable to a manufactory boiler with four
auxiliary flues and one water-tight separation in the boiler itself. The other

page_text: shews three round boilers united in one main flue, which auxiliary main flue
passes through the interior of the water pipes in like manner as the single
auxiliary metallic flue.
I have selected the round boiler for its simplicity and safety, and also because
it is capable of sustaining a higher pressure; but it is obvious that the external
auxiliary flues could be applied to any other kind of marine boiler in the
manner described, namely, the separate flues which now enter immediately the
chimney on leaving the boiler, and carry an immense quantity of heat away,
could be conducted so as to unite in a main auxiliary flue, and this then be
carried, according to place and convenience, through a number of compartments
or water chambers of sufficient extent to be used, as will be afterwards described.
I will first describe the single round boiler, of which a longitudinal vertical
section is represented in Figure 1. H, f, is the head flue, which is narrowed
at the end of the fire box. W, C, is the covering of wire cloth before
described. H; W, 7, is the seventh and last hot water chamber. S, t, is the
steam chamber. Figure 2 is an external bird's eye view of the single boiler, in
which the direction of the smoke is shewn by the arrow's flight. The course of
the water will, as before mentioned, be in an opposite direction, passing through
the communication water pipes C, W, p, 1, C, W, p, 2, C, W, p, 3, and so on in
rotation, beginning with C, W, the cold water chamber. Figure 3 is a vertical
section. H, f, is the head flue. A, f, 6 shews a section of the sixth auxiliary
metalic flue where it passes over the top of the boiler; the arow shews the
direction of the smoke through it. W, C, is the wire cloth; I, S, the stays to
fix it. A, f, 2, is the second auxiliary flue; it is connected, as shewn in Figure 2,
with A, f, 4, from whence the smoke passes into A, f, 5, next through A, f, 6,
into A, f, 7, and from it to the chimney. Figure 4 is an external bird's eye
view of the three united boilers. The first auxiliary flues are shewn at A, f, 1.
A, m, f, 1, is the first auxiliary main flue; A, m, f, 2, the second auxiliary
main flue, and so on in. the direction of the arrow's flight until it reaches
A, m, f, 5, from whence it enters the chimney. The water's course is again, in
accordance with the principle of the Invention, opposite to the direction of tlie
flues, and passing through. the communication water pipes C, W, p, 1,
C, W, p, 2; &c. The water chambers surrounding the first auxiliary flues are
supplied by the communication water pipes C, W, p, 5, C, W, p, 6, and
C; W, p, 7, from the water chamber which surrounds the first-auxiliary maiu
flue. From these water chambers the boilers are supplied through three com-
munication water pipes; one of which is shewn in C, W, p, 8, Figure 6.
S, t, map, is the steam main pipe from which the engine is supplied: Figure 5
is a vertical section through the steam pipe and fire box. S, t, n, p, is the

page_text: steam main pipe. 'H, f, denotes the head flues, and W, C, the wire.cloth.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal vertical section of the centre boiler. S, t, m, p, is
the steam main pipe. W, C, is the wire cloth; H, f, is the head flue; A; f, 1,
is the first auxiliary flue; A, m, f, i, the first auxiliary main flue; A, m, f, 3,
A, m, f, 4, and A, m, f, 5, the third, fourth, and fifth auxiliary main flues. In
this case the whole boiler forms the steam chamber (S, t). I remark here that
instead of the main auxiliary flues or main water pipe flues here described, a'
number of small pipes, as in the locomotive boiler, might be employed, through
which the smoke and heated air ascending from the head flues of the boilers
would pass on their way to the chimney.
Having to the best of my knowledge, in the foregoing Specification and
annexed Drawings, explained the nature of my Invention, and the general
principles of it, and having also in four different kinds of boilers, and in the
same number of different modifications of external metallic flues and separations
in the boiler, shewn and explained the special and practical application of it; I
declare that I claim as my Invention and as my Patent right, first, the exclusive
use and application of my new mode or principle of supplying the water suc-
cessively through any given number of separated closed vessels or water pipes
to the steam chamber, or that part of the steam boiler where the steam is
allowed to disengage itself from the water, when this mode or principle is
applied in conjunction with the construction and arrangements as herein-before
described, viz., when the water on its way from the chimney, to the steam
chamber takes the opposite course to the flames, smoke, or heated air which
issue from the fire box and proceed to the chimney, and when the water is so
conducted as to be continually in contact with the heated air or vapours, in such
manner that in its course to the steam chamber it is gradually increasing in
heat, and when, on the other hand, the heated air or gaseous matter, in its
course from the fire box, is continually decreasing in heat the nearer it comes
to the chimney.
Secondly, I claim the Invention and construction of double
pipes, as before described, for the conveyance of water to the steam chamber,
and of smoke or heated air to the chimney, and of the separations or water
chambers made in the interior of the steam boiler itself; but I limit not.my
exclusive right to this new mode and principle in the supply of water and
conveyance of heat exactly to the specimens which I have given of its applica-
tion in the construction and shape of boilers, as well as of water vessels or pipes
through which the flues pass. But I distinctly disclaim any exclusive right to
any other part of the construction of steam boilers herein described, and of the
covering of the flues in the steam boilers with wire cloth, unless such covering
of the flues is applied as aforesaid in conjunction with my new mode and

page_text: principle of supplying water, which to the best of my belief is new, not
only in England, but in every country in the world. I hereby declare that any
apparatus of water vessels placed in the chimney or smoke chamber, or any-
where outside the boiler, for the purpose of heating or warming the water before
it enters the boiler has nothing at all to do with this my principle of supplying
the water to a steam boiler as herein-before described; and I disclaim expressly
any extension of my Patent right upon any such arrangements, for which I am
aware several Patents have been already granted.