AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO MARINE ENGINES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Druitt Halpin, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO MARINE ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Druitt Halpin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th July 1881.
DRUITT HALPIN, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WATER
TO MARINE ENGINES."
For drawing the required supplies for marine engines from the external water,
the side of the vessel is usually pierced below the water line with holes provided
with cocks or valves. In case of fracture or derangement of these cocks or valves,
or of their becoming detached from the vessel's side, there is great danger of flooding
the vessel, and it is difficult to repair or replace such fittings without incurring
expense and delay in docking the vessel. My Invention relates to means of
avoiding these evils, which I effect in the following manner :- -Within the vessel,
close at the side thereof, I form a watertight siphon chamber extending from below
the water line up some distance above the water line, and I divide this chamber
into two channels by a vertical partition extending from the bottom nearly to the
top thereof. At the bottom of one of these channels I make an aperture or
apertures to the external water, and at or near the bottom of the other channel I
make all the necessary apertures with their cocks or valves for the several
water supplies. Thus the external water has no direct passage to the interior of
the vessel, but has to ascend the one channel of the siphon chamber to a level
above the water line, and passing over the partition descends the other channel to
give the required supplies. At the top of the siphon chamber I provide a cock or
valve which can be opened to admit air so as to prevent siphon action in the

page_text: chamber. Thus if any of the cocks, valves, or pipes within the vessel should
become fractured or deranged, the communication with the external water can be
entirely cut off by opening the air cock or valve, and the fractured or deranged
part can be repaired without the necessity for docking. In cases where the internal
connections to the chamber require supply before the engines are started, the
chamber may be provided at the top with an ejector pump or other exhauster so as
to withdraw the air from the chamber and charge it from outside with water ready
for the supply of these connections. The blow off water may be discharged through
the siphon chamber, the blow off valve or cock being for this purpose fitted along
with the supply valves or cocks to the wall of the siphon chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed.
by the said Druitt Halpin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
December 1881.
DRUITT HALPIN, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WATER
TO MARINE ENGINES."
For drawing the required supplies for marine engines from the external water,
the side of the vessel is usually pierced below the water line with holes provided
with cocks or valves. In case of fracture or derangement of these cocks or valves,
or of their becoming detached from the vessel's side, there is great danger of flooding
the vessel, and it is difficult to repair or replace such fittings without incurring
expense and delay in docking the vessel.
My Invention relates to means of avoiding these evils, which I effect in the
following manner :-Within the vessel, close at the side thereof, I form a water-
tight siphon chamber, extending from below the water-line up some distance above
the water line, and I divide this chamber into two channels by a vertical partition
extending from the bottom nearly to the top thereof. At the bottom of one of
these channels I make an aperture or apertures to the external water, and at or
near the bottom of the other channel I make all the necessary apertures with their
cocks or yalves for the several water supplies. Thus the external water has no
direct passage to the interior of the vessel, but has to ascend the one channel of the
siphon chamber to a level above the water line, and passing over the partition
descends the other channel to give the required supplies. At the top of the siphon
chamber I provide a cock or valve which can be opened to admit air so as to
prevent siphon action in the chamber. Thus if any of the cocks, valves, or pipes
within the vessel should become fractured or deranged, the communication with the
external water can be entirely cut off by opening the air cock or valve, and the
fractured or deranged part can be repaired without the necessity for docking. In
cases where the internal connections to the chamber require supply before the
engines are started, the chamber may be provided at the top with an ejector pump
or other exbauster, so as to withdraw the air from the chamber and charge it from
outside with water ready for the supply of these connections. The blow off water
may be discharged through the siphon chamber, the blow off valve or cock being
for this purpose fitted along with the supply valves or cocks to the wall of the
siphon chamber. The siphon chamber may be formed in various ways so as to
suit the structure of the vessel or the position which it may most conveniently
occupy. The accompanying Drawings illustrate some of these arrangements, as I
will now explain. Fig. 1 is a part transverse section of a vessel at the engine
room; Fig. 2 is a part elevation of the side; and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on a, a,
Fig. 1. I have assumed that in this case each frame of the vessel consists of a pair
of angle irons placed back to back. Between these angle irons I introduce plates
projecting inwards to form the sides and partition of the siphon chamber, divided
into its two channels d and e, which I cover by plates secured to angle irons
rivetted to the projecting plates. The middle partition stops short of the top of
the chamber sufficiently far to give free passage for water from the ascending
channel d to the descending channel e. Openings c, c, which may be grated, are
made through the ship's side at or near the bottom of the channel d, and a suitable
communication ƒ with its necessary valves is made from the bottom of the channel e
to the condenser and feed pump or other place requiring water supply. By opening
an air-cock situated near the top of the chamber, its action as a siphon can, when
required, be arrested. The siphon action may be started by means of a steam

page_text: ejector h exhausting the air by a pipe g which is led up within the chamber nearly
to its top. This pipe may also have a branch m communicating with the condenser,
so that when a partial vacuum exists in it the air may be exhausted without using
the ejector; cocks i, k, and l, are provided to shut off the pipe g from communication
with the ejector and condenser, or with either. The ejector h may be employed to
create a partial vacuum in the condenser to aid in starting the engines. The steam
for working the ejector may be taken from the main boilers or the donkey boiler by
either branch o or p of the steam pipe n. It is obvious that instead of an ejector an
air pump or other exhauster may be employed for the purpose of charging the siphon,
or the siphon may in the first place have its air and water ejected by introducing a
current of steam, by the subsequent condensation of which. a vacuous condition
will be produced, causing tho. water to ascend the channel & so as to charge the
siphon. The discharge from the condenser is delivered in the usual way by the
pipe q having its external opening above the water line. As shewn in Fig. 4 the
ascending channel & may be formed, as described, between a pair of the frames of
the vessel, the descending channel e being a pipe attached to the upper end of d.
As shewn in Fig. 5, and in the sectional plan Fig. 6, the channels may be formed in
the angle where a bulkhead meets the side of the vessel, or two pipes d and e may
be employed to constitute the siphon, as shewn in Fig. 7. When the construction
of the channels is modified, as shewn in Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, or otherwise, the air
cock and ejector can be applied to them as described, with reference to Figs. 1,
2, and 3.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim,--
First. The herein described method of supplying water to marine engines so that
there is no direct opening through the side of the vessel below the water line.
Second. Constructing the passage for supply of water to a marine engine as a
siphon, having the communication between its ascending and descending channels
situated within the vessel above the water line, substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
Third. Combining with the siphon passage above referred to an air cock for
discharging it, and a steam ejector, air pump, or equivalent exhauster for charging
it, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Druitt Halpin, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sighty and