IMPROVE- MENTS IN FEEDING STEAM. BOILERS AND CONDENSERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FEEDING STEAM. BOILERS AND CONDENSERS."-A communication
from abroad by Claude Jonchier, of Rue de Castries, Lyons, France.
Sealed the 17th June 1864, and dated the 22nd December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd December 1868.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING STEAM BOLLERS AND CONDENSERS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of an intermediate vessel or
chamber between the water supply cistern and the boiler capable of being put
into communication 'alternately with the supply cistern and with the boiler, and
arranged in such manner that when in communication with the supply
cistern. it becomes filled therefrom, and when in communication with the
boiler it empties its contents thereinto by reason of its gravity alone.
In carrying out this Invention, I prefer to employ a narrow vessel or tube
furnished with a two-way cock both at its upper and lower ends, these cocks
open communication through pipes between the vessel and the supply cistern,
or between the vessel and the boiler, as required. When they open com-
munication with the supply cistern communication with the boiler is shut off**
and-water flows into the vessel or tube-through-the-lower-cock-while-any-air-

page_text: or steam that may be in the vessel escapes by the upper cock. When the
cocks are turned to open communication with the boiler communication with
the supply cistern is shut off and steam from the boiler passing through the
pipe leading to the upper cock forces the water from the vessel or tube
through the lower cock into the boiler. The pipe which communicates with
the upper part of the intermediate vessel, and the boiler is carried down to the
level in the boiler at which it is desired to maintain the water, thus when the
water level in the boiler is sufficiently high steam will not pass up that pipe,
and the water in the intermediate vessel will therefore remain therein, even
when the cocks open communication with the boiler. A constant water level
in the boiler is thus maintained.
The Invention is also applicable to supplying condensers with water; when
the water becomes heated it is withdrawn from the condenser by a pump or
otherwise. In some cases I place a condenser for condensing the escape
steam from the engine between the supply cistern and the boiler, the supply of
water to the condenser being regulated by an intermediate vessel. as before
described, and a second intermediate vessel regulates the supply of water from
the condenser to the boiler. The boiler is thus fed with water which has
become heated in its passage through the condenser.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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,

page_text: and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING STEAM BOILERS
AND CONDENSERS," (communicated to me from abroad by Claude Jonchier, of
Rue de Castries, Lyons, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the employment of an intermediate vessel or
chamber between the water supply cistern and the boiler, capable of being put
in communication alternately with the supply cistern and with the boiler, and
arranged in such manner that when in communication with the supply cistern
it becomes filled therefrom, and when in communication with the boiler it
empties its contents thereinto by reason of their gravity alone.
In carrying out this Invention I do not confine myself to any particular
arrangement, but I prefer to employ a narrow vessel or tube furnished with a
two-way cock, both at its upper and lower ends; these cocks open communi-
cation through pipes between the vessel and the supply cistern or between the
vessel and the boiler as required. When they open communication with the
supply cistern, communication with the boiler is shut off, and water flows into
the vessel or tube through the lower cock, while any air or steam that may be
in the vessel escapes by the upper cock. When the cocks are turned to open
communication with the boiler, communication with the supply cistern is shut
off, and steam from the boiler passing through the pipe leading to the upper
cock forces the water from the vessel or tube through the lower cock into the
boiler. The pipe which communicates with the upper part of the intermediate
vessel and the boiler is carried down to the level in the boiler at which it is
desired to maintain the water; thus when the water level in the boiler is
sufficiently high, steam will not pass up that pipe, and the water in the inter-
mediate vessel will therefore remain therein, even when the cocks open com-
munication with the boiler. A constant water level in the boiler is thus
maintained.
The Invention is also applicable to-supplying-condensers with water; when

page_text: the water becomes heated, it is withdrawn from the condenser by a pump
or otherwise. In some cases I place a condenser for condensing the escape
steam from the engine between the supply cistern and the boiler, the supply of
water to the condenser being regulated by an intermediate vessel, as before
described; and a second intermediate vessel regulates the supply of water
from the condenser to the boiler; the boiler is thus fed with water which has
become heated in its passage through the condenser.
"
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent the manner in
which this Invention may be applied to feeding steam boilers.
C, D, is the boiler, the level of the water in which should be maintained
at P, Q; A, B, is the water supply, cistern, the level M, N, of water in
which is higher than that in the boiler; V is an intermediate chamber or
vessel furnished at its upper end with a two-way cock r, and its lower end
with another two-way cock R, by means of which cocks the vessel V may be
put into communication when required by pipes t, T, with the supply reservoir
as represented in Figure 1, and by pipes 8, S, with the boiler as represented
in Figure 2. The vessel V is the feed apparatus and acts as follows:-When
the cocks r R, open communication with the reservoir A, B, they shut off
communication with the boiler C, D, (see Figure 1), and water flows from
the reservoir into the vessel V by the cock R, while any air or steam that
may be in the vessel escapes by the cock 7. When the cocks are turned into
the position represented in Figure 2 communication is opened with the boiler
and closed to the supply cistern; steam from the boiler passes through the
pipes and cock r, and the water from the vessel V falls through the cock R,
and pipe S into the boiler. The pipe s is carried down to the level in the
boiler at which it is desired to maintain the water. As long as the steam in
the boiler has free access to the pipes the working will proceed as just
explained, and water will enter the boiler to an amount dependent on the
breadth of the orifices of the cocks and the section of the pipes, I will there-
fore suppose the quantity of water capable of being admitted in a given time
to be greater than that consumed in the boiler; but when the orifice o of
the pipes is closed by the water the steam can no longer enter the pipe and
force out the water in the vessel V. As the water in the vessel V is of lower
temperature than that in the boiler the vessel ceases to empty its contents
into the boiler when the cocks open communication therewith. Thus when
the orifice o is above the water level in the boiler the supply of water is
superabundant, and as soon as the water reaches the level of that orifice the
feed ceases entirely. The water level in the boiler is therefore invariable.
This is the important feature of the Invention.

page_text: Figure 3 shows the Invention applied to a condenser. C, D, E, F, is a
chamber or condenser into which steam is led by a pipe L and becomes
condensed by contact with cold water kept at the level P, Q. The pipe L
terminates as shown in the Drawing. The heated water, is withdrawn from
the condenser by a pump or otherwise through a pipe K. A condenser thus
arranged is, as far as the feeding thereof is concerned, situated in similar
circumstances to a steam boiler. A vessel V, Figure 3, conveys the feed
water from a reservoir A, B, to the condenser, and a pipe, s renders the water.
level P, Q, invariable. It is important that air should be drawn from the
condenser at the same time that the water is admitted. The vessel V cannot
empty itself when in communication with the condenser. except the 'water
which flows through the cock R be replaced by an equal volume, of air from
the condenser which enters the vessel V through the cock r. As vacuum is
thus formed in the condenser the employment of an air pump is dispensed.
with, or rather, an ordinary pump is substituted therefor, to draw off the water.
by the pipe K. In many cases the steam produced by boilers is not utilized
in a complete manner, for example when a boiler works, an engine without
condensation the steam after having done its duty in the cylinder is lost in.
the atmosphere at a temperature exceeding 212° Fahrenheit. One method.
of diminishing this loss of heat consists in employing a portion of the escape
steam to heat the feed water, before, its admission into the boiler. The
condenser just described allows of this object being attained as about. to be.
described. Suppose G, H, Figure. 4 is a boiler, the water level of which is.
X, Y; A, B, the water supply reservoir with water at the level M, N; and
C, D, E, F, a condenser containing water up to the point P, Q. The steam
for heating the feed water is led into the condenser by.a pipe L terminating.
as shewn in the Drawing, and connected to the steam outlet orifice of the
engine. An intermediate vessel V supplies cold water from the reservoir to
the condenser, and extracts at the same time the air from the condenser,
steam is thus drawn into the condenser through the pipe L. The steam in
condensing heats the water in the condenser, and the water is conveyed to
the boiler through a second intermediate vessel V¹ which maintains the water
level X, Y, in the boiler invariable, as already explained. The cocks of the
vessels V, V, should be connected so as to be worked simultaneously, they
may for example be worked by a donkey engine. The feeding of the boiler.
and the condenser takes place 'automatically as soon as the donkey engine is
put into action. The boiler receives from the vessel V₁ the exact quantity
of water necessary to maintain the level at X, Y, and the condenser in its
turn receives from the vessel V a quantity of water equal to that supplied to

page_text: the boiler, while steam is led into the condenser by the pipe L and heats the
water therein. The escape steam from an engine without condensation is not
the only steam which can be employed to heat feed water. I proceed to
indicate one source in reference to boilers fed with sea water and arising
from the hot water which is obliged to be withdrawn from them to avoid the
formation of saline deposits. I lead this water on its exit from the boiler
into a space or chamber, such as that represented at a, b, c, d, Figure 5,
communicating by a pipe L with a condenser into which the cold water
intended for the feed is led, the condenser represented in Figure 4 for
example. As soon as the condenser is deprived of air there will be a draft
into the chamber a, b, c, d, through the pipe L, the hot water will partly
vaporize while diminishing in temperature, and the steam thus formed will
heat the feed water. The hot water does not enter the chamber a, b, c, d,
directly, but passes first through an intermediate vessel V, the object of which
is to prevent the level of water Z, U, rising indefinitely. The cooled water is
withdrawn by means of a pump through the pipe J.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the "Improve-
ments in Feeding Steam Boilers and Condensers,"-
-
First, the employment of an intermediate vessel or chamber between the s
water supply cistern and the boiler or condenser, capable of being put in
communication alternately with the supply cistern and with the boiler or
condenser, and arranged in such manner that when in communication with
the supply cistern it becomes filled therefrom, and when in communication
with the boiler or condenser it empties its contents thereinto, substantially as
herein-before described.
Second, the arrangements herein-before described with reference to Figures
4 and 5 of the accompanying Drawings, whereby the feed water in its passage
from the supply cistern to the boiler is led through and heated in a condenser.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have-here- S
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.