IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR INDICATING THE DENSITY OF THE WATER USED IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jones Saunders, of Greenwich, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS
FOR INDICATING THE DENSITY OF THE WATER USED IN STEAM BOILERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jones Saunders at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th July 1864.
I, JONES SAUNDERS, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSTRUMENTS FOR INDICATING THE DENSITY OF THE WATER USED IN STEAM
BOILERS," to be as follows:-
Instruments for ascertaining or indicating the density of water used in
steam boilers as hitherto constructed have been either of so simple a
character that they have been liable to objection for the reason that they have
not been provided with any contrivance for eliminating or separating the steam
from the water, so that ebullition can take place within the instrument to the
danger of the attendant, and the injury by breakage of the hydrometer, and,
at the least, render the indications uncertain from the jumping oscillatory
motion of the hydrometer; or in cases where the instruments have been pro-
vided with an arrangement for the purpose herein-before mentioned, they
have, by reason of the manner of the addition, been rendered heavy and cuni-

page_text: bersome, and in some the passages bave been so contracted and distorted that
they become clogged or so incrusted with salt or earthy matter that the
action of the instrument is liable to be suspended; and, further, in the event
of their being so obstructed the parts are difficult of access, the instrument
having in many cases to be removed for the purpose of clearing or cleaning.
The object proposed to be attained by this Invention is the combination of
all the advantages of the more complicated with the same facility of access to
all the parts that is to be found in the more simple instruments, so as to
obtain at the same time a simple, inexpensive, and yet more efficient and
reliable instrument.
My improvements consist in constructing these instruments in such a
manner that they combine within themselves chambers or compartments each
having its distinct or separate use or function, namely (1) a funnel-shaped
piece or pieces, into which the water is allowed, by virtue of its gravity, to
fall, whereby the steam is liberated or separated from the water, and ebullition
in the instrument is presented; (2), induction or supply tubes leading from
the funnel-shaped piece or pieces into the bottom of (3) a main tube, such
tube being for the purpose of containing the hydrometer and thermometer;
and (4), eduction or everflow tubes by which the water overflowing from the
main tube is received, and can thence be led away to the bilge or to any place
convenient.
In constructing such instruments the chambers or compartments may be
combined in such manner that they shall form compartments of one vessel
with a top or cover uniting the whole, or they may be separate compartments
or tubes placed at a convenient distance apart, the necessary connection or
communication being still maintained between them.
In most cases I prefer to construct the instruments each with one funnel-
shaped piece, one induction tube, one main tube, and one eduction tube; and
for the purpose of showing the nature of my Invention, and the means by
which I propose to effect the same, proceed to describe one form of the
instrument as so constructed. I so arrange that the main cylinder or chamber
has at one side the induction and at the other the eduction tube or, passage.
The induction tube, provided at its upper end with the funnel-shaped piece
herein-before mentioned, is connected at its lower end with the bottom of the.
main cylinder. The eduction tube or passage leads into the main cylinder at
the point where it is desired to make the overflow. The main cylinder or
chamber for containing the hydrometer and thermometer has at or about its
mid-height, at front or back, or at front. only, an opening of a circular, oval, or
other convenient shape, into which is securely set a frame of a corresponding

page_text: shape containing glass or any transparent material which will withstand or
endure heat, and through which the indications of hydrometer and thermo-
meter may be read. The three tubes or compartments are furthermore so
combined at their upper ends that they enter or form a saucer, upon which
may be placed or screwed a top or cover for the whole instrument, or the
induction and eduction tubes may be so curved over at their upper ends
towards the axial line of the main tube that a neck of metal may unite the
whole so as to receive the top or cover. In either case the funnel-shaped
piece fixed to the upper end of the induction tube is so curved that its mouth
comes immediately under the top or cover, at the upper part of which enters
the mouth of a cock or the end of a pipe leading from a cock on the pipe
leading from the boiler. In some cases I propose to introduce the eduction
tube into the main or bydrometer tube or cylinder at or about the mid-height
of the same, and to use the ordinary hydrometer by which the indications can
be read from the surface of the water. In other cases I propose to fit the
main or bydrometer tube or cylinder with a solid piece or point of metal in
the inside about half-way down the same, and the top rim or edge of the main
tube is to be turned, and this solid piece or point is to be turned to a gauged
distance from the top edge of the main tube, and the hydrometer is to be
adjusted to float to this gauged distance from the surface of the water, and
marked accordingly, so that as the mark on the hydrometer stands above or
below this point, the density or lightness of the water can be ascertained.
The thermometer can be placed in any convenient place in the instrument, or
it can be fixed to hydrometer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jones Saunders in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONES
SAUNDERS, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jones Saunders, Her special licence that I, the said Jones Saunders,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jones
Saunders, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS
FOR INDICATING THE DENSITY OF THE WATER USED IN STEAM BOILERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jones Saunders, 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 Jones Saunders, 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:-
I. Instruments for ascertaining or indicating the density of water used in
steam boilers as hitherto constructed have been either of so simple a cha-
racter that they have been liable to objection for the reason that they have
not been provided with any contrivance for eliminating or separating the steam
from the water, so that ebullition can take place within the instrument to the
danger of the attendant and the injury by breakage of the hydrometer, and at
least render the indications uncertain from the jumping oscillating motion of
the hydrometer; or in cases where the instruments have been provided with
an arrangement for the purpose herein-before mentioned, they have, by reason
of the manner of the addition, been rendered heavy and cumbersome, and in
some the passages have been so contracted and distorted that they become
clogged or so incrusted with salt or earthy matter that the action of the
instrument is liable to be suspended; and, further in the event of their being
so obstructed, the parts are difficult of access, the instrument having in many
cases to be removed for the purpose of cleaning or clearing.
The object proposed to be attained by this Invention is the combination of
all the advantages of the more complicated with the same facility of access to
all the parts that is to be found in the more simple instruments, so as to obtain
at the same time a simple, inexpensive, and yet more efficient and reliable
instrument.
II. My improvements consist in constructing these instruments in such a
manner that they combine within themselves chambers or compartments, each
having its distinct or separate use or function, namely (1) a funnel-shaped

page_text: piece or pieces, into which the water is allowed, by virtue of its gravity, to
fall, whereby the steam is liberated or separated from the water, and ebullition
in the instrument is prevented; (2), induction or supply tubes leading from
the funnel-shaped piece or pieces into the bottom of (3) a main tube, such
tube being for the purpose of containing the hydrometer and thermometer,
and (4), eduction or overflow tubes by which the water overflowing from the
main tube is received, and can thence be led away to the bilge or to any place
convenient.
In constructing such instruments the chambers or compartments may be
combined in such manner that they shall form compartments of one vessel
with a top or cover uniting the whole, or they may be separate compartments
or tubes placed at a convenient distance apart, the necessary connection or
communication being still maintained between them.
III. In most cases I prefer to construct the instruments each with one
funnel-shaped piece, one induction tube, one main tube, and one eduction
tube; and for the purpose of showing the nature of my Invention, and the
means by which I propose to effect the same, proceed to describe one form of
the instrument as so constructed. I so arrange that the main cylinder or
chamber has at one side the induction and at the other the eduction tube or
passage. The induction tube, provided at its upper end with the funnel-
shaped piece berein-before mentioned, is connected at its lower end with the
bottom of the main cylinder. The eduction tube or passage leads into the
main cylinder at the point where it is desired to make the overflow. The main
cylinder or chamber for containing the hydrometer and thermometer has at
or about its mid-height, at front and back, or at front only, an opening of a
circular, oval, or other convenient shape, into which is securely set a frame of
a corresponding shape containing glass or any transparent material which
will withstand or endure heat, and through which the indications of hydro-
meter and thermometer may be read. The three tubes or compartments are
furthermore so combined at their upper ends that they enter or form a saucer,
upon which may be placed or screwed a top or cover for the whole instru-
ment, or the induction and eduction tubes may be so curved over at their upper
ends towards the axial line of the main tube that a neck of metal may unite
the whole so as to receive the top or cover.
In either case the funnel-shaped
piece fixed to the upper end of the induction tube is so curved that its mouth
comes immediately under the top or cover, at the upper part of which enters
the mouth of a cock or the end of a pipe leading from a cock on the pipe
leading from the boiler. In some cases I propose to introduce the eduction
tube into the main or bydrometer tube or cylinder at or about the mid-height

page_text: of the same, and to use the ordinary hydrometer by which the indications can
be read from the surface of the water. In other cases I propose to fit the
main or hydrometer tube or cylinder with a solid piece or point of metal in
the inside about half-way down the same, and the top rim or edge of the
main. tube is to be turned, and this solid piece or point is to be turned to a
gauged distance from the top edge of the main tube, and the hydrometer is
to be adjusted to float to this guaged distance from the surface of the water,
and marked accordingly, so that as the mark on the hydrometer stands above
or below this point the density or lightness of the water can be ascertained.
The thermometer can be placed in any convenient place in the instrument, or
it can be fixed to hydrometer.
In some cases I propose to fit a cock at the bottom ends of induction
and main or hydrometer tubes or compartments, so that these two tubes can
be emptied if required.
In order that the nature of my. Invention, and the means by which I effect
the same may be more particularly described and ascertained, I to this
Specification append a Sheet of Drawings, having figures and letters of refer-
ence marked thereupon, the like letters being used to denote similar parts in
each Figure.
IV. In these Drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figure 2 a
sectional elevation of one form of my instrument having a circular horizontal
section. In these Figures A is the funnel-shaped piece in which the steam
is separated from the water, as herein-before explained; B is the induction
tube or chamber; C, the main or hydrometer tube or chamber; and D, the
eduction tube or passage. The opening through which the indications of
the bydrometer, and thermometer are read is shown in this instrument of
an oval form, and a corresponding oval frame fitted with an oval glass is
securely screwed on to the instrument by separate screws, as
Drawing.
shown in the
Figure 3 is a front elevation, and Figure 4 is a sectional elevation; Figure 5,
a transverse section at the line E; and Figure 6, a transverse section at the
line F of another form of my improved instruments. In these Figures the
steam is separated or liberated from the water in the double top or cover A
(Figure 4), the inner cover or being pierced with holes a, a, to allow the
separated steam to escape to the eduction passage D. Figure 7 is a trans-
verse section of an instrument having an oval or flattened horizontal section
instead of a circular horizontal section, as in Figures 1 and 2, the position of
the funnel-shaped piece A being indicated by the two circular lines; Figure 8
is a transverse section of the same instrument with a circular opening and

page_text: glass, the section being taken at the place corresponding to that denoted by
the line E in Figure 3. Figure 5 will serve for a transverse section at the
line G of the instrument, Figures 1 and 2, with the exception of the frame
and glass, which are in that case (Figures 1 and 2) of an oval form, and
secured as described when herein-before referring to the said Figures
1 and 2.
Figure 9 is a front elevation of another form of my improved instruments,
the position of the passages or chambers being nearly identical with the position
of the same in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 10 is another arrangement of instru-
ment, in which passages or chambers A, B, C, are made in one piece separate
from the fourth or eduction passage D. The piece A, B, C, is suspended by
gimbals in a vessel forming the outer case of the instrument, and receiving the
overflow from C. The solid piece or point, herein-before alluded to as being
used in reading the indications of the hydrometer, is indicated in the Drawings
by the letter P.
Having now, particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, what I
claim is, the general arrangement and combination of the parts in salinometers
or instruments for indicating the density of the water used in steam boilers, as
described in that part of this Specification marked II.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jones Saunders, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JONES SAUNDERS
JONES CALINDERS
JONES
QUHANÓW OTHO
(2.5.)