Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 5th June, 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 17th Aug., 1888
I, HENRY CLIFTON CARVER of 3 Cross Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Waste gaseous products of combustion in furnaces are used for extinguishing fires.
They are conveyed from the furnaces, or from their outlet passages, through pipes,
as and when required, and are discharged from the pipes so as that they envelope the
fires which are to be extinguished, and which then (owing to the waste products
being unable to support combustion) die out. Apparatus may be provided for cooling
and cleansing the waste products so employed, and also for discharging them as
rapidly and under as great a pressure as may be necessary. In some cases means
may be employed for partly or wholly separating from each other the gases which
are intermingled in the waste products. Each or any of the gases thus separated
may then be used independently of the other or others.
For extinguishing a fire in a ship's hold, it is usually preferred to discharge the
waste products into the hold, at any convenient point, so as to quickly render the
whole atmosphere of the hold incapable of supporting combustion, and without
aiming the discharge directly at the fire. In some cases the waste products may be
stored in tanks or other vessels (either portable or otherwise), whence they may be
discharged for extinguishing fires, as and when required.

page_text: Improvements in Means for Extinguishing Fires.
1 HENRY CLIFTON CARVER of 3, Cross Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings
-
My invention has reference to utilizing waste gaseous products of combustion from
Marine Steam Boiler Furnaces for the purpose of extinguishing fires on board
Steamers.
I am aware that it has several times been proposed to employ for extinguishing
fire gaseous products of combustion obtained by various methods; thus so long ago
as in 1844 a Patent (No. 10212) was taken out by W. H. Phillips who described in
his Specification and showed by drawings an apparatus mounted on wheels in which
gases were to be generated in a fire place (the construction of which is shown in the
drawings) in which coke or other fuel was to be thrown into a state of rapid
combustion by a current of air produced by means of a fan or blower made to
revolve with great rapidity; and these gases were to be applied for extinguishing
fire Then in 1879 A. J. Boult patented an Invention (No. 1446) for Improvements
in Preventing and Extinguishing Fires on board Ship etc.-He describes in his
Specification and shows by drawings. an arrangement for deoxygenating air where-
with to extinguish fire by drawing into a Steam boiler furnace fitted with an
arrangement of pipes and inlets for the purpose, a mixture of air and finely powdered
carbonaceous material by means of a fan-And again in 1882 a Patent (No. 803)
was obtained by I. K. I. Foster who describes and shows an apparatus on wheels
having a boiler in which a Fire is burnt for the purpose of vitiating air and of
producing a supply of steam at low pressure which may or may not be mixed with
the vitiated air The apparatus comprises also a high pressure boiler supplying steam
to an engine which drives a fan for drawing the products of combustion from both
boilers for extinguishing fire.
According to the above mentioned and other kindred inventions the gases for
extinguishing fire are produced with the aid of special apparatus, or of furnaces
fitted with special appliances, or by the combustion of particular kinds or preparations
of fuel, for the purpose. Now the employment of these special means for producing
fire extinguishing gas is in very many cases attended by such serious disadvantages
as greatly to limit the practical utility and applicability of the inventions referred to-
By my present invention however all disadvantages arising from this cause are
entirely avoided, as instead of employing gases produced by special means as referred
to above, I utilize in case of fire the gaseous products of combustion (which ordinarily
flow to waste) resulting from the firing of marine steam boiler furnaces in the
manner and with the fuel customary for each furnace respectively when performing

page_text: its ordinary functions without the aid of any special combustible or of any chemical
ingredient-When using these gaseous products for the purposes of this invention
I sometimes employ means for reducing their temperature and for cleansing them
from some of the gaseous matter of which they are partly composed and of the solid
matter which they may hold in suspense.
In carrying out this invention I provide in connection with such furnaces
apparatus which I will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. A. is a longitudinal section and Fig. B. a plan view showing the application
of the apparatus to a Steamer the engines for propelling which are supplied with
steam by one Boiler numbered 1. in the Drawings-1, 1 are the boiler furnaces,
2 the smoke box which receives the waste gaseous products of combustion from the
furnaces, 3 the uptake leading from the Smoke box and through which these gaseous
products ordinarily pass away into the air as waste; 4 is a pipe fitted with a valve 4ª
and leading from the smoke box to the bottom of a washing apparaus consisting of a
chamber 5 (shown in section) water shower rose 6 placed near the top of the chamber
and waste water outlet pipe 7 having a valve 7 and forming a syphon as shown
which may discharge overboard or into the bilges. 8 is a water supply pipe fitted
with a valve 9 for conveying water to the rose 6 from any convenient source in order
to produce a water shower in the chamber 5.-10 is a strainer (shown only in Fig. A)
for keeping back any solid particles which might obstruct the perforations in
the rose, and 10" is a door to a passage between the interior of the chamber 5 and the
outer air-There is an annular space between the Rose 6 and the chamber 5. and the
Rose has a number of passages through it (which are not seen in the drawing) for
the waste gaseous products to pass through 11 is a steam jet blower fixed on the top
of the chamber 5. and supplied with steam from the boiler 1 through the valve 13 and
pipe 12; 14 is a receiver into which the waste gaseous products are forced by the
blower and having three outlets through which they may be delivered therefrom-
14 14 are two fixed delivery pipes running fore and aft from the Receiver-The
pipe 14° leads to the holds 15, 16 of the Steamer through the valves 17, 18. respectively,
and the pipe 14' leads to the hold 19 through the valve 20.-The valves 17, 18.
discharge downwards, and there is a free way through 17 into the pipe leading to 18-
The spindles for operating the valves can be worked from the deck. When only one
outlet is required for the waste gaseous products the Receiver 14 and the delivery
valves may be omitted, the delivery pipe being then connected directly to the blower.-
22 is a valve on the Receiver to which a flexible delivery pipe may be connected.
21 is a damper in the uptake 3 which can be regulated or closed for the purpose of
preventing a back draught past it when the apparatus is at work-When the fire to be
extinguished is accessible with the flexible delivery pipe it may be put out by
discharging the waste gaseous products directly upon it through the pipe; but when
the fire takes place in a hold and is not thus accessible it is necessary to pervade the
whole atmosphere of the hold with the waste gaseous products-In either case the
waste gaseous products envelope the fire and cause it to die out owing to their
inability to support its combustion.
The operation of the Apparatus is as follows
The valve 22 or one of the valves 17, 18, 20 is opened (according to the locality of
the fire) and the valves 4ª 7° 9 and 13 are also opened-The opening of the steam
valve 13 puts the blower into action so that it draws into itself part or all (as the case
may be) of the waste gaseous products emitted from the boiler furnaces (the damper 21
being regulated, or if necessary closed, so as to prevent back draught past the damper)
through the Pipe 4, then upwards through the Chamber 5 past the rose 6 by the
passages both round it and through it so that they are thoroughly intermingled with
the water shower, and then forces them into the Receiver 14 and through the delivery
pipe corresponding to the valve which has been opened for giving them egress to act
on the fire The water shower cools the waste gaseous products and cleanses them
from some of the smoke and other solid matter which they may hold in suspense and
from some of the soluble gaseous matter of which they may be partly composed, such
as sulphurous acid and aminoniacal gas etc. This cooling and cleansing process renders

page_text: the waste gaseous products less injurious to certain kinds of cargo and objects-The
waste water from the washing apparatus passes away through the pipe 7 and forms a
seal in the Syphon, which prevents air from being drawn in through the pipe when
the apparatus is at work. Should it not be required to cool or cleanse the waste
gaseous products the water supply valve 9 and waste water valve 7* are kept closed---
Sometimes a second washing apparatus (similar to the one already described except
that the airway and door 10 may be omitted) may be provided, between the blower 11,
and receiver 14, which will cool the waste gaseous products again after being warmed
by the steam used in the blower, and which will absorb the steam and more of the
soluble gaseous matter-In this case the water seal in the Syphon serves to prevent
the outflow of any of the waste gaseous products through the pipe, the pressure being
then outwards from the Cooler The 2 washing apparatuses may be placed on a level
with each other and have the blower situated between them vertically, pipes with
bends being provided for connecting it to the top of the first and bottom of the second
washing apparatuses respectively, and the receiver 14 being arranged on top of the
second apparatus-Sometimes when only one washing apparatus is employed the waste
gaseous products may be passed through it after (instead of before) going through
the blower; in this case however the blower must be made comparatively greater,
in order to compensate for the larger volume occupied by the waste gaseous products
when passed through the blower in their heated condition, and the airway and door
may be applied to the suction pipe between the valve 4ª and the blower.-It is
important that the blower should be powerful enough 'to deliver the waste gaseous
products into the holds which are being operated on in sufficiently large volume to
maintain an outward flow through all places of escape which there may be from the
holds, and thus to prevent the admission of fresh air to the holds-Such places of
escape should in the aggregate be large enough to admit of the original atmosphere
of the holds being freely expelled through them by the inflowing waste gaseous
products, and when any places of escape are provided specially to facilitate this
expulsion they should be situated remotely from the inflowing stream. After a fire
has been extinguished in one of the holds by pervading its whole atmosphere with the
waste gaseous products the valve 4ª may be closed and the door 10% opened; where-
upon the blower will draw in fresh air through the airway and force it into the hold
so as to expel the waste gaseous products from it.-When the apparatus is blowing
fresh air the water valve 9 may be closed and the damper 21 be restored to its normal
position Sometimes when there are two or more contiguous holds a delivery pipe
may be led to one only of them and the waste gaseous products may be allowed to
fill this hold and to overflow into and fill the other or others also, through an opening
or openings in the intermediate bulkhead or bulkheads.-Sometimes when it is not
required to cool or cleanse the waste gaseous products, the washing apparatus may be
dispensed with and the air way and door 10 may be applied on the suction pipe 4 as
already described, and sometimes they may be so applied when the washing apparatus
is situated as shown in the drawings. When the volume of waste gaseous products
emitted from the boiler furnaces is so great that the withdrawal of a portion of them
for fire extinguishing purposes produces no appreciable backdraught, the damper 21
may sometimes be omitted.-This case will occur most commonly when the Furnaces
of a range of boilers all discharge into a common outlet passage, but even then it may
be desirable in some instances to arrange by means of a damper that the waste gaseous
products availed of for fire extinguishing purposes shall be withdrawn from one or
some only of the furnaces-The delivery pipes may be laid along any convenient
course, and should there be dips in them where water might accumulate either from
the steam employed in working the apparatus or otherwise, syphons for the escape of
the water may be connected to the pipes at the points where it accumulates.
When forced draught is employed for working the boiler furnaces the action of this
draught may sometimes be availed of for forcing the waste gaseous products through
delivery pipes, and valves such as are shown in the drawings and described, (and
through the washing apparatus if employed) for extinguishing fire, without the aid of
any blower other than that which produces the forced draught.-I do not however in

page_text: any case confine myself to the particular kinds of valves shown and described it being
obvious that changes may be made in this respect without affecting. the action of the
apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
Providing apparatus in connection with the furnaces of marine steam boilers
substantially as herein above described under various modifications with reference to
the illustrative drawings annexed the arrangement and operation being as explained
such as to serve in case of need for extinguishing fire by the waste gaseous products
of combustion resulting from the firing of the said furnaces in the manner and with
the fuel customary for each furnace respectively when performing its ordinary
functions without the aid of any special combustible or of any chemical ingredient.
DL:
T
1000
HY. C. CARVER.