IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO FUEL ECONOMISERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Elson, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
RELATING TO FUEL ECONOMISERS."
Sealed the 6th September 1872, and dated the 7th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Elson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th March 1872.
I, SAMUEL ELSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND RELATING TO FUEL ECONOMISERS," to be as follows:-.
My Invention consists of improvements in the fuel economisers, for
the Invention of which Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-third
day of August in the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one
have been granted to me.
In the said former Invention chains were employed to scrape the
outer surfaces of the cylinders in order to prevent the accumulation of
soot thereon.

page_text: According to my present Invention I employ for cach scraper a steel
blade supported on each side by a metal bar, which may be of a spiral
or other suitable form, cach bar being of a trapezoidal shape in cross
section in order that the soot may have means of escape, and that the
said bars may assist in the scraping of the cylinders. To ensure the
said scrapers acting upon the central parts of the cylinders I employ
springs or weights or weighted levers which press upon the said scrapers
at points at or near the centres of the lengths of the said scrapers. I
may mount the water cylinders formed of cast or of wrought iron in
stacks, sets, or sections, in a vertical, inclined, or horizontal position
in separate chambers, and cause the heated gases from the furnace
or furnaces to flow from one chamber into another throughout the series,
the water being fed into the section which receives the least heat, and
flowing from one section into another until it becomes converted into
steam, the said water being exposed to an increasing heat as it flows
from one section to another. When so arranged the apparatus may
be employed as a steam generator. I prefer to employ malleable cast-
ings for the short pipes which connect the cylinders together, or for a
portion of the said pipes, but I do not limit myself to the use of this
material. I may apply sediment or mud collectors to the apparatus,
the said collectors being connected with each section or to a portion of
the sections, and not being exposed to the direct heat of the furnace, the
said collectors being so formed as that the mud may be removed with-
out having to enter the aforesaid chambers or the flues. The aforesaid
sections are so formed and connected together as that any section may
be removed from the chamber in which it is mounted without inter-
fering with the other sections and without having to take down or
disturb the brickwork. I may construct one section to act as a super-
heater, the steam flowing into the said section from the other sections,
in which case the "feed water" would not have access to the said
section. I may in some cases construct the walls or the outer walls
of the said chambers in the form of a hollow tank or of hollow tanks of
wrought or cast-iron, the water being introduced into the said tank or
tanks before being forced into the apparatus.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Elson in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 7th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ELSON, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of our.
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Samuel Elson, Her special license that I, the
said Samuel Elson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Samuel Elson, my exccutors, 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,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO FUEL
ECONOMISERS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Samuel
Elson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Samuel Elson, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say—
My Invention consists of improvements in the fuel economisers, for
the Invention of which Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-third
day of August in the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one
have been granted to me.
In the said former Invention chains were employed to scrape the
outer surfaces of the cylinders in order to prevent the accumulation of
soot thereon.

page_text: I may
According to my present Invention I employ for each scraper a steel
blade, supported on each side by a metal bar, which may be of a spiral
or other suitable form, cach bar being of a trapezoidal shape in cross
section in order that the soot may have means of escape, and that the
said bars may assist in the scraping of the cylinders. To ensure the
said scrapers acting upon the central parts of the cylinders I employ
springs or weights or weighted levers which press upon the said scrapers
at points at or near the centres of the lengths of the said scrapers.
mount the water cylinders formed of cast or of wrought iron in stacks,
sets, or sections in a vertical, inclined, or horizontal position in separate
chambers, and cause the heated gases from the furnace or furnaces to
flow from one chamber into another throughout the scries, the water
being fed into the section which receives the least heat and flowing from
one section into another until it becomes converted into steam, the said
water being exposed to an increasing heat as it flows from one section
to another. When so arranged the apparatus may be employed as a
steam generator. I prefer to employ malleable castings for the short
pipes which connect the cylinders together or for a portion of the said
pipes, but I do not limit myself to the use of this material. I may apply
sediment or mud collectors to the apparatus, the said collectors being
connected with each section or to a portion of the sections and not being
exposed to the direct heat of the furnace, the said collectors being so
formed as that the mud may be removed without having to enter the
aforesaid chambers or the flucs. The aforesaid sections are so formed
and connected together as that any section may be removed from the
chamber in which it is mounted without interfering with the other
sections, and without having to take down or disturb the brickwork.
I may construct one section to act as a superheater, the steam flowing
into the said section from the other sections, in which case the "feed
water" would not have access to the said section.
I may in some cases construct the walls or the outer walls of the said
chambers in the form of a hollow tank or of hollow tanks of wrought or
cast iron, the water being introduced into the said tank or tanks before
being forced into the apparatus.
And in order that the said Invention may be readily explained and be
fully understood I have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings, made
for the most part to a scale of three-quarters of an inch to the foot, and
marked with letters of reference, the same letters indicating corresponding
parts in the various Figures.

page_text: Referring now to the said Drawings Fig. 1 represents a single cylinder
as constructed by me and used in my fuel economisers, the said cylinder
being provided with the aforesaid improved scrapers. Fig. 2 represents
a cross section of the said scraper, wherein it will be seen that each
scraper consists of a central steel blade a supported by two bars b, b, the
whole being formed into a spiral shape extending from end to end of
and partly around the said cylinder. The said scraper is attached by
one end to a loose ring c, and. by the other end to the boss of the worm
wheel d, so that when the said worm wheel is rotated by means of a
worm as is usual the two scrapers with which I usually provide each
cylinder are caused to revolve around the said cylinder and to act upon
the surface thereof for the purpose now well understood. A ring e is
attached to the bars b, b, or to one of the said bars in each scraper, and
springs fare fixed to the said ring and are caused to press the middle
part of the blade a against the cylinder.
Fig. 3 represents a vertical side elevation, and Fig. 4 a plan of an
arrangement of economiser, designed to be employed in the generation
of steam. In this example the cylinders are mounted in four brick-
work chambers A, B, C, and D, there being nine cylinders in each
chamber. The cylinders in each chamber are arranged in three vertical
rows and the cylinders in each vertical row are connected together by
means of the short pipes 9, 9, and the lowest cylinder is connected by
means of the pipes h, h, with cylindrical mud collectors i, i, which are
by preference built into the brickwork and are therefore not directly
exposed to the heat from the furnace. The said connecting pipes I
prefer to make of malleable cast iron as herein-before mentioned, or the
pipes h, h, may alone be made of such material. Any section composed
of three cylinders connected together as aforesaid can be removed after
it has been disconnected from the mud collector or mud collectors on
which the said section is mounted without having to disturb the brick-
work, excepting in the case of the sections mounted in the chamber A,
which sections in the example illustrated project at one end through the
brickwork. The said chamber A is formed as a furnace and is fitted
with fire-bars and other usual fittings. Each cylinder as well as each
mud collector is provided with a removable cap or end cover which is
secured to the said cylinder by means of bolts, so that by removing the
said cap access may be had to the interior of the cylinder when it is
desirable to cleanse or repair the same. Openings j, j, are formed in the
partition walls of the said chambers, the arrangement being such as that

page_text: the heated gases from the chamber A flow into the chamber B, thence
into the chamber C, and thence into the chamber D, whence they flow
into the flue leading to the chimney. The feed water is forced through
the pipe K into the sections mounted in the chamber D, and as the two
adjacent mud collectors in the said chamber and in the chamber C are
connected together by means of a short pipe 7 the water flows from the
sections in the chamber D into the sections in the chamber C. The mud
collector to the extreme right in the Figs. 3 and 4 is made of sufficient
length to serve for the sections in both of the chambers C and B, and
therefore conducts the water into the sections in the last named chamber.
The water finally flows through the connecting pipe m into the sections
in the chamber A, wherein the said water is converted into steam or
wherein the conversion of the water into steam is completed. As steam
may be generated in the sections in the chamber B the said sections
may be connected with the sections in the chamber A by means of the
pipes n, n, which will permit of the flow of steam from the one set of
sections to the other, or the sections in more than two chambers may be
so connected so long as the water is not permitted to flow from the
sections in one chamber into the sections in another chamber, excepting
in the order herein described, that is to say, the water must flow in the
contrary direction to the direction of flow of the heated gases. A steam
reservoir o is connected with the sections in the chamber A and such
reservoir may be fitted with a safety valve or with safety valves, and the
apparatus may be otherwise fitted or provided with suitable mountings
as in the case of ordinary steam generators. The cylinders in one or
more of the said chambers are provided with scrapers as in the case of
ordinary fuel economisers.
In the example illustrated the cylinders in the chamber D are alone
fitted with scrapers, and for greater convenience of application of such
scrapers are or may be connected together in the manner illustrated by
Fig. 5. I do not confine myself to the number of cylinders in each
section or in cach chamber nor to the number of chambers. The
chambers may be covered in by means of metal plates p, or may be
bricked over or otherwise covered as may be desired.
Fig. 6 illustrates my method of employing wrought-iron tanks q
instead of brick walls to enclose the said sections. When so employed
I keep the said tank full or nearly full of water and feed the cylinders
in the said chambers from the said tank.

page_text: Having now fully described and indicated the nature of my said
Invention, I would in conclusion have it to be distinctly understood that
I claim,-
First. The form of scraper substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described and indicated.
Secondly. The application of springs or weights to scrapers, substan-
tially in the manner herein-before indicated.
Thirdly. The arrangement of apparatus illustrated by Figs. 3, 4, and 5,
or any mere modification thereof, substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described and indicated.
Fourthly. The employment of malleable castings for the purpose
hercin-before indicated.
Fifthly. The mud collectors employed substantially in the manner
hercin-before indicated.
And, lastly, the employment of wrought-iron water tanks, substantially
as and for the purpose herein-before indicated:
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Elson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Signed and scaled by the said
Samuel Elson, in the presence of,
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent for the Patentee,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.
SAMUEL ELSON.
(L.S.)