IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING, SUB- CHARGING, OR SUPERHEATING STEAM
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Longbottom, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING, SUB-
CHARGING, OR SUPERHEATING STEAM."
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 6th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Longbottom at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patonts, with his Petition, on tho
6th December 1856.
I, JOHN LONGBOTTOM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of tho said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING,
SURCHARGING, OR SUPERHEATING STEAM," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of generating and surcharging
or superheating steam, whereby its expansive force is greatly increased without
any additional consumption of fuel.
According to this Invention the ordinary steam from a steam engine or
other boiler, in place of passing direct to the cylinder of the steam engine,
is first brought in contact with a series of superheating or surcharging hot
water pipes or tubes, heated by the ordinary boiler furnace or by a separate
heating furnace. These pipes or tubes are partially filled with water, and are
so disposed as to produce a rapid circulation of water and heat through them.
A quantity of these pipes or tubes, contained in a convenient receptacle

page_text: or casing, may be placed in or near to the condenser of the steam engine,
or otherwise conveniently disposed so to be in close proximity to the cylinder,
by which means the steam from the boiler or cylinders is considerably reheated
or surcharged, and will therefore give off a much greater amount of motive
force.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Longbottom in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LONGBOTTOM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Longbottom, Her special license that I, the said John Longbottom, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Longbottom, my executors, administrators, or 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 GENERATING, SURCHARGING, OR SUPERHEATING STEAM," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Longbottom, 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 John Longbottom, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
.
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for surcharging or superheating steam, whereby its expansive force
is greatly increased without any additional consumption.

page_text: According to this Invention the ordinary steam from a steam engine or
other boiler, in place of passing direct to the cylinder of the steam engine,
is first brought in contact with a series of superheating or surcharging hot-
water pipes or tubes heated by the ordinary boiler furnace, or by a separato
heating furnace if desired. These pipes or tubes are partially filled with water,
and are so disposed as to produce a rapid circulation of water and heat through
them. A quantity of these pipes or tubes, contained in a convenient receptacle
or casing, may be placed in or near to the condenser of the steam engine,
or otherwise conveniently disposed so as to be in close proximity to the
cylinder, by which means the steam from the boiler or cylinders (when used
expansively) is considerably reheated or surcharged, and will therefore give
off a much greater amount of motive force.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a longitudinal section of an ordinary
cylindrical steam boiler and furnace, shewing the mode of applying my super-
heating hot-water pipes thereto.
A is the boiler; B, the ordinary central flue; and C, the furnace. The
superheating hot-water pipes, which form the main feature of my Invention,
are shewn at D, in the form of a coil, so as to present a large heating surface
to the action of the heat and flame as it passes to the chimney E. This
coil of pipes D is filled with water, and is connected to a second coil F, placed
in a steam dome G on the top of the boiler. A third coil of pipes II is
enclosed in a small steam chamber I in the steam pipe K, which passes to
the engine. These two coils F and H are both connected with the main
heating coil D, as shewn in the Drawing, and the whole are filled with water,
which is raised to a very high temperature by the action of the flames upon
the coil D, and circulates constantly throughout the series of coils which are
continuous in the ordinary well-known manner, the hot water rising and
the cooler water descending. The steam dome G is perfectly separate from
the boiler, so that no steam can enter therein excepting through the central
steam pipe L. The steam pipe K opens into the lower portion of the dome,
50 that the stream from the boiler may descend the dome and traverse along
the outside of the entire heating coil F before it can enter the steam pipes
on its way to the engine; it will thus be thoroughly dried and surcharged
before entering the cylinder, and any particle of moisture which may have

page_text: escaped the action of the coil F being effectually dispelled by the action of
the coil H in the steam box or chamber I of the steam pipe. I do not
confine myself to any maximum degree of heat to be imparted to the water.
in the superheating coils, always provided that its temperature be higher
than that of the natural steam as it issues direct from the boiler. The
superheating coils may bo fed, so as to keep them properly supplied with
water, in any convenient manner, as, for example, by connecting them by
means of a branch pipe fitted with a stop-cock to a force pump. The mode
of adapting these superheating hot-water coils may obviously be varied to a
great extent, and therefore I do not confine or restrict myself to any particular
modo of application, so long as the main feature of my Invention be retained,
namely, the superheating the steam by means of hot-water pipes after it
leaves the boiler and before entering the cylinder, and also the application
and use of such pipe to and in expansion engines, for the purpose of reheating
the steam after leaving one cylinder before it enters a second, whereby its
original elasticity is regained.
Figure 2 of my Drawings represents in vertical section a mode of applying,
the hot-water superheating pipes to the interior a vertical multitubular boiler
and its furnace for the purpose of more rapidly generating the steam.
Figure 3 is a corresponding sectional plan of the same, taken through the
furnace; Figure 4 is a horizontal section, taken through the boiler; Figure 5
is a vertical section of a similarly constructed boiler, taken at right angles to
Figure 2, but without the tubes, one central flue being substituted therefor;
and Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the same, taken through the boiler.
The corresponding parts in all these Figures are marked with similar letters
of reference.
A is the furnace, surrounded on its four sides by the hot-water pipes B, B,
which are continued up inside the body of the boiler C in the form of a
second coil D, surrounding the tubes E, as shewn in Figures 2 and 4, or the
central flue E, as shewn in Figures 5 and 6. The furnace is supplied with
fuel from the overhead fire door F, and is divided into two portions by the
fire-brick partition G.
The flame and heat passes in the direction of the arrows between the pipes
at the front end of the furnace, which are here set in such a manner as to
leave interstices for the passage of the flame between them. The flame and
gases then traverse along each side of the furnace outside the pipes, which
are here placed close together; the two currents then unite at the back of
the furnace, and after passing between the pipes at the back end thereof
enter the combustion chamber II, and finally pass up the tubes or central

page_text: flue E of the boiler, on their way to the chimney. I is a pipe for occasionally
supplying the coils with water.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general constructions and arrangements of apparatus for generating
and surcharging or superheating steam for various purposes, as herein-before
described.
Second, the application and use to and in ordinary steam boilers of hot-
water pipes, for the purpose of superheating the steam, in the manner herein-
before described, and illustrated by Figure 1 of my Drawings.
Third, the peculiar arrangement of hot-water pipes for facilitating. the
generation of steam, as herein-before described, and illustrated by Figures
3, 4, 5, and 6 of my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Longbottom, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
JOHN LONGBOTTOM. (L.B.)