AN IMPROVED MODE OF GENERATING STEAM
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sturgeon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
October 1865.
I, JOHN STURGEON, of Burley, near Leeds, in the County of York.
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF GENERATING STEAM," to be as follows:-.
This.. Invention has for its object "An Improved Mode of Generating
Steam." Heretofore it has been usual to generate steam in boilers by apply-
ing a large amount of heat to a large body of water until the water becomes
gradually turned into steam by the action of boiling, fresh water being
continually forced in to maintain the supply. My improvement, however,
may be said to consist "essentially of concentrating a comparatively small
[Price 8d.1

page_text: amount of heat within a limited space, through or into which water is passed
in small quantities, and in such a way as to become readily converted into
steam in its passage into or through the heated space as fast as required to
supply the engine or other apparatus, to which the steam is required to be
supplied, thereby dispensing with the-ordinary boiler and its accessories, and
reducing the consumption of heat to the smallest amount. In order to effect
this object I provide one or more suitably formed vessels or tubes, into which
water is driven by means of a force pump or a suitable adaptation of the
apparatus known as Giffard's injector, and is raised to the required tem
perature by heat applied either directly to the water itself or to the outside of
the vessel or tube, the requisite, heat being derived from any one of the various
sources from which heat is obtained, as hereafter described. The heated
chambers or vessels referred to may be, as stated, in the form of a tube or
tubes or any other suitable form, and are kept supplied with only so much
water as shall be sufficient when raised into steam to work the engine, or do
whatever other work the apparatus may be required to perform. The supply
of water and heat is of course kept-up-continuously with the requirement of
the work, the difference between this mode of generating steam and the plan
of the present boilers being; that while in the latter case a large amount of
heat is consumed in boiling a large quantity of water into steam and keeping
it heated for a considerable time before it is called into use, in the improved
mode herein described the water is raised into steam by being forced into the
heated vessels or tubes à little at a time just as it is wanted, and in quantities
small enough to be readily turned into steam, as it were, piecemeal by a small
amount of heat concentrated in-the one spot. And in order to enable the
water more readily to absorb the heat it may be forced into the heated vessel
or tube in the form of-spray, which may be effected by forcing a jet of water
through a perforated jet pipe, or so as to strike at an angle against a suitable
plate, or by any other suitable means.
5. J
I shall now refer to a few of the various methods which may be employed
for obtaining the requisite heat. In the first-place, I may apply electricity to
generate the required heat by forceing 'the particles of water-through-a-suitably
formed tube or ring of platinum, "which is kept heated to the proper tem-
perature by a current of electricity which is passed througli it from a battery.
so that the water is quickly converted into steam, which may then pass. to.a
preliminary receiver or direct to its destination as required, or the platinum
tube or ring. may be placed inside the vessel or chamber which acts as the
receiver. Or in place of the platinum, tube or ring I may use a coil of
platinum wire, which may be enclosed in, a casing of glass or other, suitable

page_text: material, so as to impart its heat obtained from the battery to the. casing which
is intended to protect the heated platinum from direct contact with the
water.
J
Another mode of effecting this is by having perforations in the heated tube,
so that the steam formed in the passage of the water through the heated tube
rises through the perforations and fills the chamber or vessel. In the above-
described arrangements it is evident that any number of these tubes or rings
may be used as may be found desirable, and that they may be worked all
together from one battery, or separately, cach having its own battery. When
generating steam by means of heat obtained by the combustion of fuel I may
apply the principles above described in a variety of ways, one of which may
be described as follows:-One or more tubes, composed by preference of
platinum, are arranged having one end connected with the water supply pipe
and the other with a suitable receiver or an ordinary steam pipe, the heat is
applied to the tube or-tubes in such a way as to increase gradually in intensity
from the water supply end to the steam end of the tube or tubes, and water being
forced through the tube or tubes becomes converted into steam, which passes
into a suitable receiver or direct to its destination. Gas may also be applied
as a means' of heating. In the arrangement last described simply place gas
pipes under the tubes, one or more under each, the size of the jets or flame
being graduated so as to be smaller at the water. supply end and increasing as
they approach the other end. Any other suitable means of heating may be
employed, and the formation of the chamber or vessel may be modified in
various ways, but the principle remains the same, viz., of converting the water
into steam in small quantities as fast as it is used up by the application of a
small amount of heat so applied as to convert these small quantities of water
rapidly into steam as they are passed through the heated vessel, instead of
boiling into steam a large body of water by the application of a large amount
> SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John. Sturgeon.in the. Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
April 1866...
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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STURGEON, of Burley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
w
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Sturgeon, Her special licence that I, the said John Sturgeon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said John
Sturgeon, 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, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF GENE-
RATING STEAM," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said John
Sturgeon, 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 John Sturgeon, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improved mode of generating steam.
My improvement may be said to consist in certain apparatus or generators
having for their object the concentrating a comparatively small amount of
heat within a limited space, through or into which water is passed in small
quantities, and in such a way as to become readily converted into steam in its
passage into or through the heated space as fast as required to supply the
engine or other apparatus to which the steam is required to be supplied, in
place of using the ordinary boilers, and reducing the consumption of heat to
the smallest amount.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In Sheet Figure 1 shows a section of the apparatus in one of the forms
adapted for use with ordinary coal or coke fuel. A is a spherical vessel of
cast iron; B is the outlet pipe, having a flange for connection with the feed
pipe of the engine or other apparatus to which the steam has to be conveyed;
C, C, is the feed water pipe screwed into the vessel A, and projecting some
way into the inside, terminating in a rose sprinkler at C². This pipe is
suitably connected at its other end with a double action force pump (Figure 2)
fixed in the tank D, the plungers E, E, being actuated by the levers F, F,

page_text: and the connecting rod F from the engine, as is well known and understood.
The vessel A is enclosed in a suitable casing G, lined with fire-clay, and is
heated by a fire placed underneath it, as shown in Figure 1. This casing is
supported on a stand H, H, having a door, the position of which is shown by
the dotted lines a, a, &c., and which may be opened or closed so as to regulate
the draught. The fire-place has also a door b, b, &c. When the pumps E, E,
are worked the water is forced through the pipe C, C, and passing through
the fine holes at C' becomes separated into fine spray, which is instantaneously
converted into steam as it enters the heated vessel. A check valve is applied
at C, or at any other convenient point, to prevent the return of the water to
the pumps, and a safety valve at K. A pressure gauge may be fixed as at I.
In Figures 3 and 4 A is a straight pipe heated by jets of gas from the gas
pipe B. The water is forced in through the pipe C. filling the annular
groove C, and escaping thence through small orifices into the pipe A, in
passing through which in its way to the cylinder D it becomes rapidly con-
verted into steam. The pipes A and B may be enclosed in a cover E, as in
Figure 4. In place of thus using jets of gas an ordinary fire may be employed
in place thereof.
In Sheet 2 of the Drawings another modification of steam generator
according to my Invention is shown. In this arrangement the heat is applied
to an internal flue (though more flues may, if desired, be similarly used)
passing through the vessel or chamber. The chamber or vessel is composed
of two parts a and b, the two being firmly holted together, as shown. At the
part where they come together at e, e, a groove is cut in each, forming an
annular groove or passage, from which a series of fine grooves or passages are
formed, as shown at e', e', so that when waler is forced by the pumps f into
the passage e, e, it is divided into numerous streams in passing into the
heated chamber or vessel, and is instantaneously converted into steam, which
passes off, at the steam pipe g, shown by dotted lines in Figure 1. The
contraction of the flue at h, h, is for the purpose of causing a more perfect.
combustion of the fuel.
i
In Sheet 3 is shown an arrangement for producing the necessary amount
of heat by electricity, and this apparatus is shown in connection with the
principle working parts of an engine to illustrate more clearly its manner of
action. A is the spherical vessel which. is shown bolted direct to the valve
box of the working cylinder. Within this vessel is a pipe B communicating
with the cylinder or valve box. Outside this is screwed the casing C, C,
leaving an annular space between it and the pipe B, in which space is coiled a
sufficient length of platinum wire D, D, connected by the conducting wires

page_text: E, E, with the electrodes of a battery or any suitable electromotor, so that
when a current of electricity is passed through the platinum wire it becomes
intensely heated, communicating its heat to the casing C, C. A cap F is
fastened to the casing C, leaving an annular groove or passage at G commu-
nicating with the interior of the vessel A through a series of fine grooves,
through which water is forced as before described. The particles of water
thus forced in contact with the heated surface naturally tend to assume
spheroidal form, but being under pressure are instantaneously exploded and
flashed into steam which passes through the pipe B into the working cylinder.
The supply of water (and consequently of steam) is kept up continuously with
the stroke of the piston by means of the double-action force pump H, H, which
is worked by the crank plate K, so that during each stroke of the piston one
plunger is performing its stroke and passing water through the pipe Linto
the generating vessel, each stroke of the piston of the engine being thereby
caused to produce and maintain its own supply of steam. I would remark
that although I prefer the arrangement of apparatus shown and described,
yet it will be evident that such arrangement may be considerably varied, and
yet retain the peculiarity of this part of my Invention, wherein the heat
obtained by electric currents is combined with the use of regulated quantities
of water divided into numerous streams, which are converted instantaneously
into steam within a steam chamber. It is evident that the working pressure
of the steam, so long as the proper heat is maintained in the vessel, will
depend upon the quantity of water forced in for each stroke. This may be
regulated by altering the throw of the crank K, which is readily effected by pro-
viding a slot in the face of the crank plate to allow of the crank pin K¹ being
shifted nearer to or further from the centre, so as to give greater or less stroke
to the pumps H, H. It is evident that the principles above described are
applicable to all purposes to which steam has been hitherto applied, and more-
over from the portability and smallness of space 'occupied by the apparatus,
it may also be applied in cases where hitherto other forms of generators have
not been capable of application.
.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and shown how it may
be carried out, I would state that I am aware that it has before been pro-
posed to work engines by the instantaneous generation of steam from water
injected into a heated vessel communicating with the cylinder of the engine;
I do not claim the same generally, but what I claim is,-
First, when using ordinary fuel the arrangement of apparatus described in
reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, also Figures 1
and 2, Sheet 2 of the Drawings.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the employment of the heat produced by electric currents
for converting water instantaneously into steam in suitable vessels or chambers
into which regulated quantities of water are injected in a divided state, as
explained..
In witness whereof, I; the said John Sturgeon, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN STURGEON. (L.S.)