CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING BOATS AND DRIVING MACHINERY BY THE AGENCY OF STEAM, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSES OF EVAPORATION
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHURCH, of Haywood House, Bordesley Green, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His Majesty William the Fourth was graciously pleased to
grant unto me, the said William Church, His Royal Letters Patent, dated
at Westminster, on the Twenty-ninth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty, for my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING BOATS AND DRIVING MACHINERY BY THE AGENCY OF
STEAM, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSES OF
EVAPORATION," securing unto me, the said William Church, my heirs, exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, an exclusive property, right, and privilege
in the same, provided that I, the said William Church, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of His
Majesty's said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Church, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in the following words, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and numbered in their left and
upper corners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, that is to say:
My improvements in apparatus applicable to propelling boats and driving
machinery by the agency of steam, parts of which improvements are also
applicable to the purposes of evaporation, consist in the construction of

page_text: furnaces for heating boilers, whereby a more perfect combustion of the fuel is
obtained; in the apparatus employed in supplying boilers with water; in the
construction of boilers; in the construction of steam engines properly so
called in the application of apparatus for recovering the heat that has been
employed in generating steam or vapour, and thus economizing fuel in all
purposes of evaporation.
Number 3 is an isometrical representation of a furnace attached to a boiler,
and shewn also in section, Numbers 1 and 2. A, A, A, Number 3, is the
outside or caso containing water and steam. The internal construction of
the furnace will be best understood by reference to Numbers 1 and 2; Num-
ber 1 being a vertical section through the middle, and Number 2, Figure 1,
being a horizontal section. In these Figures it will be perceived that the
coals represented as resting upon the fire bars G, G, were introduced down
through a conical tube situated at the top of the furnace. The ash-pit being
closed, and the air for supporting combustion being conveyed in through tho
annular blast orifice, the smoke is driven down among the ignited fuel, and
the gasses of combustion pass off through the fire flue in or under the boiler.
Opposite to the fire flue is a small door I carefully fitted to make it air-tight.
This door furnishes the means of removing cinders and cleansing the flue;
the door of the ash-pit is also made air-tight. By a careful inspection of
the Figures the form and construction of the furnace will be apparent.
The apparatus for supplying the boiler with water is shown in Number 1,
situated in the enlarged end of the feed pipe I, which is nicely bored to receive
it. J is a cylinder, which is perforated longitudinally with four holes, as shewn
in plan, Number 1. Two of these holes are shewn at A, A, coinciding, one with
the lower end of the steam pipe b, and the other with the water pipe c. A
disc of metal, perforated with one hole at d, is mado water-tight by means of
packing on the edge, and held up against the end of the cylinder J by the
helical spring c. The ends of the cylinder J must be well fitted to the cover K,
and also to the disc d. Rotary motion is communicated to the cylinder J through
its shaft L. This motion may be either uniform or interrupted, but the latter
is preferable. The action is as follows:-As the cylinder J revolves the holes
a, a, a, a, are brought successively under the water pipo c and steam pipe b
alternately. While under the water pipe c, the water (being situated higher
than the cylinder J) descends and fills the hole a, and is carried round in it
until it coincides with the hole d in the disc, and also with the steam pipe b
over it. The water will descend until it finds the level of the water in the
boiler, and the space will be occupied by steam, which in its turn will be
carried round until it is brought under the water pipo c, when the steam will

page_text: be immediately condensed, and the space will be again filled with water. Thus
it will be perceived that the quantity of water introduced at each revolution of
the cylinder J will be regulated by the height of the water in the boiler, and
that a float in the boiler becomes unnecessary.
In Drawing Number 3 is an isometrical representation of the furnace A, A, A,
already described, connected to a boiler, steam reservoir, &c. The boiler
properly so called, represented in this Drawing partly in section, Figures 1.
and 2, consists of four cylindrical tubes B, C, D, E, arranged one within
another. The spaces between the tubes B and C, and between the tubes
D and E, are occupied by water; and the tube B, and the spaces between the
tubes C and D, and between the tubes E and F, constitute the fire flues through
which the flame and heated gasses generated in the furnace circulate. The
connexion of the fire flue B with the furnace, and the connexion of the tube C
with the jacket or case of the furnace, will be clearly seen in the sectional
Drawing, Number 7, in which the course of the circulation of the fluids or
vapours contained in the apparatus is also shewn by the direction of the arrows.
It must be observed that the names of the fluids or vapours occupying the
spaces between the several tubes are written in full on this Drawing, and also
on the Drawings numbered 1 and 2. The flame generated in the furnace, as
before described, is driven along the tube B in Drawings Number 3 and 7, in
the direction of the red arrows, until it arrives at the opening M that communi-
cates with the space between the tubes C and D in Number 7, and also in the
isometrical Drawings at letter M in Figure 2, No. 3, through which opening
it passes into the space between the tubes C and D, as shewn by arrow,
Number 5. This space is divided longitudinally by three ribs or partitions,
numbered 1, 2, and 3, and shewn in the second Figure of Number 3, and con-
sequently the frame is made to traverse the length of the boiler three times
before it leaves the space between the tubes C and D. On leaving the space
between the tubes C and D, it passes into the space between the tubes E and
F, through which it makes its exit, as shewn in Number 7. The boiler is
supplied with water from the water surrounding the furnace, and through the
pipe L, as shewn in Number 3 and Number 7. The steam generated from
the water contained in that portion of the boiler formed by the space between
the tubes D and E passes off into the steam reservoir, Number 3, through
the pipe K, and the steam generated in the inner portion of the boiler, that
is to say, in the space between the tubes B and C, passes off through the
water in the furnace, as shewn by the arrow at O, Number 7, and from
thence into the reservoir N at P, as shewn in Number 3.
The construction and action of the boiler, properly so called, having.

page_text: been now described, together with the course of the fire flues in the same,
I shall particularize the action of that part of the apparatus in which tho
atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour abstracts the heat from the educ-
tion steam, or from the steam which has been generated in the boiler, as hero
described, and after said steam has given motion to the engine. The atmo-
spheric or other air, gas, or vapour is forced by a blowing machine or other
proper means into the apparatus surrounding the boiler at Q, in Drawings
Number 3 and Number 7, between the tubes I and II, and pursues the course
indicated by the red arrows and figures in Drawing Number 7. Turning
round the ends of the tubes II and G into the space between the tubes H
and F, and proceeding through the pipe or tube R, it is conducted in a heated
stato into the annular blast orifice shown in section in Drawing Number 1.
The eduction steam is conducted from the engine by the tube S in Drawing
Number 7, between the tubes H and G, and round the lower ends of the tubes H
and I into the space between the tubes I and J; and that portion of the steam
which is not condensed, together with the permanent gases contained in the
steam, escape from the apparatus at T in Drawings Nos. 3 and 7, while the
products of condensation are conducted from the refrigerating or cooling appa-
ratus into the furnace or boiler through the pipe U in Drawing Number 7.
Drawings Number 1, 2, and 4, represent one mode of constructing the boiler,
with its furnace and refrigerating apparatus attached. Drawings Number 3
and 7 exhibit a variation of the construction. And although in these Draw-
ings I have shewn the refrigerating apparatus as attached to or surround-
ing the boiler, yet the refrigerating apparatus may be distant from the
boiler, as exhibited on the Drawing Number 5, proper passages or channels
being constructed therein to receive the vapours or gases from the fuel
after they have left the boiler, properly so called, and also proper
passages being constructed for the entrance of the atmospheric or other air,
gas, or vapour employed for the abstraction of the heat, and likewiso for the
entrance of the oduction steam into the apparatus where all or part of the
steam becomes reduced to water, while the atmospheric or other air, gas, or
vapour becomes heated by the absorption of that heat which had previously
existed in the steam, together with the heat existing in the gases or vapours
which have been conducted from the fire flues surrounding the boiler, properly
so called. The water gauge shewn in Number 3, near letter A, on the furnace,
is furnished with a piston for the purpose of keeping it clean and transparent,
and of thus shewing, by inspection, the height of water in the boiler.
My improvements in the construction of steam engines, properly so called,
are delineated in the Drawings Number 6, in which the same letters refer to

page_text: the same parts of the machinery in all the Figures. Figure 1 is a side
elevation, Figure 2 an end clevation, and Figure 3 a plan. The frame-
work A, A, A, standing on the broad base B, B, supports the crank shaft C,
on which is the fly wheel D, D. The cylinder E, which vibrates with
the rotation of the crank F, F, is supported at the bottom by two strong
hollow journies working in bearings G, G, situated on the base B, B. The
construction of the cylinder bottom on which the said hollow journies are
formed will be best understood by referring to Figures 4, 5, and 6, in which
the steam and eduction passages are shewn. The steam from the steam pipe H
enters the hollow journey a, and, proceeding in the direction of the red arrows
through one of the passages shewn in the dotted lines in the cylindar bottom I,
Figure 6, finds its way into the steam chest shown in section at J in Figures 6
and 8. In Figure 8 the slide valve b, b, is also seen, but being similar in construc-
tion and operation to those in ordinary use, it will require no further description.
After the steam has been admitted into the cylinder E, and performed its
office there, it passes through the eduction passages C, C, into the jacket K, K,
of the cylinder, from whence it escapes in the direction of the yellow arrows
through the eduction passage in the cylinder bottom I, Figure 6, into the educ-
tion pipe L, Figures 1, 2, 5, 10, and 12, whence the steam is conveyed to the
air-heating apparatus. The contrivance for working the slide valves is shown
in Figures 1, 2, and 3. The lever M, on the way shaft N, is connected to
the valve rod O by means of the sling P; another lever Q, fixed on the way
shaft N, is connected by a moveable joint to the rod R, which rod is attached
at the lower end by a moveable joint to the bracket S, S, and held in a posi-
tion oblique to the axis of the cylindar, as shown in Figure 1. Now as the way
shaft N has its bearings in the guides T, T, which are firmly attached to the
top of the cylinder E, and consequently vibrate with it, it will be perceived
that at each vibration the end of the lever Q will be either raised or depressed,
by which means the slide valve is alternately drawn up and pushed down.
The bracket S, S, before mentioned, extends equally on each side of the centre
of the cylinder, and has a groove through nearly its whole extent, in which
the pin that connects the rod R to the bracket S, S, is fixed in such manner
that it may be slidden along from one end of the groove to the other by means
of the handle S. In this way a reverse motion may be immediately given to
the engine. It has been before observed that the cylinder vibrates to conform
to the position of the crank, consequently a connecting rod is dispensed with,
and the piston rod is connected immediately with the crank brasses U, U,
Figure 9; but in order to relieve the piston rod from any lateral strain, I
attach to the top of the cylinder the guides T, T, through which the squares on
the ends of the crank brasses U, U, slide freely. By a careful inspection of

page_text: V, of the
Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, it will be perceived that the strong parts
journeys rest in bearings on the framework entirely independant of the steam
joints formed between them and the pipes H and I. In a line with the bear-
ings G, G, are circular openings d, d, in the framework, into which the ends of
the hollow journies extend through the accurately faced plates e, c. Against
these plates the small stuffing boxes f, f, seen on a larger scale in Figure 7,
are held by means of springs 9, 9, the faces of the stuffing boxes being accu-
rately ground to the plates to form a steam-tight joint. The holes through
the plates c, e, should be somewhat larger than the pipe ends of the journies to
allow for wearing down. In order to regulate the speed of the engine, I
cause the throttle valve to be fully shut at an earlier or later period of the
stroke, as the case may require. To effect this I have recourse to the following
means: As the wheel W, fixed on the main shaft C, revolves, the tappets h, h,
attached to the wheel W, come in contact with a tooth on the rod i, and draw
it up, the throttle valve, being connected by means of the levers j and k, and
the sling to the rod i, is thereby opened. The shutting is effected in a similar
manner, that is to say, the tappets m, m, situated on arms extending from the
barrel X, coming in contact with the tooth on the rod i, before mentioned, push
it down, and thus the valve is again closed. The action of the two pair of
tappets h, h, and m, m, upon the rod i will be best understood by referenco to
Figure 11, in which it will also be seen by the dotted lines that their relative
position may be varied. This variation is produced by the governor Y. The
barrel X is connected to the main shaft C by means of the bolt n, which is
made to slide freely in the groove o; and its tooth 2, belonging to the bolt n
fitting the spiral groover in the barrel X, causes the barrel to revolve on
the main shaft C, as the bolt is made to slide to and fro by the lever Z, Z,
connected with the governor; and thus the intermediate spaces between the
opening tappets h, h, and shutting tappets m, m, are varied.
The isometrical Drawing Number 5 exhibits one of the modes I employ of
economising fuel in those processes of evaporation called distillation and recti-
fication, B being the still heated by means of steam admitted between the still
and a case which surrounds it, and A the pipe to admit steam for this purpose,
or the still may be heated by any other means. The vapour generated from
the wash contained in the still passes along the neck C of the still into a
spiral-formed passage or channel in the vessel E, which passage or channel is
colored light blue in the Drawing. The passage or channel which is colored
yellow contains atmospheric air, or any gas or vapour, or mixtures of gasses or
vapours, which increase or support combustion. The direction which the
vapour from the contents of the still takes, and the contrary direction of the
atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour, are indicated by arrows and figures of

page_text: reference shewn in the Drawing Number 5. The vessel E is shewn with its
top removed, to exhibit its internal construction, from which it will be observed
that the atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour which enters the apparatus E
at the tube marked D, and the vapour from the still which enters the appa-
ratus E through the tube C, pass through their separate and respective channels
in opposite directions. The two spiral passages in the vessel E, which are
colored blue and yellow in the Drawing, are formed of two thin sheets of
metal or other suitable material coiled round each other at proper distances
asunder, and extending throughout the whole depth of the vessel. The sheets
are firmly united at their edges, by soldering or otherwise, to the top and
bottom, so as to be perfectly air-tight. The tube C forms the neck or
adapting tube of the still. Between the still and the vessel E, E, is the worin
tub of the ordinary construction, which forms no part of my claim. The
mode of operation with this apparatus is as follows:-The still being heated,
either by steam admitted round it through the pipe A, or by any other means,
the vapour which is generated from the wash contained in the still passes into
the vessel E, through the pipe C, near the centre of the bottom, and along the
spiral passage or channel colored blue in the Drawing, and in the direction
indicated by arrows and figures, until it arrives at the end of the spiral
passage or channel, where it passes into the worm tub at the part marked G.
At the same time that the vapour from the still is entering the vessel E, as
before described, atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour is caused to enter the
vessel E, through the tube or pipe D, by means of a blowing, exhausting, or
other proper apparatus. The atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour becomes
heated in its passago along the spiral channel before described, and it then
escapes from the apparatus E through the tube F, from whence it is con-
ducted in a heated state to supply fuel with air or gas for its combustion.
The velocity of the atmospheric or other air, gas, or vapour through the vessel
or apparatus E must be regulated by the strength of the spirit which it is
intended to obtain by the rectification or distillation; for when strong spirit is
required such a quantity of air, gas, or vapour must be forced through the
apparatus E as will cause the watery and empyreumatic particles to be con-
densed before they arrive at the entrance G of the worm tub II. The watery
and empyreumatic particles which existed in the vapour from the still having
become condensed trickle or run down the upright sides of the spiral passages
or channels in tho vessel or apparatus E, and either return wholly or in part,
as may be most desirable, into the body of the still. The spirituous vapours,
passing into the worm tub, become condensed in the usual manner, or the
spirituous vapour may pass into an apparatus similarly constructed to that
marked E in tho Drawing, and thus render a worm tub unnecessary.

page_text: Having thus, in pursuance of the conditions on which His Majesty was
graciously pleased to grant me and my beirs and assigns His Royal Letters
Patent, particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I do in conclusion desire it
to be understood that I claim, as herein-before set forth in my description and
Drawings, and as parts of my Invention, the employment of apparatus, what-
ever may be its form, for raising a current of air, gas, or vapour to abstract
heat from vapour generated in boilers, stills, or other vessels used in raising
substances by means of licat to a gascous, vaporous, or clastic state, and
making use of such air, gas, or vapour (when and after it shall have thus
abstracted heat) for the purposes of evaporation. But although I claim, as
above, certain improvements as applicable to the purposes of evaporation,
including those herein-before described by which the aforesaid improvements
may be applied in a novel and useful manner to boats and other machinery
through and by the agency of steam; yet I do not confine my claim to any
given form of apparatus, as the form may be varied in the construction of the
steain engine or the boilers or vessels of the brewer, chymist, distiller, rectifier, salt
or soap manufacturer, and manufacturers or refiners of sugar, and so forth,
as may be found most convenient in their different processes of vaporisation.
To make tho nature of my Juvention clearly and particularly known, I have
given Drawings and descriptions of the steam engine and the still, as most
easily understood and most practically useful, while at the same time they
afford every facility for the application of the principles of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
seventh day of May, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.