IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED. WATER OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest de Pass, of Fleet Chambers, 68, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED. WATER OF STEAM BOILERS." A. com-
munication from abroad by Ernst Körting, of Hanover, in the Empire of
Germany, and of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest de Pass at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th November 1877.
ERNEST DE PASS, of Fleet Chambers, 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED WATER OF
STEAM BOILERS." A communication from abroad by Ernst Körting, of Hanover,
in the Empire of Germany, and of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer.
This Invention consists in a new system and combination for heating by exhaust
steam the feed water of such boilers as are fed by injectors, and specially of
locomotive boilers in a manner that in no way interferes with the perfect reliability
of the working.
My Invention enables the feed water to be heated by the exhaust steam, and
notwithstanding to be fed by injectors without injuring the security of the
service.
For the purposes of my Invention I fix a small surface heater in the water pipe
leading from the tender to the injector. This heater is most conveniently fixed to
the engine itself, and the feed water passing through it flows along metallic surfaces,
which are heated by the exhaust steam taken by a branch pipe from the main
exhaust pipe, or from the exhaust ports of the cylinders to the heater. The feed
water is therefore heated on its way from the tender to the injector to a temperature
which depends on the proportion between the heating surface and the quantity of
water, or on the amount of exhaust allowed to enter the heater.

page_text: In order to make the heater as effective as possible the thickness of the stratum
of water flowing along the heated surfaces should be as small as it is practicable.
Then the heat of the exhaust is taken up most rapidly by the water which is heated
almost instantaneously through the whole of its body as soon as the exhaust steam
is admitted into the heater to the maximum of temperature, which the circumstances
and the dimensions of the heater allow.
The condensed water produced in the heater may be gathered and fed also by the
injector into the boiler, or on account of its greasy nature may be allowed to flow
away on the rails.
The construction of the heater itself may be modified and varied in many ways.
The surfaces on which the water is heated may form part of vessels of rectangular,
cylindrical, ring, or star shaped section, or of vessels provided with ribs or studs to
increase the heating surface. The most convenient however is a heater made like
the usual surface condensers, taking the water through a large number of narrow
pipes tightly fitted into the opposite walls of a plain vessel, into which the exhaust
is led. The quantity of exhaust is regulated by any suitable arrangement for
shutting off and regulating the flow of steam in a pipe.
The herein-before described combination offers the great convenience for the
service that its security is in no way injured by the heating of the feed, because
every moment the heating can be stopped altogether, and the injector worked with
quite cold water. The heating being a maximum already when leaving the station,
the evaporative power of the engine and therewith its tractive power are increased
correspondingly from the beginning, and the engine supplied with my arrangement
becomes at once a more powerful one. The heater being placed on the engine itself
no coupling of the exhaust branch pipe between the tender and engine is required.
The quantity of exhaust used for heating the water to the maximum being only
very small at the time, a small diameter of the exhaust branch pipe is sufficient, the
draft in the boiler is not diminished, and there is always sufficient exhaust steam
at disposal for the heater even if the engine is not doing full work.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Ernest de Pass in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd May
1878.
ERNEST DE PASS, of Fleet Chambers, 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE FEED WATER OF
STEAM BOILERS." A communication from abroad by Ernst Körting, of Hanover,
in the Empire of Germany, and of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer.
This Invention consists in a new system and combination for heating with
exhaust steam the feed water of such steam boilers as are fed by injectors, and
particularly locomotive boilers, in a simple manner without complicating the
manipulation.
Injectors are generally useless as boiler feeders as soon as the temperature of the
feed water passes a certain limit which varies with different systems of injectors.
Reliability of action being of the utmost importance with locomotives it becomes
imperative to keep the temperature of the water in the tender always below this
point. Generally speaking when injectors are used for feeding it is not customary
to heat the tender water at all.
There are so many important advantages with injectors in other respects that
they have entirely superseded steam pumps for locomotives, although these pumps
fed with water of a high temperature, which being obtained from the exhaust steam
necessarily caused a great saving in fuel. Thus it is evident that a combination
leaving the tender water cold, but heating, by exhaust steam the water fed by an
injector must naturally be of great advantage.
For the purposes of my Invention I fix a surface heater at the engine, and
between the pipe conveying the water from the tender to the feeding injector.
In this heater the water flows along metallic surfaces which are heated by exhaust
steam. This exhaust steam is conducted to the surface heater by means of a pipe
branching off the main exhaust pipe or from the exhaust canal of the steam cylinder.
Thus the tender water becomes heated on its way through the surface heater before
reaching the injector. The amount of heat absorbed by the water depends upon
the relative size of the heated surface to the quantity of water, or upon the
quantity of exhaust steam admitted into the heater.
To ensure the best effect from the heater the water should pass the heated
surface in thin streams. This causes a rapid absorption of heat by the water, and
it may be said to be heated almost instantaneously by the exhaust steam entering
to the maximum attainable from the proportions taken.
The water formed from condensation of the exhaust steam can be collected and
may also be used for feeding the boiler through the injector, but on account of its
greasy nature it is advisable not to do so, but rather to run it to waste on the
permanent way. Exactly for the same reason of its greasy nature I prefer this
mode of heating the feed water to the former method of mixing it with the exhaust
steam.
The construction of the details of the heater can be varied in many ways.
The section of the tubes whose surfaces convey the heat to the water may be
square, oblong, circular, annular, star-shaped, or otherwise, they may also be provided
with feathers or other projections to increase the heating surface. The most con-
venient and the simplest way of making this heater is to construct it similar to
surface condensers, so that the exhaust steam surrounds a large number of narrow
cylindrical tubes through which the water passes, and which are fixed into the
opposite ends of a chamber. The quantity of exhaust steam is regulated by means
of a contrivance placed in the exhaust pipe for this purpose.
The combination as described above has this advantage, that it in no way
interferes with the working of the locomotive, as the operation of heating may be
stopped at any moment when entirely cold water runs into the injector from the

page_text: tender. This arrangement enables the temperature of the feed water to be brought
to its maximum at the very moment of starting the engine; thus the steam
generating power and consequently the traction power of the locomotive are brought
to their maximum, or a proportionate saving of fuel is effected from the beginning.
The fixing of the feed-water heater to the engine dispenses with the troublesome
coupling of the exhaust pipe between engine and tender.
The quantity of exhaust steam required to heat the feed water to its maximum
being small a very narrow branch pipe will convey sufficient exhaust steam to the
heater. The draught of the boiler is not diminished, and even if the engine runs
at a slow speed there is sufficient exhaust steam at disposal for the feed-water
heater.
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1 represents my construction and arrangement
of an injector combined with a feed-water heater and fitted to a locomotive.
A is the injector; B, the steam pipe; C, the feed pipe; D, the pipe conducting
the water from the heater E to the injector; F, the pipe conveying the exhaust
steam from the main exhaust pipe to the heater; G, the waste pipe for the condense
water collecting in the heater from the exhaust steam; H, the pipe admitting the
feed water from the tender to the heater; J, a regulating arrangement in pipe F.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section; Figure 3, a cross section of the feed-water
heater as constructed in a way that has stood practical test.
Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts to those in Figure 1.
The admission of the exhaust steam and the escape of the condensed water are
arranged in such a way that the exhaust steam evenly distributed through the
interior of the heater.
The general arrangement on the engine can naturally be varied in a great number
of different ways.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same may be performed, I declare that I claim, the construction and employment of
surface feed-water heaters in combination with injectors for feeding boilers of
locomotives and other portable steam engines in such a manner that the feed-water
heater is interposed between the feed-water reservoir and the injector, and the
water heated by exhaust steam on its way through the heater before entering the
injector, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest de Pass, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-eight.
ERNEST DE PASS. (L.S.)