Improved Means for Generating, Superheating, and Condensing Steam in and for the Purpose of Working a Steam Engine.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 25th June, 1889-Accepted, 28th Sept., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Generating, Superheating, and Condensing
Steam in and for the Purpose of Working a Steam Engine.
I, ALFRED HASBROUCK, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at
Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins, and State of New York, U.S.A., Lawyer,
do hereby declare the nature of my invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of my invention is to produce a steam generator adapted for service on
that class of locomotives which are designed to travel at large, that is, upon highways
or fields without the aid of supporting rails or tracks. The main obstacle at present
recognized, to this class of engineering, is the great weight of the engine necessary
to produce the amount of power required for self propulsion and for service; and
that weight is largely due to the great amount of water used in the boiler, and to
the great thickness of the boiler required to sustain the high pressure of the steam as
it has been used.
In order to overcome these obstacles my object is to produce a steam generator
that shall develop the required amount of power by consuming the least practicable
amount of water, thus requiring less water to be carried than heretofore; and that
shall produce steam at a high degree of heat and consequent expansion without its
exerting a high pressure on the boiler, thus permitting a lighter boiler to be used
with safety.
I base my invention on the principle that a small amount of water first converted
into saturated steam in a boiler may be suddenly superheated after leaving the boiler
proper, and then be permitted to flow into the engine cylinder at a pressure very
little above normal atmospheric pressure, thereby producing a great increase in bulk
for service at a perfectly safe pressure; and that this highly superheated steam,
holding so little water, may consequently be easily and quickly condensed on the
opposite side of the piston, thus producing a vacuum to aid by suction in operating
the piston; and that the small amount of water thus obtained may be readily returned
to the boiler, while the large amount of heat unconsumed in service, may be returned
to the fire and utilized in the round, of reproducing steam.
To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts
forming a steam generator hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to
the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure I represents a vertical section of my steam generator, some parts being
shown in side elevation, and no regard being had for proper proportion of parts; the
thickness of the material, as shown, being proportionally too great, and the size of the
conducting pipes in some instances, too small.
Figure II represents the principal portion of the superheater uncovered, in plan
view.
Figure III is a plan view taken at the line x-x of figure I.
Figure IV is a horizontal section at the line z-z of figure I.
5 represents the boiler, which is of annular form bounded by an outer shell, 6, an
inner shell, 7, a top, 8, and a bottom, 9.
Vertically through the boiler ascend a number of flues, 10, which form the draft
from the furnace, 11. 12 represents the fire grate, and 13 the ash pit below it.
The water in the boiler occupies the whole annular space within the shell, 6, and
around the draft pipes, 10, up to the line, 14, above which is the space for saturated
steam.
15 represents a pipe for conducting the steam to the vertical pipe, 16, down which
the steam flows to space. 17. beneath a head 18 thence the steam nasses into the

page_text: superheater, 19, through the aperture, 20, near the circumference thereof. The
superheater is in the form of a series of pipes in circular coils one within the other ;
and triangular or V-shaped in cross-section.
The superheater is placed directly over the furnace, 11, as near as is practicable to
the burning fuel. The angles of the pipe project downward, presenting of
the whole surface of each pipe to the direct action of the most intense heat of the
furnace. 21 (figure 2) represents a partition dividing each circle of the pipe, and 22
represents a series of holes near the partition communicating from one pipe to
another as shown by the curved arrows. The steam in its passage through the
superheater goes to and fro around these circles from the circumference at 20 to the
central pipe, 23, up which it may rise and pass to the cylinder, 25, of the engine
through the steam pipe, 24. 26 represents a check-valve which prevents back pressure
between the superheater and the boiler.
27 represents the safety valve provided with an adjustable spring, 28, whereby
tension on the valve may be regulated to any number of pounds pressure per square
inch that may be required.
It is my intention to so regulate this valve that the pressure would be very little
above normal atmospheric pressure. Should steam be made more rapidly than it is
used this safety valve will rise and permit the steam to escape through a discharge
pipe, 29, leading to a pipe, 30, which communicates with the condenser located below
the furnace, 11. The construction of the cylinder, 25, is not a matter of any
peculiarity so far as the present invention goes, and it may be of any usual form or
construction. The exhaust pipe, 30, communicates, as before stated, with the
condenser, the effect of which is to produce a vacuum on the opposite side of the
piston to that on which the live steam is acting at each stroke. 31 represents
the outer shell of the condenser. 32 represents the inner shell consisting of a cone-
shaped pipe closed at both ends. 33 represents the base of the cone. 34 represents
a series of cones of the same height and closed at both ends, located around the central
cone, 32.
Each of the cones, 34, is surrounded by an annular pipe formed of two
walls, 35 36, with the interior of which the exhaust pipe, 30, communicates by
means of an annular groove, 37, in the edge of the upper head. This groove is
covered in by a, hoop or band, 38, which is brazed upon the edge of the said head,
thereby forming the groove, 37, into a steam pipe.
39 represents a series of passages communicating with the said pipe, 37, and the
annular pipes, 35 36.
40 is a similar groove around the lower head of the condenser, and similarly
covered in, forming a pipe which also communicates with all of the internal
pipes, 35 36, to receive water condensed in the said pipes, and 41 is a pipe
communicating between the groove, 40, and another condenser, 42, which is also
constructed of annular cone-shaped pipes, 43. The base of these cone-shaped pipes
is upward, there being a free passage for air vertically through them, the annular
space around the pipes being occupied by water which has been condensed from the
steam. 44 is a pipe communicating between the pipes, 43, and the vacuum pump, 45.
46 is a pump connected with the boiler by pipe, 47, and with the vacuum pump by
pipe, 48. The principle of operation is as follows. The water occupying the
annular space in the boiler is heated barely enough to form it into steam which rises
through the pipe, 15, and passes into the pipe, 16, which carries it into the super-
heater, 19, in which the steam is exposed to the intensest heat of the furnace and
highly expanded. Thence the steam passes up the pipe, 23, and through the
pipe, 24, to the engine cylinder, 25, which it enters in the usual manner, and the
exhaust pipe, 30, communicating with the cylinder and with the condenser, forms a
vacuum behind the piston at every stroke whereby the engine is operated more by
the vacuum than by the actual pressure of the steam. The beat of the steam being
communicated by the process of condensation to the air surrounding the conical
tubes, 33 34, passes upwards into the fire and is again utilized. The conical form of
the tubes, 33 and 34, provides a very narrow inlet at the bottom for air, and a very

page_text: broad outlet at the top for the same, and the sides being conical, deflect the air
upwards, thereby forcing a very strong draft and actually pressing the air into the
furnace, 12. The air being thus heated before it enters the furnace, causes great
economy in fuel. As that portion of the condenser which is immediately below the
furnace may, in the course of service, become somewhat heated, I have provided an
auxiliary condenser consisting of the pipes, 43, as hereinbefore described, through
which the air may pass freely, in order that the steam may be sure to be completely
condensed before its return to the boiler through the pipe, 44, the pump, 45, the
pipe, 48, the pump, 46, and the pipe, 47. By thus returning the water to the boiler
at a heat very little below steam temperature, it may be again raised into steam by
a very small quantity of heat from the furnace; and by heating the steam to a high
degree of temperature and permitting it to pass into the engine for service at a very
low pressure, I have succeeded in producing work at a medium between the two
extremes, whereby very little pressure on the boiler is required and a very light
boiler is enabled to do the work; and by the said means of condensing highly
superheated steam and returning the water thus condensed, to the boiler at a
temperature barely below steam heat, I succeed in producing the desired amount of
power with the least practicable consumption of water. The check valve, 26, placed
in the steam pipe, 15, between the superheater, 19, and the boiler, 5, prevents any
back-pressure into the boiler from the superheater.
The safety valve, 27, being adjustable to the amount of pressure at which it is
desired to work steam, and communicating with the condenser by means of the
pipes, 29 and 30, not only protects the engine from any possible danger of explosion,
but it saves much surplus steam, or the heat therein, by returning through the
condenser, as before described, to the furnace. It will be seen that this system of
using the steam at a very high heat and very low pressure practically results in the
application of the caloric or heat to direct work or service.
The furnace being located beneath the central opening of the annular boiler does
not give its direct and most intense heat to the boiler and thus avoids raising the
pressure within the boiler too high. But the superheater is located directly over the
furnace to receive its most intense heat, whereby great expansion of steam is quickly
obtained. By means of the exhaust pump, 45, the water resulting from the
condensation of steam is quickly drawn from the condenser, and by means of the
force pump, 46, that water is returned without loss to the boiler. For the purpose
of increasing the efficiency of the condenser tubes, I coat them with the product of
slow combustion of benzine and sulphur deposited upon the cold metal. There are
other substances and compounds, such, for instance, as sulphur and iodine, which
produce a similar effect, and I do not claim any of these as my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim as my invention is:
1. The combination, in a steam generator, of the annular vertical boiler, 5, provided
with the flues, 10, the steam pipes, 15 and 16, and the check valve, 26, in the
steam pipe; the furnace, 11; the superheater, 19, located directly over the furnace ;
the annular steam compartment, 17, located on top of the superheater and
communicating between the latter and the central pipe, 23, substantially as shown
and described.
2. The combination of an annular steam boiler; a furnace located beneath its
central opening, and a superheater located directly over the furnace and connected
with the boiler by a pipe or pipes and provided with a discharge pipe, substantially
as shown and described.
3. The combination of a vertical, annular steam boiler provided with flues passing
through its annular portion; a furnace located beneath its central opening and
communicating remotely with the said flues; a superheater located directly over the
said furnace and beneath the said central opening of the boiler; a vertical pipe
passing centrally down the said opening, and a steam pipe between it and the

page_text: circumference of the superheater, and another steam pipe between the boiler and the
said vertical pipe; a check valve in the last named pipe; and another vertical pipe
passing from the center of the superheater through the first named vertical pipe, and
a steam conductor adapted to connect the latter vertical pipe with an engine,
substantially as shown and described.
4. The combination of a vertical steam boiler; a furnace below it; a steam
condenser directly below the furnace and provided with passages, for air through it
to the furnace; a steam pipe between the boiler and the superheater; a steam pipe
adapted to lead from the superheater to an engine cylinder; a safety valve in the
last named pipe, and a steam pipe from the outlet of the said safety valve to the
said condenser, substantially as shown and described.
5. The combination of a vertical steam boiler; a furnace beneath it; a superheater
directly over the furnace; an engine cylinder; a steam pipe connecting the boiler
and superheater, and the superheater and the steam ports of the said cylinder; a
condenser beneath the furnace having openings or flues through which the draft to
the furnace is admitted; an exhaust pump and a force pump, and pipes connecting
the exhaust ports of the cylinder and the condenser, between the condenser and the
exhaust pump, between the two pumps, and between the force pump and the boiler,
whereby suction may be exerted on the exhaust ports of the cylinder through the
intermediate condenser, and whereby the water condensed from the exhaust steam inay
be continually returned to the boiler.
6. The combination, in a steam generator, of a furnace; a series of coils of pipe
located one within another above the furnace; a partition across each pipe; a scries
of apertures communicating between adjacent pipes near the said partition, whereby
a continuous passage for steam is obtained from the circumference to the center of
the series of pipes, and an inlet near the circumference thereof, and an outlet near
the center, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 6th day of June 1889.
ALFRED HASBROUCK.