IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE GENERATION OF STRAM, IN ECONOMISING THE HEAT CON- MATHED IN WASTE STHAM. AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THELBWITH.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Berger Spence, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO THE GENERATION OF STRAM, IN ECONOMISING THE HEAT CON-
MATHED IN WASTE STHAM. AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THELBWITH.'
19
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Berger Spence
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1878.
I, JOHN BERGER SPENCE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE GENERATION OF STRAM, IN ECONOMISING THE HEAT
CONTAINED IN WASTE STEAM, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH,
" to be as
follows:-
My Invention refers to availing myself of the large amount of heat
which exists in fluids of greater density than water when heated to or
above the boiling point, and of the fact that steam at 212° Fah, or at

page_text: any other given temperature will evaporate a fluid whose boiling point
is above that of water.
In order to effect the first mentioned object I propose to use any
ordinary boiler, but instead of supplying it with water I use a solution
(say of caustic soda), the boiling point of which is above that of water.
Dipping into this fluid is a pipe which rises above the fluid line, and
after making some coils within the steam chamber returns to the boiler.
This pipe is therefore filled with the heated solution, and the steam being
in contact therewith becomes superheated, after which the pipe returns
to the boiler conveying back the fluid, but I prefer the method now to
be described, and which includes the use of waste steam. From the
aforesaid boiler the steam passes, as I will now assume, to an ordinary
engine, and the coiled pipe above described is continued up to an open
vessel, which is also in communication with the exhaust steam, which
by meeting the dense fluid discharged from the pipe brings it to a higher
temperature, after which it returns to the boiler. It will thus be seen
that the water contained in the exhaust steam returns to the boiler, and
that the process is consequently continuous, the two objects being that
I superheat the steam by the hotter fluid, and use it when cooled to
absorb the heat of the waste steam,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Berger Spence in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BERGER SPENCE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, 2
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of -
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give 3
and grant unto me, the said John Berger Spence, Her special license
that I, the said John Berger Spence, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Berger Spence, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo with,

page_text: 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
'APPLICABLE TO THE GENERATION OF STEAM, IN ECONOMIKING THE HEAT OF WASTE ·
STEAM, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said John Berger Spence, 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 Berger Spence, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say :-
•
It is a known chemical fact that if steam at 212 F. or at other
temperature be blown into certain solutions it will raise those solutions
to their boiling points, although such boiling points are higher than the
temperature of the said steam, and my Invention consists in utilizing
this property with the view of economizing fuel consumed in the
generation of steam. In order to effect this I employ any ordinary
boiler, but instead of charging the same with simple water I use therein
a solution whose boiling temperature is higher than water, and from
which steam is raised to be employed in any ordinary manner; but a
portion of this solution I cool down by causing it to give off heat for
some useful purpose, and so bring it into a condition for absorbing the
heat of waste steam.
In the accompanying Drawing I shew two methods of accomplishing
the object of my Invention.
In Fig. 1a represents the shell of an ordinary boiler set in any
ordinary manner, the water line being at b, c, but instead of water I use
a solution which as before stated boils at a higher temperature. A
saturated solution of caustic soda is applicable as it boils at a tompera-
ture of about 400 F*., and has not any substantial chemical action on
iron. Within this boiler is a coiled pipe d, one end dipping at d* into

page_text: the solution, and at its upper end passing out of the boiler and pro-
ceeding to a vessel e, which I now assume to be open. At the bottom
of the boiler (or it might be at any other part under the water line) is a
pipe, the other end being open to a vessel g provided with shelves /
alternately passing not quite across the vessel so as to leave a tortuous
passage. At the bottom of the vessel is a pipe i leading to the
exhaust port of a steam cylinder k, and at 1 is the pipe for conducting
steam to the said cylinder. At m is a pump adapted to the pipe f, and
at n is a valve adapted to the pipe d.
"
The operation is as follows:-Steam being generated in the boiler a
the pressure thereof forces a portion of the heated solution into the
coiled pipe d, d, through the end d thereof; and as the temperature of
this solution is say 400° F., and the heat of the steam surrounding the
pipe d is say 259° F., or twenty pounds pressure, the said steam becomes
superheated, and this cannot take place without depriving the solution
in the pipe d of a portion of its heat, and in this cooled down condition
it is allowed to pass into the vessel g, during which the exhaust steam
from the cylinder is passing along the pipe i-into the said vessel g, and
meeting the current of the cooled solution, which as before stated does
not attain its boiling point until it is raised to 400° F., and it therefore
absorbs the heat contained in the waste steam, and that having been
done it is conveyed back to the boiler a through the pipe f by means of
the pump m at a temperature lowered only from that of the solution in
the boilera by the diminished denisity which arises through the intro-
duction of the water of condensation. The quantity of solution admitted
to the vessel g must of course be regulated according to the amount of
heat to be absorbed from the waste steam, and it is for this purpose that
the valve n and pump m are adapted to the pipes d, the flow of solution
being governed by their adjustment. It will also be understood that
this regulation must be effected so as to prevent evaporation in the
vessel g. Ato is a valve which may be closed when the engine is
stopped in order to prevent the solution from flowing from the vessel /
to the cylinder k. It will be seen from the foregoing description that
the solution in the pipe d is necessarily cooled down, or it would not be
in a condition to take up the heat of the waste steam, and if such
cooling down were simply effected by exposing it to external atmospheric
or by similar means there would not be any saving effected, but the
decreased temperature is attained by accomplishing a useful effect,

page_text: videlicet, in this instance, the superheating of the steam. The pipe d
may however be cooled by passing through an apartment which it is
desired to heat, or by being used for other heating purposes such as
evaporation of fluids, the necessary condition for the purpose of my
Invention being that the fluid therein must be decreased in temperature
and by accomplishing some useful purpose.
A variation in the method of gaining the required object is shewn at
Fig. 2, in which a is the boiler and b, c, the solution line as before. From
the bottom of the boiler proceeds the pipe ƒ*, which in this instance
-passes into a second boiler p, and after coiling therein it passes out and
projects into a vessel g similar to that denoted by the same letter of
referenco in Fig. 1, the boiler p being supplied with water. The other
parts of the Drawing are marked with similar letters of reference to
those on Fig. 1, and the operation is as follows:-The heated solution
passes through the pipe f* into the boiler p, and by passing to and fro
therein imparts its heat to the water and raises steam, for as the tempera-
ture of the solution is much above that of boiling water that useful
effect may be accomplished, and as the said steam is raised it passes off
by the pipe g to be applied to any useful purpose. By these means the
solution in the pipe f* will have been cooled, and it passes regulated by
the valve n into the vessel g, where it is met as before by the exhaust
steam flowing through the pipe fe. The solution thus heated is as in
the former case conveyed along the pipe finto the boiler a by the
pump m, but in this instance the pipe fis at a higher situation in the
boiler, in each case however either position may be adopted. In the
above description the vessel g has been described as open, but it might
be closed and the cooled solution injected into it after the manner of
supplying water to the ordinary condenser of a steam engine, under
which circumstances a vaccuum would be produced as now practised for
the reason that although the injected solution would be condition heated
to a certain degree its absorbing power of heat would be in the in a
similar relation to that of cold water to steam. This effect however
really takes place to a certain extent in the apparatus shewn and
described, because the heat of the exhaust steam is rapidly extracted
; from the pipe i, and to facilitate this the vessel 9 may not be filled up to
the line shewn by the solution, for the flow thereof may be so regulated
by the valve 2 and pump m as to cause it to trickle over the partitions h.
It might at first sight appear that the condensed steam would be con-

page_text: stantly weakening the solution, but it will be seen from the foregoing
description that the said products of condensation are continually taken
from as well as supplied to the boiler a, and the whole operation is
therefore substantially continuous. So provide however for any leakago
small quantities of water or solution may at times be supplied to the
boiler.
•
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to bo
understood that I do not confine myself to the mere details shewn and
described, but claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, and for the purposes abové set forth, the use of apparatus
in which exhaust steam is submitted to a solution boiling at a higher
temperature than water, but which solution after having been used in
the generation of steam (as in the boiler a) is reduced in temperature by
giving off heat to effect some useful purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Berger Spence, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
T DEDARD DENAL