CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS! HEARTHS OR CABOUSES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
STOTHERT, of the City of Bath, Founder, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at.
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of December, in the fifth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Stothert, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Stothert, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Henry Stothert, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS!
HEARTHS OR CABOUSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Henry Stothert, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Stothert, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being

page_text: had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say: -
My Improvements in Ships' Hearths or Carbouses consist in procuring,
obtaining, or collecting as fresh water all the water evaporated into steam, to
be used for the purpose of cooking in such ships' hearths or cabouses where
the water from which the steam is generated shall be salt water or other
impure water, and also in the means herein-after described of more economi-
cally condensing the steam so to be used in such cooking, and the steam to
be raised from salt water or other impure water, for the purpose of converting
the same into fresh water for use on board ships and vessels at sea. By
which said improvements a greater quantity of fresh water will be produced
by a given quantity of coal to be used in ships' hearths or cabouses in boil-
ing salt water or other impure water than can be obtained by any other ships'
hearths or cabouses now in use, inasmuch as all the steam applied to and
condensed in the process of cooking is converted into and procured for use as
fresh water, and the heat of so much of the steam which is generated, and
which may not be used or required in cooking, will be more perfectly and
conveniently applied to beat the water to be used for supplying the boiler
after the first filling of such boiler. The manner in which the same is per-
formed is by fixing in the boiler part of the machine or apparatus a division
plate or diaphragm between the space occupied by the water and that part of
the boiler into which the cooking vessels are placed, in order to prevent the
steam condensed into water in cooking from returning to and admixing with
the salt water or other impure water in the lower part of the boiler, and by
attaching to the upper side of this diaphragm a hollow chamber or cavity
sufficiently narrow to stand up between the cooking vessels. This chamber I
call the separator. Its purpose is to convey steam from that part of the
boiler which is below the diaphragm to the part above in which the cooking
vessels are inserted, and by its peculiar construction and position to prevent
the salt water or other impure water, when boiling rapidly or agitated by the
motion of the ship or vessel, from entering the upper region of the boiler in
which the cooking vessels are inserted. The separator is made so as to form
a chamber for the reception of steam between the part of the boiler in which
the salt water or other impure water is contained and the steam generated,
and the upper part of the boiler in which the cooking vessels are placed. It
is made of such length as the diaphragm will admit, through which diaphram
apertures are made at each end of the separator, with guards fixed at a dis-
tance from such apertures below and above the diaphragm, leaving a space of
one third of the diameter of one of such apertures, and with horizontal and

page_text: vertical divisions within the separator, so as to prevent the salt water or other
impure water in the lower part of the boiler passing over with the steam into
the upper part of the boiler above the diaphragm, when the water in the lower
part of the boiler is agitated. From the bottom of the upper part of the
boiler in which the cooking vessels are placed I attach a pipe by which the
condensed steam or fresh water there deposited by the cooling properties of
the cooking is conveyed to the refrigerator. By this pipe also all the super-
fluous steam from the upper part of the boiler not actually condensed in the
cooking is conveyed into the refrigerator. Upon this pipe I place an inverted
syphon so that the steam, in passing from the upper part of the boiler to the
refrigerator, is compelled to resist the static pressure of about eight inches of
water deposited in such syphon, the area of which syphon I make four times
larger than the conveyance pipe to give the steam operating upon the cooking
vessels a degree of elasticity beyond that of the atmosphere. The refrige-
rator is constructed sufficiently large to contain the whole contents of the
lower part of the boiler below the diaphragm. I divide the refrigerator into
two parts by a plate fixed about one quarter of its whole height from the
bottom. The upper part I call the cistern, and the lower part the condenser.
The pipe before described conveys, as before mentioned, the steam and fresh
water condensed by the cooking into the condenser. The cistern is filled with
cold water by a feed pipe inserted through the top, and reaching within one
inch and a half of the plate at the bottom. At the top of the cistern I place
a cock which is connected with the boiler, so that when the cistern is filled
the water runs through such cock into the boiler, and fills the same. When
the water in the cistern becomes warm, by absorbing the heat of the steam
and condensed water in the condenser through the plate, and it is necessary to
refill the cistern with cold water to carry on the condensation, the cistern is
refilled by the feed pipe with cold water, which, passing to the bottom, and
having greater specific gravity, displaces the warm water, and forces it up
through the cock before mentioned, and re-supplies the boiler, or by closing
such cock the warm water is displaced from such cistern by a waste pipe also
inserted therein. I wish it to be distinctly understood that my Invention con
stituting the said improvements relate only to the apparatus usually known as
ships hearths or cabouses intended for cooking provisions and supplying fresh
water on board of ships and vessels at sea. My Invention consists in the
collecting so much of the steam which is condensed by the process of cooking,
and preventing the same falling back and admixing with the salt water or
other impure water in the lower part of the boiler, and which is effected by
the means herein-before described.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The same letters referring to similar parts in each of the Figures: A, fire-
place; B, ash pit; C, flue; D, chimney; E, boiler; F, diaphragm, which I
prefer to be of two thicknesses of metal, as shown; G, separator, with guards
to prevent water passing into the upper part of the boiler; H, cooking or
boiling vessels; I, safety valve; K, syphon; L, pipe leading from the syphon
to the condenser; M, guage cocks and occular guage; N, discharge cocks;
O, supply cock; P, manholes; Q, refrigerator or cistern; R, condenser; S,
distilled water pipe; T, feed or supply pipe; U, waste pipe; V, oven or
waster; W, air inlets for ovens; X, air outlets for ovens.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Stothert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-five.