IMPROVEMENTS: IN: PREVENTING: · INCRUSTATION IN STEAM BOILERS."
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dantec, of Liverpool; in the County'
of Lancaster; for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS: IN: PREVENTING:
· INCRUSTATION IN STEAM BOILERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dantec.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th October 1852.
I, WILLIAM DANTEC, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREVENTING INCRUSTATION IN STEAM BOILERS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining a filter with a steam boiler,
through which all the water fed to the boiler passes, the lime in: the
water being acted on by a precipitating agent, such as caustic barytai
or soluble salts of baryta, including sulphuret of barium, or, in 'place!
thereof, oxalate of ammonia, the object of the. Invention being to
decompose and separate the sulphate of lime in the water.i

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Dantec in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM DANTEC, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Dantec, Her special
licence that I, the said William Dantec, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Dantec,.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, 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 PREVENTING INCRUSTATION IN STEAM BOILERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Dantec, 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 William Dantec, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of combining a filter with a steam boiler,
through which all the water fed to the boiler passes, the lime in the
water being acted on by a precipitating agent, such as caustic baryta
or soluble salts of baryta, including sulphuret of barium, or, in place

page_text: thereof, oxalate of ammonia, the object of the Invention being to
decompose and separate the sulphate of lime in the water.
The filter I prefer to use consists of powdered charcoal between
surfaces of hair cloth, but others may be used.
My Invention also consists of the use of hydrate of barytes, or of any
of the soluble salts of barytes, including the sulphuret of barium, or of
oxalate of ammonia, in order to throw down the earthy impurities, such
as the sulphates of lime and magnesia, from the water intended to be
used in steam boilers, for the purpose of preventing the formation of
incrustation in such boilers; and I prefer the use of hydrate of barytes.
I mix a solution of one of the substances above mentioned, or a
combination of the hydrate of barytes, with sulphuret of barium,
with or without the addition of a little chloride of barium, according
to circumstances, with the water intended to be used for the supply
of the boiler, the quantity being proportioned to the quantity of water
evaporated by such boiler, by which a precipitate, consisting chiefly of
sulphate of barytes, is thrown down in the state of powder; and I after-
wards separate such powder from the water, either by passing it through
a filtering apparatus connected with the engine and boiler, or, where
circumstances will admit of it, by allowing the powder to subside to the
bottom of the containing vessel; in either case I use the clear water
for the supply of the boiler. The filtering apparatus consists of a tank
of iron or other suitable material, in which are placed perforated frames,
one inside another, the space between the two being filled with pow-
dered charcoal, the frames being so contrived that the water which
flows into the tank, after being mixed with the before-mentioned
solution, surrounds the frames and filters through the charcoal into the
interior space formed by the inside frame, and is thence conducted by
means of a pipe into a reservoir attached to the tank, from which it is
pumped into the boiler.
For a marine or other condensing engine I connect the hot well of
the engine and the filtering apparatus by means of a pipe for the supply
of the water thereto, and by means of a small pump worked by the
engine I supply the proper quantity of the solution of barytes or other
chemical substance to the water as it passes from the hot well, the

page_text: ordinary feed pump then draws. the filtered water. off and pumps it into
the boiler, as before:mentioned...
For land engines, the water may be mixed with, the solution of
barytes in a tank from which the boiler is supplied, a filtering apparatus
being fixed between such tank and the fecil pump, so that the water
will pass through it in its passage from the tank to the feed pump, or,
where it is practicable, the water may be mixed with the proper quan
tity of 'tlie solution of bárytes or other chemical substance in a tank, and
the precipitate formed may be allowed to subside, thus dispensing with
the use of a filter. I do not, however, confine myself to this particular
form of filter, as most of the cominonsforms may be made to answer the
purpose. The precipitate formed, consisting chiefly of sulphate of
barytes, is. retained in the tank for filtering" apparatis, and may be
.removed from time to time, and can be again 'converted into hydrate of
burytes (caustic barytes) or other salts of barytes; thus the same
inaterial will be available, after chemical deconiposition, any-number of
times, and the expense will thereby be materially lessened.
To ascertain the proper quantity of the solution of barytės, or of
any of the salts of.barytes, which it is necessary to use, the following
anethod may be adopted: Take a measured quantity of the water to
be tested and a 'measured quantity of the solution of barytes; the
quantity of barytes in which is known, and add the solution -to the
water a. little at a time until no further precipitate is formed; or- until
a small portion of the water filtered through filtering paper or any
únsized paper, such as blotting paper, no longer becomes. cloudy on
adding to it a little. more of the solution of barytes;' another small
portion of the water is then filtered and tested with a few drops of
liluted sulphuric acid, and if it does not become cloudy the proper
quantity of solution. of barytes has been added. You may now
measure the remaining solution of barytes, and so ascertain the pro-
portion which has been used, and it will then be easy to ascertain the
quantity which would be required for a given measure of water. If,
however, the water becomes cloudy on adding the dilute sulphuric
acid as above directed, it is a 'proof that too much of the solution
of barytes has been added. .to. the water, and it will in that case be

page_text: necessary to add carefully to the measured quantity of water some more
of the same kind of water until the dilute sulphuric acid no longer
causes a cloudiness; the quantity of solution of barytes required can
now be ascertained as before directed, making, of course, proper allow-
ance for the water added to the original quantity measured, that is, the
measure of solution of barytes which has been used is compared with
the measure of water operated on, by which the quantity required for
any given measure of the water, say one hundred gallons, can be
ascertained.
I claim the use of the hydrate of barytes (caustic barytes), or any of
the soluble salts of barytes, including the sulphuret of barium, and also
the use of oxalate of ammonia, for the purpose of decomposing and pre-
cipitating the earthy salts contained in water intended for the supply of
boilers; and I also claim the Invention of separating the precipitate so
formed from the water before it is allowed to pass into the boiler, either
by means of a filter, or by allowing it to subside to the bottom.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dantec, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
0
Witness,
JAMES ROBERTS,
68, Richmond Row,
Liverpool.
WILLIAM DANTEC. (L.S.)