IMPROVEMENTS IN SURFACE CONDENSERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander William Williamson, of University College,
in the County of Middlesex, and Loftus Perkins, of Francis Street,
Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
** IMPROVEMENTS IN SURFACE CONDENSERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander William
Williamson and Loftus Perkins at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th September 1860.
We, ALEXANDER WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, in the
County of Midddlesex, and LOFTUS PERKINS, of Francis Street, Gray's Inn
Road, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SURFACE CONDENSERS," to be as follows:-
We construct a close air-tight box which receives the steam to be con-
densed, and in which a vacuum or partial vacuum may be maintained by an
air-pump, if required. Through the top of this box we insert a number of
tubes closed at one end, their open ends being fixed in the top of the box. A
shallow box is constructed on the top of the aforesaid box, so as to form a
chamber communicating with the interior of the tubes; through the top of
this chamber a series of smaller tubes, open at both ends, are inserted. These
small tubes descend within the large tubes, and terminate near the closed
ends of the large tubes; a second shallow chamber is constructed above the
first, and communicating with the small tubes. A current of water is intro-

page_text: duced into the upper chamber and allowed to escape from the lower chamber,
or vice versa. The water is thus compelled to traverse the whole length of
the small tubes and the annular spaces between the small tubes and the large
tubes. The large tubes are thus kept cool, and their outer surfaces condense
the steam. The whole apparatus may be placed in any required position,
either vertical, horizontal, or inclined. The tubes may be fixed by screws or
ferules, or other known means. The water may be drawn through the tubes
by a pump, and its entrance may be controlled by a throttle valve or cock, so
that in the event of any of the tubes or joints breaking a vacuum may be
maintained of the same or nearly equal amount in both the steam and water
compartments. The amount of leakage will thus be much reduced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, of University College, in the County of Middlesex,
and LOFTUS PERKINS,. of Francis Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, Her special licence that
we, the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our executors
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Alexander William
Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our 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 "IN-
PROVEMENTS IN SURFACE CONDENSERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Alexander William Williamson and Loftus Perkins, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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

page_text: 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 we, the said Alexander William Williamson
and Loftus Perkins, 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 :—
We construct a close air-tight box which receives the steam to be con-
densed, and in which a vacuum or partial vacuum may be maintained by an air-
pump, if required. Through the top of this box we insert a number of tubes
closed at one end, their open ends being fixed in the top of the box. A
shallow box is constructed on the top of the aforesaid box, so as to form a
chamber communicating with the interior of the tubes. Through the top of
this chamber a series of smaller tubes, open at both ends, are inserted. These
small tubes descend within the large tubes, and terminate near the closed ends
of the large tubes; a second shallow chamber is constructed above the first,
and communicating with the small tubes. A current of water is introduced
into the upper chamber, and allowed to escape from the lower chamber, or
vice versa.
The water is thus compelled to traverse the whole length of the
small tubes and the annular spaces between the small tubes and the large
tubes.. The large tubes are thus kept cool, and their outer surfaces condense
the steam. The whole apparatus may be placed in any required position,
either vertical, horizontal, or inclined. The tubes may be fixed by screws or
ferules, or other known means. The water may be drawn through the tubes
by a pump, and its entrance may be controlled by a throttle valve or cock, so
that in the event of any of the tubes or joints breaking a vacuum may be
maintained of the same or nearly equal amount in both the steam and water
compartments. The amount of leakage will thus be much reduced.
On the accompanying Drawing is represented a sectional elevation of one
arrangement of our improved surface condenser. A cast-iron box or cylinder
A is provided with an aperture B at the top for the admission of steam from
the exhaust pipe of a steam engine, and with a smaller aperture C at the
bottom connected with the air-pump of the steam engine, through which the
water produced by the condensation of the steam passes away from the con-
denser. The one end of the box or cylinder A is closed by means of a cover D
bolted to the cylinder, the joint being made air-tight; while the other end is
closed by means of the plate E, furnished with a number of circular holes, into
which are fixed in a perfectly water-tight manner the tubes F, F, F, which
tubes pass up inside the cylinder A to the other end of the same, being closed
at their upper extremities, but open at the ends, where they are fixed into the

page_text: plate E. They may be fixed to this plate either by being screwed in or by
meaus of ferules, or by any other known means by which the connections may
be made perfectly water-tight. Over the plate E is fixed a shallow box-shaped
casting G, open at the end fixed against the cylinder or box A, but closed at
the other end, and furnished with a diaphragm II, dividing the box into two
chambers I and J. The diaphragm H is provided with a number of circular
holės corresponding in position with, but of smaller diameter than, the holes in
the plate E. Into these holes of the diaphragm H are fixed, either by being
screwed in or by any other means, the tubes K, K, which being of a smaller
diameter than the tubes F pass up inside the latter, and terminate near the
closed ends of the same. These inner tubes K are open at both ends, and it
will be seen that thus a communication is established between the compart-
ment I and the compartment J, firstly, along the annular spaces between the
outer tubes F and the inner tubes K, and then back again through the inner
tubes K, or vice versa. The compartment I is connected by means of the
passage J with the air-pump L, while the compartment J is connected by
means of the passage J with the pipe M, provided with the regulating
valve N. Through this pipe M cold water is admitted into the compartment J,
whence by the action of the pump L it is caused to pass up through the inner
pipes I till it emerges from these at the closed ends of the pipes F; it then
descends in the annular spaces between the inner pipes K and the outer pipes
F till it passes into the compartment I, whence it is drawn by the action of
the pump L. By means of this continuous circulation of cold water the
outer surfaces of the pipes F are maintained at a very low temperature, and
the steam passing into the box A through the opening B, on coming in contact
with the large collective area of cold metal presented by the outer surfaces of
all these pipe F becomes very rapidly and effectively condensed, and the
resulting water is drawn off through the branch C by the action of the air-
pump of the engine. The tubes F and K
may be made of any suitable metal,
and may be either tinned or galvanized.
By forming a connection between the compartment I and the cold water
supply pipe M, and between the compartment J and the air-pump L the
water may be caused first to pass up through the annular spaces between the
pipes F and K, and then down through the inside of the pipes K. The quan-
tity of cold water flowing through the condenser may be regulated by the
valve N. Ordinarily this valve is kept full open, and the water is drawn
freely through the condenser by the action of the pump L; but should there
be any leakage either in the pipes F' themselves or in their connections with
the plate E, the valve N is partially closed by means of the spindle O being

page_text: screwed down, and the passage of the water is throttled to such an extent that
by the action of the pump L a partial vacuum is formed in the pipes F and K
and the chambers I and J, which vacuum may be made equal or nearly equal
to the vacuum produced in the box or cylinder A by the condensation of the
steam. By this means the cold water employed for condensing the steam is
prevented from leaking through into the box or cylinder A in which the steam
is condensed, and there becoming mixed with the water resulting from its
condensation. This is particularly essential for marine condensers, where the
water employed for condensing is sea water, or for all cases in which the par-
ticular construction of the boilers employed renders it necessary to keep the
feed water as free as possible from lime or other impurities.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details as shewn in the accompanying Drawing,
nor do we claim the construction of condensers in which steam is made to
pass up inside tubes of a large diameter, and then down tubes of a smaller
diameter fixed inside the larger ones, or vice versa, as Provisional Protection
for such a construction of condenser has already been granted to me, Alexander
William Williamson, bearing date 8th January 1859, No. 65; but what we
claim is, the construction of surface condensers in which water is made to
circulate through a series of tubes or pipes enclosed in an air-tight box or
cylinder, and arranged in the manner as herein-before described, the water either
first passing in through the inner tubes and out through the annular spaces
between the inner tubes and the outer ones, or vice versâ, (which said tubes
may be made of any suitable metal, and may be either tinned or galvanized,)
and in which the exhaust steam from a steam engine entering the aforesaid
air-tight box or cylinder, and coming in contact with the cold outer surfaces of
the larger tubes thereby becomes condensed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alexander William Williamson and
Loftus Perkins, have hereunto set our hand and seal, this Nineteenth
day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one.
ALEXR. W. WILLIAMSON. (L.S.)
LOFTUS PERKINS.
(L.S.)