Improvements in Steam Condensing Apparatus.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1892-Accepted, 20th Feb., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steam Condensing Apparatus.
I, ENOCH PROUTY, of 59 Honore Building Chicago, in the County of Cook,
in the State of Illinois, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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:-
This invention relates primarily to a steam condensing apparatus, especially
useful in connection with street locomotives and cars, where it is desirable that
there should be no show or noise of escaping steam; and secondarily to the
combination with a steam locomotive street car or passenger vehicle provided with
the improved condenser, of steam pipes for warining the interior of the car
connected to the condenser in such manner that steam from the engine on the
car may at will be made to pass directly to the condenser in warm weather, or
first through the heating pipes for warming the car in cold weather and thence
to the condenser.
One of the reasons, if not the chief, why steam engines have not been employed
mounted upon street-cars as the motive power for driving the car has been the
noise and show of escaping steam, which, especially in crowded streets, has been
such a source of annoyance to the people themselves and a cause of fright to horses,
that the steam engine has never come into favoured use for this purpose.
By means of the present invention I am able to use the ordinary small sized
high pressure boiler and engine upon a street vehicle without any noise, and with
practically no show of escaping steam. The principle of the condenser, by means
of which I accomplish this purpose, in the confining of the steam in pipes which
are divided into branches until finally the pressure of steam in the ultimate branches
is so diminished that it will no longer blow out with a noise. In the practical
application of this principle I lead the escape pipe of the engine to some con-
venient point in the car, usually underneath the car-body, there divide it into two
branch pipes of the same or about the same diameter, repeating this division as
often as may be desired in the same manner, until a final series of pipes is reached
where the pressure of the steam is practically that of the external atmosphere
when the steam will escape from said final pipes without any noise. To facilitate
the escape I prefer that the final pipes should be perforated along their lengths,
and to avoid all show of steam I prefer to surround said final pipes with a casing
perforated below for the escape of the water of condensation.
For warming the car in cold weather provide a congeries of steam pipes
connected to said exhaust or escape pipe and provided with a valve so that the
escaping steam may be made to pass through said heating pipes, and thence to the
condenser, or to pass directly to the condenser at will.
In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this Specification, and in
which similar letters of reference indicate like parts,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a street car with my apparatus applied thereto;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus itself;
Fig. 3 is a plan view of said apparatus;
Fig. 4, upon a somewhat larger scale, is an end view of one of the groups of
final jacketed branches, there being in the apparatus illustrated four of such
groups, and
Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of the last named figure.
In said drawing is shown a street car provided with a steam locomotive high
pressure engine, boiler and motor mechanism, none of which need be here described,
and any of which parts or devices may be of well known construction. The

page_text: condensing apparatus, now about to be described, is most conveniently carried
under the floor of the car, as indicated in Figure 1, and is constructed and
arranged with special reference to being so carried in the form illustrated in the
drawing.
Upon said drawings A is a pipe connected to the exhaust of the engine. The
pipe A is in turn connected to two branches B B which, in practice, I make of the
same diameter as the pipe A, although the diameter of these pipes may vary some-
what in either direction without materially interfering with the result. I have
observed that when steam under pressure escapes from a pipe or orifice into the
open air, or into another pipe, or a chamber of considerably increased capacity,
the noise of escaping steam will be produced, whereas if the same steam escapes
from the same orifice into two pipes each of practically the same diameter as the
orifice, no noise whatever will result. Just how great a variation in the diameter
of the pipes may be made without producing a noise I am not at present able to state,
but am able to say that the pipes B may, on the one hand, be made of somewhat
larger dimensions than the pipes A, if desired; or on the other hand may be made
of somewhat smaller dimensions. In the former case the steam will expand more
rapidly, and in the latter case less rapidly. I prefer from my experience to make
the pipes throughout the series described and to be described, from the engine to
the final branches, of the same diameter. The pipes B B are each divided into two
branches C C, which in turn are divided into two branches D D, and these again
into two branches E E, so that in the instance. illustrated there will be sixteen
final pipes E of the same diameter as the original exhaust pipe A, in each of which
the now expanded steam will be admitted with equal pressure, which pressure will
not exceed, or materially exceed that of the external air; for the steam is constantly
escaping from these sixteen final pipes. The final pipes E are shown to be perforated
along their length in numerous holes e above, through which the escaping steam
may pass, and also with drip holes.e below through which the water of condensation
may drip. As a farther precaution against the show of steam or vapor I prefer to
surround each of the final pipes E with a jacket F, perforated below with holes
to permit the ready escape of the waters of condensation. By making the holes
in the final pipes in the upper side of the pipes, and the holes in the jackets in the
lower side of the latter, anything in the nature of a current which would tend to
blow into the outer air the vapor which may accumulate in the jackets, is effectually
avoided, and thus all exterior show of vapor prevented. These jackets may be
conveniently constructed in groups of four out of tubing, headed and held at each
end in position by the heads GG, which are formed with shoulders, sockets and
apertures suitable to receive and retain in position both the pipes and jackets, and
furnished with flanges by means of which each group may be secured to the bottom
of the car.
Connected to the pipes B B are shown the pipes H H, leading to the steam
heating coils JJ inside the car, from whence pipes K K lead back to the pipes B.
Stop valves L L and M M are placed in the pipes B, and similar valves N N in
the pipes H. In order to send the steam directly to the condenser the valves L are
opened and the valves M and N closed. In order to send the steam through the
heating pipes and thence to the condenser the valves L are closed and the valves M
and N opened. By a proper adjustment or partial opening of these valves, as will
be readily understood, a portion of the steam may be made to pass directly to the
condenser, and another portion, varied at pleasure, to the heating pipes, so that the
amount of heat given to the car may be regulated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1st. The steam exhaust condenser composed of branching branch pipes, having
the final series of branch pipes perforated with holes along their length, substantially.
as specified.

page_text: 2nd. The condensing apparatus for steam locomotive street cars consisting of the
exhaust pipes divided into two branches, each of which in turn is divided into two
branches, which in turn are divided into two other branches, and each again
divided into two final branches, each of which final branches is perforated and
jacketed by a perforated jacket, substantially as specified..
3rd. The condensing apparatus for steam locomotive street cars, consisting of the
exhaust pipes divided into two branches, each of which in turn is divided into two
branches, which in turn are divided into two other branches, and each again divided
into two final branches, each of which final branches is perforated and jacketed
by a perforated jacket, the jacketed tubes being arranged in four groups of four
each underneath the car-body and between the wheels thereof, substantially as
specified.
4th. As a means for condensing steam I claim a series of pipes commencing with
a single pipe which branches into two pipes of substantially the same diameter as
the single pipe and which division is repeated, to a final series of pipes from which
the steam escapes freely, substantially as set forth.
5th. As a means for condensing steam I claim a series of pipes commencing with
a single pipe which branches into two pipes of substantially the same diameter as
the single pipe and which division is repeated to a final series of pipes from which
the steam escapes freely, said final series being perforated with lateral holes for the
escape of the contents, substantially as set forth.
ENOCH PROUTY.
In the presence of :
H. M. MUNDAY.
SEW. E. CURTIS.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.