AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING WATER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Giles, of Blackheath, in the County
of Kent, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR HEATING WATER."
Sealed the 3rd October 1873, and dated the 3rd July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Giles at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd July 1873.
I, BENJAMIN GILES, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Gas
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING WATER," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved apparatus
for heating water for baths, greenhouses, and other purposes by means
of gas in a more rapid and economical manner than hitherto.
The improved apparatus is constructed preferably of a cylindrical vessel
of cast or wrought iron formed with a chamber at the bottom in which

page_text: is placed the required number of gas burners for heating; a number of
tubes pass from the top of and are open to the said chamber, and in these
tubes are placed spiral coils of thin sheet iron or other metal, or I can
employ lumps of any suitable heat conducting material so formed and
perforated as to allow of a current of air passing through them and
forming heat conductors. The upper ends of the said tubes open into a
chamber at the top of the apparatus communicating with a flue.
The water to be heated is placed in the cylindrical vessel and
surrounds the tubes; the air heated by the gas in the chamber at the
bottom of the apparatus passes through these tubes, quickly heating 1
them and the metal coils or other heat conductors they contain. A
large heating surface is thus produced, whereby the water is heated in a
very short time and at a small consumption of gas, and without the
unpleasant smell usual in gas heating apparatus of all kinds at present
constructed.
The heated air from the flue may be utilized for heating rooms, drying
closets, and other purposes.
In a modification of the apparatus I dispense with the vertical tubes
and place inside the said cylindrical vessel a number of concentric
cylinders, leaving a space between them, the said spaces forming
alternate water and heated air spaces; in this arrangement the metal:
coils or other heat conductors are placed in the air spaces which are
open to the chamber at the bottom of the vessel, and to the flue at the
top thereof.
The water snaces are connected together bv tubes passing from one to
1

page_text: for heating water for baths, greenhouses, and other purposes by means
in a more rapid and economical manner than hitherto.
of
gas
By my improved construction of apparatus a large heating surface is
obtained whereby the water is heated in a shorter time and at a smaller
consumption of gas than and without the unpleasant smell usual in gas
heating apparatus of all kinds at present constructed.
I will now proceed to describe my improvements by reference to the
accompanying Drawing in which Figure 1 is a vertical section, and
Figure 2 a horizontal section, shewing the construction of apparatus for,

page_text: heating water, which I prefer; Figure 3 vertical section, and Figure 4
a horizontal section of a modified construction of the apparatus.
The apparatus shewn in Figures 1 and 2 is constructed of two
concentric cylinders a and b, of tinned sheet iron or copper, the spaco
between the two cylinders being closed in at top and bottom. At about
six inches below the bottom of the cylinders a and b is a shallow
cylindrical chamber c connected to the cylinders a and b by the vertical
tubes or pipes d, d; a similar chamber e is placed above the cylinders a
and b, and connected thereto by vertical tubes or pipes ƒ, ƒ ; 9, 9, 9³, 9³,
are horizontal tubes passing from side to side of the inner cylinder b,
and opening into the space between the two cylinders a and b.
These horizontal tubes are connected together by a series of vertical
tubes h, h, h; i is a pipe opening into the chamber c for the supply of
cold water to the apparatus; j is a pipe passing from the chamber e for
delivering the heated water. In the spaces between the tubes h, h, in
the cylinder I place spiral coils or curls of thin sheet iron or other
metal, forming heat conductors suitably, supported. At a suitable
distance below the bottom of the cylinders a and b is a number of gas
burners k, k, fixed in a pipe bent into a rectangular form, as shewn in
Figure 5, or into a circular, helical, or other suitable form.
Tlic pipe
carrying the gas burners is jointed at ', so that it may be brought
outside the apparatus for lighting.
By referring to Figure 1 it will be easily seen that if water is supplied
to the apparatus it can pass from the chamber c, up the tubes d, d,
into the space between the cylinders, and through the horizontal
tubes 9, 9, 9', g¹³, and vertical tubes h, h, and into the chamber; e,
through the tubes f, f.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The water to be heated
being supplied to the apparatus through the pipe i and the gas lighted
at the burners k, k, the heat therefrom quickly heats the metal coils
herein-before described, and thereby the whole apparatus is heated, and
the coils not being in contact with the water retain their heat at a small
expense of gas. The water as it becomes heated rises and passes out of
the apparatus through the outlet pipe j and may be used for heating
baths, greenhouses, or for other heating purposes. By this means a
complete circulation of the water is obtained..
In the modification of the apparatus shewn in Figures 3 and 4 a series
of concentric cylinders l, m, n, o, are employed in place of the vertical

page_text: tubes h, h, so as to form alternate water spaces x, and spaces y for the
metal coils or heat conductors.
The water spaces are closed in at top and bottom and are connected
one with the other by short horizontal tubes p, p, p², p¹.
Other heat conductors or retainers than those described may be
employed with my improved apparatus for heating water.
Having thus described my said Invention, and the best manner I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into effect, what I claim is, the
general arrangement and construction of apparatus for heating water in
which coiled metal heat conductors or retainers are employed, whereby
a larger heating surface is obtained substantially as hercin-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Giles, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this First day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
W. A. GILBEE,
4, South St.
Finsbury.
B. GILES. (L.S).