IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1857

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Wright at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st June
1857.
I, RICHARD WRIGHT, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the improvement in the construction of
the boiler, and the mode of generating steam, and consuming or partly
consuming the waste steam; also the consumption of smoke arising from the
use of coals or other fuel in the furnace; and the improvement of the safety
valve.
Firstly, I construct a boiler either circular or of any other convenient form
in section, with a double casing of plates, having a water space between them,
the extremities of such casing being properly stopped and rivetted. Around
the outside of the boiler, and over the joints, I sometimes place a series of
hoops or rings rivetted to the plates, which may be fixed either in the
cold state or shrunk on while hot. The inner and outer plates I sometimės
secure by the means of struts or small tubes placed between them, and
rivetted through from side to side, the internal plates of the case being
subject to the action of the flame from the furnace. The water space has
a communication with the steam receiver on the top of the boiler.

page_text: Secondly, within the case described I construct a framing called the boiler
frame, formed of a series of tubes filled with water, the ends of which
terminate in two hollow discs or boxes of a form made to fit the outer boiler,
as space being left at the end next the fire box for the admission of the flame,
which is allowed to play around the exterior of the tubes, and to pass from
thence through an opening in the outer boiler into the flue or chimney. I
also sometimes make the flame pass through a pipe surrounded by water, and
placed in the upper portion of the fire box, which pipe descends again through
the boiler into the flame space around the tubes at the back of the bridge.
The inner boiler frame or tubes may either be placed horizontally, vertically,
or at any desirable angle, according to the construction of the outer boiler,
the steam generated in the tubes being conveyed by pipes into the receivers
above the boiler.
.
Thirdly, I construct a similar frame, called the furnace frame, with hollow
tubes filled with water, which I place in the fire box below the fire. The
tubes which contain water answer the purpose of fire bars, and receive the
direct action of the fire, the steam generated therein being conveyed by pipes
conveniently placed into the receivers above the boiler, and thence into the
cylinders through the ordinary steam pipes. I also sometimes apply the said
furnace frame to ordinary boilers, to be used in the furnace in lieu of fire
bars; in which case a connection is made for the passage of the steam to
the boiler.
Fourthly, for the consumption of smoke, I introduce in the furnace frame
described a series of air tubes passing through the water space for the
admission of air to the back part of the furnace, which air is made to pass
from the ash-pit in a heated state, and produces combustion of the smoke.
I also sometimes admit air to the back of the furnace through tubes or inlets
not connected with the furnace frame, but passing direct from the ash-pit for
a similar purpose.
At the mouth of the ash-pit I sometimes place a slide or
damper for the purpose of preventing unnecessary consumption of fuel, or the
too rapid generation of steam.
Fifthly, I introduce a jet of waste steam from the cylinders into a convenient
part of the fire box, in which I place iron plates or pieces of scrap iron of any
desired form, which iron becoming sufficiently heated abstracts the oxygen
from the steam, and leaves the hydrogen to be consumed in the furnace,
thereby assisting combustion and greatly economizing the fuel.
Sixthly, I construct a safety valve in the following manner, viz. :-Attached
to the valve is a rod or chain supporting a weight placed inside the receiver

page_text: or boiler; near the top is a perforated tube, either forming part of the rod or
surrounding it; as the valve is forced upwards the steam escapes through the
perforations in the tube and passes into the external atmosphere. The
advantages presented are, a direct weight acting in opposition to the pressure
of steam, and the same being placed within the receiver or boiler, the valve
cannot be tampered with."