CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HALIBURTON, of Haigh' Iron Works, near Wigan, in the County of Lancashire,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of
February, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexander Haliburton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His special licence,
full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexander Haliburton,
my exors, adñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Alexander Haliburton, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, deter-
mine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Alexander Haliburton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in the Drawings hercunto annexed, and following description
thereof (that is to say):-
The pressure of steam has hitherto been considered as the only cause of the
bursting or explosion of steam engine boilers, and consequently the means of
prevention have been chiefly confined to the improvement and regulation of
the safety valve. It will however appear, from a closer attention to the subject,
that the mere expansive force of steam does not sufficiently account for all the
phenomena. In many of the cases related, and in one which came under my
own observation, the boilers were not only burst but actually raised up from
their seats and carried to a considerable distance, along with bricks and other
matters attached to them, which could not have taken place from the pressure
of steam in a boiler from which the atmosphere is excluded, for there it acts
alike in all directions, upwards, downwards, and latterally. Some other agent
must, therefore, be looked for besides the mere expansion force of the steam.
This cause appears to me to be the explosion of hydrogen gas arising from the
decomposition of the water by the iron, and which, under certain circum-
stances, comes in contact with the flame of the furnace. When the pressure
of steam is great, which it necessarily must be in the non-condensing engine,
or when the feeding apparatus gets deranged, a sufficient supply of water is
prevented, and consequently some portion of the bottom and sides of the boiler,
which are in immediate contact with the fire, are left uncovered. Under these
circumstances the parts of the boiler so exposed are soon heated to redness,
and the water that remains in its lower cavities in a state of cbulition coming
at brief intervals over the red hot parts of the vessel, some portion of every
wave is decomposed, and hydrogen gas produced. If in such circumstances the
overheated metal is melted or burst through by pressure, the gas will rush
through the aperture into the furnace, and, meeting with flame, will instantly
be exploded. Another cause of the rapid destruction of steam boilers arises from
the impurity of the water employed. At sea or in rivers, where the waters of the
occan have access, there is held in solution marine salt and other and other
saline and earthly matters, which are more or less deposited on the bottom of
the boilers in proportion to the quantity converted into steam. The waters of
the greater number of springs also hold earthy matters in solution, which are
likewise precipitated in the same manner. This deposit, besides hastening the
descomposition of the boiler, forms a hard crust, slowly permeable by heat, which,

page_text: reacting upon the metal, soon causes the destruction of some part of the boiler.
If the foregoing views of this important subject are correct, and from the facts
stated there seems to be no doubt but that they are so, it will follow that no
precautions short of preventing the production and explosion of hydrogen gas,
and the deposition of sediment on the bottom of the boiler, will prevent the
recurrence of those terrible events, the subject of so much dread and alarm to
the public.
My boiler is, therefore, formed upon principles which will effectually obviate
these great evils. Firstly, by insuring such a supply of water as to keep the
boiler always filled to a point above all the parts that are exposed to the imme-
diate action of the fire. This I accomplish by a water-regulating valve so
constructed as to descend with the water in the boiler, and by means of levers
operating upon a valve in the steam pipe, to stop the motion of the engine
altogether before the water in the boiler can be so far exhausted as to leave
any part of the inner surface of its bottom dry. And, secondly, by preventing
the saline or earthly deposits from resting upon any part or parts subject to
the principal action of the furnace. The tops of the flucs in this boiler are
the only parts in immediate contact with the fire, and in order effectually
to prevent any deposit from settling thereon, I place a shelf or shelves, saddle
or saddles of iron, wood, or other convenient materials horizontally, diagonally,
or in any other position that may be judged best, in some part within the
boiler between the upper and lower surfaces of the water, to receive the
carthy, saline, or other impurities which may be precipitated from the water
during its conversion into steam; from which shelf or shelves, saddle or
saddles, the said deposits are either removed or allowed to precipitate into the
cavities between the flues, and from thence taken away occasionally by means
of proper doors or other contrivances for that purpose.
Figure A in the Drawing hereto annexed is a ground plan of the boiler;
By, Bu, is the interior fluc, which makes a complete revolution in the water,
and then goes into the exterior flue; C, C, the exterior fluc, which makes a
revolution on. the outside of the boiler and discharges into the chimney E.
Figure D is an end section of the boiler; the line E represents the height of
water in the boiler; F, F, the shelves or saddles, suspended over the tops of the
flues, upon which any deposit will take place, and thereby prevent the
encrustation of the tops of the flue B, B. These shelves or saddles may
be either suspended by rods from the top of the boiler or supported by their
extremities from its ends. C, C, is the exterior flue, which passes into the
chimney. This flue I make of cast or wrought iron, to facilitate the setting of .

page_text: the boiler in places where building is inconvenient. G, G, G, small doors or
man-holes, by which the deposit may occasionally be removed. Fig. H o, is a
section and elevation of the boiler and chimney with the safety valves 1 is a
safety valve, loaded within the boiler to a certain pressure, and not subject to
the controul of the engineer; 2, a safety valve under the management of the
engineer; 3, a water-regulating valve for the purpose of stopping the engine
before the water can be reduced to the level of the top of the flues. This is
worked by the float A immersed in the water of the boiler. When the water
is evaporated to a certain point the abstraction of floatage from A causes it to
revolve the wheel B, which operates by the well-known means of levers
attached to its axis upon a valve contained in the steam pipe C, and cuts off
the communication with the engine. Thirdly, my' improvement in steam
engines consists in the invention of a valve, which by a simple motion not
liable to be put out of order, admits steam to one part of the cylinder, and
cuts off its passage to the other part, whilst its affects a simultaneous connec-
tion between the latter and condenser. Figure L is a cross section of the
valve; A is the steam pipe, which communicates with the boiler; B, B, the
steam passages, which terminate in the upper and lower divisions of the
cylinder; C, C, C, are the external surfaces of the valve, which is of the form
of a trancated cone, and into which the hollow stopper D, D, D, is ground
air-tight. This hollow stopper contains in its circumference three equi-distant
steam ways or passages, represented by E, E, F, two of which E, E, meet in
the lollow of the stopper, and through it communicate with the condenser.
The other passage F does not communicate with the interior of the stopper,
but terminates in a chamber on its top formed by a prolongation of the outer
case, and into which the steam pipe A discharges. Figure M is a vertical
section of the valve; A, the steam pipe; B, one of the pipes which commu-
nicate with the cylinder; C, C, the external case, which forms the chamber G
by its prolongation; D, D, D, the hollow stopper, which communicates at the
bottom with the condensor; E, one of the eduction pipes, which discharge
through the stopper; F, the steam way which opens into the chamber G, and
has no communication with the hollow of the stopper; H, the rod by which
the valve is worked; it passes through a stuffing box in the usual manner, and
may be worked by means of an escentric motion or any other of the methods
usually employed for such purpose. The working of the valve consists in
causing the steam passage E to alternate between the passages B, B, and in
consequence of F being equi-distant between the eduction passages E, E, one
of these passages will always coincide with one of B, whilst F is supplying the

page_text: ther with steam, and so the motion of the engine will be effected by the
pper and lower divisions of the cylinder being alternatively supplied with steam
nd the steam condensed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Haliburton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.