IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1885

page_text: We WILLIAM YOUNG FLEMING and PETER FERGUSON both of the Phoenix
Engine Works Paisley in the County of Renfrew Engineers do hereby declaro
the nature of our Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS to be as
follows:-
In constructing steam boilers to withstand high pressures the plates of iron or
steel from which they are formed require to be of very considerable thickness
and being so, great difficulty is experienced in this manufacture & in the bending
rivetting and other operations connected with the construction of the boilers,
while owing to the unwieldiness of the plates the rivetting and the workmanship
generally is often defective.
According to our invention we obviate these difficulties by forming the shells
and other parts of boilers which have to withstand great, pressure of two or more
superposed thicknesses of plates that is to say we employ two or more thin platės
in lieu of each single thick plate ordinarily used in forming the shell of a boiler.
We thus form a plated boiler shell of much greater strength weight for weight than
a shell formed of a single thickness of plate for as is well known the strength of
an iron or steel plate is not in the direct ratio of its thickness but is proportionally
greater in thin than in thick plates.
As a means of binding together the plating of the boiler shell and also as a
means of greatly preventing radiation of heat we in some cases put a thin layer of
asbestus putty red lead or other substance between the overlying plates forming the .
boiler shell.

page_text: (
Improvements in Steam Boilers.
We, WILLIAM YOUNG FLEMING and PETER FERGUSON, both of Phoenix Works,
Paisley, Renfrewshire, Engineers and Shipbuilders, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement -
'
In constructing steam boilers to withstand high pressures, the plates of iron
or steel from which they are formed require to be of very considerable thickness,
and being so, great difficulty is experienced in the bending, rivetting and other
operations connected with the construction of the boilers, while owing to the
unwieldiness of the plates the rivetting and the workmanship generally is often
defective.
According to our invention we obviate these difficulties by forming the shells
and other parts of boilers which have to withstand great pressure of two or more
superposed thicknesses of plates, that is to say we employ two or more thin plates
in lieu of each single thick plate ordinarily used in forming the shell of a boiler.
We thus form a laminated boiler shell of much greater strength weight for weight,
than a shell formed of a single thickness of plate, for as is well known the strength
of an iron or steel plate is not in the direct ratio of its thickness, but is pro-
portionally greater in thin than in thick plates; and in the event of any one of the
several plates being defective the remaining plate or plates which make up the
thickness of the boiler shell at that part may resist the bursting pressure.
As a means of binding together the laminae of the boiler shell and of excluding
moisture from the joint and also as a means of greatly preventing radiation of
,heat, we, in some cases, put a thin layer of asbestos putty, red lead, or other
substance between the plates which make up the thickness of the boiler shell.
The accompanying diagrams illustrate examples of the various methods that may
be adopted in jointing together the plates of the boiler of the improved construction
berein described.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a boiler showing on the left hand side of the
centre line the boiler shell composed of two superposed thicknesses and on the
right hand side the shell as made up of three thicknesses of plates. Figure 2, is a
longitudinal section and figure 3, a plan of part of a boiler shell as composed of two
thicknesses of plates, the circumferential joint being in this example formed by
over-lapping the plates as if the doubl plates were single thick plates; and the
inner and outer plates being fitted together so as to "break bond at their longi-
tudinal joints over which butt straps are rivetted.
Figure 4, is a longitudinal section and figure 5, a plan of part of a boiler shell
composed of three thicknesses of plates. The edges of the two outer plates in
one section meet to form a circumferential butt joint with the edges of the two
inner plates in the adjoining section of the boiler shell while the innermost and
outermost plates overlap this butt joint, longitudinal butt straps covering the longi-
tudinal ioints.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
A steam boiler with shell composed of two or more laminæ or thicknesses of
plates, superposed, substantially as herein set forth.