IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION, APPLICATION, & CONDENSATION OF STEAM, PART OF WHICH PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wallace Duncan, of Grove End Road, St. John's
Wood. & James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne, of Hanover Terrace,
Regent's Park, both in the County of Middlesex, Gentlemen, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH APPARATUS FOR THE
GENERATION, APPLICATION, & CONDENSATION OF STEAM, PART OF WHICH
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wallace Duncan
and James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th March 1859.
We, JOHN WALLACE DUNCAN, of Grove End Road. St. Jolin's Wood, &
JAMES EGLINTON ANDERSON GWYNNE, of Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, both
in the County of Middlesex. Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH APPARATUS FOR THE
GENERATION, APPLICATION, & CONDENSATION OF STEAM. PART OF WHICH APPARATUS
OR ARRANGEMENTS 18 APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to improvements in dividing plates or heat diffusers
applied to generate steam in boilers. by deflecting or otherwise acting on the
currents of heated air and products of combustion, and thereby increasing the
effect of heat upon a given surface in generating steam. Our improvements
consist in corrugating these plates in any direction, and either flat or twisted;
such plates may be of cast or wrought iron or of ceramic materials.
Price Sd.]
We

page_text: sometimes serrate them on the extreme edges. We further puncture or
perforate them, and sometimes leave the pieces partly attached to the
plates by one side, to form projections at various angles: or. if cast, the
same effect can be produced by snags or projections. We also bend or
cast the plates in a zig-zag form; more than two plates or more than
one spiral may be put into a tubo or flue.
Two spirals may be made to rotate together, and also to rotate inside a flue
ar tube, to keep each other free from soot, and clean the tube, or they may
be made to reciprocate either by hand or automatically by the engine. Bearings
formed of a ferrule may be fixed on the "diffusers," to rotate inside the tube;
a single spiral heat diffuser or a single dividing plate may be made to rotate
or to reciprocale inside a tube to keep the same clean, as also a zig-zag plate.
or a punctured plate, or serrated plate, or any helically formed heat diffuser.
We also form heat diffusers. constructed in the form of an endless chain.
that will encircle two or more tubes, passing in and along the one, and back
through the other or others continuously: the articulations may be plates or
links of various forms suitable for directing or dividing the heat or hot
currents, and keeping the flues clear. The diffusers may have holes
longitudinally through them, or be constructed with a central tube or
tubes, through which air may be blown on the fuel in the fire-box.
The diffusing plates may be rolled with a round feather in a longitudinal
centre. or they may be rolled in the form of a double come in the cross
section, and may also be rolled with the corrugations in them.
Helical spirals may be cast round a wrought-iron central spindle, tube,
or core: the helical blades are preferred to be inclined in the direction of
the passage of the current.
Sections of screws or helices of cast iron may be threaded upon a
central spindle. and the whole made to reciprocate or rotate inside the
tube or flue. The same arrangement of diffusers may be used in surface
condensers, either for the deflection of the steam or water.
The second part of our Invention consists in insulating the steam pipe
leading from the boiler to where the steam is utilized, by enclosing it
inside a pipe of larger diameter, which may contain felt, glass. - hair, or
other substance; and over the second concentric pipe another of a still
larger diameter is placed, to convey the exhaust or waste steam between the
inside of it and the outside of the second pipe; the return steam prevents
radiation of the heat from the central pipe of the series which conducts the
steam to the engine: the cylinder of the engine may be jacketed on the
same system, to be kept hot 'on the outer jacket by the exhaust steam.

page_text: Our improvements in the means described in a Patent granted to the said
John Wallace Duncan, hearing date the Ninth day of Feb, One thousand
eight hundred & fifty-six, numbered N° 345, for preventing priming, con-
sisting of the introduction of material into the steam donc, or in any suitable
position of the steam pipe leading to the engine; the present improvements
consist of the introduction of rings, balls, or polygons, which may be of metal
or other suitable substance through which the steam will pass, which bodies
may be caused to oscillate or rotate, if desired, and such like forms may be
applied near to the condenser to be agitated by rotating or reciprocating
spirals for intercepting or absorbing the heat and the fallow.
Our improvements in apparatus for condensers refer to a series of discs
mentioned in a Patent granted to the said John Wallace Duncan, & dated
One thousand eight hundred & fifty-one, the 4th day of Sept* N° 13,738.
formed of metal fixed on a central spindle which revolves in contact with a
cooling medium, and consists in introducing the steam into the case enclosing
the revolving disc in an oblique direction, or parallel with the line of rotation:
the discs may be varied in diameter in the space between each. & hear
across the lower side of the axle as well as at the top. with suitable packing
to keep the cooling medium separate from the steam or vapour to be con-
densed or cooled, and the cooling medium may or may not pass over the upper
part of the axle. These discs may be used to condense with cold air. The
same arrangement may be employed for refrigerating oils, fats. fluids. or
gases. If condensed water is used to feed engine boilers, there is a deficiency
of air. which materially affects the free evolution of the steam. and causes a
greater consumption of fuel. We remedy this by pumping air into the
boiler simultaneously with the feed water, but by a separate & suitable force
pump. We find it of advantage to feed with air when other than condensed
water is used.
SPECIFICATION
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wallace Duncan and James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
WALLACE DUNCAN, of Grove End Road, St. John's Wood. and JAMES
EGLINTON ANDERSON GWYNNE, of Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, both in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
ller reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Wallace Duncan and James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne. Her
special licence that we, the said John Wallace Duncan and James Eglinton
Anderson Gwynne, our executors, administrators. and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Wallace Duncan and James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne.
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others. from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise. and vend.
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED
WITH APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION. APPLICATION, AND CONDENSATION OF STEAM,
PART OF WHICH APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we. the said John Wallace Duncan
and James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne, our executors or administrators. by
an instrument in writing under our. or their. or one of their hands and seals.
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention.
and in what manner the same was to be performed. and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Wallace Duncan and James
Eglinton Anderson Gwynne, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement. reference being
had to the three Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed. and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The first part of our Invention relates to a system of enhancing the trans-
mission of heat to steam generators by the introduction of suitable appliances
within the flues, which has the effect of dividing, retarding, deflecting, diffusing.
or directing the hot gaseous currents of the products of combustion of the
fuel in the passage from the fire box along the tubes or flues of steam boilers.
as described in a Patent granted to John Wallace Duncan. bearing date the
9th February. 1856, No. 345. The primary object of our present improve-
ments thereon consist of arrangements for producing more perfect combustion
of the gases, the clearance of ashes or soot, maintaining the surfaces in a good
condition for utilising the heat in producing steam and increasing the draught.
The Sheets marked A and B contain Drawings representing various forms

page_text: of the diffusers. modified to suit different constructions or arrangements of
steam generators, the strength of draught, description of fuel, and degree of
its oxygenation. Diffusers may be made of hammered or rolled plates
of iron. corrugated longitudinally, vertically, or diagonally. perforated,
serrated, and twisted in sections of any requisite length. For application
in flues where the heat is too great for the durability of diffusers made
entirely of metal, suitable frames of iron may be fitted with inclined semi-
circular or radiated leaves of ceremic or refractory material. Detached
helical plates of earthenware, without metallic connection, may be. inserted
at intervals in Cornish or any large flued boiler.
Two spirals or belices. extended entirely or through a part of the tube or
helical pieces, attached at intervals on a central rod or rods, may be made to
rotate together and around the inside a flue: the motion may be communi-
cated either by hand, auxiliary power, or automatically from the engine. In
this arrangement the passages will be kept free from soot, ashes, or other
debris. Bearings, formed of ferules or annular rings, may be fitted to the
diffusers to diminish friction. Single spiral or other forms of heat diffusers,
of a diameter large enough to fill the tube or flue, may be fitted and arranged
to rotate or reciprocate therein, to keep the same clear and impinge the heat
of the tube surface. We form heat diffusers constructed in the manner of an
endless chain that will encircle two or more tubes. passing in and along the
one. and back through the other or others. The articulations may be plates or
links of various forms suitable for directing or dividing the hot currents and
keeping the flues clean: such a construction may be adapted to work in a
single flue by passing over a suitable pulley at each turn. Some modifications
of diffusers may have holes longitudinally through them. A pipe, tube, or
vessel, made to wind in a helical form of requisite diameter. may be inserted
in a wide flue to act as a heat retarder or dividing plate; fins or snags may,
be connected to the helix. projecting to or from the centre, and any liquid,
such as feed water. for instance, or gaseous current. passing through the coil
will be heated therein. Steam may be superheated in such diffusers; this
arrangement may be applied to flues inclined in any direction, horizontal or
vertical, such as locomotive or steam vessel funnels. &c. Some of these
appliances are constructed with a central tube or tubes. through which air
may be blown on the fuel in the fire-box to aid combustion or to furnish the
equivalent quantity requisite for perfect combustion of the gases as they pass
from the fire-box along the flue or tubes.
Helical plates, tubes, or rods may be applied to the outside of tubes.
embracing them, or a series of tubular vessels, arranged concentrically, onc

page_text: within the other. with an annular space between. Each division or vessel
may have a helix to fit in each of the spaces, and be made to rotate or reci-
procate. When such a vessel, used for treating steam or utilising heat for
feed water, is fitted in the smoke box, the uptake. bottom of a chimney or
steam vessel funnel, the action of the helical diffusers will keep the surfaces
clean and intercept the heat. We make no claim to such a vessel without
the use of the spirals in conjunction. Ilclical, spiral, or inclined radial leaves
or blades may be cast round a wrought-iron centre spindle, tube, or core, and
fitted in or on a central spindle in the flue. tube, funnel, or chimney: the
helical or radial blades are preferred to be inclined in the direction of the
passage of the current of the products of combustion. There may be adjust-
able orifices at the periphery, and the blades formed with hollow channels in
them, communicating with the central tubular spindle, through which steam
or compressed air may be arranged to issue with the requisite pressure, and
give it a rotary motion through its emissary reaction in the manner well
known. Sheet C. Fig. 1, represents a steam vessel funnel with an exhauster
fitted on the principle described above. Instead of the emissary action of
steam at the periphery of the fan, motion may he communicated to it with
the necessary speed through grooved friction or other gearing, or any suitable
means, from the engine or auxiliary power. We find that the use of any
method of efficiently varying or contracting the throat of the flue or chimney
(such as a steam vessel's funnel). in conjunction with the use of the means of
forcing or exhausting, exerts a decided improvement in producing draught. &c.
I is obvious that by the rotatory motion of the fan an increase of the current
or draught will be produced. which shall materially assist the proper com-
bustion of the fuel in the furnace, and in conjunction with the use of spirals
or diffusers in the boiler tubes or flucs will effect great economy in the pro-
duction of steam. More than one fan may be fitted upon the same shaft, tube,
or spindle at any suitable distance apart, and arranged to work in any flue or
passage leading to the boiler of a steam vessel, for the supply of air, or to
rotate in any flue, tube. or funnel leading from the boiler. We claim such fan
or rotating apparatus above described, either working horizontally. vertically.
or otherwise, in any flue or funnel connected with marine or other steam
boilers in conjunction with the use of diffusers in the boiler tubes.
Fig. 2. Sheet C, represents another mode of producing improved draught
through the action of the steam jet in a steam vessel's funnel for increasing
the economical effect of diffusers, applied in the tubes of marine boilers; and
a method is therein shewn of contracting or varying the throat of the chimney,
but to which we make no claim herein. Suitable diffusers of any of the forms

page_text: herein represented may be inserted in the tubes.of metallic condensers for the
deflection of either water or steam.
The second part of our Invention consists in insulating the steam pipe
leading from the boiler to where the steam is to be used, by enclosing it inside
a pipe of larger diameter. which may contain felt, glass. air, or other substance:
and over the second concentric pipe another of a still larger diameter is
placed, to convey the exhaust or waste steam between the inside of it and the
outside of the second pipe. The return steam prevents radiation of the heal
from the central pipe of the series, which conducts the steam to the engine.
The cylinder of the engine may be jacketed on the same system, to be kept
hot. en the outer jacket by the exhaust steam.
Our improvement in the means described in Patent N° 345. herein before
referred to for preventing priming, consisting of the introduction of material
in the steam pipe leading to the engine; the present improvements consist in
the introduction of rings or balls or polygons. which may be of metal or
other suitable substance, through which the steam will pass: which bodies
may be made to oscillate or rotate, if desired: and such like forms may be
applied near to the condenser. to be agitated by rotating or reciprocating
spirals for intercepting the tallow from the engine or absorbing the heat of
the steam.
Our improvements in apparatus for condensing refer to a series of discs
mentioned in a Patent granted to the aforesaid John Wallace Duncan. dated
1851. N° 13.738, formed of meial, fixed on a central spindle, which revolves
in contact with a cooling medium, and consists in introducing the steam or
fluid to be cooled into the case enclosing the revolving discs in an oblique
direction, or in a manner to impinge the steam or fluid to be refrigerated more
upon the broad sides of the discs than hitherto devised, or the discs may be
varied in diameter. We now propose to put bars across the whole width of
the case on the lower side of the axle as well as on the upper side, which we
connect with suitable packing. To keep the cooling medium separate from
the steam or fluid to be condensed or cooled. the cooling medium may be
passed over the lower or upper part of the case: this system may have air
applied for the cooling medium by blowing it with a fan in the passage
between the plates on the proper side of the axle. This disc arrangement of
condenser may be applied to refrigerating fats, fluids, oils, or gases.
Figs. 3 & 4, in Sheet C, represent a plan and a sectional view of the con-
denser above referred to. If condensed water is used to feed engine boilers,
there is a deficiency of air which materially affects the free evolution of the
steam and causes a great consumption of fuel; we remedy this by pumping

page_text: air into the boiler simultaneously with the feed water, but by separate suitable
force pumps. We find it of advantage to feed air when sea water is used for
steam engine boilers, and force it in a, boiler while feeding with sea water.
The annexed Sheet of Drawings A & B represent various modifications
of the beat diffusers, with arrangements for introducing steam or other fluid,
to be emitted amongst the products of combustion, as indicated by the several
arrow heads, the air or other fluid being in general introduced in the central
These Figures show longitudinal
pipe support or stem of the diffusers.
sections of tubes or flues with various forms of diffusers, which will be
readily understood by reference to the Drawings alone and the notes appended
thereto.
In witness whereof, 1, the said James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne, on
behalf of myself and the said John Wallace Duncan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal. this Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES E. A. GWYNNE. (L.S.)