IMPROVEMENTS IN ADRADATHE FOR ANAL NADASTERS" APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Whitehead Broadbent, of Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ADRADATHE FOR ANAL NADASTERS"
APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 17th February 1871, and dated the 20th. August 1870..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Whitehead.
Broadbent at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,, with his.
Petition, on the 20th August 1870.
I, JOSEPH WHITEHEAD BROADBENT, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN. APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING STEAM BOILERS," to be as
follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is to remove the scum from the surface
of the water in steam boilers at all working levels, and thereby enable
the scumming operations to be more perfectly effected than has hitherto
been attained.
To the interior of the boiler I fix any required number of hollow
bearings, each having an opening extending to the exterior, and each

page_text: bearing carries a hollow tube having at one end a counterbalance weight
and at the other end a float and scummer. The float is made of baked
clay, brick, or other indestructible material, and to it is fastened the
scummer, in which there is a hole or mouth piece leading to the hollow
tube and exterior passage, there being between the float and the scummer
a space for the scum to pass to the mouth piece. The float is balanced
to rise and fall to the varying level of the water in the boiler, and the
scum continually passes through each mouth piece to the exterior, to be
carried off by pipes in any desired manner, and as the scumming takes
place at all working levels of the water the cleansing operations are
very effectual.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Whitehead Broadbent in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WHITEHEAD BROADBENT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
year
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Whitehead Broadbent, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Whitehead Broadbent, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Whitehead
Broadbent, my 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 APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING STEAM BOILERS," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I; the said Joseph Whitehead Broad-
bent, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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

page_text: in the Great, Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and.
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Whiteliead Broadbent, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is,
to say)
.
"
The object of this Invention is to remove the scum from the surface
of the water at all working levels, and thereby enable the scumming
operations to be more perfectly effected than has hitherto been attained.
To the interior of the boiler I fix one or more hollow bearings,
according to the number of scummers required, each bearing having
a pipe opening to the exterior of the boiler, and to this pipe is bolted
another pipe connected to a valve box having an outlet valve. Each
hollow bearing carries a lever, having at one end a counterbalance
weight, and at the other end a float and scummer, and from this end to
the bearing the lever is formed as a tube or pipe. The float is made of
baked clay, brick, or other indestructible material, and to it is fastened
the scummer, in which there is a hole or mouth piece leading to the
tubular part of the lever and exterior pipe, there being between the float
and the scummer a space for the scum to pass to the mouth piece. The
float and scummer are balanced to rise and fall with the varying level of
the water in the boiler, and the scum is continually collecting in the
neighbourhood of the float, from whence it is removed as required by
the internal pressure of the steam when the outlet valve is opened.
I modify the foregoing arrangement by causing the mouth piece of
the scummer to communicate with a pipe having one end in the inside
of the boiler and the other end at the outside, and the float and scummer
are balanced by being connected by links to a weighted lever, and when
either apparatus is applied to a marine boiler I employ a hollow universal
joint to enable the float and scummer to be level with the water in the
boiler when the vessel is pitching and rolling.
These improvements will be clearly understood by the following
particular description thereof, reference being had to the figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figs. 1'
and 2 are side and end views of the first arrangement of my improved
scumming apparatus adapted for land boilers; Figs. 3 and 4 are detached
views of some of the parts; Fig. 5 is a side view of a similar apparatus

page_text: adapted for marine boilers; Fig. 6 a side view, and Fig. 7 a plan of the
second or modified. arrangement of the apparatus adapted for land
boilers; and Fig. 8 is a view of a similar apparatus adapted for marine
boilers.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents the top of the boiler, to which is fixed
the pipe b, having below it the hollow bearing c, and this bearing carries
the lever d, e, the part d being solid, and the part e hollow, as shewn in
Figs. 1 and 3. The solid part carries the balance weight f, and to the
hollow part is suspended a hollow bracket or pipe g fixed to the
scummer, in which scummer there is a hole or mouth piece i corre-
sponding with the bottom bore of the pipe 9, and to the scummer is
bolted the float %, there being a space between the two. The hollow
bracket 9 is shewn detached in Fig. 4, and the hollow bearing c is
similar to it, but placed in a reverse position. The pipe 6 communicates
through a hole in the top of the boiler with the pipe 7, to which is
bolted the valve box m containing the outlet valve n, there being fixed
to the valve box a pipe o leading to the exterior of the boiler house or
other required place. The float and scummer are so balanced by the
weighted lever d, e, that the scummer is on or slightly above the surface
of the water at all its various levels, and the scum finds an inlet in the
hole or mouth piece i, from whence it is let off through the pipe o by
the operative raising the valve by means of the lever or handle p; and
as the scummer is on the surface of the water at all its various levels
the cleansing of the boiler is very effectively performed. In Fig. 5 the
float, scummer, and weighted lever are similar to those before described,
but between the lever and the top of the boiler there is a universal
joint », to enable the float and scummer to be level with the water when
the vessel is rolling and pitching.
In the modification shewn in Figs. 6 and 7, I fix to the top of the
boiler the pipe s, having perforations t, but closed at the bottom, and to
this pipe is bolted the pipe u connected to the valve box v. To the
pipe s.is fastened the bracket w carrying the weighted lever x, linked at
one end by the links y, Fig. 7, to a ring z on the cap a¹, which encircles
the pipes, and to this cap is fastened the scummer 6', to which is bolted
the float c¹, both being vane-shaped, so that they may have a tendency
to revolve. The ring z is loose on the cap a¹, but above it there is a
fast ring d¹, so that as the cap a¹ rises and falls with the float and
scummer the loose ring and links will move the weighted lever, and the

page_text: several parts will be balanced. The loose and fast rings are only used
to allow the float and scummer to turn to assist in removing the scum,
for when there is no turning desired, and the float and scummer are of
ordinary shapes, the links will be linked direct to the cap, but in any
case when the outlet valve is opened the scum will pass into the cap a¹
and through the perforations t, the pipes s and u, and valve box v.
In Fig. 8 I represent at f¹ a universal joint for enabling this description
of apparatus to be applied to a marine boiler, the float and scummer
being balanced by a weighted lever linked to the ring z on the cap a¹,
as in Figs. 6 and 7, one of the links in Fig. 8 being marked y. At the
bottom of the float there is a plate of iron for the bolt heads to abut
against, and also to give additional strength, which plate is marked h¹ in
the several Figures, and across the boiler there is a fender l¹, to enable
the scum to be collected in the vicinity of the float and scummer (that
is) when they are not close to the back of the boiler. In Figs. 1, 2,
and 3 the float and scummer are rectangular, but they may be square,
round, or of any other form, so long as there is a space between them
leading to a hole or mouth piece in the scummer, and as the latter is
generally thin, I prefer to make it of iron.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that in apparatus for cleansing steam boilers I claim,
the float and scummer connected together with a space between them,
and a hole or mouth piece leading to internal and external pipes, and
the combination of the float and scummer with a weighted lever, for
enabling the scum to be removed at all working levels of the water,
as all such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Whitehead Broadbent, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-