Improved Means and Apparatus for Obtaining a Supply of Fresh Water on Board Ships and wherever Impure Water only can be Obtained.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 3rd Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 4th Feb., 1887
Improved Means and Apparatus for Obtaining a Supply of Fresh
Water on Board Ships and wherever Impure Water only can be
Obtained.
I JOHN KIRKALDY of No. 11 Stainsby Road Limehouse in the County of
Middlesex Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
According to this invention I utilize the heat of the salt circulating water passing
off from the surface condensers of the steam engines used for propelling vessels for
the production from this heated salt water of a supply of pure fresh water which may
be utilized for replacing the waste of water from the steam boilers and engine so as to
avoid the necessity of supplying the boilers with salt water or may be used for drinking
water or for other purposes.
To effect this I preferably form the surface condensers used for condensing the
steam from the engines on the system described in a specification lodged by me with
an application for a patent No. 15146 in the year 1885 but the same result may be
obtained in a somewhat less degree by forming above the top of an ordinary surface
condenser or above the outlet pipe from which the circulating water passes off from
the condenser a vapour chamber into which vapour may arise from the heated water
and from this chamber I convey the vapour to coils of tube or to chambers of other
form forming part of a surface condenser and draw the vapour through the coils or
chambers and punip off the water obtained by the condensation of the vapour by means
of an air pump.
In order that the circulating water of the main surface condensers may not be
drawn up into the vapour chamber I maintain the pressure in the vapour chamber
approximately at atmospheric pressure the water level at the bottom of the chamber
being at or above the water line and if the outlet be carried below the water line I fit
it with a non return valve to prevent water passing back from time to time into the
condenser and so avoid variations of the water level in the
chamber.
vapour
I also connect to the top of the vapour chamber a long air pipe of comparatively
small diameter and coiled into numerous coils or with a number of bends formed in it

page_text: to prevent any rapid passage of air through it but yet allow of sufficient air passing
to prevent any material vacuum being formed in the vapour chamber.
In this way a large amount of vapour may be drawn off from the impure heated
circulating water and a supply of fresh water thereby obtained.
The air tube for preventing the escape of steam from the vapour chamber can be
used with the vapour chambers of distilling apparatus such as commonly used on
board ship for obtaining fresh water by distillation or such as is described in the
specification before mentioned No. 15146 so as to avoid variations of pressure in the
vapour chamber. By the admission also of the small quantity of air through the pipe
into the vapour chamber the distilled water obtained will be aerated and well adapted
for use for drinking.
The means hereinbefore described for obtaining a supply of fresh water on board
ship are applicable in all cases in which steam engines used for driving machinery
and for such like purposes are used in places where impure water only can be
obtained.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means and Apparatus for Obtaining a Supply of Fresh
Water on Board Ships and wherever Impure Water only can be
Obtained.
I, JOHN KIRKALDY of No. 11 Stainsby Road, Limehouse, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, 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 :-
Although the exhaust steam from engines fitted with surface condensers is passed
back to the boilers as water, there is a small waste of water in its cycle from boiler to
engine and engine to boiler which must be made up by water occasionally added to
the boiler from without. To effect this the surface condenser of the steam engine may
be constructed in the manner described in the Specification lodged by me with an
application for Patent No. 15,146 in the year 1885. In this condenser a body of
water which remains at rest at the top of or open to the water circulating through the
condenser is heated by the steam which is to be condensed and vapour rises from it
into a vapour chamber from whence it is drawn off into a condenser.
The same result may be obtained by forming the vapour chamber separate and apart
from an ordinary surface condenser as herein after described and by vaporizing therein
a portion of the circulating water.
Figure 1 of the drawings hereunto annexed is a side elevation of an ordinary surface
condenser with the vapour chamber on the top of it shewn partly in section. Figure 2
is an end view of the same.

page_text: A is the surface condenser of ordinary type. B a vapour chamber placed on the
top of it. Ca passage by which a portion of the circulating water in the casing of
the condenser passes into the vapour chamber. D is the main exhaust pipe from a
steam engine leading to the top of the vapour chamber and conducting the steam into
a number of coiled tubes E contained in this chamber. From the lower ends of the
tubes the steam passes into the ordinary condenser.
Fis a pipe passing from the top of the vapour chamber either to the main condenser
as shown or to an auxiliary cooler worked with a separate air pump.
The heated circulating water which after doing its work in the main condenser
passes up into the vapour chamber through the passage C is in part evaporated and
the vapour which arises is conducted away by the pipe F whilst the residuum of brine
or impurities is drawn off through a pipe G. If a good vacuum is not maintained in
the vapour chamber the brine may be drawn off by a brine pump but when a good
vacuum is maintained I draw it off in the manner illustrated in the diagram view
Figure 3. The vapour chamber is in this figure shewn to be formed somewhat
differently to that shewn at Figure 2 but its action is precisely the same.
In Figure 3 B is the vapour chamber. C the admission pipe for circulating or
other water, D the exhaust pipe from engines or for live steam from boiler-
E evaporating tubes or coils-F vapour pipe-G pipe leading to main condenser or
auxiliary cooler-H chamber for collecting brine-I tap on pipe for balancing pressure
in brine chamber and vapour chamber-K tap to draw off brine-I, non return valve
to pass brine from the vapour chamber to brine chamber-When the tap K is closed
and the tap I opened brine passes from the vapour chamber into the brine chamber-
When the tap L is closed and the tap K opened and air is admitted into the brine
chamber the contents of the brine chamber are at once discharged either by a pump
or by being allowed to run off. In this way a practically continuous removal of brine
from the vapour chamber may be effected. H is a cock by which impurities floating
on the surface of the water may from time to time be drawn off.
Figure 3* is an end elevation of a steam engine fitted with a surface condenser
which has a vaporizing chamber so combined with it-the parts are marked with the
same letters of reference as Figures 1 and 2.
The vapour chamber need not be placed immediately upon the top of the main
condenser it might be at a distance from or above it and the condensing water be
drawn up into the vapour chamber by the vacuum. A diagram view of an arrangement
of this kind is shown at Figure 4.
Bump.
A is the exhaust pipe from a steam engine leading the steam to a condenser B. Cis
a pipe from the bottom of the condenser to the air
The circulating water after passing from the pipe through an auxiliary condenser E
passes to the main condenser at F and is led off from it at G-part passes into the
vapour chamber H at I, whilst the remainder passes of at K.
More water is discharged into the vapour chamber than is evaporated therein the
remainder passes downwards to the outlet box L and passes off at M.
The vapour produced in the vapour chamber is led off through the pipe N either to
the main condenser or to the auxiliary condenser E and can be drawn off at O by a
pump.
Figure 5 and 6 show diagram views of similar arrangements where the vapour
chamber H is placed at about the same level as the condenser. The parts are marked
with the same letters of reference as in Figure 4.
In the construction shown at Figure 6 a portion of the circulating water only is to
be admitted to the vapour chamber the remainder passing off at P. The requisite
temperature in the vapour chamber is in this case maintained by placing a coil of pipe
within it and causing exhaust steam from a donkey engine to be led through this
pipe. The donkey engine is used for working the air pump for maintaining the
requisite vacuum in the vapour chamber.
In the construction shown at Figure 6 the interior of the vapour chamber may be
maintained at or about atmospheric pressure by attaching to its upper end a pipe or
tube whose length is sufficiently great as compared with its diameter to present the

page_text: requisite restriction to the passage through it of air or vapour to cause it to serve as a
regulator.
The arrangements herein described are applicable not only for obtaining a supply of
fresh water to replace the waste which takes place in the working of a steam engine
but also for obtaining a supply of pure fresh water for drinking or other purposes by
the use of steam passing direct from a steam boiler.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination with the surface condenser of a steam engine, of a vaporizing
chamber wherein a portion of the circulating water may be vaporized to replace the
waste of water from the engine substantially as described.
2. The combination with a vaporizing chamber such as herein described of means
for drawing off brine therefrom without stopping the action of the vaporizer
substantially as described.
3. In steam engines the employment of apparatus for the evaporation of a portion
of the circulating or cooling water in or passing from the surface condenser the vapour
obtained being led to the main condenser or to a separate condenser to give a supply
of pure fresh water thereby utilizing heat imparted to the circulating or cooling water
in its passage through the condenser.
4. The arrangements of apparatus substantially as herein before described for
obtaining a supply of fresh water.
CARPMAEL & CO.,
Agents for the Applicant.