IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Horsfall Robinson, of Hebden Bridge, in the
West Riding of the County of York, Cotton Spinner, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Horsfall Robinson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd March 1854.
I, JOHN HORSFALL ROBINSON, of Hebden Bridge, in the West Riding of the
County of York, Cotton Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the-said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates more especially to the arrangement of steam boilers,
and consists in the employment of a duplex boiler, composed of a pair of
cylindrical boilers, 'placed side by side, with a small space, intervening. The
furnace is situated between and partially underneath the boiler; and the flame
and heated air, after passing along the outside of and between the boilers; returns
back by a central flue in each boiler. The opposite end of this flue opens
laterally into an outside flue, which runs back the entire length of the boilers,
and conducts to the chimney. The internal flues in the boilers may run either
entirely or only partially through the boiler, being connected with the outside
flues by lateral passages. The boilers are connected at the lower parts by a
tube or tubes passing through the flue or otherwise, as most convenient,
for the purpose of maintaining the water level. The upper parts are also
connected, in order to keep up an equal pressure in each boiler.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Horsfall Robinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HORSFALL ROBINSON, of Hebden Bridge, in the West Riding of the County of
York, Cotton Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Horsfall Robinson, Her special license that I, the said John
Horsfall Robinson, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Horsfall Robinson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Horsfall Robinson, by an instrument in writing under hand and
seal, 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 the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Horsfall Robinson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates more especially to a peculiar arrangement of the
flues of steam boilers, whereby a very superior area of effective heating surface
is obtained within a given space, as compared with the ordinary arrangements
of boilers. In this new arrangement the boiler or steam generator is of the
duplex kind, being composed of a pair of cylindrical chambers, disposed side by
side, and parallel with each other at a short distance asunder. The furnace or
fire-place is situated between and partially beneath the two chambers, and the s
flame, gaseous currents, and heated air, after passing between and along the
outside of the boilers, returns by a central flue or series of tubes in each boiler;
the two ends of the internal flue or flues open laterally into an outside flue,

page_text: which runs back the entire length of the boilers and passes to the chimney.
When more than one flue or a number of tubes are employed, a combustion
chamber may be formed at each end of the boilers. The internal flues in the
boilers may run either entirely or only partially through, the boilers being
connected with the outside flues by lateral passages. The boilers are connected.
at their lower parts by a pipe or pipes, passing either through the flue or other-
wise, as may be most convenient, for the purpose of maintaining the same water
level in each boiler. The upper parts of the boilers are also connected by
steam pipes, in order to keep up an equal pressure in the two chambers or
sections. And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood 1
shall now preceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a front elevation of the furnace and of
my duplex boiler; Figure 2 is a corresponding transverse section of the same,
taken along the line A, B, in Figure 3; and Figure 3 is a sectional plan of the
boiler, taken along the line C, D, in Figure 2. A, A, are two cylindrical boilers
or chambers fitted into the brickwork B, and having each an internal cylin-
drical flue C, closed at its extremities. This flue opens at the back end of the
boiler into the central flue D, as formed by the brickwork seating by the
lateral openings or passages E, E, situated near the back end of the flues C, C.
These flues run longitudinally along the centre of the boiler, and communicate
by two other lateral openings or passages E, F, at their front ends, with the
two external flues G, G, as forined by the outside brickwork seating. The
flues G, G, run along the outside of the boiler, and they meet at the back of
the same before entering the passage H, which leads to the chimney. The
furnace I is made wider than usual, and extends laterally under both of the
boilers, being situated in the space left between them. J is the bridge, which
is built to correspond with the curves of the sides of the two boilers; a water
pipe K, situated at the back end of the, serves to maintain an equal
water level in each boiler; an equal steam pressure and working communi-
cation is kept up in both boilers by connecting them with one common steam
pipe L. The flame and heated air will pass directly from the furnace along
the central flue or space left between the two boilers, and having arrived at the
back end of the same, which is closed by the brickwork M, the current
diverges right and left into the lateral passages E, E, entering thereby the
central return flues C, C. Through these flues the current of flame and heated
air passes into the lateral passages E, F, which conducts the current to the
outside flues G, G, along which flues the current passes to the back end of the
boilers, whence they unite and enter the passage H, leading to the chimney.

page_text: The advantages obtained from this continuation and arrangement of boiler are
increased strength for a given thickness of plates. By reason of the small
diameter of each separate chamber a large surface is exposed to the direct
radiant heat of the furnace, by which direct heat the greatest portion of steam
is generated. The furnace may be made of considerable dimensions,.capable
of containing a large body of fire, which, besides requiring less constant atten-
tion than a small one, ensures more perfect combustion, since the draught need
be but weak, and therefore 'the current of heated air will more effectually
impart its heat to the boilers than when moving at an extreme velocity towards
the chimney. Another advantage I obtain by this arrangement of boilers
herein-before described is, that by reason of the perfect circulation in getting
up the steam the boiler is gradually heated in all its parts, and its expansion
will consequently be equal on all sides.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of' my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating froin the
principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement-and construction of steam boilers, as herein-
before described. .
Second, the application and use of the lateral openings and passages lettered
E, E, and E, F, in the Sheet of Drawings herein-before referred to, in com-
bination with a central flue or flues, or with a series of tubes opening into
combustion chambers.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JOHN HORSFALL ROBINSON.. (L.S.)