IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, OR CONTAINING VOLATILE SUB- STANCES. FLUIDS. OR LIQUIDS."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Craig, of Belfast; in the County of Antrim, in
Ireland, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR
GENERATING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, OR CONTAINING VOLATILE SUB-
STANCES. FLUIDS. OR LIQUIDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Craig at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd November 1878.
" IM-
JAMES CRAIG, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Ironmonger.
PROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, OR CON-
TAINING VOLATILE SUBSTANCES, FLUIDS, OR LIQUIDS."
My Invention has for its object to prevent or reduce to a minimum the waste of
heat, power, strength, quality, quantity, and the like, or some or one of them, in the
evaporation, decanting, or storing of fluids, liquids, and volatile substances; and its
principal applications are to be made to kettles and other vessels employed for
domestic purposes, such as for boiling water & steaming, fumigating, or heating
rooms, and to cans and other vessels for containing paraffin and other mineral oils.
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of a funnel composed
of a pipe or tube reaching to near the bottom of the vessel, and having a broad
lip or flange slightly depressed towards its junction with the pipe or tube, and fitted
or fixed into the mouth or orifice of the vessel to which it is applied.
In order to provide a better means for drawing off or discharging the vapour or
ether when required by the purposes for which the vessel is to be employed, or for
preventing the overflow of the expanded fluid or liquid, I introduce a stroup or
spout issuing from the top or other convenient part of the vessel above the surface
of the fluid or liquid in substitution for or addition to any other stroup or spout it
'may be furnished with, and I may provide the same with a valve or plug to control
the passage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Craig in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd May
1879.
JAMES CRAIG, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Ironmonger.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR GENERATING STEAM AND OTHER VAPOURS, OR CON-
TAINING VOLATILE SUBSTANCES, FLUIDS, AND LIQUIDS."
The said Invention has for its object to prevent or reduce to a minimum the waste
of heat, power, strength, quality, quantity, and the like properties, or some or one
of them, arising from or occurring through, in, or by the evaporation of fluids and
liquids, or substances of a volatile character, and the principal applications of the
same are to be made to. kettles and other vessels employed for domestic purposes,
such as for the boiling of water and the steaming, fumigating, or heating of rooms,
offices, and apartments of various descriptions, or for medical purposes, such as for
the treatment of bronchitis or croup by inhalation, and also to cans and other vessels
for containing paraffin and other mineral oils.
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of a funnel composed
of a pipe or tube with the lower orifice thereof reaching to near the bottom of the
vessel, and having at the upper extremity. a broad lip or flange which is slightly
depressed towards its junction with the pipe or tube, and is so formed at the peri-
phery as to fill or fit closely into the mouth or orifice of the vessel to which I desire
to apply it. But I also employ a funnel resembling a tundish, wine-filler, or tunnel,
in which the pipe or tube at its upper orifice is expanded into the form of an inverted
frustrum, and is furnished with a vertical flange or boxing which receives a closely
fitted lid of the ordinary shape and construction.
By this means a comparatively small body of liquid or other volatile substance is
exposed to the action of the atmosphere when the lid is removed from the vessel
containing it, and the evaporation through the mouth or orifice thereof is reduced to
a minimum or substantially prevented.
The funnel which I have described may be fastened permanently in the mouth or
orifice of the vessel to which it is applied, or it may be constructed as a separate
part or fitting for occasional use, and be removable. I may also furnish the lip or
flange of the funnel first described with a rim, and may supply either of the funnels
I have described with an elastic or other packing to make the joint impenetrable,
and a grating or perforated cover or a plug may be inserted in or placed at the top
of the pipe or tube portion of the funnel to prevent the passage of foreign substances
into the vessel, and the choking of the pipe or tube thereby.
Upon the bottom of the kettle or other vessel I may fix internally a hoop or ring
rising above the lower orifice of the pipe or tube, and forming a well into which the
pipe or tube dips, and by means whereof ashes or other foreign substances that may
fall into the funnel are prevented from spreading over the bottom of the vessel. I
may also fix internally across the vessel and between the funnel and stroup or spout
a vertical partition rising from the bottom to the level of about the middle of the
orifice from which the stroup or spout proceeds, and preserving a vacant portion or
waste reservoir to receive any overflow when the water or other contained liquid
boils up; or a tube or pipe fixed upon the bottom in a corresponding position may
be substituted for such partition.
In order to provide a better means for withdrawing the vapour or ether when
required for steaming, fumigating, or heating purposes, and to prevent the boiling
over of liquid, I introduce a stroup or spout into the top of the kettle or vessel con-
taining the liquid or other volatile substance, or I may introduce such stroup or
spout at any other part of such kettle or vessel above the surface of the contained
substance or liquid in substitution for or in addition to the usual or any other stroup
or spout proceeding from its end or side below the surface of the contained sub-
stance or liquid; and I may furnish the stroup or spout which I so introduce with
a valve or plug to control the escape of the liquid, vapour, or ether.

page_text: For the treatment of bronchitis, or croup, or any other similar malady for which
inhalation is desired, I provide a long stroup or spout proceeding from the top or
other part of the kettle or other vessel as aforesaid, and to the outer extremity of
which I attach a transverse cylindrical chamber having a longitudinal slot opposite
the bore of the stroup or spout, and open at one end to receive a perforated cylin-
drical box wherein medicinal or other ingredients or substances employed in such
treatment may be placed for use; or the transverse cylindrical chamber may be
attached to a short tube fitting over the end of the stroup or spout, and applied like
the rose of a watering pot.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it to be understood that I do not claim the
use of kettles and other vessels, nor of funnels, tubes, pipes, lips, flanges, stroups,
spouts, gratings, covers, plugs, and valves, except when the same are constructed
specially, and applied or employed as herein described; nor do I claim the use of
any of the separate mechanical parts which form the kettle or vessel used by me,
but I claim,-
First. The use in kettles and other vessels of a funnel constructed and employed
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Secondly. The use in kettles and other vessels employed in the treatment by
inhalation for medical purposes of a transverse slotted chamber and enclosed per-
forated box, constructed and applied substantially as hereinbefore described.
Thirdly. The prevention or reduction of waste by the use of a funnel and stroup
or spout, constructed and employed or applied substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Fourthly. The steaming or fumigating of rooms, offices, and other apartments,
and the treatment by inhalation for medical purposes by means of kettles or other
vessels, constructed or arranged substantially as herein before described.
And, Fifthly. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the kettle
or vessel hereinbefore described, constructed and applied substantially in the manner
and for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Craig, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.
JAMES CRAIG. (L.S.)