A MEANS OF OBTAINING THE POWER OF STEAL FOR THE USE OF STEAM ENGINES WITH REDUCED EXPENDITURE OF FUEL
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHNSON, of Great Totham, in the County of Essex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing.
date at Westminster, the Eighth day of January, 1828, in the fourth year of
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Johnson, my exors,
adiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Johnson, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick upon Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "A MEANS OF OBTAINING THE POWER OF STEAL FOR THE
USE OF STEAM ENGINES WITH REDUCED EXPENDITURE OF FUEL;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said William Johnson,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in Ilis
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters

page_text: Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever hereby granted, shall
utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Johnson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
of a Means of Obtaining the Power of Steam for the Use of Steam Engines
with reduced Expenditure of Fuel, and the manner in which the same is to
be carried into effect and produced, is particularly described and set forth as
follows, that is to say:-
I make use of a boiler formed of the ordinary or usual materials of which
boilers are constructed, and which materials are to be joined together and
united by any of the methods now in use for constructing boilers. This
boiler is to be set over a furnace or fire-place in the usual way, and so far
constitutes no part of my Invention; but instead of employing the process
which has heretofore been adopted for supplying steam for the use of steam
engines, my Invention consists in the use of a compound or multiplied boiler
formed by placing a number of vessels, in which the fluid is to be boiled, onc
over the other, in such manner that supposing the lowest vessel to be open to
the air at the top, the bottom of the next vessel above it may form a close or
steam-tight cover to such lowest vessel, while in like manner the bottom of the
third vessel will form a close top or cover to the second, and so on for any
number of vessels that may be employed, except that the last or uppermost
vessel of the series must have a close dome or cover applied to it, and need
not be surmounted by any vessel to contain water or any other fluid. These
vessels must have no openings or connections whatever with each other, but are
each intended to contain the water or other fluid to be evaporated, and they
must consequently each have separate pipes for filling them, and for the con-
veyance of the steam to the steam engine, which latter pipes must also be
equipped with separate cocks, valves, or some of the other well-known con-
trivances for entirely stopping or regulating the discharge of the steam in any
required proportion. It is also necessary to furnish each distinct chamber or
boiler with a safety-valve, so constructed that its weights can be adjusted to
any required degree of pressure of steam, or else that the ordinary mercurial
steam gauges should be applied to them, or both may be used with advantage
to ascertain and shew the degree of compression in cach separate vessel, for
upon the duc regulation of this does the entire beneficial effect of my Invention
and apparatus depend. One fire only is to be applied to my compound boiler
above described, and this is to be situated in the usual manner under the
lowest boiler or vessel above named, while the others should be built in brick-

page_text: work, or surrounded by some bad conductor of heat, or the flue or chimney of
the fire-place may wind round the outside of the upper vessels, it being of
importance that the external radiation of heat from all the vessels should be
prevented as effectually as possible. The beneficial effect to be derived from my
Invention arises from the rapidity and facility with which the heat from the
fire will radiate upwards in the interior of the compound boiler, and will pass
through the several layers of water and air or steam, as well as through the
several bottoms or partitions which divide them from each other, and this I
find to take place to such an extent by means of the due government of the
steam, that the same quantity of fuel which would be necessary to heat a
common boiler or the lower vessel in my arrangement (if it was employed
alone) will at the same time serve by this radiation to heat one, two, three,
four, or more close vessels placed upon each other, as herein-before described.
As the coloric which would be wasted in an open boiler by the dissipation of
the steam, or which would radiate into the surrounding air in a close boiler, is
thus applied to a beneficial purpose, and by such application a much greater
quantity of water can be evaporated, and consequently of steam produced,
with a certain quantity of fuel, than by any other process and form of boiler
before in use, since it will be evident that each individual chamber or vessel
in my compound boiler is in itself a distinct boiler, and will produce effective
steam in quantity, and of a force proportionate to the heat which it receives
from the vessel immediately underneath it, and which in the ordinary con-
struction of boilers is wasted or thrown away. This additional quantity of
steam which I produce is, I must premise, in consequence of the due regula-
tion and management of the steam produced in the several vessels, and which
therefore constitutes the cheif part of my present Invention, which has partly
arisen from experiments which I have made with an apparatus not designed for
the saving of fuel or to supply steam for the steam engine, but described in the
Specification of an Invention intended for supplying the steam engine with
steam and to save fuel, for which His late Majesty George the Third was
graciously pleased to grant me his Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at
Westminster the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1809, and in
pursuance of which I caused a Specification of my said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, to be inrolled in the High Court of
Chancery on or about the Fourteenth day of November then next following, as
by reference thereto, will more fully and at large appear. In that said Speci-
fication I described and mentioned that a double boiler, or one boiler with a
false bottom, fixed in the same, so as to enable it to contain two distinct quan-
tities of fluid, might be used for the production of steam; but my view in

page_text: giving that description was confined to the protection of the upper boiler from
the immediate action of the fire by the introduction of oil or any other fluid
between them, so as to produce the effects of what chemists call a balneum or
bath of oil or water, and by which it is well known the power or action of the
fire can be regulated to great nicety in all delicate chemical operations of
boiling or evaporation, and to the evaporation of two fluids at the same time,
when the lower one required a higher degree of heat than was necessary for
the upper one. But not being aware at the time of making that Specification
that any beneficial effects in the production of steam by a less quantity
of fuel or from the employment of the power of that steam for a distinct
purpose was to be expected would result from such an arrangement of a com-
pound or multiplied boiler, or one consisting of vessels placed above each other,
as herein-before described; I neither noticed such an effect, nor could I give any
directions for the due management of the steam to produce it. What I there-
fore now claim the sole and exclusive benefit and advantage of, under my present
and partly herein-before recited Patent of the Eighth day of January 1823,
is the use of a compound or multiplied boiler, consisting of at least two, but
more beneficially of three or more vessels placed one above the other, as
herein-before described, to be used or worked for the production of steam for
steam engines, with a diminished quantity of fuel obtained by an observance
of the rules herein-after laid down, by which a new and useful combination and
result will be obtained to the manufacturer; for even admitting the double form
of boiler of which I am the inventor to have been given to the public by my
former Specification before mentioned, still it was given for a purpose com-
pletely distinct and different from that for which I now use it, and therefore
although it is not so efficient as the treble or more multiplied form of boiler,
still I claim to use it for the aforesaid new means of operating with it for a new
purpose and effect under my present Patent. The description herein-before
given will, I believe, bo suflicient to enable any competent workman to con-
struct my new boiler and apparatus; but to render not only its construction
but the mode of working or using it more clear, I have annexed three repre-
sentations of distinct modes of applying it for working a steam engine, and in
the whole of these the same letters of reference are used to denote the same
parts, A being the first or lowest boiler to which the fire is immediately applied;
B, the second boiler next above A; C, the third; and D the fourth, which, it
will be observed, is made close by a clome or cover; the intermediate vessels,
and which, as before observed, may be more or less in number than shewn in
the Figure, according to the heat that is intended to be applied under the
lowest boiler, or preserved within it, are formed of metal cylinders with flanges,

page_text: having flat or curved plates between them, which serve at once for the top of
one vessel and the bottom of that next above it, the joints round the flanges
being made steam-tight by bolts and nuts with packing, or by any other means
in use.
The dotted lines drawn across the several boilers are to shew
the height near which the water within them should stand. 7, I, I, I, are
tubes placed as near as possible to the top of each separate vessel, and upon
some part of which are to be fixed the loaded safety valves or mercurial steam
gauges before mentioned, and another set of pipes must also be affixed upon
some convenient part of each vessel, for the purpose of feeding them with a
fresh supply of water by any of the usual modes, as that which they previously
contained boils away. h, h, h, h, are the steam pipes for conveying the steam
to the steam engine or place where it is to act. One of these steam pipes
must proceed from the uppermost part of each of the said vessels or boilers,
and cach steam pipe must have a cock or valve capable of very nice opening
and adjustment in some part of it, as at i, i, i, i, by which the passago
of the steam is to be regulated, and upon which, as I before observed, the
whole beneficial action of my Invention depends. To use the apparatus, chargo
all the separate vessels or boilers with their necessary quantity of fluid, or fill
them from half to two-thirds full, shut all the steam cocks i, i, i, i, and apply
fire under the lowest vessel A; the air contained above the water in it will, by
its expansion, soon escape at the safety valve, and this will be followed by
steam as soon as the water boils under the pressure of its safety valve, which
must be regulated to about sixteen or eighteen pounds pressure on the square
inch, but may be less or more at pleasure, according to the strength of the
apparatus, or the power of steam required. It will be evident, then, that
steam equal to the pressure of about eighteen pounds to the inch will be gene-
rated in the lower boiler with the same quantity of fuel that would be necessary
for its production by the common or ordinary process with a single close boiler,
and from which single boiler no other or greater advantage could be procured.
But by placing the boiler B above the lowest one, and so regulating the steam
as aforesaid and hereafter described, I save all the heat that would otherwise
be wasted in radiation from A, and find that I can boil the water in B, and
produce steam in it equal to about eleven pounds pressure on the square inch,
without the use of any additional fuel; consequently all the steam that is
produced in B, and which of itself (if the apparatus is large enough) will be
capable of working a separate steam engine, is so much positive saving in fuel
by my Invention. And as the surplus heat of A is sufficient to boil water in
B, so is the surplus heat of B, when it contains steam, equal to about eleven
pounds on the square inch, capable of boiling water in C, and of producing.

page_text: steam equal in clastic force to about seven pounds on the square inch, and by
the same rule C will communicate heat to D sufficient to produce steam of
about three or four pounds force, and so on for a greater number of vessels,
which number must, however, depend upon the heat communicated in the
first instance to the lower vessel A, and the force of steam maintained in
it, as well as in the intermediate vessels B, C, &c., all which can be very well
regulated by the steam cocks i, i, i, i, which must be opened respectively in a
due degree, to permit the steam to escape to the steam engine to perform its
work, but in no case to such an extent as to permit the lower vessels to be
reduced in temperature so as to loose their due elasticity of steam, which may
be accurately preserved by observance of the mercurial steam gauges fixed
upon the pipes 9, 9, 9, 9. In the same way it will be found, if high pressure
steam is preferred, that while the lower vessel.A is worked to about seventy
pounds upon the square inch, the second vessel B will produce steam of about
sixty pounds pressure, the next C of about fifty-two pounds, and the upper
one D of about forty-five pounds on the square inch: consequently a greater
number of vessels may be employed, if thought necessary." It must be
observed, that if the higher pressure of steam produced in the lower vessels A
and B had immediate access to the upper vessels C and D, it would, by its
pressure upon the water contained in them, prevent it boiling at all, and con-
sequently they would produce no steam. To obviate this, I find it necessary
either to convey the steam pipe from each separate vessel to the separate
working cylinder of so many distinct engines, which may thus be worked by
one of niy compound boilers, as shewn at k, k, k, k, Fig. 3, or else to use an
equalizing vessel, as shewn at E in Fig. 1, and at G in Fig. 2.
The equal-
izing vessel G, in Fig. 2, is meant to represent a section of a common waggon
boiler, of an ordinary low pressure or condensing engine; this boiler must be
sufficient capacity to allow the steam to expand to the temperature required,
and must contain a quantity of water through which the steam from the several
steam pipes h, h., h, h, is made to pass, by which that water is made to boil,
and its steam mixing with that which issues from the steam pipes may also be
applied to work a steam engine by passing off through the pipe k. The
arrangement which I most prefer is, however, shewn at Fig. 1, and in which
all the separate steam pipes h, h, h, h, deliver their steam into the equalizing
vessel E, which must be of such magnitude and kept at such a temperature
with respect to the lower vessel A as to permit the more powerful steam to
expand and equalize itself with that of less power proceeding from the upper
vessel; and the more beneficially to produce this end, the vessel E may be
connected by a side flue (having a damper) with the fire, so that its heat may

page_text: be increased, or it may have a jet of cold water playing into or upon it for the
purpose of occasionally cooling it. By the intervention of such a vessel, steam
of any required pressure may be prepared, according to the heat employed in
the primitive or lower vessel of the multiplied boiler; I therefore consider
such vessel as part of my said Invention, which includes the construction and
use of a compound boiler and an equalifying vessel, as aforesaid, worked and
regulated as to the strength of steam in the different vessels according to the
manner herein-before described, that is to say, by a maintenance of the
strongest power of steam in the lowest vessel or boiler, such pressure dimi-
nishing gradually in the several vessels as they proceed upwards from the fire,
which regulation is to be brought about and maintained by the due opening of
the steam cocks, such opening to be ascertained by inspection of the mercurial
guages or loaded safety valves, or such other contrivances as may be used
for determining the strength of the steam in the respective boilers. But I
disclaim all exclusive right or title to the use of such steam vessels, cocks,
valves, safety valves, mercurial guages, steam pipes, feed pipes, or pumps,
furnaces, or other matters and things as have been heretofore invented or in
use, save only so far as the same are connected with the necessary construction,
performance, and use of my said herein-before described compound or multi-
plied boiler and equalizing vessel, and the methods of using them, as afore-
said.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Johnson, have hereunto set
bond and coal this brighth day of Tule in the woon of our Lond
W (L.s.) JOHNSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1823, the aforesaid William Johnson came before our
said Lord the King in His Chaucery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamp't according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-three.