IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOKE-CONSUMERS
Year: 1888

page_text: 1, GEORGE FORREST TINKHAM, of Cedar Rapids, in the County of Linn, in the
State of Iowa, one of the United States of America, engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOKE-CONSUMERS, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to that class of smoke-consumers in which steam from a
boiler is introduced into the combustion chamber of the furnace; and my object is to
so improve the construction of the steam nozzle as to secure a more perfect distribution
and superheating of the steam; to facilitate the attachment and adjustment of the
nozzle, and to improve its appearance.
In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1
represents a steam boiler with the consumer attached, a portion of the brick work
of the furnace being removed to show a central, vertical section of the combustion
chamber and boiler front; Fig. 2, a front elevation of the same: Fig. 3, a central,
longitudinal section of the nozzle; Fig. 4, a transverse section of the same in the
line ab of Fig. 3, looking toward the inner end, which is at the right in Fig. 3;
Fig. 5, an elevation of the same as seen from the inner end, and Fig. 6, a plan view
of the plug at the inner end of the nozzle.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
In the application of my invention to a steam boiler, substantially the same
arrangement is made use of as in the case of a former invention, for which letters
patent of the United States were granted to me and A. M. Phelps and George B. Peck,
on the eighteenth day of October, 1887, and are numbered 371,804. The
improvements herein relate more particularly to the nozzle.
Referring to the drawings. A is the boiler, having the usual steam dome A¹; B is
the combustion chamber of the furnace ; C is the furnace front; D, the door; E, a
pipe leading from the steam-dome to the nozzle F, and through the smoke-stack G.
The door D is provided with a number of holes i i, for the admission of air to the
combustion chamber.

page_text: The lower end of the pipe E connects with a casting F, having an air-chamber a
therein, and a hollow elbow a', to the inner end of which is connected. a pipe b. The
air-chamber communicates with an air-tube g surrounding the pipe b. Air is admitted
to this chamber through openings j, formed by hollowing out the inner sides of the
casting F. This chamber being close to the furnace front, and the air passing into it
in a circuitous course and next to the furnace front, is so far heated before it reaches
the combustion chamber as to greatly facilitate combustion. On the inner end of the
pipe is screwed the nozzle. This consists of the part c, similar to the pipe coupling
known as a
reducer," and the hollow plug e, screwed into the larger end of the
coupling. Through the centre of this plug is a hole e. An improvement in the
formation of this hole consists in making it with different sizes of bore, as shown in
Fig. 3. The effect of this is to cause superheating and expansion of the steam
in its exit from the nozzle, the heat of the combustion chamber, into which the
nozzle projects, operating to this end, as the steam in its passage through the nozzle
reaches the successively enlarged portions of said hole.
In addition to the central hole el, provision is made for the escape of steam around
the plug e.
The improvement herein consists in providing the plug with holes ell
leading from the interior to the exterior thereof, and with grooves elle leading
from the outer termini of these holes, in diverging angles to the end of the larger
portion of the plug. The effect of this construction is to project the steam from the
nozzle in oppositely spiral courses. It is evident that these diverging jets of steam are
so projected as to intersect each other at some distance from the end of the nozzle,
and this tends to break up the jets and spread the steam widely over the fuel, insuring
a more perfect distribution of the steam than where the jets are projected in one
general direction. As the combustion of the unconsumed atoms of carbon usually
escaping in the smoke depends in this case upon the action of the constituent gases in
the steam, the importance of a wide and even distribution of the same over the surface
of the burning fuel will be readily understood.
As in my former invention referred to, I surround the steam pipe of the nozzle with
a bell-mouthed tube g, passing through the boiler front C, and extending into the
combustion chamber to near the end of the nozzle. Air is thus admitted immediately
around the steam, and its oxygen aids in the combustion of both the carbon of
the fuel and the hydrogen of the steam. This tube is secured in a bridge a" of the
casting a by a set-screw, and may be adjusted endwise somewhat, according to the
thickness of the boiler front. Its forward or inner end is held central with respect
to the steam pipe by means of a spider d, the outer points of which bear against the
inner face of the flaring mouth, the spider being held in position by the shoulder of
the coupling c.
The casting a is preferably made oval in form, as shown and to the outer side may
be attached a suitable name-plate h.
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
· 1 claim is :
1. In a smoke-consumer, the herein described nozzle, consisting of the hollow
plug e, having a central hole therein, radial holes e extending through the shell of
the plug, and grooves on the exterior of said plug, leading from said holes to the
forward end of the plug in diverging angles, and a chambered coupling c, adapted
to connect with a suitable steam pipe b, substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
2. In a smoke consumer, the combination of the steam-pipe b, coupling e, and
hollow plug e, having central hole e³, with successive enlargements therein, radial
holes e¹, and outer grooves el ell, leading from said radial holes in diverging angles,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
3. In a smoke consumer, the combination of the steam-pipe b, having a nozzle
substantially as described, and enclosing tube having a flaring mouth, surrounding
said pipe and adapted to admit air around it and its nozzle, and a spider, through the

page_text: center of which the said steam-pipe passes, its legs bearing in the flaring mouth of
said tube, and said nozzle bearing against the face of said spider toward the mouth of
said tube, whereby said steam-pipe and nozzle are centralized with respect to said tube
by the longitudinal adjustment thereof.
4. In a smoke consumer, the combination with a steam-pipe and its nozzle,
substantially as specified, of the casting F, having the air-chamber a, with its inlet
contiguous to the furnace front when in normal position, the elbow a', forming a part
of the steam-pipe connection, and the air-tube 7 communicating with said air-
chamber, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
5. In a smoke consumer, the combination with a steam-pipe and its nozzle,
substantially as specified, of the casting F, having the air-chamber a, with its inlet j,
the bridge a", set-screw f, and tube g, all substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.