IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR HEATING BY STEAM."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Truswell, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR
HEATING BY STEAM."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Truswell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th September 1881.
WILLIAM TRUSWELL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR HEATING BY STEAM."
My Invention relates to improvements in appliances for heating or warming
buildings by means of steam at a low pressure, the objects being economy in the
first outlay, simplicity and certainty of action, selfacting water supply, and freedom
from danger; and it consists chiefly in the peculiar arrangement of the boiler and
steam chest in combination with the water supply cistern.
In carrying out my Invention a boiler of any suitable shape or construction,
with or without tubes and provided with a fire place, may be used for the purpose
of generating steam.
A water supply pipe provided with a back pressure valve is connected with the
boiler and also with a supply cistern, by preference closed at the top, and com-
municating with a feed cistern near the bottom, the supply of water to which may
be controlled by a ball tap.
A chamber or steam chest directly connected by means of a short pipe with the
boiler is fixed so as to be above the level of the water supply, and one or more
circulating steam pipes are connected with and draw their supply of steam from
the said chamber or steain chest and return it to the supply cistern.
The supply cistern is fixed at such a height that the pressure of water will raise
the back pressure valve and keep the boiler always sufficiently charged with
water.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The pressure of the weight of water
from the supply cistern raises the back pressure valve in the connecting pipe and
fills the boiler to a height corresponding with the supply, and on steam being
generated it ascends and passes first into the steam chest, and from thence into the
beating pipes which it traverses and warms, and is then returned to the supply
cistern where it is condensed and is again passed as required into the boiler. An
escape pipe may be taken from the upper part of the supply cistern.
In action it is found that the water level in the boiler is kept by the slight
pressure of the steam a little below the level of that in the supply cistern.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Truswell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
March 1882.
WILLIAM TRUSWELL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR HEATING BY STEAM."
My Invention relates to improvements in appliances for heating or warming
public and other buildings and for other similar purposes by means of steam
which is used at a low pressure, and it consists chiefly in the peculiar arrangement
and combination of the various appliances of my improved apparatus, the objects
attained being simplicity of construction, certainty of action, a selfacting water
supply to the boiler, and freedom from danger.
In carrying out my Invention I provide a boiler having a suitable firing place,
feed door, and smoke flue; the boiler may be made of any suitable shape or
material, and with or without cross tubes, according to the capacity of the boiler,
but I prefer to make it round and of the vertical type, as shown in the Drawings
annexed, and to which I will now refer in order that the arrangement and working
of my improved apparatus may be clearly understood.
Figure 1, shown partly in section, represents an elevation of an apparatus
constructed according to my Invention.
Figure 2 represents a plan of the same apparatus.
:
A is a vertical boiler provided with a fire box or combustion chamber B sur-
rounded by an annular water space C; D is the steam space; E, the smoke fluo ;
F, the fire door; G, the ashpit door; H, the feed door. A sufficient quantity of
water being supplied to the boiler, the level of the water in the supply cistern L
will be equal to that in the boiler, and on steam being generated it passes along
the circulating pipes I through the various rooms which require heating, and
returns through the pipe J and the supply pipe K to the closed supply cistern L,
where it is condensed. The cistern L is placed at such a height that the level of the
supply water in it is the same as the water level in the boiler, to which it is con-
nected by a pipe M which is provided with a back pressure valve N. When by
reason of the evaporation in the boiler the water level is lowered, and that in the
supply cistern is raised by the accumulation of condensed steam, the increased
weight of water in the supply cistern acts upon and opens the back pressure
valve N, and admits sufficient water to the boiler to equalize the levels.
A small pipe O may be connected to the return pipe J to catch the condensed
steam and carry it into the pipe M.
To regulate the fire and prevent an undue accumulation of steam, I construct a
selfacting regulating attachment to the dainper as follows:-I fix on the top of the
cistern Lan open top water vessel P; a small pipe Q connects the one with the
other and rises above the water level in P; over this pipe is placed a loose reversed
vessel R, its lower edge or rim being deeply submerged in the water of the
vessel P. To the top of the reversed vessel I attach a chain S which is carried
over a pulley or pulleys T and connected to the damper U. When there is an
undue pressure of steam it finds its way from the supply cistern through the
pipe Q, and overcoming the weight of the reversed vessel R raises it up and lowers
the damper and thus reduces the fire; but as soon as the pressure of steam has
gone down the action of the vessel R is reversed and the damper opened.
Having now described and fully ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which it is or may be carried into effect, I would observe in
conclusion that I do not bind myself to the exact details as herein described
and illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from my Invention,

page_text: but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The construction and arrangement of apparatus for heating or warming
buildings and for similar purposes, consisting of a boiler, a supply cistern, a back'
pressure valve, and suitable pipes, forming a combination of parts, substantially as
described and illustrated.
Second. In combination with the above described apparatus, the use of a self-
acting damper attachment, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Truswell, have hereunto sot my hand
and seal, this Twenty fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
WILLIAM IRUSWELL (L.S.)