IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING STEAM FOR STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER PUR- POSES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
BROWNE WILKS, of Tandridge Hall, in the County of Surry, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of August, in the seventh year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Browne Wilks, His especial licence that I, the said Joseph Browne
Wilks, my executors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Browne Wilks, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING STEAM FOR STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER PUR-
POSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Joseph Browne Wilks, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Browne Wilks, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in placing a boiler in which steam is to be generated over and upon
brickwork or masonry in such manner that the said brickwork or masonry,
together with the bottom of the boiler, forms a coke oven, the heat of which,
during the process of making coke, causes steam to be produced in the boiler.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Joseph Browne
Wilks, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be
performed by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
I build the hearth or bottom and sides or searches of a coke oven in a very
substantial manner, in order to enable it to bear the weight of a boiler. The
materials I reconimend to be used in its construction are, fire-stone for the
body of the masonry, with bars of iron inserted so as to bind it firmly
together, and to be faced on that side in which the mouth of the oven is made
with plates of iron. The sides and bottom of the oven in which the coals are
to be coaked are to be lined with fire-brick. This lining having been carried
up as high as the searches of the oven are intended to be, a steam boiler is
to be put on in such manner as to form the top or roof of the oven, taking
care that the bottom of the said boiler has a bearing of about six inches all
round on the top of the lining; for it should be stated that the boiler should
rest only on the lining, in order that repairs may be done to the masonry
without displacing the boiler. A flue for the oven which has been thus made
is to be carried through the middle of the boiler in a nearly horizontal direction,
and afterwards divided into two branches, each of which is to be carried along
one side of the boiler, so that the two embrace the boiler. The flues
are then
to unite and pass directly into the chimney.. Dampers should be placed in
the flues, in order to regulate the draft. When a regular and continual
supply of steam is wanted, I erect as many coke ovens, with their respective
boilers, as may be necessary for that object, and so arrange the times of
charging and discharging them that a sufficient quantity of steam shall be at
all times furnished from scme one or more of the boilers. The form and size of
a steam boiler admit of much variety, depending in part on the materials of
which the steam boiler is made, and in part on the degree of tension or
elasticity intended to be given to the steam. It may, therefore, be found
convenient to form the top of the oven with the bottom of one large steam
boiler, or with two or more smaller ones, according to circumstances. On
this account it is impossible to lay down any precise directions for constructing
the oven in this respect, or the boiler. It will be, sufficient, therefore, to
observe that no peculiarity of construction is required for either that would

page_text: not be immediately suggested to an ordinary workman employed to fit up an
oven on my improved plan, according to the circumstances of the case.
Now, whereas I lay no claim to the exclusive use of coke ovens under steam
boilers for the purpose of generating steam therein during the process of
making coke, but as I claim as my Invention the application of a steam
boiler in the construction of a coke oven by making the bottom of the boiler
serve for the roof of the oven as before described, and the said Invention
being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before
used within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of His said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations
abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and
that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects,
fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent contained. Wherefore I hereby claim to
maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Browne Wilks, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.