IMPROVEMENTS IN FUEL ECONOMISERS
Year: 1885

page_text: "
I ANDREW BELL of No. 298 Lower Broughton Road, Manchester in the County
of Lancaster Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN FUEL ECONOMISERS" to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the apparatus termed fuel economisers employed in the⚫
heating of feed water for steam generators and particularly to the class of apparatus
having ranges of vertical pipes through which the feed water passes on its way to
the steam generators. In ordinary practice the said pipes have been arranged in
regular order in rows the pipes in one row being in square line with the corre-
sponding pipes in other rows. I make the pipes smaller and thinner than the
ordinary standard dimensions as for example three inches in bore and I arrange
them a little further apart and I arrange the pipes in any one row to be opposite
to the spaces between the pipes in the immediately adjacent rows.
The spaces
between the pipes are wider than the outer diameter of each pipe so that there are
clear spaces for the direct flow of the heated gases from end to end of the range.
This arrangement enables me to obtain the advantages arising from a direct
impingement of the heated gases upon the pipes without the obstruction to the
flow which has been caused when attempts have been made to obtain a similar
result without providing these clear spaces. I form each pipe with a turned faucet
at each end and I couple up with the connections by means of bolts which pass
into slots or holes in clip rings which are formed in halves which are connected by
means of bolts screws or rivets. In some cases I connect the pipes so that the
water circulates up and down throughout all the pipes in the range the whole of the
water flowing through each and every pipe. In such cases I connect the pipe ends
by means of horse-shoe bends each of which crosses diagonally from a pipe in one
row to a pipe in an adjoining row so that the said bends do not so directly oppose
the flow of gases as when they extend at right angles to the flow of the gases. In
other cases I couple the pipes in clusters or I pass the current in the ordinary
manner through all the pipes simultaneously. I carry the scrapers by means of bars
which have slotted bends or elbows which extend right and left into the spaces
between the pipes. Studs on the half scrapers project through the slots into
grooves or recesses in taper weights which press the scrapers against the pipes
Price Q11

page_text: and also prevent the scrapers from revolving upon the pipes. A scraper can be
removed by lifting out the weight and turning the scraper until its stud clears
the slot in the bearer. The engagement of each scraper with the said slot insures
the traversing of the scraper. This arrangement may be varied or departed from
as found to be most desirable in practice. The arrangements for connecting
together the pipes facilitate the removal of any pipe in the series and the
replacement with a new one when desirable.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fuel Economisers.
I ANDREW BELL of 298 Lower Broughton Road Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FUEL ECONOMISERS," and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawings:
1-
My Invention relates to the apparatus termed fuel economisers employed in the
heating of feed water for steam generators and particularly to the class of apparatus
having ranges of vertical pipes through which the feed water passes on its way to
the steam generators.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I will now
proceed more particularly to describo the samo reference being had to the annexed
sheet of drawings.
Fig. 1 of the said drawings is an end view of my improved economiser Fig. 2 is
a side view and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan. The economiser is composed as usual
of an arrangement of pipes a. a¹. Referring to Fig. 1 it will be understood from
a comparison with Fig. 3 that the pipes marked a. stand in advance of the pipes
marked a¹ and it will also be understood that the spaces x. which are seen to exist
between the pipes a. and a' extend uninterruptedly from front to back of the
economiser so as to permit of an unbroken draught through the said spaces. The
pipes a. a¹ are arranged in alternating rows the pipes a¹ coming opposite to the
spaces between the pipes a. as shown by the plan view Fig. 3 and these pipes are
connected at the top and bottom by horse shoe bends b. which cross diagonally
from one pipe to another so that the feed water entering at c. descends the pipe a.
flows through the bottom diagonal horse shoe connection b, ascends the pipe a¹ and
is transmitted to the next pipe a. through the top bend b. and so on until it has
circulated through the whole of the first double row of pipes, after which it crosses
"

page_text: by the branch d. to the next double row of pipes until it has circulated through
the entire economiser from which it is led to the boiler by the branch h. In order
to leave the uninterrupted draught spaces x. between the rows of pipes the
pipes a. a¹ are made of less diameter than usual or are spaced further apart so that
there will be as many uninterrupted currents of hot gases passing directly through
the economiser as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3 as there are spaces x. whereby
the free draught which it is necessary to maintain through the flues' from the
furnace is not materially interfered with, while at the same time I obtain the
advantages arising from a direct impingement of the heated gases and products of
combustion upon the pipes. The pipes a. a¹³ are connected by turned and bored
spigot and faucet joints e. e¹ to their respective bends b. At the bottom the
joint e. is rendered secure by the weight of the pipes and at the top the spigots
and faucets e¹ are held together by bolts which extend from clip collars f. which
are applied to the necks of the pipes in halves, held together by bolts or rivets,
the said clips resting on the top plate g. as shown. The pipes are supported
beneath by the frame and bars i. seen more clearly in the plan view Fig. 3 the
whole apparatus being sustained by the pillars k. The truncated standards j. are part
of the frame which carries the gear for driving the scrapers m. the said gear not
being shown as it forms no part of my present invention. The scrapers m. are
supported in plates none of which is shown in plan at Fig. 4 of the drawings.
The recesses o. in the plate n are intended to receive the pipes a. a. Each
recess o. has three slots p. cut in its margin as shown the bottom of the slot p.
inclining inward toward the centre of the recess o. as shown by Fig. 5 which
shows a part of the plate n. in section with a scraper m. in position. The scraper
is formed with an inclined snug r. which drops into the slot p. the inclined face
of the snug resting upon the inclined bottom of the slot so that when in position
the scraper m tends to slip downward and forward against the pipe with which its
own weight causes it to remain in close contact. The upper and lower inclined
segmental parts m¹ of the scraper are thickened and brought to a cutting edge
which removes the soot from the pipes as the plates n with the scrapers aro
traversed up and down by the endless chains 8. which pass over chain pullies 1.
which are actuated by the ordinary driving gear. It will be understood that each
recess o. in the plate n is fitted with three of the scrapers m. one scraper being held
by each of the slots p. which are suitably pitched, the segmental curved portions m¹
thus completing the circuit of the pipe and operating upon all parts of the
circumference. A convenient method of applying and removing the scrapers is
to hinge a catch u. on the scraper which tends by its own weight to assume tho
position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 so as to prevent the scraper from being lifted out
of the slot in the plate. By turning the catch u. into the position shown in
dotted lines at Fig. 6 a space is left between the side of the catch and the bottom
of the snug 7. equivalent to about the thickness of the plate n so that the scraper
can be entered between the pipe and the plate and slid round until the suug r.
comes opposite to one of the slots p. into which it drops allowing the catch u to
assume the position shown in full lines thereby preventing the escape of the snug 7.
from the slot. By turning the catch the scraper can in a similar manner be
removed.
Fig. 7 is an end view of a modified form of economiser the relative positions of
the pipes a. a¹ being precisely the same as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 that is to say the
pipes are arranged in alternate rows, the pipes al coming opposite the spaces
between the pipes a as already described. The previously described economiser is
intended to heat a comparatively rapid flow of feed water, but the present example
is intended for a slower flow. The pipes a. a¹ are connected top and bottom to
branches v. v' the lower branches being fed from a common supply pipe w. The
water rises simultaneously in all of the pipes a a¹ aud enters the top branch v
from which it passes to the boiler through the branch h. The hereinbefore
described scrapers are used in conjunction with this form of economiser the soot
being collected in the chamber . from which it is removed from time to time.

page_text: The hereinbefore described arrangements of economiser and the methods of
connecting the members, facilitate the removal and replacement of any pipe in
the series when desirable.
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
-I claim is:
1. The herein before described construction of economiser in which the vertical
heating pipes are so arranged as to leave uninterrupted spaces between the
alternate rows of pipes the said spaces extending from front to back of the
economiser so as to secure an unbroken draught for the hot gases and products
of combustion passing through the economiser to the chimney, substantially as
hereinbefore described and shown.
2. The construction of scraper described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the
drawings and the means for permitting a ready application to and removal from
the scraper plate substantially as described and shown.
DUTTON & FULTON,
Agents.