CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR FOR RAISING AND CIRCULATING HOT WATER, HOT OIL, AND OTHER HOT FLUIDS FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
FOWLER, of Great Torrington, in the County of Devon, Stationer, 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 October, in the ninth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Fowler, His especial licence that I, tho said Thomas Fowler, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Fowler, my executors, administrators, 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 within all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR FOR RAISING AND CIRCULATING HOT WATER, HOT
OIL, AND OTHER HOT FLUIDS FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Thomas Fowler,
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 two 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
Thomas Fowler, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in causing water, oil, or other fluids to circulate, through the medium of a
bent tube, by raising the temperature of the fluid at one end of the tube, so
that it is always warmer than that at the other end; and in such an arrange-
ment of apparatus for that purposo as renders the Invention applicable to
domestic and other purposes. And in further compliance with the said pro-
viso, I, the said Thomas Fowler, do hereby describe the manner in which
my said Invention is to be performed by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is an apparatus merely shewing the principle of my said Invention,
but not applied to any particular purpose. A, B, are two open vessels. A is
placed over a fire-place, and B, situated at any moderate distance from it,
united to the connecting tube D, which connecting tube may have a stop-cock
E in any part of it. The vessels A, B, are placed on a level with each other
and partly filled, as here shewn, with any fluid that will not corrode the
materials employed. In the present case I will suppose water to be the fluid
used. I, J, is a tube bent into the form of a semicircle and suspended, so
that its ends may be immersed about half way in the water in the two vessels.
This tube, which I call a thermosiphon, is furnished with the stop-cocks
F and F, near the ends, and the filling cock G, on its highest part. The
end of the thermosiphon, which is in the vessel A, is bent with its orifice
upwards, which should still be several inches below the surface of the fluid.
This is done to prevent the air bubbles that arise from the bottom of A, when
heat is applied, from going into the thermosiphon and lodging in its upper
part. In order to prepare the apparatus for action (water being put already
in the two vessels A and B), stop the cocks F, F, open G, and with the funnel
fill the thermosiphon with water until it overflows; stop G, and open F and F,
the air below F and F will immediately rush upwards, and be replaced by
water; stop F and F, open G, and pour in more water, until the thermo-
siphon be again quite full; stop G, and open F and F, E being always open,
and the whole will now be fit for action. Should any doubt, however, remain
that the air is not all excluded, the process of stopping F and F, unstopping
G, and filling, must be again and again repeated. When the thermosiphon
1, J, is full of water, stop G, open F and F, and also the cock E, in the
connecting tube D. Apply the fire to A, and the water will almost im-

page_text: mediately begin to circulate from A through F, I, G, J, F, to B, and return
by the connecting tube D to A for a fresh supply of heat; and as the heat of
the water in A increases or diminishes, so the circulation will be faster or
slower. A small quantity of oil should always be kept floating on the surface
of the water in the thermosiphon, just beneath the filling cock G.
Figure 2 is a still more simple apparatus which may be made to act on tho
same principle. Here only one vessel (namely the vessel A) is used, while
the lower part II of the thermosiphon I, J, answers the purpose of the
vessel B, and the connecting tube D, at the same sime. And I should here
state that as the water always passes up that leg of the thermosiphon which
is the warmest and down the other, I shall call the former the ascending leg,
and the latter the descending leg.
Having now described the principle of my said Invention, it is only necessary
for me to shew how it is applied to domestic and other purposes, and I will
preface my description of the next two Figures by observing that in order to
apply my principle it is always necessary that the object to be heated by the
circulation of hot fluids, caused by the means aforesaid (whether the same be
a bath or greenhouse or any other matter), should always bo situated some-
where between the highest point of the thermosiphon and its coldest end, as
will be found to be the case in the following instances.
Figure 3 represents the application of my said Invention to the purpose of
heating a bath supposed to be on the first floor in a private dwelling house.
A is an open vessel, as before described, two-thirds full of water and supposed to
be placed on the kitchen fire. I is the ascending leg of the thermosiphon; W is
the bath with a double casing at the back and bottom; J, J, is the descending
leg of the thermosiphon, and G being the highest point of the thermosiphon
it will be seen that the bath which in this case is the object to be heated is
situated between that highest point and the lowest which is the coldest part
of the descending leg of the thermosiphon; V is one of the inner walls of the
house, and as the thermosiphon may be of almost any shape however tortuous,
of course the arrangement may be adapted to the premises. It is only necessary
to state that the highest point of the thermosiphon should not in any respect
exceed thirty feet, as it acts in this respect on the principle of the Torricelliau
column, and I prefer not to exceed twenty feet. Care should be taken also at
all times to exclude the air completely when filling the thermosiphon, air-plugs
being placed where necessary to permit the air to escape when filling, and to
prevent its return.
Figure 4 represents another application of my said Invention for heating
what is called a hot plate for copper-plate printers. For this purpose it is

page_text: only necessary to introduce a shallow metal box as part of the descending leg
of the thermosiphon, as here shewn, and the object is answered.
Figures 5 and 6 represent a ground plan or horizontal section, and an
elevation of another application of my said Invention, which consists in
employing the power of the descending fluid in the thermosiphon for the
purpose of causing hot fluid to flow from boiler to boiler through connecting
tubes of various lengths and forms for the purpose of beating the lower parts
or ground floors of hot-houses, conservatories, greenhouses and other buildings,
and also for other purposes requiring heat on the ground or in low situations,
which may be varied with a greater or lesser number of boilers with their
necessary connecting tubes, according to circumstances; I, K, A, are three
boilers; L M L, LN L, are connecting tubes between the boilers fastened
near their bottoms, with the parts of the tubes M and N of a flat, oblong,
square, or any other form, made perfectly water-tight to receive the hot fluid
from the boilers for the purpose of giving heat to hot beds for forcing
vegetables, or for heating the floors of buildings or rooms. C is an open vessel
connected with A by the tube II, fastened near their bottoms; B is the vessel
to receive the descending fluid; D is a connecting tube with its stop-cock;
E, F, G, F, is the thermosiphon with its stop-cock and filling cocks, as already
described. The vessels and thermosiphon being filled with any fluid (say
water), and fire applied to the boilers, I, K, A, as soon as the water boils in
them (E being unstopped), if the water does not circulate, stop E, and draw
some of the water from B; this will destroy the equilibrium. Put the water
drawn from B into I; this will further destroy the equilibrium; hot water will
pass from A to C through II, the thermosiphon acting at the same time to
restore the balance with B. The temperature in C by this process will quickly
be a little increased; now unstop E, and the fires being kept up the circulation
will go on with considerable speed; the connecting tubes L, M, L, and
L, N, L, receiving boiling water direct from the boilers, and this circulation
will not cease so long as there is a difference of temperature in the fluid
in C and B, and the thermosiphon be kept full. If the parts M and N be of
considerable extent, they will be found to give great heat in low situations in
proportion to the size of the boilers. Also in place of those hot surfaces or
inclosed vessels M and N, open vessels may form parts of the connecting tubes
from boiler to boiler. The water in those vessels will rise to the level of the
water in the boilers, and as this water circulates through the whole apparatus,
it may be employed for making infusions, for hot water baths, for chemical,
and for various other purposes. The different boilers may be placed over one
fire, see Figures 7 and 8, or they may be formed of one large boiler with

page_text: water-tight partitions in it, see Figures 9 and 10. This latter form will pro-
bably be found the most useful and convenient, but in either form the hot
fluid will constantly circulate if the machine be properly constructed, and the
ascending part of the thermosiphon be of considerable extent so as to allow the
fluid to cool in descending.
In Figures 7 and 8, A, I and K are the boilers, which may be of any form
to fit together conveniently over one fire; C is the vessel connected with the
boiler A to receive the boiling fluid before it ascends in the thermosiphon;
B is the vessel receiving the descending fluid; D is the connecting tube
with its stop-cock E; LML, LN L, are connecting tubes with flat surfaces
or vessels, as already described; F, G, F, is the thermosiphon with its stop-
cocks and filling cock.
Figures 9 and 10 are a form of my Invention with one vessel only for
a boiler, divided into the four parts A, I, K, P; C is the vessel to receive
the hot fluid from the part A; L M L, LNL, LOL, are connecting tubes
united to deep open vessels or having in them shallow boxes (made water-
tight, of metal, or other materials), &c. &c. B is the vessel receiving the
descending fluid; D is its connecting tube with the part I; F, G, F, is the
thermosiphon, &c. &c.
As it may be exceedingly difficult to keep water in the different parts of
this vessel or in the boilers, represented in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, always
boiling, should the connecting tubes with their adjuncts extend over a largo
surface, a separate boiler R at a short distance from, and connected with the
vessel or part A (see Figure 11), should be used for the purpose of making
the fluid very bot or to boil before it passes into the vessel C from which it
ascends. The boiler A, I, K, P, may have a greater or lesser number of partitions
in it than four, as occasion may require, always observing that the different
parts be properly connected by the tubes. Those latter forms of the apparatus
are put in action in the same way as described for Figures 5 and 6. It will
be necessary in every form of the apparatus to take care when the cocks F
and F, or either of them, are unstopped, that G be not unstopped, or an air plug
be not opened, or that the fluid in the vessels be not suffered to descend below
the orifices of the thermosiphon, as in either of those cases the thermosiphon
will instantly empty itself, or at least one leg of it, from the filling cock, or an
air plug will become empty, which may cause some inconvenience.
The various applications of which my Invention is susceptible are far two
numerous to detail; but whereas I claim as my Invention the application of the
bent tube which I have called a thermosiphon, in manner aforesaid, to raise and
circulate heatel fluids, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and the mode of applying

page_text: the same to domestic and other purposes, as shewn and described in Figures
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11; and such, my Invention, being to the best
of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within that
part of His said Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or
any of Ilis said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby declaro
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
privelego to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Fowler, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of