Improvements in Fuel Economisers or Apparatus for Heating Feed-water for Steam Generators and other purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Dec., 1890-Accepted, 14th Mar.. 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GEORGE HERBERT BURPEE, of 52, Broadway,
New York, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer.]
Improvements in Fuel Economisers or Apparatus for Heating
Feed-water for Steam Generators and other purposes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in the construction of apparatus for
economizing fuel by heating the water-supply for a steam-generator or other
purposes by means of the hot gases and products of combustion escaping into a
smoke-flue or chimney.
The said invention has for its object to reduce the cost of construction and
erection and to increase the efficiency of this class of fuel-economizers; and it
consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, sub-
stantially as hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section of my improved apparatus on the line, a
of Figure 4.
Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional detail of the lower manifold or longitudinal
connecting-pipe and its wall-plates taken horizontally through the top web on the
line yy of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar enlarged sectional detail taken horizontally and centrally on
the line,, of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a partial and irregular longitudinal vertical section on the line w, w
of Figure 1
and
Figure a detailed vertical longitudinal section drawn to an enlarged scale, of
the coupling end of one of the top boxes.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the figures.
A, A, in the drawings represent the vertical circulating tubes; B, B, the top
boxes, and C, C, the bottom boxes D, the lower longitudinal manifold or connecting
pipe, and E the upper connecting-passage and delivery-pipe in my improved fuel-
economizer. The top and bottom boxes are made cylindrical instead of rectangular
in form, thereby increasing their strength.
The lower manifold or longitudinal connecting-pipe D is interposed between two
fanges or parallel wall-plates e and e', which are each connected to the pipe by a
central longitudinal web and at intervals by transverse ribs, gg. It is, further-
more, formed with a series of nozzles or nipples h, h, upon its inner side to receive
the bottom boxes C, C, and with opposite openings or hand-holes of smaller diameter.
These openings or hand-holes are each covered and closed by a covering-plate d
made fast by two T-headed bolts m m, (see Figure 2,) whose heads are made to
engage slotted ears i, i, projecting at diametrically opposite points from the coupling
end of each bottom box C, and which, extending through perforations in the web f
on top and bottom of the manifold D and in ears on the hand-hole plates d, d, are
secured by nuts, screwing upon their outer ends, as shown in Figure 2.
The coupling ends of the bottom boxes C, C, are made tapering to enter tapering
seats or sockets in the lateral nozzles h, h of the manifold, as shown in Figure 3, and
are drawn up into said sockets to make a close joint therewith by means of the
bolts m, m, as shown in Figure 2. This form of joint obviates the need of packing-

page_text: rings and the multiplicity of bolts found in the flanged joints in the fuel-economizers
now in use.
The wall-plates or horizontal flanges e e¹ of the manifold adapt it to be built
horizontally into the side wall of the Hue W, in which the economizer is to be used
to form an integral part thereof as shown in Figure 1.
The inner independent ends of the several bottom boxes rest for support in their
horizontal position upon a ledge n, built in the opposite side wall of the fluc, as
shown in Figure 1.
The nozzles or nipples, p, formed in the upper side of each bottom box C for
the reception of the vertical tubes A. A, are made tapering, as shown in Figure 1,
to receive the tapering ends of the tubes, which are forced therein by hydraulic
pressure or other equivalent means. The openings through the nozzles or
nipples p p formed on the under side of each of the top boxes B, B, to receive the
upper ends of the vertical tubes A, A, are inwardly enlarged and the upper end of
the tubes are formed with a counterpart outward bevel, as shown in Figures 4 and 5,
so that by dropping the tube through the nozzle with its lower end foremost the
outwardly-tapering upper end may be driven from within into the conical seat in
the nozzle. To permit of thus inserting the tube lengthwise through the nozzle, a
hand-hole is formed, as shown in Figure 5 in the top box B, opposite each nozzle pl,
of a diameter sufficiently large to allow the tube to pass through it. These hand-
holes, are severally closed by stoppers F, F, each having a beveled rim to fit
into a beveled or conical seat encircling the hand-hole, said seat being inwardly
enlarged, so that the stopper must needs be inserted into its seat from the inside of
the box.
The stopper F when inserted is secured by means of a T-headed bolt G,
Figure 5, whose head engages an inwardly enlarged recess in the centre of the
stopper and whose threaded stem extends upward therefrom through an outer
transverse bar H, spanning the hand-hole, and is fitted with a nut by which to draw
the stopper up tightly into place, as shown in figure.
The top boxes B, B, are all connected at one end to form an upper circulating
and delivery passage E, by means of a chamber J, formed on the end of each top
box over the last vertical tube therein, said chamber being formed with lateral
nozzles K, K, faced off to abut end to end with a close joint (see Figure 4) and
which are united and drawn fast together by means of lateral bolts L, L engaging
lateral cars, on each chamber, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The hand-hole in
the top of each of the coupling-chambers J is large enough to admit of the intro-
duction through it into the top box B of the internal stoppers G, G, for its hana-
holes, and is closed by an outer cap T, fitting down into it with a beveled joint, as
shown in Figure 5, and which is secured by means of an outer diametric cross-bar V
placed thereon, and confined at each end by bolts t t engaging lateral ears or lugs u u
on the chamber.
The novel construction of the lower manifold D, whereby it admits of incorporation
in the side wall of the flue, greatly economizes space and avoids the disadvantages
attendant upon carrying the bottom boxes CC through the wall, and thereby
positively fixing them so as to render their removal and replacement impracticable
without disturbance of the wall.
Each pair of top and bottom boxes BC together with the vertical tubes A, A
connecting them, constitutes a transverse section of the apparatus, and by means of
my invention, as described, each section admits of ready removal, if occasion
requires, without disturbance of the rest. So, also, by reason of the opposite taper
of the opposite ends of the vertical tubes in each section a broken or cracked tube
may be readily removed by drawing it up and out through the corresponding hand-
hole in the top box and a new one inserted and driven in place to make a tight
joint at both ends without disturbing any other tube in the section. The cross-
connection effected at one end of the top boxes B, B, by the coupling-chambers and
nozzles formed thereon to be drawn together by means of bolts avoids the necessity

page_text: of a separate manifold above the boxes and of the numerous connections incident
thereto, and by securing the stoppers F F for the hand-holes in the top boxes by
ineans of external cross-bars and central bolts the stoppers are readily drawn up
into their seats and firmly held in position so as to resist any outward blow thereon,
while through the apparatus no wrought-iron is exposed to the action of the water
therein.
In the use of the apparatus the water to be heated is supplied, as usual, to the
lower manifold D at one end and after circulating slowly through the bottom and
top boxes C, B, and vertical tubes A, A, A, is delivered from the nozzle of the
coupling-chamber on the top box at the opposite end of the apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The combination, with the lower manifold in a fuel-economizer, substantially
as described, of the inner side nozzles having tapering sockets, the bottom boxes
severally formed with tapering ends to enter said sockets the outer ears upon the
ends of the bottom boxes, the corresponding ears on the outer side of the manifold
and the transverse outer bolts passing through both ears, whereby a tight joint is
formed between the bottom box and manifold and firmly secured by means of
external bolts alone, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set
forth.
Second. The combination in a fuel-economizer, substantially as described with
the side walls of a furnace discharge-flue, of a lower supply-manifold having an
upper and lower horizontal flange, each connected therewith by a longitudinal web,
thereby adapting it for incorporation with the one side wall of the furnace-flue, and
having also inner side nozzles with tapering openings and outer hand-holes opposite
said nozzle-openings, bottom boxes supported at one end by the opposite side wall
of the flue, cach having nozzles on its upper side to receive the vertical circulating
tubes bolts passing transversely through the ears on the hand-hole plates, and the
webs supporting the upper and lower wall-plates to engage ears on the bottom
boxes; substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
Third. The combination, in a fuel-economizer, with a bottom box having
outwardly-enlarged tapering sockets on its upper side and a top box provided on its
under side, with inwardly enlarged tapering sockets of greater diameter than the
sockets in the bottom box, and on its upper side with enlarged hand-holes, of a series
of vertical circulating tubes whose upper and lower ends are both tapered in the
same direction, whereby both of said ends will, after the tubes have been dropped
through the hand-holes in the upper box, seat themselves and form close joints in
the oppositely tapered sockets of the top and bottom boxes without extraneous
packing, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
Fourth. The combination with the walls of a furnace flue of a supply manifold
incorporated in the one side wall of the flue and having lateral nozzles projecting
therefrom within the flue and opposite hand-holes on its outer side, bottom boxes
entering at one end the lateral nozzles of the supply-manifold and supported at the
other by the opposite wall of the flue, vertical circulating-tubes fitted in the bottom
boxes with tapering joints, top boxes to which the upper ends of the vertical tubes
are coupled with inwardly-enlarged joints and having hand-hole opposite
each vertical tube, stoppers closing said hand-holes from within the box with
beveled joints cross-bars spanning each hand-hole, a bolt passing through each cross
bar and engaging the stopper to draw it to its seat, coupling chambers formed on
the upper side of the corresponding ends of the several top boxes to unite them and
having lateral openings to form when united a through-passage between the several
top boxes, lateral bolts engaging the several chambers to draw them together, and
an outer cap covering a hand-hole in the top of each coupling-chamber, all sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

page_text: Fifth. The combination in a fuel-economizer, of the bottom box having the
inwardly tapering outer end, with the supply-manifold having the tapering nozzle
to receive and form a seat for the tapered outer end of said bottom box, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 30th day of December 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.