IMPROVE- MENTS IN BOILERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hazell Fraser, of the Firm of John Fraser
and Sons, of Bromley-by-Bow, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineers and Boiler Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOILERS
"
Sealed the 25th January 1870, and dated the 20th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hazell Fraser
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th November 1869.
I, JOHN HAZELL FRASER, of the Firm of John Fraser and Sons, of
Bromley-by-Bow, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Boiler
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILERS," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in fitting or otherwise forming enlargements
or protuberances upon tubes employed in fire-boxes or flues of boilers
or in the passages leading to the uptake or shaft. In the case of boilers
which have flues passing through them, such as those known as Cornish
and Lancashire boilers, I fit spherical or double dished or conically

page_text: shaped protuberances on the tubes in such a manner that the flame or
heat in its passage is caused to impingo against them before it strikes
against the tubes. The protuberances form part of the tubes so that a
constant circulation of the water is kept up between the upper and the
lower parts of the boiler. The protuberances may be of any shape and
the tubes may be set vertically or at an angle to one another. In upright
boilers the protuberances may be fitted upon and at the ends of tubes
which depend from the crown or sides of the fire-box, and tubular
connections leading from them may also be secured to the sides of the
fire-box to ensure a circulation of the water. Plugs or other appliances
can be fitted to the bottoms of the tubes or protuberances so that they
and the tubes may be cleaned out when required. In some cases when
a large number of protuberances are fitted I fit other or additional tubes
which lead from the crown of the fire-box up through the water space
and into a well or smoke chamber arranged below the funnel, so that a
great number of flues are formed for the smoke to pass off by and for
the heat to be diffused. Sometimes I fit one of the protuberances
directly under the smoke passage to cause the heat to diffuse itself
amongst the dependent tubes before passing up through the smoke
tube.
For marine boilers I dispense with the usual horizontal tubes and
fit a series of my improved tubes with protuberances in the space or
spaces, so that the flame and products of combustion in their passago
shall be broken up and utilized for heating purposes.
The improvements can be applied to existing locomotive and other
tubular boilers.
The accompanying Drawings represent four forms of enlargements or
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hazell Fraser in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 20th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HAZELL
FRASER, of the Firm of John Fraser and Sons, of Bromley-by-Bow, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineers and Boiler Manufacturers, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Hazell Fraser, Her special
licence that I, the said John Hazell Fraser, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Hazell Fraser, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BOILERS,' upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Hazell Fraser, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
""
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hazell Fraser, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
1
The Invention relates to fitting or otherwise forming enlargements or
protuberances upon tubes employed in fire-boxes, flues of boilers, or
in passages leading to the uptake or shaft. In the case of boilers which
have flues passing through them, such as those known as Cornish
and Lancashire boilers, I fit spherical or double dished or conically
shaped protuberances on the tubes in such a manner that the flame or
heat in its passage is caused to impinge against them before it strikes
against the tubes. The protuberances form part of the tubes so that a
constant circulation of the water is kept up between the upper and the
lower parts of the boiler. The protuberances may be of any shape, and
the tubes may be set vertically or at an angle to one another.
upright boilers the protuberances may be fitted upon and at the ends of
the tubes which depend from the crown or sides of the fire-box, and
tubular connections leading from them may also be secured to the sides
In

page_text: of the firc-box to ensure a circulation of the water. Plugs or other
appliances can be fitted to the bottoms of the tubes or protuberances so
that they and the tubes may be cleaned out when required. In some
'cases when a large number of protuberances are fitted I fit other or
additional tubes which lead from the crown of the fire-box up through
the water space and into a well or smoke chamber arranged below the
funnel, so that a great number of flues are formed for the smoke to pass
off by and for the heat to be diffused. Sometimes I fit one of the pro-
tuberances directly under the smoke passage to cause the heat to diffuse
itself amongst the dependent tubes before passing up through the
smoke tubo.
For marine boilers I dispense with the usual horizontal tubes and fit
a series of my improved tubes with protuberances in the space or spaces,
so that the flame and products of combustion in their passage shall be
broken up and utilized for heating purposes.
The improvements can be applied to existing locomotive and other
tubular boilers.
The Invention will be well understood by referring to the accompany-
ing Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a Cornish
boiler A, in which two tubes B, B, having spherically shaped pro-
tuberances upon them are in position. These tubes are arranged at an
angle and in opposite directions to break up the flame passing through
the flue. The form of the protuberances causes the flame to strike
against the rounded portions, and then roll along the top and bottom
sides before it strikes the barrel of the tube itself, and as the flame has a
tendency to rise in its passage it impinges against each tube before it
leaves the flue to enter the return or side Ques; thus nearly the whole
of the heat is taken up by the tubes as the flame passes them, whereby
a great economy of fuel is effected. Figure 2 shows in transverse section
the same boiler. It will be observed that the tubes are made of wrought
or of malleable cast métal, and that one of the bulged ends is of smaller
diameter than the other bulged end, so that before placing them in the
flue one piece can be let into or over the ends of the neighbouring picces
to form a tube; these pieces are rivetted together at their seams.
In
doing this the rivets may be inserted from the inside, and headed or
rivetted from the outside, and this can be very easily accomplished as the
pieces are short and do not offer obstructions to the introduction of a
tool. The end pieces have flanges C, C, on them to enable them to be

page_text: secured to the boiler skin, or the ends may be spread outwards to form
the flanges in any convenient manner.
Figure 3 represents a marine boiler with a set of spherical protuberance
tubes arranged in the flue in a vertical and in a zig-zag or alternate
manner, so that the flame and smoke from the furnace or furnaces travel
in and out between them and become completely broken up before they
enter the uptake or chimney D. The tubes may be arranged in the flue
in any order to break up the flame and products of combustion as found
most convenient, and in some cases may be arranged and used in com-
bination with a series of horizontal tubes of the usual construction but
of shorter length.
Figures 4 and 5 show vertical and horizontal sections of an upright
boiler in which a number of spherical protuberance tubes are suspended
from the crown of the fire-box, so that the flame and products of com-
bustion shall impinge against the bottom bulb and roll over and over into
the hollows between the bulbs, and likewise against the bulbs as they
pass upwards towards the uptake or chimney, and to prevent them leaving
the tubes too rapidly and before the heat has been fairly taken up by
the tubes I arrange a series of check plates or dampers bencathe
opening to cause the heat to spread itself between the tubes, and so
take a circuitous route before it leaves them, as will be well understood
by referring to the Figure. The lower bulb or protuberance may have
connection pieces E, E, forming short pipes, so that the water finds a
free circulation through the tubes to the space between the fire-box wall
and the skin of the boiler, or the apertures may be stopped by screw
plugs which can be removed when the tubes require cleaning, but I
prefer to employ the short connecting tubes, as they not only act for the
purpose just spoken of, but they serve to lessen the strain which the
weight of the depending tubes exerts upon the crown of the fire-box;
the tubes may, however, be supported by stays or rods arranged within
the fire-box. When the short tubes are to be used, it is necessary to
make the holes of the outer skin much larger than the holes in the
inner skin or fire-box to enable the end nuts to be passed into the space
to be screwed on when the larger hole can be closed by a screw plug
nut in the usual manner; the end nuts may, however, be passed through
the man-hole.
Figure 6 represents in section a Cornish boiler with the tubes fitted
in the flue at an angle in opposite directions one with the other,

page_text: so that a channel or smoke way is left between them, in a similar
manner to the tubes before explained with reference to Figures 1 and 2.
In this case instead of the protuberances being of a spherical they are
of conical form, that is to say, the protuberances are composed of dished
or flat sided plates tapered like a funnel head, and the larger diameters
are secured together to form a double conc, the smaller diameter being
connected to the neck or a part of the tube proper. The action of the
flame and the gases from the furnace is the same as for the Figures
before described. The letters of reference have relation to each other
in all the Figures.
I do not confine myself to the placing of the tubes in the boiler in
the exact positions as shown, as they can be arranged in any suitable
manner as found convenient; they may also be arranged so that a set
of one form may be in one part of a flue and a set of another form in
another part of it.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as
my improvements in boilers, the formation of protuberances of a spherical
double dished or conical shape upon tubes which are fitted in the
fire-boxes, flues, or smoke passages of boilers, in the manner and for
the purposes hercin-before described and represented in the annexed
Drawings.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Hazell Fraser, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.