Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Burning Liquid Fuel.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th May, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 17th June, 1887.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Burning Liquid
Fuel.
I, CHARLES THOMAS SCHOEN, of No. 1028, New Market Street, Philadelphia, in
the County of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, one of the United States of
America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention relates to means for properly introducing liquid fuel for combustion
in its most effective condition into furnaces for steam boilers and for other
purposes.
The invention consists in introducing steam into an expansion chamber where it is
super-heated and then conveying it through a tortuous passage into a separate chamber
where it forcibly commingles with liquid fuel and whence the resultant mixed vapor is
driven through a burner in a thin wide sheet and ignited substantially in the
manner and by the means hereinafter more particularly set forth and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like parts are
similarly designated.
Fig. 1, is a side elevation of my apparatus.
Fig. 2, is a central longitudinal section taken in the plane of line, x, figure, 3.
Fig. 3, is a cross section taken in the plane, y-y, figs. 1, and, 2, looking in the
direction of arrow, A.
Fig. 4, is a similar section taken in the plane of line, z-z, figs. 1, and, 2, looking in
the direction of arrow,
B.
Fig. 5, is a plan view of the hydro-carbon feed pipe nozzle.
Fig. 6, is a plan view of the flame or burner-tip.
Fig. 7, is a longitudinal cross section of said tip.
Fig. 8, is a section in the plane of line, 1-2, fig. 2, and,
Fig. 9, is a sectional elevation showing the device in a steam boiler furnace.
The letter, a, designates a casing, preferably cylindrical and having tight
heads, b, and, c; and within this casing and connected tight to its heads, is arranged
a frusto-conical or tapering shell, d, so as to form two main chambers, e, and, f,

page_text: respectively. The chamber, e, is divided into two compartments e¹, and, e³, by
diaphragms or walls, 9, 9, extending from the head e, nearly to the head, b, and from
the casing, a, to the shell, d. Communication between chambers, e, and, f, is had
through an opening or port, d', in the shell, d, near its base, and most remote from the
steam inlet into chamber, e.
I prefer to insert in the opening or port, d', a pipe, d, and extend it parallel with
the pipe, i, for some distance, and then provide it with a coil encircling said pipe, i;
and in this coil I provide a series of openings as shown in fig. 8. A steam pipe, h,
enters the compartment, e¹, and a hydro carbon or liquid fuel feed-pipe, i, enters and
extends well up into the chamber, f, and is provided at its inner end with a nozzle, j,
having its outlet, j¹, in the form of a straight slit see fig. 5 and provided with a flange
or deflector,
The outlet of the chamber, f, is provided with a burner tip k, contracted to a flat
mouth which is made as a series of holes diverging from the central hole toward each
side of the burner tip, (see fig. 7).
The end of the chamber, f, opposite the burner is provided with a valvular
device, 1, of any approved construction, such, for example, as the ordinary draft
regulator used in stove and furnace doors.
The operation is as follows:-The apparatus having been placed in position, and
connection having been made with a steam supply and also with a liquid fuel source,
the steam is admitted into the compartment, e, expands and passes over the walls, g,g,
into compartment, e², and thence through the perforated pipe, d², in many small jets,
into the chamber, f, where striking the flange, 2, of the nozzle, j, its course is diverted
around said nozzle, and thereby forms what in workshop parlance is termed a vacuum,
in the supply pipe, i, and the liquid fuel being admitted is drawn forcibly through the
nozzle, as by an atomizer, and vaporized by the steam and the resultant mixed gas or
vapor is ejected through the burner tip in the form of a wide thin sheet, and thus
presented in a most effective and economical form for ignition and combustion.
The valve, 1, is used to admit into the chamber, f, the proper quantity of air, and the
incoming steam draws in the air in the form of a powerful blast, subject, however, to
regulation by means of the valve.
The arrangement of the apparatus for use as a heater for steam generators is shown
in figure, 9, and in this arrangement the steam heats the apparatus throughout in the
first instance and after the vapor is ignited, the heat from the flame in the furnace is
also imparted to the apparatus, and thereafter the apparatus being arranged in the
heated atmosphere of flame in the furnace, is kept so hot that the steam is
superheated in the chamber, e, before it is admitted to the gas or vapor chamber, and
hence it is brought into contact with the liquid fuel when in its most effective form
for quickly, economically and effectually vaporizing such fuel and adding to it the
requisite quantity of hydrogen to produce the most intense flame. When
the apparatus is applied to furnaces already in use for burning coal, it is
arranged substantially as indicated in fig. 9. Any heat absorbing and refractory
material may be used in the combustion chamber, as usual, as indicated, at, r.
The tapering shell, d, makes the chamber, e, larger at the fire or educt end than at
the inlet end, and so provides for the expansion of the superheated steam, while at the
same time it contracts the fuel and gas chamber, f, at its educt end and so condenses
or compresses the gas or vapor for delivery. I esteem this a feature of considerable
importance.
It will be noticed that by the described construction the steam is admitted to the
hydro-carbon only after completing a tortuous course all around the hydro-carbon
chamber and hence said chamber is equally heated throughout, the incoming
hydro-carbon liquid has a preliminary heating in its feed pipe and the steam itself
is superheated and its effective quality largely enhanced, and the operation
of the apparatus rendered certain and uniform, and a gas or vapor supplied in a most
favorable condition for quick and perfect combustion.
The apparatus is arranged in use within the furnace or chamber to be heated,
substantially as indicated in fig. 9, and usually a space, s, will be left between the

page_text: apparatus and the portion of the furnace or other structure supporting it, for the
admission of air to such chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
1. An outer casing and an inner shell inclosed by said casing and terminating
in a burner-tip, forming two independent chambers, a steam inlet into the outer
chamber, and a liquid fuel inlet into the inner chainber terminating in a nozzle,
and a communicating passage or port between the steam chamber and the fuel chamber
opening in the rear of the oil nozzle, combined, substantially as described for burning
the gases as formed.
2. In a combined super-heated and hydro-carbon burner a steam chamber whose
cross-section is of increasing area from inlet toward the opposite end and of
correspondingly decreasing area to the outlet for the steam, and partitions in the
steam chamber separating it into two compartments, combined with a fuel chamber
communicating with the steam chamber at its most contracted area, and itself
contracted toward its outlet end, and a fuel supply pipe, substantially as
described.
3. In a combined super-heater and hydro-carbon burner, a fuel chamber, an induct
pipe and a nozzle thereon provided with a flange or deflector at right angles to the
pipe, combined with a surrounding steam chamber in communication with said fuel
chamber in the rear of the flanged nozzle, and adapted to deliver steam against said
deflector, substantially as described.