Improvements in Steam Generators.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Steam Generators.
I, WILLIAM ARTHUR PERCY WERNER, Engineer, of Ashlands, Silver-hill,
St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in steam generators of the type known as
"Flash Steam Generators" my object being to produce a light automatic generator
suitable for auto cars and the like self propelled vehicles wherein the superfluous
heat is not wasted but stored up so as to create a reserve to be called upon when
required and at the same time by the construction and arrangement of the tubes
to prevent califaction.
In carrying my invention into practice I construct the generator with double
tubes, that is to say, a tube within a tube, leaving a thin water space between
the two tubes so that the heat plays around the outside tube and through the inner
tube thereby giving a double heating surface.
The inner and outer tubes are connected together at one end in any suitable
manner, but preferably, by making the end of the inner tube with a threaded
shoulder and screwing it into the outer tube thereby leaving a thin space between
the two tubes.
The other ends of the tubes enter into a steam box, the outer tube being screwed
into the front plate of steam box and the inner tube extending across and passing
through box and being fixed to the opposite or back plate of the same by nuts on
either side of the said plate, said nuts sitting on an asbestos washer but a packing
gland can be substituted for the nuts so as to allow for the difference of expansion
between the two tubes. The end of outer tube where connected to inner tube is
perforated, and over said perforations is screwed a hollow collar provided with a boss
to receive a small copper water tube; so that when the water is forced by a suitable
pump into the generator, it passes into the collar through perforations and into
water space between the tubes where it is directly converted into steam said steam
passing into the steam box and thence taken away through super-heating tubes to
the engine. In the fire space surrounding the outer tubes and in the centre tubes
I place thin copper or other metal wire or any other suitable conducting material
either plaited or crumpled together but of such a density as not to impede free
draught, so that the superfluous heat instead of striking the tubes and passing away
is absorbed by the wire and retained around the tubes.
Each end of tubes passes through a thin metal plate so that the steam box and
water connections are outside the plate. I use a smokeless petroleum blast stove or
lamp for heating the tubes, said stove or lamp being situated under tubes and
between the aforesaid thin inetal plates, the heat passing through metal wire, around
tubes, over the top of plate nearest steam box, through the inside tubes to other
side of plate nearest the water connections and out through the flue.

page_text: For keeping the two tubes apart in case of uneven expansion I provide the inner
tube with projections or ridges of metal on its outer circumference, said ridges
bearing on the inside of outer tube thereby keeping them apart, or I construct the
inner tube with a spiral ridge so as to cause the steam to circulate around the tube.
It will be seen by the way the tubes are fixed that they can expand laterally.
The whole of the above is contained within a suitable shell.
My improvements can be equally well applied to either vertical or horizontal
generators and can be made on a large scale for heavy machinery such as
locomotives, ships, and stationary boilers in general.
Dated this 18th day of March 1897.
Improvements in Steam Generators.
I, WILLIAM ARTHUR PERCY WERNER, of Ashlands, Silver-hill, St. Leonards-on-Sea,
Sussex, England, Engineer, 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 flash steam generators specially designed for self-propelled
road vehicles, but also adapted to be used for locomotive, marine and stationary
engines. The object of my said invention is to produce a light automatic generator,
wherein the superfluous heat is not wasted but stored up.
A generator constructed according to my said invention consists substantially of
sets of double tubes placed one within the other so as to form capillary spaces, into
which the water is forced for converting it into steam, which is then superheated.
These double tubes are constructed and arranged with the object of preventing
calefaction. In the fire space surrounding the outer tubes and in the interior of the
inner tubes I place thin copper wire or other conducting material for the purpose of
storing up the heat so as to create a reserve to be called upon when required. The
heat circulates first around the outer tubes and between the copper wire, and then
through the inner tubes containing copper wire, thereby giving a double heating
surface, causing rapid evaporation and obviating loss of heat. The steam generated
in the aforesaid capillary spaces passes to a steam box and thence through super-
heating tubes to the engine.
Referring to the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of my improved flash steam
generator, and
Figure 2 a transverse section to a somewhat smaller scale on the line x-x,
Figure 1.
In carrying my invention into effect I employ sets of double tubes A B, the tube A
being arranged within the tube B so as to leave a capillary space C between them.
The inner and outer tubes A and B are preferably connected together by making
one end of the inner tube with an exterior screw-threaded shoulder a and screwing
this shoulder into the end of the outer tube. At the same end the outer tube B is
provided with a number of perforations b which set the extremity of the capillary
space C between the two tubes in communication with a hollow collar D secured by
screw threads upon the end of the outer tube B and furnished with a boss d adapted
to receive a small tube d¹ which allows for the expansion of the double tubes A B.
The tubes d¹, which form water connections, communicate with a water box d² which
by means of tubes d³ are connected with a pump (not shown).
For keeping the two tubes A and B at the proper distance apart, so that the

page_text: capillary space may be of equal width all around throughout its length, I furnish
the inner tube with a helical ridge a¹, which has also, for its object to compel the
water to he vaporized, and the steam to be superheated, to travel in a helical path
from one end of the capillary space to the other.
At its other end the capillary space C terminates in a steam box E, the extremity
of the inner tube A being attached by means of a screw thread and nuts a² with
asbestos washers as to the outer plate e of such box, whilst the corresponding
extremity of the outer tube B is fixed by the aid of a screw thread to the inner
plate e¹ of the aforesaid steam box. From this box the steam passes through the
capillary spaces between the superheating tubes A¹ B¹ and thence through the
pipes 61 and 62 to the engine.
This system of tubes is enclosed in a shell or casing F divided by partitions f and fl
into three compartments F1 F2 F³. One of these, the middle compartment F1,
contains the bodies of the tubes, the second compartment F2 receives the steam
box E holding one end of the tubes which extend through the partition f, whilst the
third compartment F³ receives the other end of the tubes which extend through
the partition f¹. At its top the partition f has an aperture f2 which connects the
compartment F with the compartment F2, and the latter is in communication through
the inner tubes A and A³, which constitute return flues, with the third
compartment F³. Doors F and F afford access to the steam box E and collars D at
the ends of the tubes A B in the outer compartments F2 and F3.
In the compartment F1 containing the double tubes and in the interior of the
inner tube I place thin copper or other wire or any other appropriate conducting
material (not shown), such wire being plaited or crumpled together, but of such
a density as not to impede free draught, so that the heat which may be generated
in excess, instead of heating the tubes and passing away as waste, will be absorbed
by the wire and retained around and within the tubes.
The generator is heated by any suitable oil or other stove placed at G.
The heat first circulates around the tubes B and B¹ and between the copper wire
contained in the compartment F1, storing up a reserve of heat. Having reached
the top of the compartment F1 the heat passes through the aperture 2 into the
compartment F, whence it is conducted to the compartment F3 through the inner
tubes A and A¹ containing copper wire or other conducting material, giving off the
remainder of the heat to the wire and to the sets of double tubes A B and A¹ B¹, and
then leaves the compartment F³ through the chimney Fe
While the stove thus heats the sets of double tubes A B and A¹ B¹ water is forced
by a pump through the water pipes d' into the hollow collars D and through the
perforations b at one end of the outer tube B into the capillary spaces C, wherein
the vaporization takes place, the steam passing from the capillary spaces into the
steam box E at the other end of the tubes A B, and thence through the spaces
between the superheating tubes A¹ B₁ at the top of the generator and through the
pipes 61 62 to the engine.
.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A flash steam generator characterised by the combination, with sets of double
tubes A A¹ and B B arranged one within the other to form return flues and capillary
spaces C constituting helical passages, of hollow collars D and a steam box E,
substantially as set forth.
2. In flash steam generators the arrangement of the bodies of the double tubes A A¹
and B B¹ together with copper wire or other conducting material in the middle
compartment F1 of the shell or casing F, whilst the second compartment F2 receives
the steam box E and the third compartment the collars D at the ends of such tubes,
the second and third compartments communicating with each other through the
inner tubes A and A¹ also receiving conducting material, substantially as set
forth.

page_text: 3. A flash steam generator, arranged constructed and operating substantially
as and for the purposes hereinbefore specified and shown in the accompanying
drawings.