IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS."-A communication.
Scaled the 12th January 1858, and dated the 28th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1857.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IN-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS," to be as
follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for feeding
water to steam boilers, and consists in supplying water to steam boilers which
are used in connection with steam-heating apparatus of various descriptions.
A complete system of apparatus for heating by steam comprises a boiler i
which steam is continuously generated, and pipes or radiators in which it is
as continuously condensed; there must also be some means of supplying water
to the boiler to take the place of that which is evaporated to form steam.
Wherever an engine is employed in connection with the boiler, a forco
pump may be worked by it to supply feed water to the boiler, but steam
boilers for heating purposes are frequently used in places where it is incon

page_text: venient to employ a steam engine to work a feed pump, and where no motivo
power of any kind can be obtained for the purpose of working a feed pump
without considerable expense, hence it is desirable to obtain some other
means of supplying feed water.
In order that the generation of steam may proceed with regularity, it is
expedient that the feed water should be introduced into the boiler at the samo
speed as it is evaporated therefrom, and in order that the fuel may not be
wasted, the water condensed in the heating pipes should bo returned to the
boiler at the highest temperature attainable. The Invention is designed to
accomplish these purposes, and it consists in a combination of two close
chambers, which are connected with each other, with the drain pipe of the steam-
heating apparatus or radiators, and with the boiler, by a system of pipes and
valves, in such manner that the chambers act alternately to receive the con-
densed water from the steam-heating apparatus or radiators, and to feed it to
the boiler in a continuous stream.
The Invention further consists in combining the said feeding apparatus
with a steam-heating apparatus situated lower than the level of the boiler, in
such manner that the hot water (which from the want of a pump to raise it
would otherwise be allowed to run to waste) is raised and returned to the
boiler, thus saving the fuel which would be required to heat an equal quantity
of cold water to the same temperature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by IIer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Iler
reign, did, for Ierself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence, that I, the said Georgo
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and
at all times thercafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully

page_text: 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 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING WATER TO STEAM BOILERS," a com-
munication, upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
The object of the Invention is to supply water to steam boilers which are
used in connection with steam-heating apparatus of various descriptions. A
complete system of apparatus for heating by steam comprises a boiler in which
steam is continuously generated, and the coils of pipe or radiators in which it
is as continuously condensed; there must also be some means of supplying
water to the boiler to take the place of that which is evaparated to form steam..
Wherever an engine is employed in connection with the boiler, a force pump.
may be worked by it to supply feed water to the boiler, but steam boilers for
heating purposes are frequently used in places where it is inconvenient to.
employ a steam engine to work a boiler feed pump, and where no motive
power of any kind can be obtained for the purpose of working a feed pump
without considerable expense, hence it is desirable to obtain some other.
means of supplying feed water.
In order that the generation of steam may proceed with regularity, it is
expedient that the feed water should be introduced into the boiler at the
same speed as it is evaporated therofrom, and in order that the fuel may
not be wasted, the water condensed in the beating pipes should be returned.
to the boiler at the highest temperature attainable. The Invention is designed-
to accomplish these purposes, and it consists in a combination of two close
chambers which are connected with each other, with the drain pipe of the
steam-beating apparatus or radiators, and with the boiler by a system of pipes
and valves, in such manner that the chambers act alternately to receive the
condensed water from the steam-heating apparatus radiators, and to feed it to.
the boiler in a continuous stream.
The Invention further consists in combining the said feeding apparatus with

page_text: a steam-heating apparatus situated lower than the level of the boiler, in such
manner that the hot water (which from the want of a pump to raise it would
otherwise be allowed to run to waste) is raised and returned to the boiler,
thus saving the fuel which would be required to heat an equal quantity of
cold water to the same temperaturo.
The accompanying Drawing represents the Invention as applied to tho
boiler of a steam-heating apparatus for heating batters' kettles for working
and sizing hat bodies, and one of the kettles is represented in the Drawing as
situated at a lower level than the boiler. The boiler A is surmounted by two
close chambers B and B', which are of sufficient strength to sustain the
highest pressure of steam it may be necessary to use. The top of each
chamber is connected by a pipe C, C, with the steam space of the boiler, and
each pipe is fitted with a stop cock or valve d, d',.by means of which the
supply of steam to either chamber can be regulated or shut off. The bottom
of each chamber is connected by a pipo D, D', with the water space or lower
part of the boiler, and these pipes are each fitted with a valve f, f¹ opening
towards the boiler.
The branch by which these two pipes unite and enter the boiler is fitted
with a stop cock g, by which the quantity of water flowing through it can be
regulated. The bottoms of the two chambers are also connected with the
drain pipe H of the system of heaters or radiators by means of branch
pipes I, I, and each of these branch pipes is also fitted with a valve j, j',
opening towards the chamber. The upper part of each chamber is connected
with the lower part of the adjacent chamber by a pipe K, K'; these connect-
ing pipes branch and unite in a snifting cock m common to the two, and cach
pipe is fitted with stop cock c, e².
The steam heater shewn in the Drawing is of the kind adapted to the
heating of batters' kettles for sizing hat bodies; it consists of a cylinder or
drum N, to which the steam is admitted by a pipe P proceeding from the
boiler, and from which the condensed water escapes by a pipe-R, communi-
cating with the drain pipe II, that receives the condensed water of the whole
system of heaters. The drum is traversed by tubes s, s, through which tho
fluid in the kettle circulates, thus affording a large radiating surface. The
kettle is situated below the level of the boiler, so that the condensed water
must be raised in order to be returned to the boiler.
In the feeding apparatus thus described the two chambers B and B act
alternately as receiving reservoirs to receive the condensed water from the
radiators or heaters, and as distributing reservoirs to feed the received waters
into the boiler; that is to say, they act in such manner that while the

page_text: chamber B is receiving water from the drain pipe H, the chamber B' is
feeding water to the boiler, and while the chamber B' is receiving, the
chamber B is feeding. In order that this alternation of functions may be
demonstrated, let it be supposed that the chamber B' is full of water, that the
chamber B is full of steam admitted from the boiler by the pipe C, and that
the stop cocks e, e¹, d, d, are all closed, the stop cock g being partially open.
The first operation performed is to open the stop cock e; this permits the
steam in the chamber B to pass through the pipo K into the water in the
chamber B, by which it is condensed, thus forming a partial vacuum in the
chamber B. As the vacuum forms, the condensed water in the drain pipe II
being pressed upon by the steam passing through the pipe P from the boiler,
is forced upwards in the branch pipe I, and opening the valvo f flows into the
chamber B. As the condensation of the steam by the water in the chamber
B' takes place almost instantaneously, the exhaust cock e may be closed
almost immediately after it is opened; the steam cock d' is then opened. By
opening this latter stop cock, steam from the boiler is admitted into the upper
part of the chamber B', as the pressure is thus rendered the same as that in
the boiler, and as the chamber is situated above boiler the water contained in
it flows downwards by its gravity, and raising the valve f' enters the boiler
with a speed depending upon the opening of the feed cock g. The feed cock
should be set in such manner that the water flows into the boiler from the
chamber about as fast as it is evaporated, and discharged from the boiler in
the form of steam through the steam pipe P; meanwhile the drain pipe H
receives all the water condensed by the heaters from the steam passing from
the boiler through the steam pipe P, and as this water is pressed upon by the
stean proceeding from the boiler, wbilo a partial vacuum exists in tho
chamber B, the water is forced upwards through the valve j into that
chamber. While therefore the chamber B¹ is acting as a distributing reser-
voir to feed water to the boiler, the chamber B is acting as a receiving
reservoir to receive the water formed by the condensation of the steam, and if
there be no leakages whatever, and the feed cock be properly adjusted, the
chamber B will be filled as the chamber B¹ is emptied. When these
operations have taken place the functions of the two chambers or reservoirs
are reversed, the steam cock d' is closed, thus shutting off the steam connec-
5tion of the chamber B' with the boiler, and as this chamber contains no inore
water to act on the valve f, the latter closes by its own weight. The exhaust
cock is then opened, which permits the steam that has taken the place of
the water in the chamber B' to exhaust through the pipe K into the water
in the chamber B, thus imparting its beat to it.

page_text: As soon as the exhaust cock ¹ is opened. the partial vacuum in the
chamber B is destroyed by the entrance of steam from the chamber B¹, and
the water in the chamber B tends to run back by its gravity into the drain
pipe, its return there is however prevented by the valve j, which being no
longer raised by the flow of water upwards closes and prevents its escape. As
soon as the steam in the chamber B₁ has been condensed, the exhaust cock e¹
is closed and the steam cock d is opened, whereupon the chamber B begins to
feed water to the boiler in the same manner as was effected by the chamber
B', while the chamber B' receives the condensed water from the drain
pipe. The functions of the two chambers are thus reversed, the one B',
becoming the receiving reservoir, while the other B becomes the distributing
reservoir.
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I have thus described the operation as it proceeds while the apparatus is at
work continuously, but in first starting the apparatus, when both chambers
are filled only with air, it is necessary to make use of the snifting cock m to
blow all the air out of the pipes and to exhaust the steam from the chamber
first used as the receiving reservoir. When the whole apparatus has been
heated up to the proper point, the opening of the snifting cock is no longer
necessary.
I have also described the apparatus as in use without any leakage, but as
it is practically impossible to prevent some escape of water, either in the form
of steam passing out of the safety valve of the boiler, or by leakage from
the heaters, it is necessary occasionally to introduco a fresh supply of water,
which may be done by putting the drain pipe H in connection with some
reservoir or other source, and by fitting a stop cock to the connection to
regulate the supply. The chamber should be jacketed to prevent the radia-
tion of heat, in which case the condensed water will be returned to the boiler
at a very high temperature; and as the steam from one chamber is exhausted
into the water in the other, the heat contained in this steam is absorbed and
returned to the boiler, thus preventing any wasto. As the pressure of the
steam proceeding from the boiler always exceeds the partial vacuum formed
in the chambers B and B¹ by the condensation of the steam, and as in such
cases the pressure of the steam will force the drain water upwards, I am
enabled to combine the feeding apparatus with heaters or radiators situated
below the level of the boiler.
This combination is of great advantage in cases where the boilers and
heaters are both situated upon the same floor, in which case the heaters must
necessarily be below the level of the water in the boiler, as they frequently
are when hatters' kettles are heated by steam.

page_text: Having thus described the construction and operation of the feeding
apparatus, what I claim as the Invention and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is the combination of two chambers with each other, and with a steam
boiler by means of pipes, stop cocks, and valves, constructed and operating
substantially as herein set forth, in such manner that the two chambers act
alternately and interchangeably as receiving and distributing reservoirs to
receive feed water and feed it to the boiler.
I also claim the combination of the said apparatus with a steam beating
apparatus situated lower than the boiler, so that the condensed water is raised
and returned to the boiler, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
15 Witness,
W. S. HARRISON,
New Court, St. Swithin's Lane,
London.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.s.)