IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THERMO-DYNAMIC ACTION IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for all Invention of
IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THERMO-DYNAMIC
ACTION IN STEAM ENGINES." A communication from abroad by Félix
Alexandre Testud de Beauregard, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1880.
**
JOHN IMRAY, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex. IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THERMO-
DYNAMIC ACTION IN STEAM ENGINES." [A communication from abroad by Félix
Alexandre Testud de Beauregard, of Paris, France.]
In steam engines as they are usually worked there is a great loss of efficiency
in consequence of the amount of heat that escapes in the form of latent heat along
with the exhaust.steam. The object of this Invention is to reduce this loss by
employing the exhaust, or a considerable portion thereof, for working again and
again in the engine cylinder. For this purpose there are interposed between the
boiler and the cylindertwo vessels, one of themof the character of a surface condenser,
into which the exhaust steam is discharged from the cylinder, a portion of it being
condensed and the rest reduced in pressure. From this condensing vessel the steam
is drawn by an ejector worked by a jet of high pressure steam from the boiler and
delivered into the second vessel or recipient, which thus receives a supply of steam
of a pressure intermediate between that in the boiler and that in the condensing
vessel. From the recipient the steam is drawn by a second ejector worked by a
jet of high pressure steam from the boiler and delivered into the steam pipe
supplying the working cylinder. The discharge passages of the ejectors are
provided with check valves to prevent return of steam. In applying the Invention
to a compound engine the exhaust from the smaller or high pressure cylinder is
delivered by a steam ejector into the slide jacket of the larger or low pressure
cylinder, and the exhaust of the latter is partly condensed in the condensing
vessel, and the uncondensed portion is pumped back to a recipient, from which it
is drawn by a steam ejector and delivered to the slide jacket of the high pressure
cylinder. The vapour generated from the water employed in the surface condenser
is with advantage led by a pipe to the boiler fire so that its heat may be utilised,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th November
1880.
of Middlesex.
JOHN IMRAY, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THERMO-
DYNAMIC ACTION IN STEAM ENGINES." A communication from abroad by Félix
Alexandre Testud de Beauregard, of Paris, France.
In steam engines as they are usually worked there is a great loss of efficiency in
consequence of the amount of heat that escapes in the form of latent heat along
with the exhaust steam. The object of this Invention is to reduce this loss by
employing the exhaust, or a considerable portion thereof, for working again and
again in the engine cylinder. For this purpose there are interposed between the
boiler and the cylinder two vessels, one of them of the character of a surface
condenser, into which the exhaust steam is discharged from the cylinder, a portion
of it being condensed and the rest reduced in pressure.
From this condensing
vessel the steam is drawn by an ejector worked by a jet of high pressure steam
from the boiler and delivered into the second vessel or recipient, which thus
receives a supply of steam of a pressure intermediate between that in the boiler
and that in the condensing vessel. From the recipient the steam is drawn by a
second ejector worked by a jet of high pressure steam from the boiler and delivered
into the steam pipe supplying the working cylinder. The discharge passages of
the ejectors are provided with check valves to prevent return of steam. In
applying the Invention to a compound engine the exhaust from the smaller or high
pressure cylinder is delivered by a steam ejector into the slide jacket of the larger
or low pressure cylinder, and the exhaust of the latter is partly condensed in the
condensing vessel, and the uncondensed portion is pumped back to a recipient from
which it is drawn by a steam ejector and delivered to the slide jacket of the high
pressure cylinder. The vapour generated from the water employed in the surface
condenser is with advantage led by a pipe to the boiler fire so that its heat may be
utilised.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a boiler and part of an engine to which this Invention is
applied. A is the boiler; B, the cylinder, with its slide C and piston D of ordinary
construction E is the recipient and F the condensing vessel, containing water
tubes K. The pipes G and P supply steam from the boiler respectively to the
ejectors H and N, each of which has a check valve and n. The exhaust steam
from the cylinder B flows by a pipe J to the vessel F, where it is partly condensed.
The uncondensed vapour is drawn from F by the ejector N and forced into the
recipient E, whence it is drawn by the ejector H and forced by the pipe 1 to the
slide case supplying the cylinder. The vapour generated from the water in K may
with advantage be led by a pipe to the ashpit of the boiler so as to avoid waste of
its heat. Fig. 2 shews the application of the Invention to a compound engine
having a high pressure cylinder B and a larger low pressure cylinder B'.
exhaust from the low pressure cylinder 13 is in this case drawn by a pump P
through the condensing vessel F and an intermediate equalising vessel Q, and
delivered into the recipient E. From E it is drawn by the steam ejector H and
forced into the slide case of the cylinder B, which is thus supplied with high
pressure steam. The exhaust from B is also drawn by a steam ejector S and forced
with increased pressure into the slide case supplying the cylinder B'. The vapour
from the condensing vessel F is led by the pipe R to the ashpit of the boiler A.
The ejectors N, H, and S may be of compound kind, as represented in section at
The

page_text: Fig. 3, where two ejectors H and H' are shewn combined, these ejectors having
nozzles that operate successively, and having their respective check valves h and h¹.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
claim,
First. The herein described method of effecting thermo-dynamic action in steam
engines by employing the exhaust, or a considerable portion thereof, for working
again and again in the engine cylinder, its pressure being for this purpose increased
by the action of ejector jets of high pressure steam from the boiler.
Second. For effecting thermo-dynamic action in the manner referred to in the
preceding claim the use in combination with a steam engine and boiler of a partial
condenser and recipient with steam ejectors, arranged and operating substantially
as herein described.
Third. In compound steam engines the use of a steam ejector interposed between
the high and low pressure cylinders for the purpose of increasing the pressure
of the exhaust from the former to form the supply of the latter, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said John Imray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
JOHN IMRAY. (..s.)