IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS."-A communication from
abroad by Samuel Pierce, of Troy, in the State of New York, and United
States of America.
Sealed the 28th June 1859, and dated the 4th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th May 1859.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
It has long been known that the discharge of jets of atmospheric air above
the fire to consume the combustible gases evolved from the fuel conduces
greatly to the economy of fuel, as without this a very large portion of the
combustible matter escapes from the chimney in the form of smoke and
carbonic oxide; but serious difficulties have been experienced in the
introduction of the jets of air. If the jets are introduced too far from the
surface of the fire, the required ignition will not take place, and if applied so
near and in such manner as to induce the thorough commingling of the
atmospheric air and combustible gases at a sufficiently high temperature
to insure thorough combustion, the apparatus employed for the discharge

page_text: of the jets of air is exposed to such a high temperature as to be thereby
destroyed in a very short time. For these reasons very little use has been
made of this method of economising fuel and of avoiding the nuisance of
smoke.
The object of the present Invention, particularly as regards the combustion
of coal, is to obviate the difficulties heretofore experienced in the combustion
of the inflammable gases, and the Invention consists in the employment of
perforated air tubes in the fire chamber and above the fuel, which tubes
receive atmospheric air from outside the fire chamber, and discharge it in
numerous small jets among the gaseous products of combustion. The per-
forated air tubes are each enclosed within or surrounded by a water tube
connected with the water legs or other water spaces of the boiler. The air
tubes are also provided inside with hollow stay bolts which form passages for
the discharge of the numerous jets of atmospheric air among the gaseous
products of combustion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, 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 STEAM BOILERS," being a communication from
Samuel Pierce, of Troy, in the State of New York, and United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Newton, by an instrument. in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: 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 William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
It has long been known that the discharge of jets of atmospheric air above
the fire to consume the combustible gases evolved from the fuel conduces
greatly to the economy of fuel, as without this a very large portion of the
combustible matter escapes from the chimney in the form of smoke and
carbonic oxide; but serious difficulties have been experienced in the intro-
duction of the jets of air. If the jets are introduced too far from the surface
of the fire, the required ignition will not take place, and if applied so near and
in such manner as to induce the thorough commingling of the atmospheric air
and combustible gases at a sufficiently high temperature to insure thorough
combustion, the apparatus employed for the discharge of the jets of air is
exposed to such a high temperature as to be thereby destroyed in a very short
time. For these reasons very little use has been made of this method of
economising fuel and of avoiding the nuisance of smoke.
The object of the present Invention, particularly as regards the combustion
of coal, is to obviate the difficulties heretofore experienced in the combus-
tion of the inflamable gases, and the Invention consists in the employment of
perforated air tubes in the fire chamber and above the fuel, which tubes receive
atmospheric air from outside the fire chamber, and discharge it in numerous
small jets among the gaseous products of combustion. The perforated air
tubes are each enclosed within or are surrounded by a water tube connected
with the water legs or other water spaces of the boiler. The air tubes are also
provided inside with hollow stay bolts, which form passages for the discharge
of the numerous jets of atmospheric air among the gaseous products of
combustion.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section
through the centre of a locomotive boiler, with the improvement applied thereto;
Figure 2 is a vertical cross section at the line x, x, of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a
vertical longitudinal section through the centre of one of the air supplying tubes;
and Figure 4, a vertical cross section at the line y, y, of Figure 3; Figures 3
and 4 being drawn on a larger scale, the better to exhibit the construction.

page_text: The Invention is represented as applied to that class of boilers known as
locomotive boilers, but it will be obvious that it can be applied in the same
manner to any other class of steam boilers. The fire-chamber A of the said
boiler is surrounded in the usual manner with water legs or spaces b, c, d, at
the sides front and back, communicating with the water in the body of the
boiler f, through which the smoke flues D pass horizontally from the fire-
chamber to the smoke box E, leading to the chimney.
Within the fire-chamber and above the fire I place a series of tubes I,
extending from the front to the back water leg or space, but instead they may
be placed across the fire-chamber, and made to communicate with the two
side water legs, or they may be placed both longitudinally and transversely.
Each one of these tubes is double, consisting of an outer tube I attached to
the inner plates of the water legs, and communicating with the water in the
legs, and the inner tube I¹ is of less diameter, so as to leave a sufficient space
between the two for the free circulation of water; one end 12 (see Fig. 3) is
closed, and the other passes through the water leg, and is secured to the outer
plate of the boiler, and communicates with the atmosphere outside, or if desired
with a suitable blowing apparatus. Both the inner and the outer tubes are
connected by numerous hollow stay bolts i, which not only hold the two tubes
concentric with each other, but form numerous small passages for the air,
which entering the inner tube from the outer atmosphere, or from a suitable
blower, is discharged in numerous small jets among the gaseous products of
combustion above the fire, and before these products have travelled so far as
to lose the intensity of heat which is necessary to insure combustion when
'mingled with the jets of air. As the spaces between the inner and the outer
tubes communicate at both ends with water in the boiler, and these tubes are
inclined, the heat to which they are exposed will cause a rapid circulation of
the water, which will carry off the heat, and prevent the metal from being
injured, notwithstanding the close proximity to the fire. In this way air may
fire, where it will be
same time to protect
be supplied to the combustible gases directly over the
sure to ignite and thoroughly consume them, and at the
the apparatus employed for this purpose from the injurious action of the
intense heat required to generate the steam. And although the tubes I, I, as
are described, being inclined in order to insure the circulation of the water by
which they are protected against the injurious action of the intense heat, this
has only been done because it is deemed the best mode of application, but
any other mode of connection which will insure the circulation of the water
through the space between the inner and the outer tubes may be substituted,
and with this view it has been contemplated to place the said double tubes in

page_text: a horizontal position, and to connect the space between the inner and the
outer tubes with the water in the upper part of the boiler by branch tubes, so
as to effect a connection of such spaces with the water in the boiler at different
levels, in order that the water may enter such space at the lower level, and
by rarefaction be made to pass through and be discharged with the steam
generated therein at a higher level; other and equivalent modes of application
may be substituted for the plans above shewn and described.
I do not claim as new the application of air in numerous small jets by
means of perforated tubes in the fire chamber of steam boilers; nor do I wish
to limit my claim to the placing of such tubes within the fire chamber
(although that location is best), so long as they are placed above the fire to
discharge the jets of air among the gases evolved where they are at an intense
heat; nor do I claim the use of hollow stay bolts for connecting tubes or other
vessels; nor do I claim the circulation of water to prevent metal from being
injured by the action of intense heat; but what I do claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the employment of air tubes placed in or near the
fire chamber of a steam boiler, as described, in combination with the sur-
rounding water tubes connected with the water legs or water spaces of the
boiler for the free circulation of water, and connected with the inner air tubes
by means of hollow stay bolts to discharge jets of air within the fire chamber,
as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
5 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)