CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Burrows, of Wigan, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES."
Sealed the 19th January 1858, and dated the 24th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Burrows at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th July 1857.
I, JAMES BURROWS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention may be adapted to steam engines in general, and is parti-
cularly applicable to all kinds of condensing engines, especially such as are
employed for the purposes of marine navigation. My improvements consists
in the novel application, employment, or use of a refrigerating apparatus to be
suitably arranged in connection with the air pump and the condenser, for the
purpose of cooling the water used for injection into the condenser after it has
passed through the condenser and air pump, so that I am enabled continuously
to use the same water over and over again (in its distilled state), a portion of
which water is being constantly supplied to the boilers generated into steam,
and after passing through the engine is condensed in the usual way, and
thereby preventing as much as possible any change in the water after the

page_text: boilers and cooling apparatus have been once supplied with pure water, and
consequently considerably diminishing or preventing the evils arising from the
effects of deposit or incrustation. The refrigeration apparatus may proceed
from a receiver or chamber in connection with the air pumps, or from the cis-
charge of the air pump, as a continuous coil of piping, sufficiently long to
insure the required degree of cooling, such coil of pipes passing through a
chamber or stream of cold water, and thus the injection water within the coil
of pipes will be cooled by conduction without being exposed to evaporation or
allowed to flow away, the water being led or conducted (after cooling again
to the condenser for injection, and so on continuously. It will be evident that
the form, construction, or particular arrangement of this refrigerating or cooling
apparatus may be varied to suit the several circumstances and situations
wherein it may be applied and employed; the above described being the
simplest and perhaps the most generally applicable arrangement of the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Burrows in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BURROWS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS 1ler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Burrows, Her especial license that I, the said James Burrows, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Burrows, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES," upon the
the condition, amongst others, that I, the said James
Burrows, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Burrows, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
My Invention may be adapted to steam engines in general, and is parti-
cularly applicable to all kinds of condensing engines, especially such as are
employed for the purposes of marine navigation. My improvements consist in
the novel application, employment, and use of a refrigerating apparatus to be
suitably arranged in connection with the air pump and the condensor, for the
purpose of cooling the water used for injection into the condensor after it has
passed through the condensor and air pump, so that I am enabled continuously
to use the same water over and over again (in its distilled state), a portion of
which water is being constantly supplied to the boilers generated into steam,
and after passing through the engine is condensed in the usual way, and
thereby preventing, as much as possible, any change in the water after tho
boilers and cooling apparatus have been once supplied with pure water, and
consequently considerably diminishing or preventing the evils arising from tho
effect of deposit or incrustation. The refrigerating apparatus may proceed
from a receiver or chamber in connection with the air pump (or direct from
the discharge of the air pump), and consists of a continuous coil of piping
sufficiently long to ensure the required degree of cooling surface; such coil of
pipes passing through a chamber or stream of cold water, and thus the injec-
tion water within the coil of pipes will be cooled by conduction without being
exposed to evaporation or allowed to flow away; the water being led or con-
ducted (after cooling) again to the condensor for injection, and so on con-
tinuously. It will be evident that the form, construction, or peculiar arrange-
ment of this refrigerating or cooling apparatus may be varied to suit the
several circumstances and situations wherein it may be applied and employed;
the above described being the simplest and perhaps the most generally appli-
cable arrangement of the same.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale
of about one inch to a foot. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side view, shewn in
section, illustrating the arrangement of the refrigerating or cooling apparatus
in connection with the air pump and condensor as applied, for example,
to engines employed for marine purposes. In Fig. 1, a, a, is a chamber
or vessel, having its ends open for the ingress and egress of the water;
this chamber is provided in its interior with a number of tubes b', 6',
arranged in any suitable manner which may be contrived to present the

page_text: greatest surface to the hot water passing around them, and any number of
such cisterns or vessels may be connected as at a', a', for the like purpose of
obtaining a greater or sufficient cooling surface at the ends of the chambers
where the cold water is admitted; a double rose or grid b is placed to prevent
the entrance of any extraneous matter which would obstruct the free course of
the stream. At the lowest extremity or surface of these chambers is con-
nected the pipe c, the opposite end of which is supplied with a tap and nozzle d,
projecting into the condensor e, at a point near to the aperture by which
the used steam passes from the cylinder to the condensor. The valve f,
situated at the lower surface of the condensor, allows of the passage of the
condensed steam into the air pump g, which is of an ordinary kind, and
furnished with a discharge pipe h, terminating in the refrigerating apparatus.
The cooling apparatus may casily be disconnected, and the several discharges
and supplies effected as in an ordinary condensing engine, in the event of any
disarrangement of the apparatus. At the upper end of the air pump g is a
delivery valve i, by which the water drawn from the condensor by the air
pump is discharged into the hot well or vessel k, which is in connection with a
chamber, communicating with the chamber a, a, the water being forced
through the pipes or tubes, and injection tap, and into the condensor by atmo-
spheric pressure. The hot well k, and chamber 7, being provided with air
pipes, into and by means of which particles of air may freely escape, whereby
also the pressure of the atmosphere is allowed to force the water through the
injection pipe, &c.
That the action of the apparatus and passage of the water may be more
clearly seen, I will proceed to describe the continuous course of action.
Supposing tubes in the chambers a, a, to be fully charged with cold water
(shewn by the dark blue lines), which, if applied to a marine engine may be
sea water, and kept in a running stream by the motion of the ship through the
water, or in a stationary engine by means of a force pump or head of water,
the water to be cooled is brought from the hot well k, and passing around the
tubes in the chambers a, a, until cooled, it then passes along the pipe c, and
up through the injection nozzle d, so that as the steam comes from the
cylinder it becomes condensed, and falling to the bottom of the condensor in a
warm state, is discharged through the valve f into the air pump, by the action
of which it is returned to the hot well and thence to the chambers a, a, to be
again cooled for injection; thus, a continuous process of generation into steam
and condensation is performed by the same water, less the loss by leakage or
accidental causes, without its purity being impaired by contact with any other.
In conclusion I would remark, that although this Invention is more parti-

page_text: cularly useful in those engines employed in marine navigation, as herein
described, yet it is equally applicable to all kinds of condensing engines, but
more especially so to those which may be disadvantageously situated for
obtaining a supply of pure water, and also that the apparatus may be so con-
structed as to force the stream of cold water around the tubes (or other vessels
that may be used to separate the hot and cold fluid, and the hot water made
to pass through the tubes, such being the reverse of the mode before described,
but the result in each being the same, namely, that of causing the hot water
delivered by the air pump to be so reduced in temperature that it may be in-
jected to condense the steam in the condensor, the supply required for the
boiler being drawn from the hot well.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method I prefer for carrying the same into practical and useful effect, I wish
it to be distinctly understood that I claim the novel application and use of the
refigerating apparatus of whatsoever form, construction, or arrangement the
vessel containing the cooling surface or surfaces, or whatever the disposition or
form of such surface or surfaces may be, so long as the main features of my
Invention be maintained, whereby I am enabled to sufficiently cool the water
delivered from the air pump to render it serviceable for injection, and by using
the same water over and over again to keep the water returned to the boiler
through the feed pipes as pure and free from contact with salt or other im-
purities, substantially as herein-before described, set forth, and fully exhibited
in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Burrows, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JAMES BURROWS. (L.S.)