CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS BY STEAM, PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO MOTIVE MACHINERY OF OTHER DESCRIP- TIONS, WHETHER ACTUATED BY STEAM OR BY ANY OTHER MOVING POWER
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SYMINGTON, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Cooper, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of November, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Symington, His especial licence that I, the said William Syming-
ton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Symington, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS BY STEAM,
PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO MOTIVE MACHINERY OF OTHER DESCRIP-
TIONS, WHETHER ACTUATED BY STEAM OR BY ANY OTHER MOVING POWER;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William
Symington, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Symington, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improve-
ments in the machinery for propelling vessels by steam, by which machinery
I mean certain parts necessary to and connected with the steam engine used.
in navigation, consists,―
First, in a new method of effecting the cooling or refrigeration of the
injection water and condensed steam in injection engines, by refrigerating or
cooling the injection and other water from the hot well in a pipe or pipes
brought in immediate contact with the cold water in which the ship or vessel
floats, or by which she is surrounded, and so arranged that the same water
may be used in the boiler over and over again with very little loss or waste;
whereby I am enabled to obtain a constant supply of pure or distilled water
to the engine, and thus prevent in a great measure the incrustations and
deposits in the boilers of steam engines used in navigation, arising from the
use of salt water, or water in which there exists mud, chalk, or other the like
impurities.
Secondly, in a contrivance by which this supply of the same water to the
boiler may always be in the same proportion, or nearly so, to the quantity c
water converted in steam.
And thirdly, in collecting the spray thrown up by the paddles, and thereby
causing a constant flow or circulation of cold water in casings or jackets
placed round the condensers and hot well for that purpose.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said William
Symington, do hereby describe the manner in which my said improvements
are to be performed by the following statenient thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that
is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a steam vessel, and so much of its
steam engine machinery, with the addition of the pipe or pipes E, F, (which
I call refrigerating pipes,) as is necessary to show my first improvement. A,
in Figure 1, is the working cylinder; B, the condensor; C, the hot well; and
D, the air pump; E is a pipe, leading from C the hot well, directly through
the bottom of the vessel underneath it, along the hollow formed between the
heel and the under part of the vessel's side, as shewn in Fig. III., in trans-
verse section, by letters E, F, so as to lie as close thereto as possible, proceeding
towards the stern, thence returning by a sharp bend or elbow to the stem, and
from the stem by a similar elbow back into the condensor, where the pipe
ends, as represented by F, at B, in Figure 1.

page_text: +
"
The manner in which the steam is condensed by the injection water,
and again used for the same purpose, is as follows:-Before the engine is
set to work, the injection water in the pipe or pipes E, F, is prevented
entering the condensor by means of a stop-cock attached to the pipe F;
and the hot well, and pipe or pipes attached thereto, are filled with fresh
cold water to such a height in the hot well as will cause a certain float
therein to act as herein-after described. When the engine is set to work,
the injection water in the pipe at or near F is turned on, and, from the
surface of the pipe or pipes being exposed to the water outside the vessel,
is of the same temperature or nearly so as the external water itself, and will
therefore immediately condense the steam from the cylinder. The injection
water and condensed steam are then withdrawn by the air pump in the usual
way and thrown into the hot well, whence a part of it is supplied to the boiler
by means of the float before alluded to and herein-after described; but the
residue, instead of escaping as waste water from tho hot well, which is the
case with the present injecting engines, flows out into the pipe E through the
bottom of the ship, as before described, where it is immediately cooled down
by the rapidity with which the pipe or pipes is brought into contact with
constantly changing particles of cold water, as the vessel or ship progresses
with more or less speed, and thus becomes of a temperature fit to be used for
injection again. It is evident that the water in the pipe or pipes which enters
into them from the hot well at only a temperature of about ninety degrees
must, by the time it has arrived at the point where it is again to be used for
injection in the condensor, by having circulated through the length of pipe or
pipes outside the vessel, as before described, be of the same temperature or
nearly so as the external water. And thus I am euabled to use the same water
over and over again, and so prevent the necessity for using the salt water or
other water in which the vessel floats; while, in order to apply this part of
my said Invention to the usual injecting engines now in use, it is not necessary
to make the slightest alteration in the engine itself, except by the addition
of the pipe or pipes E, F, in Figure 1, and the addition of a stop-cock to
the usual waste pipe from the hot well, to prevent the condensed steam or
distilled water escaping when my plan is in operation. All that is required
to apply my plan to an ordinary injecting engine is to attach a pipe or pipes
to the hot well, which need not interfere with the ordinary discharge pipe,
carry it through the ship's bottom and along the keel, as before described,
at E, into the condenser, as shewn at F and B, or in such other convenient
situation outside the ship or vessel where they may be exposed to the action
of the external water, leaving the old injection passage into the condensor,

page_text: as well as the discharge pipe from the hot well, free to act in the event of
any injury arising to the pipe or pipes outside the vessel; in which case the
engineer has only to turn on the usual supply of injection water, and open
the usual waste pipe from the hot well, and the same process will take
place as before the pipes were attached. In order to ascertain that the
pipes are sound, and the circulation kept up, I apply a small tap or cock
to the pipe F near its entrance to the condenser, by which the temperature
of the injection water can be at any time ascertained. It is not absolutely
necessary that my said second improvements, which is a contrivance for
feeding the boiler, should be attached, although I consider it will insure a
more regular circulation. The pipes may be of copper, iron, zinc, or such
other metal as may be found best suited to the purpose, and of any shape
that will offer the least resistance to the vessel's way, but I prefer them of
copper, and round. It will be preferable in all cases to lubricate the piston
and other parts with oil instead of tallow, which will preserve the different
parts through which the steam passes, and the oil will accumulate in the
boiler, where it may be skimmed off for further use.
My second improvement, before referred to, consists in a contrivance for
equalizing the supply of hot water to the boiler with the quantity converted
into steam. This I effect by fixing a float in the hot well, as represented in
Figure II. A is the float, attached by a spindle to a sliding plate C, which
moves on friction rollers in front of the orifice leading to the feed pump, and
rises and falls freely with the rise and fall of the water in the hot well. By
this simple contrivance, those accidents, whether arising from inattention of
the engineer or the present uncertain and imperfect mode of supplying the
boiler, will be prevented.
My third improvement, before referred to, is shewn at Figure III. H is an
open trough or recipient to collect the spray which is thrown up into the
paddle box by the paddles. From this trough I conduct the water by a pipe
E into the jacket here shewn surrounding the hot well and condenser, whence
it is allowed to flow out by the pipe G through the vessel's side into the sea or
other water in which the vessel is floating, whereby a constant circulation of
cold water round the hot well and condenser is kept up.
Now, whereas it is evident that, with some slight modifications, my said
improvements are equally applicable to other than injection steam engines
used in navigation; but I so greatly prefer their use with such last-mentioned
engines, that I have not thought it necessary to describe any others; but it
may be necessary to state, that, if applied to other than injection engines, the
air pump must be connected or have communication with the end of the

page_text: pipe or pipes in which condensation is effected, for the purpose of withdrawing
the water or condensed steam.
And whereas I claim as my Invention, first, the application to steam engines
for propelling ships or vessels of a pipe or pipes brought in constant contact
with the external water in which the ship or vessel floats, or by which she is
surrounded, for the purpose of condensing the steam from the cylinder, in such
manner as will enable me to use the same water with which the engine may
be supplied at starting over and over again during the whole voyage, with very
little waste, and without causing any, or at any rate causing only very little,
deposit or incrustation in the boiler.
Secondly, the application of the float guage to the hot well, as herein-before
described.
And, thirdly, the circulation of the external water in which the vessel floats
or by which she is surrounded, thrown up by or arising from the spray of the
paddles, as herein-before described, round the condenser and hot well, and
may also be extended to the air pump.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or
disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right
and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Symington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

page_text: In the Matter of a Patent granted to William Symington, of Bromley,
in the County of Middlesex, Cooper, for his Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS BY STEAM,
PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO MOTIVE MACHINERY OF OTHER
DESCRIPTIONS, WHETHER ACTUATED BY STEAM OR BY ANY OTHER MOVING
POWER," and bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
DISCLAIMER to be entered with the Clerk of the Patents of England by the
said William Symington, pursuant to an Act passed in the fifth and sixth
years of IIis present Majesty's reign, entitled "An Act to amend the
Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions."
I, the said William Symington, do hereby declare that when the latter part
of the said before recited title was adopted it was the intention of your
Petitioner to specify certain improvements in paddle wheels which would have
been equally applicable to windmills; but your Petitioner, since the adoption of
the title of his said Invention, has been advised that the said last-mentioned
improvements are already protected by a former Patent granted to your Peti-
tioner; and for this reason your Petitioner hereby disclaims the following
words in the title of the said Invention, that is to say, "parts of which are
also applicable to motive machinery of other descriptions, whether actuated by
steam or by any other moving power."
In witness whereof, I, the said William Symington, have hereunto set
my hand, this Tenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.
To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify that William Symington, of Bronley, in the County of
Middlesex, Cooper, has applied to me for leave to enter with you the above-
written Memorandums of Alterations of part of the title and of the Specifi- 3
cation of a certain Invention, for which Letters Patent were duly granted to
the said William Symington under the Great Seal, bearing date the Seventh
day of November, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and the Specifi-

page_text: cation of which was enrolled on the 7th day of May 1836; and on considering
of the said application, and the same having been advertized in the London
Gazette on the 20th day of May, the Morning Chronicle the 20th day of
May, and the Times on the 21st day of May 1836, and no objection having
been made to the said application, I have accordingly granted leave to the
said William Symington to file his said Memorandums of Alterations of part
of the title and of the Specification of his said Invention, pursuant to the
Statute passed in the sixth year of the reign of His present Majesty, entitled
"An Act to amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions."
Lincoln's Inn, 1st June 1836.
R. M. ROLFE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1896, the aforesaid William Symington came before our
said Lord the King in His His Chancery, and acknowledged the Disclaimer
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.