IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR STEAM GENERATORS, AND IN STEAM ENGINES."
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Neville, of the City and County of the City
of Lichfield, Surveyor and Civil Engineer, and William Smith Dorsett, of
Aldridge, near Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR STEAM GENERATORS,
AND IN STEAM ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Neville and
William Smith Dorsett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th February 1858.
We, THOMAS NEVILLE, of the City and County of the City of Lichfield,
Surveyor and Civil Engineer, and WILLIAM SMITH DORSETT, of Aldridge, near
Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR STEAM GENERATORS,
AND IN STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in steam boilers or steam generators consist of the
following method of constructing and working the said boilers or generators.
We place around the furnace or fire-box a cistern or reservoir containing the
water to be converted into steami. The said water is heated by the fire to a
temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
or to a boiling heat. The water thus heated is injected by a force pump into
a highly heated cylindrical or other shaped vessel or generator, made by
preference of copper, and defended by a jacket or casing of iron. The said
generator is maintained at the required temperature by the furnace, and the
injected water, by being passed through a rose or otherwise, is divided into a

page_text: spray as it enters the generator, so as to come in contact with the whole
internal heated surface, by which it is immediately converted into steam of
high pressure. The said steam passes through a series of heated tubes, whereby
its temperature is raised, and any suspended particles of water vapourized;
it thence passes to a dome-shaped reservoir, and from the latter to the
cylinders of the engine. At each stroke of the piston of the engine a portion
of the water is injected into the generator. On starting the engine the
injecting pump may be actuated by hand. The said pump is constructed so
that the quantity of water it delivers can be regulated with great nicety.
Either one of the boilers or generators described may be employed alone or
two or more of them may be combined.
Our improvement in steam engines consists in applying thereto a horizontal
fly wheel instead of the vertical one ordinarily employed. The horizontal
fly wheel to be attached to the main shaft of the engine. By the use of a
horizontal fly wheel much space may in some situations be saved.
. Both our boiler or generator, and improved steam engine are especially
adapted for marine purposes, and to effect a great saving in fuel and other
expenses connected with steam navigation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Neville and William Smith Dorsett in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
NEVILLE, of the City and County of the City of Lichfield, Surveyor and Civil
Engineer, and WILLIAM SMITH DORSETT, of Aldridge, near Walsall, in the
County of Stafford, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and. successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Neville and William Smith Dorsett, Her special licence,
that we, the said Thomas Neville and William Smith Dorsett, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Neville
and William Smith Dorsett, our 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM BOILERS OR STEAM GENERATORS, AND IN STEAM ENGINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Neville and William
Smith Dorsett, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, 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 we, the said Thomas Neville and William Smith
Dorsett, 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:-
Our improvements in steam boilers or steam generators and in steam-
engines are illustrated in the combined steam boiler and engine represented
in the accompanying Drawing; Figure 1 being a side elevation, Figure 2 an
end elevation, Figure 3 a plan, Figure 4 a longitudinal section, and Figure 5
a transverse section of a steam engine and steam boiler constructed according
to our Invention. The same letters are employed to indieate the same parts
in the various Figures.
a is the furnace or fire-box, and is the door of the same. The heated air
and products of combustion pass from the furnace a in the direction indicated
by the arrows in Figure 4, and escape by the flue or chimney c, the said fire
effecting the generation of steam in the manner herein-after explained. On
either side of the passages along which the heated air from the furnace passes
cisterns or reservoirs, marked d, are situated, the said cisterns or reservoirs
communicating by means of the channel e with each other. The said cisterns
or reservoirs d and channel e are filled with the water to be converted into
steam, the said water being maintained at or near the boiling point by means"
of the heat from the furnace a. The water thus heated is injected by means
of the force pump f into the generator, which said generator consists of two
concentric tubes 9. h. The fire from the furnace passes through the interior
of the tube h, and also circulates about the exterior of the tube g, the fire
gaining access to the whole exterior of the tube 9 through the passage i:
The water to be injected after passing from the force pump through the
valve k enters the narrow channel 7, passing along the top of the tube g, and
is delivered through a series of holes, the positions and directions of which
will be understood by an inspection of Figures 4 and 5.
By the arrangement described the water is thrown in the form of a spray

page_text: upon the tube h, and is immediately converted into steam, which said steam
passing along the annular space enclosed between the tubes 9 and h into the
space o around the fire-box, where there is always a small quantity of water
in a state of vaporization. The steam accumulates in the dome m, escaping
into the dome m through the passages n. The dome m being in communication
with the jacket o, the steam becomes superheated. As the water is injected
into the generator at a point distant from the fire, the steam produced in
passing to the dome m passes through the most strongly heated portion of the
generator into the space o around the fire-box, whereby any suspended particles
of water are vapourized. The force pump f is worked by an excentric p on
the main shaft of the engine.
We prefer to make the generator g, h, and fire-box a, of copper, and defend
one or both of them by a jacket or case of iron, but we do not limit ourselves
to the use of any particular material in making the said generator and fire-box,
nor do we limit ourselves to the precise figure of the said generator and
fire-box.
On starting the engine the force pump f may be actuated by hand, for
which purpose the shaft q may be turned by means of the fly wheel r; or the
pump may be so constructed as to be capable of being readily ungeared
from the said shaft q. The force pump f may be so constructed that the
quantity of water it delivers at each stroke can be regulated with great nicety;
or the quantity of water injected may be regulated by the stop-cock s; or the
supply of water may be regulated by a governor of the ordinary construction
driven by the engine. Two or more generators with their fire-boxes may be
connected together, the shaft of the engine being situated (when two are
employed) between them.
Our improvement in steam engines consists in applying thereto a horizontal
fly wheel r, instead of the vertical one ordinarily employed. The said horizontal
fly wheel is attached to the main shaft q, for the purpose of regulating the
motion of the engine.
By the arrangement of the parts of the engine as represented, and the use
of the horizontal fly wheel r, much space is saved. Both our steam boiler or
steam generator and steam engine are especially adapted for marine, purposes.;.
our plan being to drive the screw shaft direct from the horizontal fly wheel, as
shewn in Figure 2, by their use a great saving may be effected both in space,
and in fuel, and expenses connected with steam navigation. The cylinder of
the steam engine is marked t; the piston rod u is geared in the usual manner
to the crank w on the main shaft of the engine. The slide valves vare
worked by a connecting rod a geared to the crank of the engine at z; y is bevil

page_text: gearing, by which the rotation of the vertical shaft q is transmitted to the
horizontal shaft 1.
Our steam boiler or generator is furnished with safety valves, guages,
thermometer, and damper, by which to regulate the heat of the generator,
and all other necessary and usual appliances, and the steam engine is provided
with reversing gear and the other appliances usually attached to steam engines,
but as the said valves, guages, gearing, and the other appliances are well
known and commonly employed for like purposes, we do not think it necessary
to describe the same.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not
limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention; but
we claim as our Invention,-
Firstly, the improvements in steam boilers or steam generators, herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is, to say,
a steam boiler or steam generator in which the water to be converted into
steam is first heated to a boiling or nearly boiling heat, the said heated water
being injected in a divided state into a highly heated vessel or generator, and
the said water converted into steam.
Secondly, the improvement in steam engines, herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, applying to steam
engines a fly wheel working in a horizontal plane.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Neville and William Smith
Dorsett, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS NEVILLE.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM SMITH DORSETT. (L.S.)