IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH, AND IN THE MACHINERY USED IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Adamson, of the Newton Moor Iron
Works, Newton Moor, near Hyde, in the County of Chester,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF STEAM BOILERS AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH, AND IN THE
MACHINERY USED IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF."
Sealed the 25th April 1871, and dated the 9th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Adamson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th February 1871.
I, DANIEL ADAMSON, of the Newton Moor Iron Works, Newton Moor,
near Hyde, in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS THE CON-
STRUCTION OF STEAM BOILERS AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND IN
THE MACHINERY USED IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF," to be as follows:-
IN
My improved steam boilers are especially adapted for utilizing the
waste heat from furnaces, and consist of four or other suitable number of
vertical cones or cylinders united above to a dome-shaped cylindrical top

page_text: and connected below by pipes to promote the circulation and to allow
the mud or other deposits to be blown off. The circular plates forming
the portions of the above or other boilers are united by semi-corrugated
joints rivetted together, the corrugations being either internal or external
or by joints of the usual description. The pressure of the steam and
the level of the water are indicated by an improved compound dead
weight safety valve, consisting of a column in which is the seating of the
steam valve, and this valve contains the seating of the low water valve,
the weight of which forms part of the dead weight on the larger or
pressure valve and is placed within the boiler. A float is suspended to
a lever which acts on the spindle of the low water valve.
My improved machinery for manufacturing steam boilers consists of
a foundation plate with two movable standards placed one at each side
of a horizontal revolving face plate, on which the portion of boiler to be
operated upon after being heated is secured.
In operating upon portions of the boiler shell or flue rings I first
roll the edge true and compress or thicken it by a top roller and a pair
of side rollers, the flange is then turned down by suitably formed rollers
supported in levers or slides.
boiler end by
The semi-corrugated joints above referred to are also formed by rollers
acting on the edges of the boiler shell or flue rings. By this machine
I also make the flange on the circular plate forming the
a pair of rollers acting on the circumference of the plate.
pressure for bringing the rollers together in making the
joint is obtained by worm and wheel, or screw, or other equivalent.
The requisite
flanges or the
The above machinery is adapted for turning up the ends of the
circular portions of boilers by applying cutting tools supported in rests
and cross slides to the standards or other fixings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Adamson in the Great Seal Patent Office 30
on the 8th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
ADAMSON, of the Newton Moor Iron Works, Newton Moor, near
Hyde, in the County of Chester, Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the two accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
On Sheet 1 Fig. 1 is an elevation and Fig. 2, a plan, both in section,
of a steam boiler constructed according to my Invention. a, a, are
four vertical cones or cylinders, the upper ends of which are united to the
bottom plate 6 of the dome-shaped top c which is provided with a man-
hole and with safety valve, steam pipes, and other requisites as in boilers
of the usual construction. The lower ends of the cones or cylinders
a are connected by the pipes d to promote circulation in the various
parts of the boiler, and to allow the mud or other deposits to be blown
off by a mud cock of the usual construction attached to the elbow
pipe e.
Figs. 3 and 4 represent an elevation and plan of another of my
improved steam boilers. In this instance there are only three conical
or cylindrical portions a united to the dome-shaped top c. I wish to
observe that the number of the cones or cylinders a may be varied
according to the size of the boiler, and in some cases they may be con-
nected to a horizontal cylinder instead of to the dome-shaped top as
shewn. These improved boilers are more particularly adapted for
generating steam by the waste heat from furnaces, but they may
be employed when heated by a furnace of the ordinary description.
The circular plates forming parts of the above boilers may be united
in the ordinary manner as shewn, or by the improved semi-corrugated
joints shewn detached in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. In Fig. 5 the ends of the
plate are bent into a semi-corrugated form by the improved machinery
hereafter described, or in any other convenient manner, and the joint
is made by the curved plate f and by two rows of rivets. In Figs. 6
and 7 the joint is formed by the semi-corrugated ends of the plates
overlapping each other and united by a single row of rivets, in both these
joints the arrows indicate the direction of the products of combustion
when the flues are united by such seams as shewn in Figs. 8 and 9.
The object of these improved seams is to remove the joint from the
direct action of the products of combustion to prevent collapse, and
to give the flue or boiler a perceptible amount of longitudinal elasticity.

page_text: Fig. 10 represents a boiler, the plates forming the outer case of which
are united by my improved semi-corrugated joints.
Fig. 11 represents a part of a boiler to which my improved compound
dead weight safety valve for indicating the pressure of the steam and
the level of the water is applied. is part of the boiler, and a cast-
iron column rivetted to it. To the upper face of this column is bolted
the tube in which is the seating of the steam safety valve i, which is
secured in the external case i'. This case forms part of the dead weight
of the safety valve i, but the amount of weight can be increased to any
extent by the loose plates . The upper part of the valve i forms the
seating for the low water valve j, the spindle j¹ of which passes through
the tube and column h into the boiler, where it is weighted to the
required extent by the weights *. The valves i and j are made, by
preference, partly spherical. The spindle passes also through a slot
in the lever k, the fulcrum of which is at k¹. To this lever is suspended
the float, and this float is partly counterbalanced by the weights k³.
The upper side of the valvej is connected to the lever ³, the object of
which is to open the valve occasionally by hand.
The mode of action is as follows:-So long as the steam in the boiler
is not above the desired pressure, and the water is at or near the proper
level, the valves i and j remain closed, as shewn, but as soon as the
steam exceeds the desired limit the valves i and j with all the parts
connected thereto are raised to allow the steam to blow off through slots
in the external case ¹, and when the level of the water becomes too
low the float k³ in descending causes the left arm of the lever k to be
lowered, thereby raising the right arm thereof and bringing the upper
surface of the lever in contact with the under side of the flange **which
is connected by lock nuts to the spindle j, by this means as the water
It
lowers the valve j is opened to give notice by blowing off steam.
is evident that when the water regains its proper level the valve j is
allowed to close. I wish to observe here that the dead weight safety
valve and the float lever when taken separately form no part of my
Invention.
On Sheet 2, Fig. 12 is an elevation, Fig. 13 an end view, and Fig. 14
a plan of my improved machinery for manufacturing steam boilers.
I is the foundation plate to which are bolted the standards m and n.
The position of these standards can be regulated by the heads of the

page_text: holding down bolts fitting in the T grooves in the foundation plate.
The standards m and n are placed one on each side of the horizontal
face plate o, on which the portion of boiler to be operated upon is
secured by four adjustable jaws, as shewn, or other equivalents. The
face plate o is turned round by the machinery shewn, or in any other
convenient manner. The various rollers for forming the flange on
cylindrical and circular portions of boilers are connected to the standards
m or n; the shape of the rollers and the manner in which they are
supported and moved may be considerably modified, but the following
arrangements have been found in practice to give good results :-The
first operation that I have found requisite is to roll the edge true
and to compress or increase its thickness, so that when the flange has
been formed by a subsequent operation it may be of the original
thickness of the metal or thicker. The rollers p, q, and r, for effecting
this are shewn in Fig. 15; the roller p is supposed to revolve in a
bearing fixed to the main slide m¹ which can be raised and lowered to
suit the depth of the portion of boiler under operation by a screw and
wheels as shewn in Fig. 12. The roller q also revolves in a fixed
bearing, but the roller » must revolve in a bearing hinged to the slide m¹
so that it may be moved nearer to or further from the roller p. In
operating with these rollers the portion of the boiler with the edge
heated is secured on the face plate o, which is then set in motion. The
main slide m¹ is then lowered until the roller q comes in contact with
the heated edge of the plate to be compressed, and the roller is then
brought against the inner surface thereof, in which position it is secured
by the catch lever r¹ or other equivalent. 'The operation proceeds until
the edge of the cylinder is rolled true and the upper portion is sufficiently
increased in thickness.
In Fig. 16 I have shewn a modification of the above. In this
arrangement only two rollers are employed to effect the same or nearly

page_text: 8
stud jointed to the slide n¹ and is supported by an elastic packing, and
the roller t is mounted on an arm fixed to the cross shaft n² to which
is keyed the toothed quadrant . This quadrant is driven by the
worm f² which is fixed on the same shaft as the hand wheel . By
turning this wheel round the roller is raised off or brought closer to
the roller s as may be required. Before commencing operations the
edge of the cylindrical portion of boiler must be heated and the portion
secured to the face plate o, as before described, the standard n must be
placed so that the face of the roller s is just in contact with the outer
diameter of the portion of boiler, and the roller t must be so far from
the roller & that its lower surface may stand above the edge to be turned
down to form the flange. The face plate is then set in motion and the
attendant by turning the hand wheel & gradually brings the groove of
the roller against the inside edge of the portion of boiler on the
face plate; by continuing the descent of the roller & the edge of the
cylindrical plate is gradually bent over the angle-shaped rollers until
it stands at right angles to the body of the cylindrical plate thereby
forming the flange.
Fig. 17 represents an improved arrangement of rollers for forming the
flange on the cylindrical portion of a boiler. In this instance the roller u
is mounted on a stud fixed to the main slide n¹, and the roller w, which
has a bevel surface, is supported on a stud fixed to the slide w¹. This
slide is moved to and fro by a screw. When the heated cylindrical plate
is secured to the face plate the roller w is brought within the plate and
it is then gradually forced outwards so as to bring the bevelled edge of
the roller against the heated edge of the plate which is thus turned over
and formed into a flange on the top of the roller u.
Fig. 18 represents a pair of rollers v, v¹, suitable for making the
semi-corrugated joints shewn in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The roller is
mounted on a stud fixed to the slide n¹, and the roller o¹ is mounted on
an arm in the same manner as the roller t in Fig. 12, or on a slide
as the roller to, in Fig. 17. In rolling the flange on cylindrical plates
they are steadied by the adjustable guide rollers u', see Figs. 12, 13,
and 14.
w,
This improved machinery may also be used for making the flange on
the circular plates forming the ends and other parts of boilers. To effect
this I employ the rollers y and y¹, see Fig. 12. The former is mounted

page_text: on a stud fixed to the slide m³, and the latter is on a stud projecting
from the standard y² which is secured to the foundation plate 7. The
circular plate to be operated upon is secured to and revolves with the
face plate o, and the heated edge is bent over the roller y' by the descent
of the roller y.
The above machinery is also adapted for turning up the ends of the
circular portions of boilers by applying cutting tools to the rest z, the
said rest being supported in a cross slide connected to the main slide m
of the standard m or n, the portion of boiler being secured to and
revolving with the face plate o.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the
manner of performing the same I declare that I claim,―
First. The improved steam boilers consisting of two or more vertical
portions combined with a dome-shaped or horizontal top, as shewn and
described in reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Secondly. The improved semi-corrugated joint or seam for uniting
portions of boilers, as shewn and described in reference to Figs. 5 to 10.
Thirdly. The improved compound dead weight safety and low water
valve as shewn and described in reference to Fig. 11.
Fourthly. The general combination and arrangement of the parts
consisting of a horizontal face plate with vertical standards and slides
and suitable rollers, forming altogether a machine for bending flanges
on cylindrical and circular portions of boilers as shown and described
in reference to Sheet 2.
Fifthly. The arrangements of rollers shewn and described in reference?
to Figs. 15 and 16, for making the edge of the cylindrical portion of a
boiler true, and for compressing and increasing its thickness or any other
combination of rollers for effecting the same object.
Sixthly. The improved combination of rollers shewn and described
in reference to Fig. 17 for bending the flange on a cylindrical portion a
of a boiler.
Seventhly. The improved combination of rollers shown and described
in reference to Fig. 18, for making the semi-corrugated joints of
boilers.
Eighthly. Bending or forming the flange on circular plates forming a
parts of a boiler by means of the rollers y and y', as shewn and described

page_text: in reference to Fig. 12, or any other combination of rollers for effecting
the same object.
And lastly. The application of a cutting tool for turning the edge of
circular or cylindrical plates on the machinery above described with a
horizontal table and side standards.
८
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Adamson, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.