IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND IN GENERATORS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Roberts, of Hull, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND
IN GENERATORS TO BE USED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 10th October 1861, and dated the 11th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Roberts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th April 1861.
I, SAMUEL ROBERTS, of Hull, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES, AND IN GENERATORS TO BE USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:―
The object of this Invention is to construct steam engines in such a manner
that they may generate their own steam, in order to dispense with the
ordinary boilers, or those at present used for the like purpose; also by a
simple and efficient arrangement of the parts of existing engines to attain a
similar result. I propose to employ an ordinary furnace, in which I use coal
or coke, but for the sake of economy I propose placing the fire on the hearth
of the ash-pit, and supplying it with air from a blast pipe. The cylinder of
the steam engine may be in close proximity, or attached to the side or back of
the furnace, and may be either horizontal or vertical; the upper part of the
furnace is furnished with an outer casing or jacket containing water, to be

page_text: supplied by any convenient means; at the lower part of the water casing or
jacket is attached a feed pipe, which falls beneath the furnace, and returns
upwards through the bottom of the hearth, where it is met by the lower end
of a spirally formed tube of peculiar construction, which is as follows:-The
tube may be of any desired external diameter, say, three inches, and of any
length suitable for the purpose, but the aperture at the lower extremity is to
be only about the eighth of an incb, or less, leaving a considerable substance of
metal all round the opening in the tube, gradually opening towards the upper
end, by which means the vast body of red-hot metal in the fire will have the
effect of causing the water as it passes through the narrow aperture to super-
heat the water, so that by the time the water reaches the valve and passes into
the cylinder it flashes into steam; whereas, if the bore of the pipe was to be
cylindrical, as in other tubes or pipes, the body of passing, water would
counteract the intended effect of the fire, and would not give the desired
result. When the engine is desired to be stopped, the water is to be turned off
from the feed pipe, and the water within the coil allowed to circulate by
turning on a tap connected with the valve box and a connecting pipe; thus the
superheated water runs up through the coil, and again passes in at the lower
part thereof continuously, until the engine is again put in motion. Coiled
pipes need not necessarily be used, as one or more serpentine or zig-zag pipes
may be placed at the sides of the furnace, the ends thereof in all cases
terminating in the centre or hottest part of the fire. Where desired a vertical
cylinder may be used, but the slide must invariably be placed in a horizontal
position; and in order to maintain the necessary heat within the cylinder, it is
surrounded by au outer casing or jacket, to allow the heat from the furnace to
pass through an inlet at the lower side of the cylinder and around it, passing
through an outlet at the opposite side back into the fire-box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Paten., filed
by the said Samuel Roberts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th October 1861..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ROBERTS, of Hull, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the most suitable length of the taper tubes or pipes to be from four to five feet
each, or thereabouts. One or several of these tubes are to be arranged in the
furnace in the following methods :-One pipe may be placed vertically in the
furnace with the smallest internal diameter downwards, and subject to the action of
the greatest heat of the fire, or two, or any desired number of such pipes or tubes
may be similarly arranged with suitable connections one with another as here-
after described; or one or more of these pipes may be arranged in the furnace
in a spiral, or zig-zag, or any other desirable form. The object of making
these pipes of such a construction as to their internal diameter is, that the
water they are to contain for the purpose of generating steam by their in-
creased body or thickness at such lowest parts, may acquire and maintain a
very high degree of temperature at that portion, subject, as before stated, to
the greatest heat which the furnace can exercise, and so cause the water to
circulate throughout the system of apparatus to be described, according to the
laws which govern such effects; and also that the pipe or pipes so heated,
even to a red or white heat, at such lowest part or parts may, by reason of
their increased thickness and strength, be enabled to withstand the enormous
internal pressure brought to bear upon their sides by the expansion of the
heated water. The vast body of red-hot metal enclosing such a circulating
system of water will necessarily so superheat the same that when allowed to
pass from the generator through a valve into a chamber or cylinder, it will
instantly flash into steam, and actuate the piston of a steam engine. The
pipes of straight, spiral, or zig-zag or other form may be brought into con-
junction with each other at their lowest extremities by means of a heated
chamber placed in the hottest part of the furnace. The pipes may be severally
'connected with this chamber by being screwed therein as shewn, or by
other usual methods, or when one pipe only is used, such pipe may be similarly
connected with the chamber, or it may be fed from below by pipe passing
through the ash-pit. This chamber (which I denominate a fire-box or heat-
box) when several pipes are employed, not only serves to complete their system
of circulation of the superlicated water, but being itself made of thick metal,
it is capable of similarly withstanding pressure, although at a red heat.
A
I will now proceed to describe an example of the working of my Invention,
reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings annexed bereto,
which represent a furnace enclosing a vertical arrangement of pipes, and their
connection with regard to a horizontal steam engine. Previous to lighting the
fire in the furnace, the pipe A (communicating with the heat box F, the taper
tubes or pipes B, the pipes E, K, and J to the valve regulator R, and the
heat box F, are to be filled with water by the donkey engine pump C, when

page_text: the said Samuel Roberts, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Roberts,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I, the said Samuel
Roberts, 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 ENGINES,
AND IN GENERATORS TO BE USED THEREWITH," upon the condition. (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Roberts, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Samuel Roberts, 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:-
My Invention consists in certain improvements in steam engines and steam
generators, by means of which the ordinary steam boilers at present in use
may be dispensed with, and the steam necessary for working engines gene-
rated in a more speedy, simple, and economical manner. An ordinary furnace
may be employed consuming coal or coke, or the fire may be placed on the
hearth of the ash-pit or of the tuyer, and supplied with air from an ordinary
blast pipe. The upper part. of the furnace is or may be furnished with an
outer casing or jacket surrounding the chimney, and containing water supplied
from a tank or reservoir. At the lower part of this casing a feed-pipe is
attached communicating with the heating apparatus, which consists of an
arrangement of one or several hot-water tubes or pipes of a new and peculiar
and special construction for the purpose required. These pipes or tubes are
to be made of the following form:-Their external diameter is to be uniform
throughout their length, and of any desired dimension according to circum-
stances, but I find in practice that an external diameter of about an inch and
a half is very advantageous. The internal diameter, however, of these tubes
varies throughout their length; at one end the bore should be very small. in
comparison with the other end. In the above-described dimension of tubo
the least internal diameter should by preference be about an eighth of an incb,
and the greatest about one inch or more. The number of these pipes of
course will depend upon the nature and extent of power required. I consider

page_text: such is requisite, from the water casing II by the pipe D; the donkey
engine being worked by hand or otherwise,. or by a pump connected with tho
main engine. The water casing H is supplied by hand or by a feed pump
connected with the engine. After the fire is lighted and the water in
the pipes A, B, E, K, and J, and in the beat box F, has attained a
temperature of about six hundred degrees Fahrenheit and upwards, the
engine may be commenced working; the heated water passing through the
valves R and S into the cylinder, when it flashes immediately into steam,
having partially done so in S. When the engine is not working the safety
valve V comes into operation, as may be requisite at this or any other time to
act as an escape into the water cistern II, this water case being left open at
the top. The taper pipes may be fastened or screwed into the heat box in
any suitable manner; they are about one-eighth of an inch bore at the junc-
tion therewith, increasing in diameter to the top in conjunction with the
connecting pipe K, which pipe and the pipe J may be about one inch diameter
in the bore. The taper tubes are about an inch and a half in external dia-
meter throughout, and all the pipes are of sufficient strength, as also the heat
box and valve boxes, to withstand the pressure of the heated water. The heat
box, valve boxes, and all the pipes are of wrought iron. The furnace casing is
lined with fire-brick, and the furnace chimney and water casing are of sheet
iron. The ash-pit can be closed, and the furnace, worked by a fan or bellows
blast, if found beneficial, on the principle of a smith's hearth. The feed pipe A
may be extended as a coil into the chimney, or in the furnace above the taper
pipes to obtain more heat. A blow-out pipe is to be fitted to the heat box F;
T, T, shows the situation of the fire-door; X is the furnace; P is a pressure
guage; G is the blast pipe; M, the water guage; and N, the valve box
blow cock.
By the foregoing description the working of the Invention, and the modifi-
cations which can be introduced therein, will be readily comprehended.
I provide the heat box, when desirable, with a series of tubes passing
through it, for the purpose of obtaining a greater heating surface and increas-
ing the draft. The valve boxes and the cylinder may be covered with a jacket,
and all the packings should be metallic.
The valve in the box R is worked by a double cam on the crank shaft,
actuated by a bell-crank lever or other suitable arrangement, as partly shewn
in the Drawing; the object of this being to permit a given amount of heated
water to pass into the box S, the length of the connecting rod being regulated
according to the pressure and temperature of the heated water by a right and
left-handed screw Z, as shewn in the Drawing.

page_text: It will be understood that the spiral, or zig-zag, or other form of tubes can
be employed, as before referred to, in order to fulfil similar results, and also
that some changes in the general arrangement of the furnace, with its circu-
lating system of hot-water tubes and heat box, may be devised without in any
way departing from the main principle of my Invention, as herein set forth.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I claim, the method of generating steam,
and the means of applying the same to steam engines, by the arrangement of
parts herein-before described, whereby the principle of my Invention is em-
braced; and I claim especially as my Invention, the application of pipes or
tubes of the peculiar internal construction specified, to the purpose of genc-
rating steam by superheating water, together with or separately from the
circulating system described in conjunction therewith.
I also claim the heat box and the application thereof to the tubes, as
described, and also its application to any other tube or tubes of regular bore,
in a similar manner and for the same purpose as herein specified.
I also claim the application of a smith's hearth with the blower, as described,
to steam generators.
And, finally, I claim the general arrangement and combination of parts as
specified herein, or any others substantially the same to all intents as and for
the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Roberts, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
SAMUEL ROBERTS. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX. C. M. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.