IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING FLUIDS APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
GIBBS, of Crayford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, 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 Sixth day of November, in the first year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Gibbs, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph
Gibbs, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph
Gibbs, my exors, admors, 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
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING FLUIDS APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph
Gibbs, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large.
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Gibbs, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-

page_text: The object of my said Invention is to economise the fuel employed in eva-
porating water or other fluids for the purposes of generating steam distillation,
&c., and I accomplish this desirable object by adding to the bottoms of steam
or other proper-boilers-one-or-more-vertical-descending-cylinders to contain-
part of the water or other fluid, or otherwise I deepen the boiler itself, and
through and down which said descending cylinders, or part of the boiler, I
cause the heated air and flame from the fireplaces in or under the said
boilers to pass in flues in a circuitous or sinuous course, so as to compel them
to give out of the whole or nearly of the heat they contained to the water
or other fluid surrounding them before they finally escape, and thus the
cold water or other fluid which is made to enter the lower part of the
said descending cylinders, or descending part of the boiler, becomes gradually
-and-successively-heated-in-its-ascent-to-the-rest-of-the-water-contained-
in the main body of the boiler, from its coming into contact with the
continually increasing heat of air and flame from the fireplaces contained
in the said circulating flues, and thus that water enters the boilers at a high
degree of temperature, whilst any steam which may also be generated at the
time unites with the steam in the boilers, and thus the whole, or nearly the
whole, of the heat produced by the fuel being so beneficially employed in heating
the water or other fluid, of course less fuel will be requisite than when it is
consumed in the ordinary manner of heating boilers. As, however, it is desirable
to afford some examples of methods of carrying my said improvements into
effect, I shall do so by referring to the several Figures which are contained in
the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which Fig. 1 is a side view and section of
a steam boiler A, with a descending cylinder B united to its lower part or
bottom; this said descending cylinder B has several horizontal pipes or flues
C, C, &c., passed through it, and firmly secured to it, as shewn in Fig. 1, and
in the section of it, Fig. 2, which is taken at the dotted line in Fig. 1, the
flame and heated air from the fireplace D, Fig. 1, pass through the upper-
most of these said pipes or flues C, and by means of a curved aperture E
made in the brickwork surrounding the descending cylinder are conveyed into
the two next flues below C, C, Fig. 2, and so on through other curves, apertures,
and flues, until they finally arrive at the lowermost two of them, through
which they are conveyed into the chimney F, having in their course downwards
given out of the whole or the greater part of the heat they contained to the
water in the descending cylinder. But as it is the natural tendency of heated
air and flame to ascend, so in order to compel them to take a different course, or
to descend in the manner above described, it is necessary to produce an arti-
ficial draught or current in the flues and chimney, which shall be sufficient to

page_text: overcome that tendency, and this said artificial draught or current may be pro-
duced either by means of a blowing or exhausting apparatus, such, for instance,
as bellows, gasometers, pumps, centrifugal fans or vanes actuated by
inachinery, and which being well known, and not forming any part of my
Invention, need not be described here. As, however, it is necessary to produce
an ascending draught or current in the chimney F on first lighting the fire
under the boiler at D; Fig. 1, in order to get up the steam, and thus actuate
the machinery, so I have provided a flue G leading directly to the chimney,.
but which flue is afterwards to be closed by means of the damper H when
such draught or current is produced, and the steam is raised, before pro-
ceeding to force the heated air and flame to descend by means of the said
blowing or exhausting apparatus; the ash-pit door I must likewise bo opened
when lighting the fire; when this is effected, however, and in case of a blowing
apparatus being used, the ash-pit door must be closed previously to introducing
a blast of air through the pipe or tube J provided for that purpose. In case,
however, of an exhausting apparatus being employed, it must be placed on the
top or any other convenient part of the chimney, and the ash-pit be left open.
The water or other fluid is to be conveyed into the lower part of the descend-
ing cylinder B through the pipe K, and the steam passes to the engine
through the pipe L. The boiler must also be provided with a safety valve,
guage-cocks, &c., in the usual manner. In Drawing No. 2, Fig. 3 is a spherical
steam boiler A, having a descending cylinder B affixed to its bottom, and
Fig. 4 is a section thereof, taken at the dotted line in Fig. 3, shewing also the
brickwork. This steam boiler has its fireplace D inclosed within it, as shown
in Fig. 4, and a central tube M, M, open below, affords air to supply the fire.
The heated air and flame from the fire are conveyed through a curved metal
flue N into a helical or spirally winding descending pipe or flue 0, 0, which
distributes the heat through the water which is introduced into the lower part
of the descending cylinder B through the pipe K, Fig. 3, the spiral flue O, O,
finally passing into the chimney F through the pipe P, the draught or
current which compels the heated air and flame to descend the spiral pipe O, O,
being supposed to be caused by an exhausting apparatus affixed to the top or
other convenient part of the chimney F. But in case of a blowing apparatus
being used, then the bottom of the air tube M must be closed, and a pipe to
introduce the blast be provided, to introduce it just beneath the bars of the
furnace or fireplace, which, however, is not shewn in the Figures. L, Fig. 3,
is the steam pipe. This steam boiler must likewise be provided with a safety
valve, guage-cocks, &c., in the usual manner. In Drawing No. 3, Fig. 5 is
a front view of a steam boiler A, having three descending cylinders B, B, B,

page_text: affixed to its lower part; and Fig. 6 is a section of one of the descending
cylinders, taken at the dotted line in Fig. 5, and shewing its interior as being
fitted up like that shewn in Fig. 4. There are three fireplaces in this boiler, and
also two diaphragms or partitions, one of which is shewn in section at Q in
Fig. 5, and each of them has an aperture in it, as shewn at R in Fig. 6.
These partitions are introduced for the purpose, in case this boiler should be
used for a steamboat, of preventing the water in the boiler from rushing
towards one end of it when the vessel heels, and the apertures R also serve to
equalize the steam. The water is to be introduced into this boiler at the
aperture K, Fig. 5, and is partly distributed into the two other descending
cylinders through the branch pipes S, S, and its level is thereby maintained.
This boiler of course is likewise provided with a safety valve, guage-cocks, &c.,
and the heated air and flame from the three fires in it are to be compelled to
descend through the spiral tubes O, O, by an artificial draught or current pro-
duced in any of the various methods herein-before named.
Having thus shewn and described several methods of carrying my said Inven-
tion into effect, I hereby declare that I do mean or intend thereby to limit myself
to the employment of those methods only, but to avail myself of every other mode
by which my improvements in evaporating fluids can be carried into effect,
and particularly their application to the purposes of distillation and rectification,
and to evaporating fluids in open vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Gibbs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, One thousand eight hundred