IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Morrison, of the Town and County of
the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 28th July 1857, and dated the 2nd February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Morrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1857.
I, ROBERT MORRISON, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in boilers, and is carried
out as follows:-
I place stationary boilers vertically upon a cast-iron bracket, about twelve
inches in height; I make the shell of the boiler parallel, and the fire box
of a conical form, leaving from two to six inches water space between the
outer shell of the boiler and the fire box at the bottom, and taper the fire
box up to the chimney in order that it may be of the same size.
The chimney consists of two cylinders, having a water space of from half an
inch to three inches, more or less, according to the size of the boiler between
them. This chimney is made of the same strength as the boiler, so as to stand
the same pressure. Instead of pumping the feed water direct into the boiler
it into the bottom of the space in the chimney, so that the mud and
I pump
Price 8d.]

page_text: other sediment in the water will settle in the bottom of this space, whilst the
heated water will ascend to the top, whence it is delivered into the boiler
in a highly heated state and purified from sediments. By these means I
am enabled to work such a bciler for a long time, say, six months, without
being cleaned out. The mud which collects in the bottom of the water space
in the chimney will be blown off at intervals in the usual way. By this
arrangement the whole of the caloric will be abstracted and applied to
raising steam, whilst at the same time expensive brick chimnies and boiler
seats are dispensed with.
I use the same boiler for scrap and other furnaces, and so avoid the
necessity of the brick chimney now used; but, instead of having the boiler
standing upon four cast-iron pillars, seven to eight feet in height, and having
the flue from the furnace entering the parallel flue of the boiler at the bottom
(the said flue being lined with bricks up to a certain height, to prevent the
burning of the plates, as is the case with some boilers at present in use), I
place the boiler down on the ground on the same surface as the furnace
and make an opening in the side to receive the flue from the furnace.
There are several advantages attached to the boiler forming the subject
of this Invention:-
First, the great taper of the fire box presents an excellent surface to the
flame from the furnace, the heat impinging upon the plates in ascending
nearly as effectually as upon a horizontal surface, whilst the vertical position
and the mode of feeding presents any sediments depositing on the said fire
box or tube.
Second, the furnace flue being taken in at the side instead of at the
bottom, the water is below the point at which the flame enters the boiler,
hence there is no fear of burning the boiler plates.
Third, two or more furnaces can be introduced into one boiler flue, in which
case a damper must be fitted in each flue close to the boiler, besides the
damper on the top of the boiler chimney. The chimney is double as in tne
boiler first described.
The feed water in the boiler for scrap or other furnaces now being described
is also similarly supplied, and the double chimney may be continued down
inside the boiler below the water level. I put a door at the bottom of this
boiler, with means to regulate the supply of air as may be required for
combustion. At present it is notorious that the air admitted into these flues
is not sufficient for combustion, and the consequence is, that, as soon as the
volume of smoke from the furnace comes in contact with atmospheric air at
the top of the boiler chimney, a bright flame is the result.

page_text: For horizontal boilers I use conical flues beyond the fire-places or fur-
naces, and also for return flues, using the same arrangement of chimney
and feeding apparatus as I have herein-before described.
For marine boilers I use conical flués, instead of the small tubes at
present in use; the advantages of which will be that a better surface is
presented to the flames for extracting the heat in its passage, and the flues are
easily kept free from soot or coal dust inside, whilst the large spaces between
them prevent the possibility of their being salted up solid in the spaces, as
is often the case with the present boilers having sm ill tubes. Another great
evil is obviated by the use of these conical flues. If the water happen to
get below the top, they will receive no injury, from the fact that they are
rivetted to the tube plates instead of being inserted therein and caulked
over, as is the case with the present tubes, which, as is well known, as
soon as the water happens to get below the top begin to leak, and in most
instances have to be replaced by new tubes before they can be made tight.
I make the chimney of marine boilers double, leaving a parallel or tapered
water space between the two shells of the chimney, or the chimney may be
made double half of its height, or any portion of it.
Into this space I
pump the feed water, which is made to enter at such a distance from
the bottom of the chimney as will leave sufficient space below the junction
of the feed pipe for the deposit of salt and mud. To the bottom of the
said chimney I attach a blow-off pipe, to convey such salt and mud into
the sea at certain intervals. The hot water will ascend to the top of this
water space in the chimney purified to a great extent from mud and salt.
From this water space I take the feed water for the boiler, but instead of
feeding this hot and partially pure water direct into the boiler, I convey it down
the chimney through the smoke box and down through the bottom of the
boiler by a copper pipe into what I call a deposit box, which I attach to the
bottom of the boiler, of any convenient size, and I carry the end of the said
feed pipe down to within a few inches of the bottom of the box. By this
means; whatever deposit of mud or salt may not have been previously sepa
rated in the chimney and deposited in the bottom thereof, will be deposited.
in the bottom of this deposit box, whence the hot and pure water will ascend
into the boiler. To the bottom of this deposit box I attach the usual blow-
off cock, by which all deposits in it will be blown into the sea. I use the
usual scum bowls, but instead of taking the pipes out through the side of
the boiler I take them down through the bottom into deposit boxes or
chambers to which blow-off cocks are attached, as already described. By
these means I am able to keep the boilers of sea-going vessels free from the

page_text: very troublesome and destructive deposits of salt and mud at present so
objectionable in marine boilers. It is well known that so soon as a deposit
takes place upon the furnace plates and tubes they are not so efficient for
imparting the heat of the fire to the water, and in a very short time, as this
deposit thickens, the plates exposed to the action of the fire will crack, and
eventually come down. Now, by admitting pure or comparatively purewater
into the boiler, as above described, as a matter of course, I effect a saving in
fuel, since by the plates of the furnaces being always kept clear, they are in
a proper state for imparting the full benefit of the heat from the fire to the
water in the boiler. In conjunction with this, the fact that the water is
forced into the boiler nearly at the boiling point without any expenditure of
the present available heat, the result will be a further saving of fuel, a most
serious item in the present expenditure upon steamers.
I apply to these boilers double fire bars, one set above the other, part or
the whole of which may be made hollow in each furnace, for the better com-
bustion of the fuel, also fire bars with the spaces wider at the bridge. I
employ also an arrangement for moving the whole set of bars to clear them
from cinders, instead of the present mode of cleaning them with a poker. My
improved mode, herein-before described, of feeding and heating the water and
separating the salt and mud is applicable to boilers at present in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Morrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MORRISON, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Morrison, Her special license that I, the said Robert Morrison, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Morrison, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst other:) that I, the said Robert
Morrison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Robert Morrison, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists of a mode or modes of constructing steam
boilers, the chief objects of which are the economizing of fuel and space.
The stationary boilers or boilers of stationary engines to which I prefer
to apply my said Inventions are vertical, cylindrical, or conical boilers, having
vertical flues passing up through them, and chimnies at their upper ends.
And my said improvements consist in constructing such vertical flues of a
peculiar form, with the fire box at or near the bottom of it, and with a double
chimney, so as to contain water between the inner and outer plates of the
chimney to be heated before passing into the boiler. I prefer to fix one of
these boilers upon a cast-iron bracket or support about twelve inches in
height, a little more or less. The sides of the boiler may be made either
cylindrical or conical, but I prefer the cylindrical form. I make the vertical
flue passing up through the boiler of a conical form, tapering or diminishing
up towards the top, and I leave from two to six inches, a little more or less,
water space between the outer shell of the boiler and the conical flue at the
bottom. This flue I prefer to make tapered up to the top, so that the interior
of its upper or smaller end may be of the same diameter as the interior of
the chimney.
The chimney consists of two cylinders, one within the other, having between
them a water space of from half an inch to three inches, a little more or
less according to the size of the boiler. This chimney is made of the same
strength as the boiler, so as to stand the same pressure
Instead of pumping
the feed water directly into the boiler 1 pumpit into the water space surround-
ing the chimney, at a place near to the bottom of it, so that the mud and
other sediment in the water may settle into the bottom of this space, whilst
the heated water will ascend to the top, whence it passes by a feed pipe into
the boiler in a heated state. By these means I am enabled to work such

page_text: a boiler for a considerable time without the necessity of cleaning it out.
The mud which collects in the bottom of the water space round the chimney
may be blown off at intervals in the usual way. By this arrangement the
whole or greater part of the caloric evolved by the burning fuel will be
absorbed as it passes up the conical flue and chimney, and applied to generating
steam, and expensive brick chimneys and boiler seats may be dispensed with.
Such a boiler as I have described may be used in combination with a
furnace placed at one side of it. In this case the boiler may be placed on
the ground on the same level as the furnace; and I cause the flue of the
furnace to communicate with the conical flue by an orifice at or near to the
bottom of it, so that the flame and heated air from the furnace may pass up
the conical flue. The tapering form of this flue causing the interior surface
of it. to be more effectually subjected to the action of the flame rising up
from the fire box or furnace, and the flame impinging upon the plates of
the flue in ascending, facilitates the absorption of the heat through those
plates into the water within the boiler.
The flues of two or more furnaces may be introduced into the same conical
flue; in which case I recommend that a damper should be fitted into each
furnace flue close to the boiler, in addition to the damper at the top of the
boiler chimney. The double chimney with its water space may be introduced
inside the boiler below the water level of the boiler. By this contrivance
it becomes unnecessary to line the upper part of the boiler flue above the
water level with firebrick. In horizontal boilers, I use horizontal conical
flues and return flues, using the same arrangement of chimney and feeding
apparatus as I have herein-before described. For marine boilers I use couical
flues instead of the small tubes at present in use. The chimney of a marine
boiler may be made double, leaving a parallel or tapered water space between
the two shells of the chimney, and such a chimney may be made double for
half or any other part of its height. Into this space I pump the feed water,
which is made to enter at such a distance from the bottom of the chimney
as will leave sufficient space below the junction of the feed pipe for the deposit
of salt and mud. To the bottom of the chimney I attach a blow-off pipe,
to convey when desirable the salt and mud into the sea. The hot water will
ascend to the top of this water space in the chimney, freed in a great measure
from the mud and salt. From this water space I conduct the feed water
for the boiler by a feel pipe, but, instead of conducting it direct into the
boiler, I prefer to convey it by means of a feed pipe down the chimney through
the smoke box, and through the bottom of the boiler into what I call a
deposit box, attached to the bottom of the boiler, and which may be made

page_text: of any convenient size, the end of the feed pipe being carried down to within
a few inches of the bottom of this box. By these means some of the remain-
ing mud and salt not previously separated in the water space of the chimney
may be deposited in the bottom of this deposit box, whence the water will
ascend into the boiler. To the bottom of this deposit box I attach the usual
blow off cock, by which all deposits in it will be blown into the sea. I use
the ordinary scum bowls, but, instead of taking the pipes out through the
side of the boiler, I take them down through the bottom into deposit boxes
or chambers, to which blow off cocks are attached, as already described.
By these means I am able to keep the boilers of sea-going vessels more
free from the deposits of salt and mud, which are well known to be greatly
injurious to such boilers.
For high-pressure steam, and with a view to economy of fuel, I use the
upright cone boiler. For marine engines, of from seventy to one hundred
horse power, I use four cone boilers placed alongside each other in a group;
in other cases, the number to be more or less, according to the power of the
engines, say, one boiler for every twenty-five horse power, and arranged so
that one or more of thein may be used for working the engines in case of
necessity arising for repairing or cleaning the boiler.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the same letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts throughout all the figures.
Sheet 1 of the Drawings shows various boilers adapted for stationary and
marine engines and furnaces, and Sheet 2 of the Drawings shows the
application of several of such boilers, as are illustrated by Figure 1, on
Sheet 1, to the ordinary purposes of navigation.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1, of my Drawings, is a vertical section of an upright
cone flue boiler, shewing the double chimney with its water space. Figures 2
and 3 show an outside view and vertical section of the same boiler adapted to
a forge or other furnace, and fitted with a hemispherical instead of a flat top
(as shown in Figure 1), with the means employed by me for feeding and
blowing off. Figure 4 shews another modification of the same, the double
chimney with its water space being made to descend into the upper portion
of the boiler below the usual water level; and Figures 5 and 6 show the
application of the conical tubes to the ordinary marine boilers.
It will be seen by reference to Sheet 1, that the peculiar feature of this
Invention consists in allowing the heated air to pass along or up a corical
tube or flue, whereby the area of the space or flue along which the gases are

page_text: conducted is continually decreased, which causes the flames and heated air
to impinge more completely against the plates of the cone; such conical
flues possess a much greater evaporating power than ordinary flues of equal
surface.
A, Figure 1, is the outside shell of an upright boiler having the fire-bars at
the bottom of the conical flue B, the fuel being supplied at the fire door C;
the heated air, smoke, and gases pass up the flue into the chimney D, which
is shown with an outside casing E, E, for containing the feed water before it
is admitted into the boiler. The mode of feeding the boiler is further illus-
trated by Figure 3. The water being forced by the engine or other means
through the pipe H, where the supply is regulated by the feed valve I, which
admits the required amount of feed water up the pipe K into the lower part
of the water space encircling the chimney, up which water space the water
rises, and becomes more and more heated in its ascent until it reaches the
pipe L. through which and the pipe M it passes into the boiler at or about
the boiling point, thereby effecting a very considerable saving of fuel. In
ordinary cases the boiler will rest upon the brackets or supports Q,Q, but
where it is proposed to bring the heated air from scrap or other furnaces into
such conical flue boilers (for which purpose their upright form render them
peculiarly adapted), one, two, or more openings Fare made in the lower part
of the boiler, through which the flues F leading from the furnaces G pass.
A damper or dampers S, S, being employed in each of such flues for the
purpose of closing the communication with any furnace should it be laid off
or required to be disconnected for any purpose.
It will be seen that the heat of the furnace enters such a boiler at a point
where there is a great body of water protecting the plate, so that the rapid
waste of the iron, which ordinary upright boilers in like cases are subject to,
is entirely avoided.
In order to avoid to some extent the passage of flame out of the chimney,
which occurs in almost all scrap and similar furnaces by reason of the heated
gases becoming mixed with the oxygen of the atmosphere, I insert a door C
at the bottom of the boiler when used with such furnaces, which can be
regulated as may be required, so as to admit of any desired quantity of air,
and used in combination with the usual damper R. Another very desirable
object is attained by passing the water first into the space E, E, round the
chimney, namely, the separation of some of the insoluble substances with
which the feed water may be mechanically loaded before they enter the boiler,
and allowing them to settle upon a part of the chimney where the heat is
much less intense than at the bottom of the boiler, where the noxious sub-

page_text: stances would otherwise settle if not previously separated. In order to
effectually clear out the bottom of the chimney from these substances,a blow-
off valve N is applied to the feed pipe K, on opening which, and shutting the
feed valve I, the bottom of the chimney will be effectually blown through the
blow-off pipe O, and valve P performing the same office for the boiler.
Figure 4 represents another variety of such conical flue boiler with its
double chimney, in which the water space round the chimney is made to
descend into the boiler and to embrace a portion of the top of the conical flue,
in which case there is no part either of the flue or chimney exposed to the
action of the heated air which is not encased with water.
In Figures 5 and 6 these conical flues are made to perform the office of
the ordinary tubes of a marine boiler, and in all cases are inserted in such
positions that the area of the current is diminished as it proceeds in its course
to the chimney, and the gases are impelled with greater force against the
heating surface in contact with the water. The mode of feeding is similar to
that herein-before described, and in some cases it is proposed to give small
deposit chambers T, T, into which the feed water on its way to the boiler is.
made to pass, as also the lower end of the surface blow-off or scum pipe V.
These deposit chambers serve not only to free the entering feed water from a
portion of the mud and salt but also to accumulate the deposit, which is
precipitated inside the boilers. U is the blow-off cock; C is a tube for
admitting air behind the bridge of the furnace to assist combustion.
For ordinary marine purposes many important advantages may be obtained
by the introduction of groups of such conical flue boilers; and Sheet 2 of my
Drawings shews how such a combination may be effected.
The advantages to be derived from such a combination are, 1st, that steam
can be safely employed at from 60 to 100 lbs. pressure, and expanded to a
much higher amount than in ordinary cases, thereby effecting a great saving
of fuel over and above that already stated to result from the use of conical
flues; 2nd, from the extreme simplicity of the form of the flues and the
facility with which they can be cleaned out, salting up cannot occur; 3rd
their cheapness of construction will considerably reduce the first cost of the
machinery; 4th, the facility and economy with which a spare boiler can be
in roduced in case of any accident rendering one of the group unserviceable;
this would be of great importance in the case of colliers and other steamers
running between the same ports, and desiring to load and discharge with
rapidity, since 6 hours would suffice to take out one boiler and substitute a
new one, and make all the necessary connections. 5th, saving of weight;
6th, increased coal stowage.

page_text: The only difference in the combination, shown in Sheet 2, is the intro-
duction of small steam chests W, through which the top of the internal
cones B, B, are bent to bring them more easily into the common chimney D,
which is made with a surrounding water space the same as those herein-before
described.
It will be seen, however, that two or more chimneys may be used, and the
whole of the arrangements for conducting the heated gases from the cone to
the chimney may be varied according to circumstances.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would
observe, in conclusion, that, except as herein-after mentioned, I do not claim
any of the mechanical parts of the apparatus which I have described, separate
or apart from the application or use thereof, in manner and for the purposes
aforesaid; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is, the construction of steam boilers with conical flues and double chimnies,
in manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Morrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
ROBT. MORRISON. (L.S.)