AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FEED
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Wilson, of the City and County of Worcester,
Civil Engineer, and George Lindsley, of the same Place, Locomotive
Superintendent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FEEDING
LETTERS PATENT to Edward Wilson, of the City and County of Worcester,
Civil Engineer, and George Lindsley, of the same Place, Locomotive
Superintendent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FEEDING
LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER BOILERS; APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE RAISING OF WATER
AND OTHER LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 17th June 1864, and dated the 21st December 1868:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Wilson and
George Lindsley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st December 1863.
We, EDWARD WILSON, of the City and County of Worcester, Civil Engineer,
and GEORGE LINDSLEY, of the same Place, Locomotive Superintendent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
FEEDING LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE RAISING OF
WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in raising water for feeding steam boilers and other
purposes by means of a vacuum in manner following, that is to say:
We fit on or connect to a steam boiler a cylindrical or other shaped closed
vessel, from which a pipe furnished with a stop-cock or valve extends into the
boiler below the water level. We also carry a pipe provided with a stop-cock
or valve from the top of the boiler or steam chest into the upper part of the
cylindrical vessel. We connect to the upper part of the vessel a feed pipe,
furnished like the others with a stop-cock or valve; and we lead this feed pipe

page_text: into a well, reservoir, or cistern containing water or other liquid, and below the
level of the liquid. Now supposing the boiler to require feeding, we shut off
communication between the vessel and the boiler, and open the other steam
and feed cocks or valves, whereupon steam fills the vessel, and passing through
the feed pipe expels the air therefrom, and fills it; we then turn off the steam
cock or valve; the steam in the feed pipe and vessel becomes condensed, a
vacuum is formed, and water or other liquid enters the vessel through the feed
pipe. The feed pipe, cock, or valve is next closed, and the others opened,
when the water will run into the boiler, the pressure of steam above and below
it being equal.
Instead of feeding a boiler or cistern on a lower level than the closed vessel
if the liquid be required to be raised above that level, then we fix an additional
pipe to it, and drive the liquid by the pressure of steam, which we admit
through the pipe communicating with the vessel, the other steam cock or valve
and the feed cock or valve being then closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Wilson and George Lindsley in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
WILSON, of the City and County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, and GEORGE
LINDSLEY, of the same Place, Locomotive Superintendent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edward Wilson and George Lindsley, Her special licence that we,
the said Edward Wilson and George Lindsley, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Wilson and
George Lindsley, 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 Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
Or FEEDING LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER BOILERS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE RAISING OF
WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that wo, the
said Edward. Wilson and George. Lindsley, or one of us, our executors or

page_text: administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, 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 we, the said Edward Wilson and George Lindsley,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being bad to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in raising water for feeding steam boilers and other
purposes by means of a vacuum in manner following, that is to say:
We fit on or connect to a steam boiler a cylindrical or other shaped closed
vessel, from which a pipe furnished with a stop-cock extends into the boiler
below the water level; we also carry a pipe provided with a stop-cock from
the top of the boiler or steam chest into the upper part of the cylindrical
vessel. We connect to the lower part of the vessel a feed pipe furnished like
the others with a stop-cock, and we lead this feed pipe into a well, reservoir,
or cistern containing water or other liquid, and below the level of the liquid.
Now supposing the boiler to require feeding, we shut off communication
between the vessel and the boiler, and open the steam and feed cocks, where-
upon steam fills the vessel, and passing through the feed pipe, expels the air
therefrom, and fills it; we then shut off the steam, the steam in the feed pipo
and vessel becomes condensed, a vacuum is formed, and water or other liquid
enters the vessel through the feed pipe. The feed pipe cock is next closed
and the others opened, when the water will run into the boiler, the pressure of
steam above and below it being equal.
. Instead of feeding a boiler on a lower level than the closed vessel if the
liquid be required to be raised above that level, then we drive the liquid after
it has been drawn into the vessel as aforesaid by the pressure of steam, which
sends water from the boiler into the vessel, and drives the liquid before it.
On readmitting steam to the vessel the water therein returns: to. the boiler...
And in order that our Invention may be carried, into effect, we proceed
to describe it with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
*
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent our closed vessel, with its connections.
When employed for. feeding boilers, this vessel must, be fixed over the boiler
or in any convenient position above the boiler. A is the vessel; B. a. suction
pipe or communication from the well, tank, or other reservoir, out of which.

page_text: the water or other liquid has to be raised; b is a stop-cock for closing this
communication at will; D is a pipe for the conveyance of the water or other
liquid when it is desired to raise it above the level of the vessel; d is a stop-
cock, fitted to this pipe; G is a pipe communicating with the steam space or
chest of a boiler 3. and 9 a stop-cock fitted to the same; His a pipe com-
municating with a high-pressure boiler, carried below the lowest level at which
the water stands in such boiler; h is a stop-cock in the pipe H. Valves may
be substituted for the stop-cocks, and may be made to act mutually by hand,
or they may be made to act by the use of bell cranks, communicating rods, and
a float, a cam, or other usual mechanical appliance for the working of cocks
or valves.
We now proceed to describe the mode of operation :-The cocks. d. and h
being closed, and 9 and 6 being open, as shewn in Figure 1, steam from the
boiler passing through the pipe G displaces the air in the vessel A, and forces
it down the pipe B to escape through the water in the well or other reservoir
until the pursuing steam comes in contact with the water in such reservoir,
when the cock g is closed, condensation takes place in the pipe B and
chamber. A, the liquid in the pipe B is relieved from pressure until the atmo-
spheric pressure upon the reservoir is so much in excess as to force the liquid
up the pipe B and into the vessel A, as shewn in Figure 2, where the
blue color represents the liquid rising in the vessel. When this vessel is filled
the cock b is closed, and if it be desired to pass the liquid raised into the boiler
the cocks g and h are opened, d and 6 remaining closed, steam passes from the
boiler to the vessel through the pipe G until there is the same pressure in
the vessel as in the boiler, when the liquid in the vessel will descend through the
pipe into the boiler, because the vessel is at a higher level. At Figure 3
the liquid colored blue is shewn running into the boiler. The cocks are then
to be readjusted, 9 and h being closed and 6 opened, when the process is
repeated as often as required. If it is wished to raise the liquid above the
level of the vessel instead of feeding it into the boiler, then, when the vessel
has been filled with the liquid from the reservoir, and the cock 6 has been
.closed, the cocks h and d are opened, when the pressure of the steam in the
boiler will force water from the boiler along the pipe H and the rose K,
Figures 4 and 5, into the vessel, which water in turn drives the liquid from
the vessel through the pipe D, as shewn in Figure 4. When the whole of the
liquid has been expelled the cock d is closed and the cock g is opened, when
the steam from the boiler will obtain an equality of pressure in the vessel
and the boiler, as before described, and the water will return to the boiler
through the pipe E, as shewn in Figure 5. At Figure 4 the blue color

page_text: represents the liquid to be raised, and the red the water from the boiler. At
Figure 5 the red color denotes the water returning to the boiler.
If the vessel is to be used exclusively for raising liquids above the level at
which it is fixed, the water from the boiler may act upon the liquid through
the intervention of a piston fitting but working freely in the vessel, as shewn
at Figure 6, where Lis the piston, and the blue color denotes the liquid being
raised, and the red color the water from the boiler.
Figure 7 represents a locomotive boiler of the ordinary description with our
improvements applied thereto.
Figure 8 is the same, with the parts of our improvements shewn in section.
As the same letters refer to the same parts in all the Drawings, the application
to locomotives of our improvements will readily be understood without further
description than to state that I, i, are a pipe and stop-cock for the admission
of steam from the blast pipe for heating the water in the chamber before it is
allowed to descend into the boiler.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we do not claim the
simple raising of water and other liquids by means of a vacuum,
but we
claim,-
First, feeding locomotive and other boilers by drawing water into a vessel
placed above the level of the boiler by steam and a vacuum, and feeding the
same into the boilers by equalizing the pressure in the vessel, all in manner
herein-before described.
And, second, raising water and other liquids above the level of a vessel in
which steam, a vacuum, and water from a boiler are made to act in manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
EDWARD WILSON. (L.S.)