IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND IN APPARATUS ADAPTED FOR CLEANING THE FLUES OF BOILERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Norman Willis Wheeler, of Brooklyn, in the
County of Kings and State of New York, United States of America,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND IN APPARATUS
ADAPTED FOR CLEANING THE FLUES OF BOILERS."
Sealed the 18th May 1866, and dated the 9th December 1865.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Norman Willis Wheeler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 9th December 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NORMAN
WILLIS WHEELER, of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State of New
York, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS AND IN APPARATUS ADAPTED FOR CLEANING THE FLUES OF BOILERS,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have
made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Norman Willis Wheeler, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification under my hand and
seal fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:
The first part of my Invention relates to boilers of the vertical tubular
type, and consists in providing a complete series of man-holes with covers
extending around the entire shell at or near the level of the furnace
crown, the openings being reinforced so as to give the proper strength
to the structure.
The second part of my Invention consists in the use of a circulating
pipe extending up from the water bottom through the furnace and through
the crown sheet, so as to allow an active current of water through a
central space thereby ensured between the vertical tubes as herein specified.
The third part of my Invention consists in a peculiar construction of
the parts of the grate in combination with the circulating pipe and circular
furnace as specified.
The purposes of the first, second, and third parts of my Invention are
to provide means of access to the crown sheet and tubes or flues, to faci-
litate the circulation of water within the boiler, and to provide grate bars
in such form that in a round furnace any section will fit in any part of the
grate.
The fourth part of my Invention consists in a moveable case open at
both ends, containing a nozzle connected to the same or a different boiler,
and adapted to be applied successively to different flues, so as by dis-
charging a powerful blast of steam to induce an active movement of the
air through the flue or flues to which it is applied and leave the remaining
flues comparatively unaffected.
In some instances and under favorable conditions vertical tubular
boilers have been worked with good economical results, but in most cases
they have been the cause of much trouble from the difficulty or impossi-
bility of properly cleaning the crown sheet of the furnace and the tubes,
and where the boilers were of great diameter from defective or languid
circulation of the water over the crown sheet and about the lower parts
of the tubes. This difficulty is greater when the water used contains a
large quantity of foreign matter.
The usual way of clearing the flues of steam boilers of soot and other
deposits is to sweep them out with a brush fixed to the end of a long
handle, the use of which requires that no object shall be in the line of the
flues within their own length of the flue sheet: Another way is to fix the
Brush upon a jointed rod atid unfold the joints as the brush is inserted,
aild vice versa, which is a troublesome and dirty opération. Another way

page_text: is to fix the brush to one end of a rope and a weight at the other, the
weight being thrown through each flue by one person, while another
receives the weight and hauls the brush through, a more troublesome and
dirty operation than the other. And yet another plan has in some
instances been resorted to, viz., to fix a steam nozzle in such a way that
by a heavy jet of steam directed up the chimney a very strong draft
would be created through the flues; but this last plan is defective, inas-
much as the flues will seldom or never be equally clogged, and those most
clogged will get the most draft to clear them.
I will now proceed to describe what I esteem the best means of carrying
out my Invention. The accompanying Drawings, with letters of reference
marked thereon, form a part of this Specification, in which Figure I. repre-
sents a sectional plan of a boiler constructed according to my Invention ;-
Figure II. a vertical section of the same; Figures III. and IV. a plan and
a section of a modification of some of the details, and Figure V. a plan of
a portion of the fire-grate; Figure VI. is a sectional elevation on a larger
scale, showing my apparatus or instrument for cleaning the flues of
boilers, and Figure VII. a plan of the same, like letters. indicating the
same parts in all the Figures.
I rivet to the shell a, a, at or near the level of the crown sheet a series
of man-hole frames c, c, etc., and cut corresponding apertures through the
shell within the frames, and to the head of each frame I fit man plates,
one of which is shown in place at c³, the metal of which the frames c, c,
etc. are composed reinforcing the shell to the extent to which it was
weakened by cutting the apertures through it in the same manner as is
usual in constructing man-holes, and I make these frames and their man-
holes and the apertures through the shell a, a, of about the size and
number represented, so as to afford access to all parts of the crown sheet
and to the sides of the furnace D, D, and to at least the lower portions of
the tubes B, B. These apertures afford access with the ordinary scaling
and cleaning tools to the crown sheet of the furnace D.
In all examples heretofore within my knowledge there have been at
most a few small hand-holes or plug-holes made in the shell near the top
of the furnace, affording access to but small portions of the crown sheet,
the limit to the number and size of such holes being the required longi-
tudinal and circumferential strength of the shell; but by my Invention,
in consequence of the reinforcement of the shell by the frames c, d, etc.,
the apertures may be increased in size to that of an ordinary man-hole, or
beyond, and in number sufficient to accomplish the result desired, without

page_text: materially weakening the shell. In Figures I. and II. I have shown the
frames c, c, as made of plate metal, flanged and riveted, but when proper
cast metal can be procured I prefer to rivet on cast frames, such as are
shown in Figures III. and IV., with the stays o, o, o, cast in one with the
frame to reinforce the frame itself as against longitudinal strain upon the
boiler. These frames may be made of ordinary cast iron; but as that
metal expands and contracts under the same range of temperatures at
widely different rates as compared with wrought iron, of which the shell
would usually be made, the strain upon the rivets which secure the frame
to the shell would be very great, and would in a short time cause much
and annoying leakage; hence I prefer that the frames be made of metal
which contracts and expands as near as may be equally with the metal of
the shell, for instance, malleableized cast iron, or by preference Bessemer
steel.
To facilitate the circulation of water within the boiler I connect the
water bottom with the crown sheet by the circulating pipe.g, which pipe
also affords support for the grate bearer K, K, the pipe g being in or near
the middle of the furnace, the obvious effect being a strong current of
water passing upward through the pipe g when a fire is burning upon the
grate j,j, i,i, which current will supply water for cópious circulation
among the lower ends of the tubes B, B. In small boilers the pipe g will
not be necessary, but as the diameter is increased so will be increased the
usefulness of the said pipe.
'
In Figure V. I have shown a plan of one of the sections of my improved
grate. All the parts of a section may be cast in a single piece, and made
to rest upon the proper bearers K, K, etc. This grate, when in place and
considered as a whole, is annular, and the sections are bounded by radial
lines for each section. I make two or more bearer bars j, j. cast in one
with a series of segmental bars i, i, &c. of such size that each section will
pass into the furnace through the firing doors E, E, or through the ash-pit
doors ff, and fit in any position, a given number of sections forming a
complete annular grate. I thus avoid the difficulties and expense due to
the usual plan of making circular grates divided into sections with
boundaries parallel to a given diameter of the boiler, in which especial
sections will fit only in especial positions.
Referring to Figures VI. and VII., the pipe or case w, open at both
ends, is made of such diameter and form that one end will fit upon the
flue sheet p, and enclose the ends of one or a limited number of flues, the
pipe w being fitted with a handle g of any convenient length and form, a

page_text: steam nozzle r, with its final axis parallel or nearly so with the axis of the
pipe w, and a flexible or jointed steam pipe s connected by a stop-cock
with any steam boiler having a pressure within it greater than one atmo-
sphere. The part of the pipe w may be of any curve below the nozzle r
to accommodate the direction of the chimney in relation to the flue sheet.
Now if the instrument be connected as abovesaid, and steam turned on so
that a strong jet issues from the nozzle r, a strong current of air or gas
will be produced, flowing through the pipe w in the direction of the
arrows, due to laws well understood and often applied in obtaining a draft
in chimneys, and if the cleaner be placed in the position shown in
Figure VI. a strong current will be produced through the flue t sufficient to
clear it of any lodgement of soot, and by means of the handle and accom-
modation of the flexible or jointed pipes the instrument may be applied
successively and easily to every flue in a boiler and applied to either end
if within reach; by reversing the position I can induce the current in either
direction, thus effectually removing any loose matter lodged therein.
Having described my Invention, what I claim as new and useful, and for
which I desire to secure Letters Patent, is as follows:-
First, I claim a series of man-holes guarded by the frames c, c, when
applied to the shell of a vertical tubular boiler in a series extending
around, substantially in the positions and for the purposes described.
Second, I claim the circulating pipe g in combination with the water
bottom and the crown sheet of the furnace D, D, and with the tubes B,
all as herein specified.
Third, I claim the annular or segmental grate i in combination with the
round furnace D and the circulating pipe g, substantially as and for the
purposes described.
Fourth, I claim the combination of the case w, nozzle r, and flexible
or jointed pipe s, constructed substantially as described, and adapted to
be used in connection with a steam generating device in clearing flues, as
herein set forth.
NORMAN WILT IS WHEEL ED
NORMAN WILL IS WHEELED
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