IMPROVEMENTS IN INTRODUCING AND HEATING THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN EXTRACTING AIR FROM SAME BEFORE INTRODUCTION
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McNeil, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent,
Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INTRODUCING AND HEATING
THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN EXTRACTING AIR FROM SAME
BEFORE INTRODUCTION,"
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John McNeil at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th April 1880.
"IMPROVEMENTS
JOHN MONEIL, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer.
IN INTRODUCING AND HEATING THE FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS, AND IN
EXTRACTING AIR FROM SAME BEFORE INTRODUCTION."
This Invention relates to improvements in introducing and heating the feed water
of steam boilers, and in extracting air from same before introduction.
According to my Invention, which I will now proceed to describe with the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, I place between the feed pumps and the boiler n
cylinder or chamber A. The feed water under pressure from the pumps enters at
the lower part of this chamber by suitable pipe B, and rises through tube C, meeting
just beyond the open mouth thereof one or more splash plates D (three are shown),
against which the stream of water strikes, and is thus broken up, the air contained
in the water being thus more readily liberated. The upper end of tube C is
contracted to increase the velocity of the stream of water issuing from it. The
splash plates D I prefer to form of a series of inclined parallel plates of metal with
spaces between one another. Above plates D is a compressed air chamber E, into
which the air liberated from the feed water rises. At the top of this chamber is a
valve F, which can be regulated to act at any desired pressure, and so allow of the
escape of the air when that pressure has become exceeded. The chamber may thus
be kept from filling with water, the height of which may always be seen through
water gauge G. A pressure gauge H is also provided to indicate the pressure
within the chamber. The water leaves chamber A from the lower end thereof, and
passes by pipo I to the boiler. If desired, the apparatus described may be shut off,
and the feed water pass direct to the boiler by pipe J.
Another part of my Invention relates to introducing and heating the feed water.
The steam pipe I is continued within the boiler, and takes one or more complete turns
thereof near to the shell, but not in contact therewith, and then dips down by a

page_text: funnel shaped tube to near the bottom of the boiler, where it is still further enlarged
and capped by a perforated plate or left open as may be preferred. The feed water
in traversing the coil of pipe I within the boiler becomes well heated, and is
eventually delivered in that condition near the bottom of the boiler where tho
water is coldest. It is also, by reason of the expanded form of the finishing and
mouth portion of the tube, delivered slowly so as to gradually mix with the water.
This causes an effectual circulation of the water in the boiler, and also prevents the
injury to the shell of the boiler caused by the ordinary method of introducing the
feed water at a high velocity.
In witness whereof, I, the said John McNeil, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty