IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND SURFACE CONDENSERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Martiu Rowan and Thomas Rogers Horton,
both of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND SURFACE
CONDENSERS"
Sealed the 28th February 1862, and dated the 5th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Martin Rowan and
Thomas Rogers Horton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 5th September 1861.
We, JOHN MARTIN.ROWAN and THOMAS ROGERS HORTON, both of Glasgow,
in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND
SURFACE CONDENSERS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in steam boilers and surface con-
densers, and to the more effective carrying out of the system of surface
condensation, an important object of which system is the supplying of marine
boilers with fresh water.
The improvements in boilers are comprised in a modification of the "com-
pound-subdivided" class of boiler, described in the Specifications of British
Letters Patent granted to the present applicants, and dated the 19th Aprij
1858 (No. 856), and the 8th February 1860 (No. 332). In the improved
modification, a series of vertical leaves or sections (the inner ones consisting,
by preference, of hollow-sided frames crossed by vertical tubes) are arranged
transversely, and are shaped at their lower parts to form two or more furnace
spaces which run transversely to the sections The parts of the section frames
projecting down to form the sides to or divisions between the furnace spaces
Price 8d1

page_text: A hori-
communicate with large horizontal tubes beneath. placed parallel to the
furnaces, and providing for an improved circulation of the water.
zontal cylindrical steam chamber runs along above the sections, and commu
nicates with each section by two or more curved pipes, whilst a steam dome
rises from the middle or other convenient part of it. To provide for a return
current from the steam chamber, pipes are carried from one or both ends of
it down to one or more of the bottom tubes, whilst the feed pipes communicate
with others of these bottom tubes.
A first improvement in surface condensers consists in making the tubes of
thin iron or steel, coated externally or internally with copper, brass or other
metal or alloy not injuriously acted upon by sea water. If the sea water is
outside the tubes the coating must be external, and vice versa. With the
view of preventing galvanic or corrosive action, the coating metal is carefully
closed over the ends of the iron or steel tube, or a coating of soft soluer may
be applied to the ends for that purpose. Similarly other internal parts of the
condenser exposed to the sea water are, by preference, made of copper or
brass, or with a coating of copper, brass, or similar metal or alloy. Thus the
screw bolts in the tube plate for securing the top plates (in the case of con-
densers with the sea water outside the tubes) are held by brass nuts, which
are hollowed to receive soft solder to cover the ends of the bolts. According
to another modification the condenser tubes, as also the tube plates, may be
made of copper or brass galvanised or otherwise coated on the surface exposed
to the steam or fresh water to prevent injurious action.
A second improvement in surface condensers applies to the kind described
in the earlier Specification herein-before referred to, and consists in providing
an exit for the sea water all round, or at numerous points round the tube
chamber, such exit or exits communicating with an annular passage formed
round the outside of the chamber, and leading to the discharge pipe.
A third portion of the improvements in surface condensers relate to the
mode of holding the tubes in the tube plates. In one modification the hole
in the tube plate is enlarged to receive a caoutchouc ring, which is slit partly
through cylindrically. A wedge-shaped metal ring has its edge, entered in
the slit, and tightens the joint by being pressed more or less in by the stop
plate. The stop plates are made in sections of any convenient form, but, by
preference, hexagonal when for a condenser of a large size. In another
modification of tube joint, a short tube of caoutchouc is applied to the tube
externally, if the sea water is external,and internally if the sea water is inside
the tube. The caoutchouc tube is, by preference, made tapering in thickness,
and is held between the tube plate and the stop plate, being formed with a

page_text: flat flange, having a hexagonal outline so as to fit together with the adjacent
flanges, or having a round thickened rim fitting in a recess in either the tube
plate or the stop plate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Martin Rowan and Thomas Rogers Horton in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th March 1862.
we, JOHN
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
MARTIN ROWAN and THOMAS ROGERS HORTON, both of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Martin Rowan and Thomas Rogers Horton, Her special licence that we,
the said John Martin Rowan and Thomas Rogers Horton, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Martin Rowan
and Thomas Rogers Horton, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND SURFACE CONDENSERS,' upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Martin Rowan and Thomas Rogers
Horton, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
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.
33
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Martin Rowan and Thomas
Rogers Horton, 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 in writing, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say :-
Our said Invention relates to improvements in steam boilers and surface

page_text: condensers, and to the more effective carrying out of the system of surface
condensation, an important object of which system is the supplying of marine
boilers with fresh water.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect. we have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings, to which weshall refer in particularly describing ur improvements,
premising that the same reference letters mark the same or like parts in all
the Figures.
The improvements in boilers are comprised in a modification of the "com-
pound-subdivided" class of boiler described in the Specifications of British
Letters Patent granted to the present Patentees, and dated the 19th April
1858 (No. 856), and the 8th February, 1860 (No. 332. This improved
modification is represented in Figures 1 and 2 oftheaccompanying Drawings,
these Figures being vertical sections taken at right angles to each other.
The boiler consists of a series of vertical leaves or sections, which in this
example are hollow-sided frames A, crossed by vertical tubes B, and arranged
transversely, being shaped in their lower parts to form two or more furnace
spaces C, which run across the sections. The parts a of the section frames A,
projecting down to form the sides to or divisions between the furnace spaces.
communicate with large horizontal tubes D. placed beneath parallel to the
furnaces C, and insuring an improved circulation of the water. A liorizontal
cylindrical steam chamber E runs along above the sections A, and commu-
nicates with each section by two or more curved pipes F, whilst one or more
steam domies G rise from any convenient part, or parts of the chamber E.
To provide for a return current from the steam chamber E, pipes H are
carried from one or both ends of it down to one or more of the bottom tubes D,
whilst the feed pipes communicate with one or other of these bottom tubes.
The present improved arrangement of circulating tubes and pipes I'
and H is obviously applicable to various other modifications of "compound-
subdivided" boilers, described in the earlier Specifications herein-before
referred to.
A first improvement in surface condensers consists in making the tubes of
thin iron or steel conted externally or internally with copper, brass, or other
metal or alloy not injuriously acted upon by sea water. If the sea water is
outside the tubes, the coating indicated by the red color must be external. as
shown in Figures 3 and 4; and it the sea water is inside the tubes, the
coating must be internal, as shown in Figures 5 and 6. With the view of
preventing galvanic or corrosive action or oxidation, the coating metal is
carefully closed over the ends of the iron or steel tube,ora coating of soft solder

page_text: may be applied to the ends for that purpose. Similarly other internal parts of
the condenser exposed to the sea water are, by preference, made of copper or
brass, or with a coating of copper, brass, or similar metal or alloy. Thus the
screw bolts, as at 1, Figure 7, in the tube plate J, for securing the stop
plates K (in the case of condensers with the sea water outside the tubes), are
held by brass nuts L, which are hollowed to receive soft solder 7, to cover the
end of the bolt I. According to another modification the condenser tubes, as
also the tube plates, may be made of copper or brass, galvanised or otherwise
coated on the surface exposed to the steam or fresh water to prevent injurious
action.
A second improvement in surface condensers applies to the kind described
in the earlier Specification herein-before referred to, and consists in providing
an exit for the sea water all round, or at numerous points round the tube
chamber. Figure 8 is a vertical section of a surface condenser as made with
this improvement. The sea water enters at the bottom by the passage M,
communicating by a central aperture with the bottom of the tube chamber N,
and has its exit by a narrow slit or opening P, formed round the uppermost
part of this chamber N. An annular passage Q is formed round the shell of
the chamber N, with which passage the slit P communicates, and by which
the water finds its way to the exit pipe at R. The sea water is thus made
to pass off in a uniform current on all sides, whereby the cooling action is
rendered more uniform over the tubes.
A third portion of our improvements in surface condensers relates to the
mode of holding the tubes in the tube plates. In one modification, as shown
in section in Figure 9, and in plan, in Figure 10, the hole in the tube plate J
is enlarged to receive a caoutchouc ring S, shown detached in section and in
plan in Figure 11, which ring is slit partly through cylindrically. A wedge-
shaped metal ring T,also shown in Figure 11, hasits edge entered into the slit,
as shown in Figure 9, and tightens the joint by being pressed in more or less
by the stop plate K. The stop plates K are made in sections of any con-
venient form, but by preference hexagonal when for a condenser of large size.
In another modification of tube joint, a short tube U of caoutchouc, such as is
shown in section and in plan in Figures 12, 13, and 14, is applied to the
tube V externally, as shown in Figure 15, if the sea water is external, and
internally, as slow in Figure 16, if the sea water is inside the tube. The
caoutchouc tube U is, by preference, made tapering in thickness, and is held
between the tube plate J and the stop plate K, being formed with a flat
flange u, having a hexagonal outline, as shown in Figures 13, 14, and 17, so
as to fit together with the adjacent flanges, or having a round thickened rim,

page_text: as shown in Figures 12 and 18, fitting in a recess, which may be either in
the tube plate J, as shown at W, or in the stop plate K, as shown at X,
Figure 16.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, we have to state that
we do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or deli-
neated; but that what we consider to be novel and original, and claim as
the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,--
First, the constructing of "compound-subdivided" boilers with the bottom
tubes (1), Figures 1 and 2,) and the tubes F and H, for the circulation of
the water, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the forming of condenser tubes of thin iron or steel-coated on the
surface exposed to the sea water with copper, brass, or other like metal or
alloy, and the coating or covering of other similarly exposed internal parts of
condensers with copper, brass, or other like metal or alloy, substantially as
herein-before described.
Third, the forming of condenser tubes of copper or brass galvanised or
similarly coated on the surface exposed to the steam or fresh water.
Fourth, the constructing of the tube chamber of a surface condenser with
au exit for the sea water all round it, or at numerous points round it, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
Fifth, the packing of condenser tubes by means of rings of caoutchouc cut
cylindrically, and acted upon by cylindrical wedges, substantially as herein-
before described.
Sixth, the packing of condenser tubes by means of short flanged tubes of
caoutchouc, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Martin Rowan and Thomas
Rogers Lorton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third
day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.
JNO. M. ROWAN.
(8.)
THO. R. HORTON. (1.8.)