Improvements connected with the Extraction of Condensed Water from Steam.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Feb., 1891-Accepted, 22nd Aug., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements connected with the Extraction of Condensed Water
from Steam.
I, JAMES FINDLAY GUILD M.I.N.A. of 18 Dock Street, Dundee, in the
County of Forfar, Consulting Engineer and Steamship Surveyor, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to drain off water and moisture from steam during
expansion in cylinders, valves, chests, etc. and to return the same to the boiler at a
high temperature so that the efficiency of the engine or engines may be increased
by the removal of water and moisture from the steam before or during expansion in
the cylinder etc. and also that a considerable quantity of water may be returned to
the boiler direct at a high temperature instead of passing the same through the
condenser in the ordinary manner.
To carry my invention into practical effect I connect the valve casings of the
cylinders or other part or parts of the engine from which the water or moisture is
to be extracted, to a suitable pipe or tube, or pipes or tubes, along which the water
or moisture will flow by gravitation into a steam trap or water extractor, which
preferably automatically discharges the extracted water by means of a float valve.
In one form of float valve I prefer to use, the float is attached to a socket sliding
vertically by floatation over a central stem partly tubular. This stem has an
aperture or apertures through which the water passes into the tubular portion of
the stem and from thence is discharged through an outlet formed in the cover of
the steam trap or water extractor. These apertures are provided with projections
all round to form a valve face and the sliding socket forms the valve which
regulates the flow of water. by opening the passages when the float rises and closes
when it falls. The inlet and outlet are cast on the top and bottom covers
respectively so that they can be set at any angle to suit various general
arrangements.
In another form the sliding socket is attached to a bell crank lever whose other
end actuates a connecting rod attached to the valve. The vertical movement of
the float works the valve thus automatically regulating the flow of water from the
extractor into the outlet.
The outlets of all the extractors used with an engine or engines are connected to
a common pipe leading into the hot well or engine feed pump or into a special pump
or injector.
DL: 0011
1000
CASTLE SMITH,
Invention" Office, 54, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
'Improvements connected with the Extraction of Condensed Water
from Steam.
I, JAMES FINDLAY GUILD M.I.N.A., of 18 Dock Street, Dundee, in the
County of Forfar, Consulting Engineer and Steamship Surveyor, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
.
The object of this invention is to drain off water-and-moisture condensed from

page_text: steam during its expansion in cylinders, valve chests, etc., and to return the same to
the boiler at a high temperature, so that the efficiency of the engine or engines may
be increased by the removal of water and moisture from the steam before or during
expansion in the cylinder etc., and also that a considerable quantity of water may be
returned to the boiler direct at a high temperature instead of passing the same
through the condenser in the ordinary manner. The invention is only applicable to
engines where the steam is worked expansively.
During the expansion of the steam in each of the cylinders there is a rapid
condensation, and it is to carry away the water so produced, and to render the
steam comparatively dry when it commences its work in the next cylinder, that my
invention is produced.
To carry my invention into practical effect, I connect the valve casing of each
cylinder to a steam trap or water extractor by means of suitable pipes or tubes, the
steam trap being placed beneath or at a lower level than the cylinder valve casing
so that any water or moisture which may be condensed from the steam will flow by
gravitation into the steam trap.
After the steam has been expanded in the first cylinder, the water produced by
the condensation I drain off at the valve chest of the second cylinder so that the
steam is comparatively dry to commence its work in that cylinder and so on with
the succeeding cylinders. By this means I remove the condensation from the steam
at the various stages of expansion leaving the steam comparatively dry at the
commencement of its work in each cylinder.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings I have shewn a sectional elevation of
one form of steam trap or water extractor, and in Figures 2 to 6 the details of
its construction.
Figure 7 shews a modified form of steam trap.
The water extractor I prefer to use automatically discharges the extracted water
by means of a float valve. The float is made with an outer shell A of an ellipsoidal
shape from sheet metal, corrugated so as to give additional strength. Figure 4
shews a section and Figure 5 a plan of this float. Passing through the minor axis
of the ellipsoid I place a tube or socket B and on to this I affix one or more thin
iron cylinders C which act as stays to the shell A. DD are the corrugations on
the shell and E is a strengthening band passing round the centre of the shell and
secured by screws, bolts, or other equivalent fastenings F at the end of the major
axis of the ellipsoid. Figure 6 shews a section of the corrugated metal from which
the shell is made.
The tube or socket B is placed on a central vertical stem G over which it is free
to slide vertically by floatation. Figures 2 and 3 shew detached views of the
socket B and stem G respectively. The stem G is partly tubular and is provided
with an aperture or apertures H through which the collected water may pass into
the tubular portion of the stem G and from thence passes to an outlet J in the
cover of the steam trap or water extractor, fitted with a non-return valve J'
through which it is discharged into a tube leading direct to the boiler, or to the hot
well, engine feed pump, or into a special pump or injector. The apertures H are
formed with a projection K all round to form a valve face, and the sliding tube or
socket B is ground or otherwise truly fitted to the said valve face K, so as to form
the valve which regulates the flow of water by opening and closing the passage or
passages H when the float rises and falls respectively.
The inlet L and outlet J are cast or rigidly affixed to the top and bottom covers
respectively of the steam trap or water extractor, which said covers may be set at
any angle in their respective planes to suit various general arrangements.
In the modification shewn in Figure 7 the sliding tube or socket B is attached
by means of a pin and slot M or their equivalents to a bell crank lever N, whose
other end is pivotted to a connecting rod P to the other extremity of which the
valve K² is pivotted. Q is a fixed bracket carrying the bell crank lever, and
K³ is the valve face. As the float rises the valve K2 is moved horizontally over the
face, so as to allow the collected water to pass into the outlet J; as the float falls

page_text: the valve is brought back over the valve face again into the normal position shewn
in Figure 7.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1) In an engine where the steam is worked expansively, the arrangement of the
various parts whereby the condensation produced by the expansion of the steam is
drawn off as produced and conducted to a steam trap or automatic water extractor,
so that the steam entering the next cylinder of the series is in a comparatively dry/
state substantially as described.
(2) For float governed steam traps or water extractors, the ellipsoidal shaped
float made of corrugated metal having a central tube or socket to slide vertically
on a central stem in the steam trap and provided with one or more cylindrical stays
and with a circumferential strengthening ring substantially as described and shewn
with reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6 of the accompanying drawings and for the
purpose stated.
(3) The float-governed steam trap or water extractor shewn and described with
reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3 consisting of an ellipsoidal shaped float having a
central tube or socket adapted to slide vertically over the central stem G of the
steam trap, and to close and unclose the aperture or apertures H therein, the said
apertures leading to the outlet J of the steam trap, the float and aperture H thus
forming the valve through which the water is discharged when it reaches the level
of the said aperture H, substantially as and for the purpose described.
(4) The modified form of float-governed steam trap or water extractor described
and shewn in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.
(5) My improvements connected with the extraction of condensed water from
steam substantially as described.
CASTLE SMITH,
Per F. W. Golby,
"Invention" Office, 54, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.