Year: 1887

page_text: WC AUGUST BURCKHA DT, of Maschinenfabrik, manufacturer and FRANZ JOSEPH
WEISS, of Weiherweg Civil-engineer both of Basle, Switzerland, do hereby declaro
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:-
This invention relates to an improved arrangement of surface-condensers for uso
on sea-going vessels.
The air or hot water pumps in surface - condensers as heretofore used on
sea-going vessels and serving the purpose of removing, from the condenser,
air and water together would require, theoretically, a size only so much larger
than that of the feed-pumps as is necessary for removing from the condenser,
together with the water of condensation, the air entering the said condenser at
permeable places.
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According to former practice the said air or hot water pumps were made many
times larger (often 20 to 30 or 40 times as large as the feed-pumps ;) in order to
allow the surface-condenser in case of "fouling to be worked with "injection
likewise in which case the air- or hot water pump would have to remove from the
condenser, not only the mass of water of condensation increased by the injection-
water, but also the air which had been absorbed by the said injection-water, which, of
course, will require a considerable size or capacity of air pump.
During the normal operation of the condenser (that is to say in its action as surface-
condenser) the air pump being made by far too large and not finding a sufficient
quantity of air in the condenser, will suck or draw off, without any use, a great
quantity of steam and force the latter into the atmospheric air which will require a
certain amount of labour that is to say about as much labour as would be necessary
for compressing, to the tension of the outside atmospheric air, the same quantity
of air baving the lower tension of the condenser. This labour and the quantity of
fuel required for overcoming the same is simply lost or wasted since the sucking off
of the steam from the condenser is of no use and merely an evil to be considered
inevitable with condensers of this kind as heretofore arranged. This lost labour can
neither be reduced or done away with during the action of the condenser as surface-
condenser, by allowing the air-pumps to make fewer strokes since for well-known
reasons these large air-pumps are always coupled with the main engine so that they

page_text: will make the same number of strokes as the latter, altho' they would be required to
make fewer strokes in operation for surface-condensation, than they would for
injection-condensation.
At the present time by reason of the experience gathered with regard to the con-
struction and operation of surface-condensers, it seldom happens that it becomes a
necessity to work the said condensers as injection-condensers likewise. The possibility
of still being able to do the latter in exceptional cases is therefore bought, in the
arrangement as heretofore, at the cost of an air- or hot water pump by far too large
for the regular or normal operation (that is, surface-condensation), said pump sucking
off during the regular operation a useless quantity of steam for the compression of
which labour and, consequently, fuel are wasted in a useless manner.
The present invention comprises a novel arrangement of the condenser and its
pumps which will likewise render it possible, if required to allow of operating the
surface-condenser as injection-condenser but with the difference that neither in the
one nor in the other case is labour, and consequently, fuel wasted, and that the pumps,
in either case, will have to perform the exact amount of work required, while more-
over, the whole pumping installation can be made smaller and, therefore, the engine
room generally so very narrow, will be less crowded.
The novel arrangement of such surface-condensers is, essentially, as follows:-
The feed-pump is always made sufficiently large to be able to remove all the water
of condensation from the condenser. If, now, the feed pump is arranged low enough
so that the water from the condenser will, by its own gravity, run into the said
pump, the latter can then assume that part of the duty or work of the former large
hot-water pump which relates to the removal of the water from the condenser so that
the feed-pump being so arranged, can force the water directly into the steam-boiler.
To do the other part of the work performed by the former air- or hot water
pump that is to say the work of removing the air from the condenser-a dry
vacuum-pump is provided which will draw the air from the upper part of the con-
denser. By these means, the large air- or hot water pump heretofore employed is
entirely done away with and its office is assumed by a dry vacuum-pump and a feed-
pump acting together.
In such exceptional cases of emergency where it becomes a necessity that the
surface-condenser of this novel kind should perform the work of an injection-con-
denser, it will only be necessary to provide the cold-water pump which may be a
common piston-pump, with a three-way cock so that, by reason of the proper position
given to the latter, the said cold-water pump will draw the injection-water from the
condenser and force it out of the ship while, in surface-condensation, the said pump is
serving the purpose of forcing the cooling water through the cooling pipes of the
condenser.
This cold-water pump must likewise be arranged so low that the water from the con-
denser flows into it by its own gravity, the dry vacuum-pump continuing to remove
the air from the condenser so that all the cold water pump has to do is to remove
the water. The injection water is drawn automatically into the condenser by the
latter itself which is always arranged low enough to perform this part of the work.
The said dry vacuum-pump can, for three reasons, be made much smaller than the
air- or hot water pump heretofore employed, that is to say-
First, because it has to remove from the condenser the air only, and not the water.
Second, because by reason thereof it can be run at a higher speed.
Third. As the air and the hot water are removed separately, the condenser will
allow of being constructed as a counter-stream condenser (the steam to be condensed
flowing in a direction opposite to that of the cooling water) which will again reduce
the working capacity required for the air-pump. It is evident that the employment
of the former hot water pump which will draw air and water mixed together from the
condeuser, rendered impossible to make use of such counter-stream principle in
operating with "injection."
The said dry vacuum pump of comparatively small dimensions and high speed, is
arranged as an independent steam air-pump which is driven by a small steam-engine

page_text: whose speed is therefore independent of the speed of the main steam-engine. The
engineer has thus the full control over this vacuum pump and can let it run with just
the speed required, that is to say slow when the condenser is acting as a surface-
condenser in which case the said vacuum pump has only to remove from the condenser
the air having entered the same at permeable places, and quicker when the condenser
is acting as an injection-condenser in which case the vacuum pump has to remove,
besides the aforesaid air, the air absorbed by the injection-water.
In this way the waste of the working power and fuel which has heretofore taken
place in operating surface-condensers by means of the large hot-water pumps is
obviated whilst, on the other hand, the same result, that is to say, the same vacuum
within the condenser is nevertheless attained, altho' with the advantage that by far
les labour or working power than heretofore has been spent in attaining that
result.
The accompanying drawing is intended to illustrate an installation of surface-
condensation arranged in accordance with the present invention as above described.
The exhaust steain to be condensed enters the condenser B from the main engine
at A, near the bottom so that the counter-stream principle will be used in surface-
condensation as well as in injection-condensation. Supposing as shown in the
drawing, the condenser to be acting as a surface condenser, the cold-water pump K
will, in such a case, draw in through the pipes a and b water from the outside and
force the same through the pipes c and d into the upper part of the series of cooling
pipes of the condenser. The plates p' will cause the cooling water to flow zigzag-liko
in a downward and opposite direction to that of the steam rising on the outside of
the cooling pipes, through the latter. The heated cooling water will leave the
condenser near the bottom and return to the outside again through the pipe f
The pipe, open at its top and rising from the highest point of the series of
cooling pipes beyond the water-level s-s-s of the steamer, serves for removing the
air from the cooling pipes so that no air bubbles can form within the latter. The
feed-pump S draws the condensed water through the pipe g from the lower part of
the condenser and forces the same through pipe into the boilers, that is together
with the fresh sea-water which, by means of the proper position of the cock H, is
allowed to enter the condenser through pipe o as additional charge to make up for the
losses of water or steam which cannot be avoided during the continued circulation of
the mass of water originally fed to the boilers.
The dry vacuum pump L will draw the air through the pipe from the upper part
of the condenser and force the same into the atmosphere through pipe r. The
gaseous mixture, that is to say the air and steam drawn off by this dry vacuum pump,
practically consists of air only because it is sucked off at the upper, or the coolest
part of the condenser where there can be but little steam, it being evident that the
quantity of steam contained in a cold mixture of air and steam, can be but small.
p indicate plates inserted to compel the steam entering at A to flow zigzag-like
around and between the cooling pipes in a direction opposite to that of the water.
descending within the said pipes.
Now, if it should happen that the condenser before described should have to do the
work of an injection condenser, it will, then, be necessary only to connect the
sucking-conduit of the cold water pump K with the lower part of the condenser, and
the forcing-conduit of the said pump K with outside (which, in the arrangement
shown in the drawing, would be effected by turning both the cocks C and D through
a quarter of a revolution to the right), to open the cock H and to close the two
cocks F and E. In lieu of the said two cocks F and E automatic back pressure
valves opening toward the outside, or in an upward direction, may be applied.
Injection-water is now drawn into the condenser through the pipe o open toward
the outside below the water-level, flows over the plates p in a direction opposite to
that of the steam to be condensed (on the counter-stream principle) and upon having
done its work and arriving in a warm state in the lower part of the condenser, is
thence sucked off through the pipes m and b, by means of the water pump K, and
forced to the outside through the pipe n.

page_text: The vacuum pump L continues its work steadily all the time but with a somewhat
increased speed, and removes the air from the condenser. The feed-pump S, likewise,
continues its work exactly the same as before in surface-condensation. The suction-
pipe g, of the said pump S, entering the condenser at a somewhat lower level than
the suction pipe m of the water-pump K, will always find a sufficient quantity of
water within the condenser, and even if, by reason of partly closing the injection-
cock H, less injection water than the water-pump K might be able to remove, should
enter the condenser.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
The improved arrangement, substantially as herein described, of surface-condensers
for use on sea-going steamers, the said arrangement being characterized by the
employment and combined action :-
1. Of a dry vacuum pump L for one part, and of the feed-pump S for the other
part, during the normal operation of the condensers as surface-condensers,-and
2. Of the said dry vacuum pump L, for one part, and of the feed-pump S and the
cold water pump K for the other part, during the operation of the condensers as
injection-condensers, the removal of the air from the condenser, in both instances,
taking place separately from the removal of the water from the condenser, the air
being removed by the said dry vacuum pump, whilst the water is removed either by
the feed pump only (as in case 1), or by both the feed-pump and the cold water pump
together (as in case 2), without the use, in either case, of the large air and hot water
pumps heretofore employed in surface condensation on sea-going steamers.
Datel this 21st day of December 1887
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.