IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bernoulli Barlow, of the City of Manchester,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CONDENSING STEAM."-A communication from François Daina, of Bergamo, .
in the Empire of Austria.
Sealed the 16th August 1859, and dated the 24th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th February 1859.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM," being a communication from François
Daina, of Bergamo, in the Empire of Austria, to be as follows:-
It has hitherto been customary in condensing steam to form a vacuum or
partial vacuum in the condenser by means of an air pump, now this Invention
consists in obtaining the requisite vacuum or partial vacuum in the condenser
without the aid of a pump, the steam being brought into contact with cold
water which is not under atmospheric pressure.
In performing this Invention, a syphon having a longer and a shorter leg is
used, the shorter leg of the syphon enters a chamber which is constantly kept

page_text: full of cold water; to the upper bend of the syphon is connected a bent pipe,
the extremity of which is in communication with a boiler or with the cylinder
containing the steam to be condensed. When this apparatus is set to work,
both ends of the syphon are closed, and it is filled with water; the orifice
through which the apparatus was filled with water is then closed, and the ends
of the syphon are opened, the water will then flow through the syphon, the
steam is then admitted at the top of the syphon, and becomes condensed by
the flow of cold water through the syphon, or the current of water may be
produced by a force pump, or in any other convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Bernoulli Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, my 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING STEAM," a communication from
abroad by François Daina, of Bergamo, in the Empire of Austria, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their bands 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Heury Bernoulli Barlow, do hereby
'declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the sanie is to.

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the:
following statement (that is to say) :-
It has hitherto been customary in condensing steam to form a vacuum or
partial vacuum in the condenser by means of an air pump, now this Invention
consists in obtaining the requisite vacuum or partial vacuum in the condenser
without the aid of a pump, the steam being brought into contact with cold:
water which is not under atmospheric pressure.
'1
In performing this Invention, a syphon having a longer and a shorter leg is.
used, the shorter leg of the syphon enters a chamber which is constantly kept
full of cold water; to the upper bend of the syphon is connected a bent pipe,
the extremity of which is in communication with a boiler, or with the cylinder
containing the steam to be condensed.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawing and to the letters marked thereon... a, a, is a
syphon through which flows the water for condensing the steam; b is a cistern
which supplies the syphon, and which is always kept full of water by the
supply pipe c; d is a small boiler for generating steam; this boiler is in
communication with the syphon a, by means of the pipe e, which is furnished
with a tap f; the taps g and h are in the syphon; the funnel i, above the
tap f, is used in filling the syphon a, the pipe e, and the boiler d, with water.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The taps g and h are closed. and the
tap is opened, the requisite quantity of water is then poured through the
funnel to fill the syphon a, the pipe e, and the boiler d; after having shut
the tap f, and opened the taps g and h, the water will begin to flow through
the syphon a, with a speed proportioned to the difference in the level of the
surface of the water in the cistern b, and the summit of the syphon. The
pressure of the atmosphere at the summit of the syphon is equal to the
pressure of the atmosphere at the place where the apparatus is at work,
minus the pressure of a column of water equal to the difference of the surface
of the cistern b, and the summit of the syphon, that is to say, in the present
instance, it is equal to the pressure of the atmosphere, minus the pressure of
thirty feet of water which is about one-tenth of the atmospheric pressure.
When the parts are thus disposed, and the cistern 6 is maintained full of
water, a fire is made under the boiler d, the steam rising from it will be
condensed by the water flowing through the syphon a, under a pressure not
exceeding that of the atmosphere, minus the pressure of thirty feet of water,
until the water in the boiler has been entirely evaporated. The flow of water

page_text: through the syphon may be any hydrodinamic force, such as that produced by
the difference in length of the two legs of the syphon, or the water may be.
forced through the syphon: by a pump or other agent.
Having thus stated the nature. of the Invention as communicated to me by
the within-named François: Daina, and described. a mode of performing the.
same, I declare that. I claim the improvements in apparatus for condensing
steam as herein described, by means whereof a vacuum is obtained without
the aid of an air pump.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow; have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
H. B. BARLOW. (L.S.)