Improvements in Flash Steam Generators.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th June, 1897
Complete Specification Left. 18th Mar.. 1898—Accepted. 23rd Apr.. 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Flash Steam Generators.
I, WILLIAM ARTHUR PERCY WERNER, Engineer, of Ashland, Silverhill, St.
Leonards-on-Sea, in the County of Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows;
My invention relates to improvements in steam generators of the type known
as "flash steam generators" my object being to produce a light automatic
generator suitable for auto cars and the like self propelled vehicles wherein the
superfluous heat is not washed but stored up so as to create a reserve to be called
upon when required and at the same time by the construction and arrangement
of the tubes to prevent califaction.
In carrying my invention into practice I construct the generator with double
tubes, that is to say, a tube within a tube leaving a thin water space between
the two so that the heat plays around the outside tube and through the inner
tube, thereby giving a double heating surface.
The inner and outer tubes are connected together by making the ends of the
inner tube with a threaded shoulder and screwing it into the outer tube which
also has threads. on its inner ends thereby leaving a thin water space between
the two tubes. The ends of outer tubes are perforated and over said per-
forations is placed a hollow collar, which couples together two sets of (double)
tubes, said collar being held in position on the outer tubes by nuts back and
front with an asbestos washer between nuts and collar. The collars are flat and
made hollow with two holes through each side for a set of double tubes to pass
through. The first collar receives a double tube and the water pipe from pump,
said water pipe being perforated and held in the collar the same way as the
double tubes but the outside nut is solid and acts as an end to the tube.
The water is forced by a suitable pump through water pipe (which is fur-
nished with a clack valve and through perforations in said pipe, into the collar
through perforations in double tube and into the thin water space between the
double tubes where it is directly converted into steam and passes through a series
of such tubes and collars where it is superheated and led away by a steam pipe
to engine, said pipe being fixed to the last tube, in the same manner as the water
pipe but connected to the take off pipe by a swing joint to allow for lateral ex-
pansion of the tubes.
In the fire space surrounding the outer tubes and in the centre tubes I place
thin copper or other metal wire or any other suitable conducting material either
plaited or crumpled together, but of such a density as not to impede free draught,
so that the superfluous heat instead of striking the tubes and passing away is
absorbed by the wire and retained around and inside the tubes.
Each end of tubes pass through a thin metal baffle plate or double plate with
asbestos between so that the connecting collars are on the outside of the said
baffle plates.
I use any suitable petroleum or other blast stove for heating the tubes said

page_text: stove being situated under the tubes and between the aforesaid baffle plates so
that the heat passes through metal wire, around tubes, over the top of right
hand baffle plate through the inside tube and wire to outer side of left hand
baffle plate and out through the flue.
For keeping the two tubes apart in case of uneven expansion I provide the inner
tube with a spiral ridge on its outer circumference, said spiral being flush with
inside of outer tube thereby keeping them apart and giving water and steam
a tortuous passage, or I can wind spirally around and braise onto the inner tube
a piece of thin metal to fit flush between the two tubes.
It will be seen by the way the tubes are connected that they can expand
laterally.
The whole of the above is contained within a suitable fire bricked shell.
My improvement can be equally well applied to either vertical or horizontal
generators and can be made on a large scale for heavy machinery such as ships,
railway locomotives and stationary steam generators in general.
Dated this 18th day of June 1897.
WILLIAM ARTHUR PERCY WERNER.
Improvements in and relating to Flash Steam Generators.
I, WILLIAM ARTHUR PERCY WERNER, of Ashlands, Silverhill, St. Leonards-
on-Sea, in the County of Sussex, Engineer, 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:-
My invention relates to flash steam generators specially designed for self-
propelled road vehicles, but also adapted to be used for locomotive, marine and
stationary engines.
A generator constructed according to my said invention consists substantially
of sets of double tubes placed one within the other so as to form capillary spaces
wherein the water is converted into steam and the latter superheated, the sets of
such tubes being connected by double hollow collars. In the fire space surrounding
the outer tubes and in the interior of the inner tubes I place thin copper wire
or other conducting material for the purpose of storing up the heat so as to create
reserve to be called upon when required. The products of combustion first
circulate around the outer tubes and then through the inner tubes, thereby giving
a double heating surface.
a
Referring to the accompanying drawings.
Figure I represents a vertical section of my improved generator.
Figure 2 shows a section, slightly enlarged, on the line of Figure 1, and
Figure 3 is a section, slightly enlarged, on the line y-y of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line -z of Figure 1 to an enlarged scale.
Figures 5 and 6 are horizontal and vertical sections of the hollow connecting
collars.
Figure 7 shows an elevation of one of the inner tubes removed.
Figure 8 illustrates a modification of a joint made at one end of the tubes.
In carrying my invention into practice I employ sets of double tubes A. B, the
tube A being arranged within the tube B so as to form a capillary space C between
them. At one end the inner tube A is made with a screw-threaded shoulder a
whereby it is screwed into the corresponding end of the outer tube B, whilst the
other end of this tube B has an interior screw-threaded shoulder into which the
screw-threaded end of the tube A fits.

page_text: In a modification shown in Figure 8 I furnish the inner tube A near one of
its ends with a shoulder a¹ fitting into the outer tube B, and reduce the thick-
ness of the end a² of said inner tube, which is screw threaded for the purpose
of receiving an interiorly screw-threaded packing gland a³, which extends a little
distance beyond the tubes A B and has slits a for enabling such gland to be
operated with the aid of a key to compress the packing a³.
The ends of the outer tube B are provided with a number of perforations b
which set the extremities of the capillary space C between the two tubes in com-
munication with hollow collars D. Each of these collars couples together two
sets of double tubes AB, and is held in position on the outer tubes B by means
of nuts b¹ placed on either side, with asbestos washers 62 between the nuts and
collar. The first collar receives, besides the double tube, the extremity of a
water pipe_e_which has perforations in it, Figure 4, and is_furnished with a
clack or check valve c². A steam pipe fixed to the last collar conducts the
steam generated in the capillary spaces between the double tubes to the engine.
For keeping the two tubes A and B at the proper distance apart so that the
capillary space C may be of uniform width all round throughout its length, I
furnish the inner tube A on its outer circumference with a helical ridge or strip a,
Figure 7, which has also for its object to compel the water to be vaporized and the
steam to be superheated to travel in a helical path from one end of the capillary
space to the other.
Sets of such double tubes A B are enclosed within a suitable fire-bricked shell
or casing E dvided by partitions e and e¹ into three compartments E¹ E2 E3. One
of these compartments, E', contains the bodies of the tubes, whilst the other two
compartments E2 E3 receive the ends thereof extending through the partitions e e¹.
At its upper part the partition e has an aperture 2 which connects the compart-
ments E1 and E2, and the latter is in communication through the inner tubes A,
which constitute return flues, with the compartment E³ and chimney F. Doors E¹
and E5 afford access to the ends of the tubes A B in the compartments E2 and E3.
In the compartment E¹ containing the double tubes and in the interior of the
inner tubes I place thin copper or other wire or any other appropriate conducting
material (not shown), such wire being either plaited or crumpled together, but
of such a density as not to impede free draught, so that the heat which may be
generated in excess, instead of striking the tubes and passing away, will be ab-
sorbed by the wire and retained around and within the tubes.
Any suitable petroleum or other blast stove or furnace may be employed for
heating the sets of double tubes AB, such stove being situated below the tubes
in the box G between the partitions e and e¹.
Water is forced by a pump through the water pipe c and through its per-
forations c¹ into the first collar D and through the perforations 6 in the outer
tube B into the first capillary space C. Here the vaporization commences under
the action of the heat from the stove or furnace and continues as the water passes
in succession through the sets of tubes and the collars connecting the same, while
the steam will be superheated in its passage through the capillary spaces of the
sets of double tubes, whereupon the steam is led away through the aforesaid
steam pipe to the engine. It will be evident that the water may be introduced
into the double tubes and steam taken from the same at any desired number
of points.
The products of combustion leaving the stove first circulate around the sets
of double tubes and between the copper wire contained in the compartment E¹,
storing up a reserve of heat. Having reached the top of the compartment E¹ the
said products pass through the aperture into the compartment E³, whence they
are conducted to the compartment E3-through the inner tubes A containing copper
wire or other conducting material, giving off the remainder of the heat to the
wire and to the sets of double tubes, and then leave the compartment E³ through
the chimney F.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is: -
1. In flash steam generators the connection of the double tubes A B constituting
capillary steam spaces C and return flues by forming a screw threaded shoulder a
on the outside of one end of the inner tube A engaging with a screw thread on
the inside of the outer tube B and a screw threaded shoulder a* on the inside of the
opposite end of the outer tube engaging with a screw thread on the outside of
the inner tube, substantially as set forth.
2. In flash steam generators the connection of the double tubes A B, constitut-
ing capillary spaces C and return flues, at one end by means of a screw threaded
shoulder a on the inner tube A engaging with a screw thread on the inside of
the outer tube B, and at the other end by means of a packed joint made by form-
ing a shoulder a¹ on the inner tube fitting into the outer tube and having its
reduced end a² screw threaded for receiving a packing gland a³, to allow for
the independent expansion and contraction of said tubes, substantially as set forth.
3. In flash steam generators the connection of sets of double tubes A B con-
stituting capillary spaces C and return flues by means of double hollow collars D
held thereon by nuts b¹, substantially as set forth.
:
4. A flash steam generator arranged constructed and operating substantially
as and for the purposes herein before specified and shown in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 18th day of March 1.808
J. LINCOLN & Co.,,
75, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.