IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND BURNING CRUDE OILS AND OTHER LIQUID HYDROCARBONS IN FURNACES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lanc,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND BURNING CRUDE OILS AND OTHER
LIQUID HYDROCARBONS IN FURNACES." -A communication from abroad
by Charles Edwin Robinson, of the City, County, and State of New
York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th January 1875.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND BURNING
CRUDE OILS AND OTHER LIQUID HYDROCARBONS IN FURNACES," to be as
follows:-
:-
The object of this Invention is to provide an improved means of
utilizing crude oils and other liquid hydrocarbons as fuel for furnaces of
various kinds.

page_text: It consists, first, in improved apparatus for feeding the oil to the
burner; and, secondly, in the construction of the burner.
A large supply tank receives its oil from an adjacent reservoir provided
with a level, gauge, an inlet pipe for the oil, an inlet pipe for the direct.
steam pressure, and a valve communicating with the said supply tank
for the passage of the oil from the oil reservoir to the supply tank. The
said supply tank contains a steam heated coil, and, like the reservoir, has
an inlet pipe for the steam, which by its direct pressure upon the surface
of the heated oil forces the same out to the burner through a steam
enclosed, whereby the hydrocarbon is maintained at a high degree
of temperature and in a mobile condition until it reaches the burner
where it is to be atomized.*
The said burner or atomizer consists in a tubular valve that receives
the oil from the reservoir, a stem valve contained inside the tubular
valve and. an encasing pipe, which with the tubular valve forms an
annular space that receives the steam. The said valves and valve seats
are so arranged that as the oil escapes from the inner tube and the steam
from tho annular space formed around the tube by the enclosing pipe
the said oil and steam form two inverted hollow cones, which intersect
each other and render the admixture of the two reagents complete before
combustion. The said mixture takes place in a chamber, from whence
the elements emerge-through perforations terminating in slitted ends, by
means of which the jets are spread out in contact with atmospheric air
and burned within the furnace.
1
1
1
11

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, 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 "Iм-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND BURNING CRUDE OILS AND OTHER LIQUID
HYDROCARBONS IN FURNACES," a communication to me from abroad by
Charles Edwin Robinson, of the City, County, and State of New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
-
This Invention relates to apparatus for burning petroleum or other
hydrocarbon oil as fuel for generating steam in a boiler or for other
purposes, and it consists in the combination of the various parts of the
apparatus, by which the supply tank is charged with oil from the
reservoir, the oil heated by steam in the supply tank, and thence forced
by steam pressure to an atomizer, where, mixed with steam, it enters the
furnace of the boiler.
The Invention also consists in the construction and combination of the
liquid or oil valve and the gas or steam valve in an atomizer in such a
manner that while the steam valve surrounds the oil valve both may be

page_text: adjusted independently of cach other to regulate the quantitative pro-
portion of the oil and steam jets, the outer valve being so arranged with
respect to the valve seat that the oil and steam, in issuing from their
respective valve will form jets of the shape of thin hollow cones, inverted
toward each other and intersecting each other, thereby insuring their
thorough mixture and atomization.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
c¹ is a valve at the
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of the oil reservoir and oil
supply tank. A is the oil reservoir, and B is the oil supply tank. These
I prefer to make in one and the same vessel, separated only by a
partition C. D is the oil supply pipe, with cock d' for the reservoir A.
E is a steam pipe, with cock e', for introducing steam for forcing the oil
from the reservoir A into the supply tank B against the steam pressure in
the latter, as will be further described. a', with cock a², is a branch pipę
to E for. the exhaust of steam from the reservoir A.
b is a glass guago
for observing the level of the oil in the reservoir A.
bottom of the reservoir, and operated from the outside to let the oil flow
into the supply tank B. F is a steam coil placed in the supply tank B,
with inlet at f¹ and outlet f¹¹, for heating the oil to better induce its
atomization. G is a pressure guage on the supply tank B. H is a
steam pipe, with cock h, to the said tank' for forcing out the oil by
steam pressure. I, with the cock 2, is the oil discharge pipe from the
supply tank to the atomizer J. K, with the cock /', is a steam pipe
surrounding the oil pipe I during a portion of its passage to the
atomizer J in order to reheat the oil. In the atomizer J the steam
pipe K again surrounds the oil pipo even to the nozzle of the atomizer,
where the oil and steam commingle before issuing from the atomizer
into the fire-place of a boiler L, partly shown in the Drawing.
4
To fill the reservoir with oil through pipe D shut first the cock e¹ of
the steam pipe E, and open the cock a² of the branch pipe a' to allow
the steam in its reservoir to escape. The cocks d¹ and a² being closed,"
and the cocks e¹ and h¹ being opened to furnish an equal steam pressure
in both tanks, it is only necessary for charging the supply tank B to open
the valve c', when the oil will flow into the latter tank until the oil surface

page_text: is a section of the same taken through the line z, z, of Figure 8.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in these
several Figures.
A is a tube closed in one end, and there provided with the stuffing
box B for tightening around the stem of the steam valve, which at or
near the other end is guided in a bridge piece a² formed in or attached
to the tube A. C is the steam valve, consisting of a tube, one end of
which is turned conical outside to form the steam valve surface proper,
and also conical inside to form the seat for the oil valve. D is a short
tube joining by screw threads the tube A. to the burner. In this tube D
is provided the seat d¹ for the valve C, and also a bridge piece d² for
guiding the elongated stem of the oil valve. The stem of the steam
valve C is threaded at c on the outside a distance from its outer end for
the reception of a hand. nut E, provided with a circular flange e¹, which
revolves in lugs &¹ formed on the stuffing box B. The band nut E being
thus held in position on to the stuffing box B, a turning of the same on
the threads of the valve stem C will cause the latter to slide back or
forth, as the case may be, thereby regulating the size of the steam valve
opening at d, and consequently the quantity of the steam required to
atomize the oil. F is the oil valve and stem working inside of the steam

page_text: valve and stem C. It is threaded at f¹ a distance from its outer end
and regulated by the hand nut G, having a circular flange g¹ revolving
in lugs or cleats h¹ on the stuffing box H, in a manner exactly similar to
that above described of regulating the steam valve C. To prevent the
stem of the oil valve F from turning with the nut (whereby the necessary |
sliding motion would be defeated) a key I is fastened in the stuffing
box H, and fits in a groove provided in the end f¹ of the valve stem F.
The stuffing box H is secured at the end of a T joint J, forming an
elongation to the pipe C, to which it is united by an ordinary pipe
fitting. K is the oil supply pipe, and L the steam supply pipe.
For heating the oil its pipe K is carried for some distance inside of the
steam pipe L until it branches off to the T joint J and atomizer, the
steam pipe L being secured by coupling to the tube A, and the oil
pipe K being secured as well to the pipe L as to the T joint J, and the
latter being firmly secured to the valve stem C. This last is therefore
prevented from turning with the hand nut E, while the distance from
the atomizer to the portion of the steam pipe parallel thereto is made
sufficiently large to allow them to spring and yield, so as not to interfere
with the sliding motion of the valve C when being adjusted. The
passage of the steam is indicated on the Drawings by arrows 1, and
that of the oil by arrows 2. The oil being forced in by steam pressure
from a separate steam pipe, and the valve openings at F, C, d, being of
the shape of two hollow cones inverted toward each other, the jets of
oil and steam must assume the shape corresponding, and, intersecting
each other, become most thoroughly atomized and mixed before entering
the burner. M is the burner, made preferably of the shape shown in