IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING BUILDINGS.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Stansbury, of the firm of Nourse
and Co., American and General Patent Agents, 17, Cornhill, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING BUILDINGS.".
A communication.
Sealed the 13th April 1855, and dated the 13th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Stans-
bury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th October 1854.
4 >
I, CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., 'of 17,
Cornbill, London, Patent Agents, do liereby declare the nature of the said '
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING BUILDINGS," being a com-
munication from a foreigner resident abroad, to be as follows:
The object of this apparatus is the heating of buildings, by radiation from
broad thin chambers, made the receivers and condensers of steam generated in
a suitable boiler connected with the heaters, and otherwise arranged,
herein-after described.
The Invention refers to the construction of the condensers and radiators, and
manner of regulating the action of the steam and it's condensation.
$ 1
The boiler is of any suitable form, though I prefer the form to be described
in my Complete Specification. From the top of the boiler rises "the
main steam pipe, the upper part of which is enlarged into a chamber,"
T

page_text: which is closed by a valve of sufficient weight to resist the pressure of
the head of steam required, and capable of being lifted when the pressure
of the steam exceeds the required head, so that the excess of steam
shall pass by a pipe to the main condensing chamber, hereafter described.
This condensing chamber is immersed in a cistern of cold water, and is con-
nected with the boiler by a pipe, which passes from the bottom of the chamber
to the lower part of the boiler. A portion of this pipe is formed of a glass
tube; the condensed 'steam passes back to the. boiler through this pipe.
Any required number of radiating and condensing chambers or heaters may
be connected with the main pipe from the top of the boiler by suitable pipes,
and the admission of steam to them controlled by valves or cocks. These
heaters are all formed of thin sheet metal, fastened together, so as to be steam-
tight at the joints, by doubling the edges over a cord and giving them several
folds, in a mode the details of which I will describe in my Complete Specifi-
cation. To insure strength, the plates are fastened together at various points.
by rivets passed through both plates, one plate being indented, to bring its
surface into contact with the other plate at the rivetting points. The pipe
from the main condensing chamber to the bottom of the boiler has a small
aperture in its upper part, to allow the escape of air, for a purpose hereafter
referred to.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The steam generated in the
usual way in the boiler passes into the main pipe, and within the limit of
the weight of the valve in its enlarged portion will exert a pressure upon
the water in the boiler, forcing a portion of it into the pipe leading from the
bottom of the boiler to the condensing chamber, until equilibrium occurs
between the head of steam and the hydrostatic column, the height of which.
may be seen through the glass tube before mentioned; the aperture before
mentioned allows the free egress and ingress of air as the column of water rises
and falls in the tube.
The steam is admitted to the heaters through pipes, provided with adjustable
valves or cocks, and being distributed in a thin stratum between the thin
metallic plates, parts with its heat to them, and is condensed and flows back to
the boiler through the main pipe. There is a tube and valve in the heater,
for the purpose of allowing the air contained in them to be driven out when the
steam enters. This valve and tube also serve to admit any desired quantity
of air to the heaters, when but a small degree of heat is required in the
apartment to be warmed. The boiler may be supplied with water from the
cistern in which the main condenser is placed, or by any other suitable plan.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Stansbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., American and General
Patent Agents, 17 and 18, Cornhill, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Frederick Stansbury, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING BUILDINGS," a communication, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Charles Frederick Stansbury, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 annexed Drawing forming
part of this Specification; in which, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the
apparatus; Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same. Figure 3 is a section
of condensor and radiator, taken through the rivets fastening the plates;
Figure 4 is a section of the same, taken between the rivets. Figure 5
shows the several steps of the process of fastening the plates forming the
chambers E and E'. Similar characters of reference in the several Figures
denote the same parts of the apparatus.
The object of this apparatus is the heating of buildings by radiation from
broad thin plates, made the receivers and condensers of steam generated in a

page_text: suitable boiler connected with the heaters, and otherwise arranged, as will be
described.
The Invention refers to the construction of the condensors and radiators,
and manner of regulating the action of the steam and condensation of the
same. To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention, I
will proceed to describe the construction and operation of the same.
In the Drawing, a is the boiler and furnace, set in masonry T, as shewn in
Figure 2, m being the furnace, fed by the opening w and surrounded by the
boiler, while the flue f¹ is carried around the outer surface of the boiler.
Jis the grate, shewn in a revolved position; and I is a conical valve, filling the
feed opening n, and regulating the draft of the furnace. The above-described
construction of boiler and furnace is not essential to my heating apparatus, as
any suitable boiler and furnace may be employed.
Forming a portion of the main steam pipe B is the chamber C, in which a
valve h, of sufficient weight to resist the pressure of the head of steam required,
and capable of being lifted when the pressure of the steam rises above the
required head, so that the surplus steam will pass by the pipe B' to the con-
densing chamber E', the construction of which will be hereafter set forth.
This chamber E' is immersed in a cistern D of cold water, and is connected
with the boiler by the pipe B", a portion k of which may be formed of a glass
tube, for purposes hereafter to be set forth.
The radiating and condensing character E is connected with the main pipe
B by the pipe O, the valve O regulating the admission of steam to the said
radiating and condensing chamber. But one radiating chamber is shown in
the Drawing, though in practice one of such chambers is to be situated in each
apartment to be warmed, the connecting pipes of which all enter the main
pipe B between the boiler and the valve h.
The condensing chamber E, and the radiating and condensing chambers or
heaters E, are each composed of two plates t, u, of thin sheet metal, fastened
together and packed so as to be steam-tight in the following manner, reference
being had to Figure 5. Diagram V. shows the largest plate t, turned up
around the edge of the plate u, and a cord g placed upon the plate u, and
against the turned-up portion of the plate t. The upright portion of the plate
t is next turned down, as seen at W, and then both plates are turned up,
bringing the cord g upon the edge of the plate u, as shewn at X. Both plates
are then turned down, as seen at Y, and flattened, as at Z, the edge of plate u
being during the operation forced into the cord g throughout the length of said
edge, so as to form a perfect steam-tight packing, in a cheap and expeditious

page_text: manner. The plates are also fastened at various points of their surface by
rivets f passed through both plates, one plate being indented, to bring its
surface in contact with the other plate at the point of riveting, as shewn
in Figures 1 and 3. This construction enables the thin metal to resist the
pressure of the steam. The pipe B has in its upper surface a perforation R,
the importance of which will be seen in the following description of the
operation of my improved apparatus.
It will be understood by the above description that the heating of the
building is produced by the continual condensation of steam in the several
chambers E, connected with the main pipe B; a description of the action
of the steam in the apparatus figured in the Drawing will illustrate therefore
the general operation of the heating apparatus, however modified in con-
struction and arrangement of parts by location and other circumstances.
The boiler being supplied with water, and the fuel in the furnace ignited,
steam will be evolved, and passing into the pipe B', as shown by arrow 1, will,
within the limit of the weight of the valve h, exert a pressure on the water in
the boiler, forcing a portion of it into the tube k, until an equilibrium is pro-
duced between the pressure of the head of steam and the hydrostatic column
in the tube k, the height of which column is dependant on the pressure of
steam permitted by the weight of the valve h, and the production of which is
due to the perforation R in the top of the pipe B". That such is the effect
of the perforation R is evident from well-known philosophical principles, not
here requiring demonstration. As the surplus air is necessarily expelled by
pressure, and the column in the tube k acted upon by the uncompressed air,
the construction of the said tube of glass permits the height of the column
to be seen.
When the pressure of the steam exceeds the weight of the valve h (which
is adjusted to the head required), the valve rises and permits the passage of
the surplus steam through the pipe B' to the condensing chamber E¹, as
indicated by arrows 2 and 3, and when the equilibrium is restored, the valve
drops. The steam which enters the chamber E' is instantly condensed as said
chamber is immersed in the cold water of the well D, and is by its construction
calculated to effect speedy condensation. The water from the condensing
chamber flows through the pipe B" to the boiler, as indicated by the arrows
4, 5, & 6.
The above description shews the operation of the apparatus in preserving
the equilibrium of the head of steam and the hydrostatic column, on the
supposition that there is no communication with the radiating chamber; when

page_text: therefore the valve O is opened, a supply of steam will flow through the pipe
O to the chamber E, and being there distributed into a thin stratum
between the plates t, u, is immediately condensed, and the heat evolved in
condensation radiated from the surface of the chamber, the water flowing
back to the boiler by the pipes O and B. The chamber E is regulated in
size by the cubic contents of the apartment to be warned, and is placed
in any convenient position, and has its surface suitably ornamented.
The valve regulates the supply of steam admitted to the radiating
chamber, but besides that adjustment the chamber is provided with a valve
O', O¹, communicating with the external air and the tube S (see Figure 3),
which reaches nearly to the bottom of the chamber on the admission of the
steam, so that the whole surface of the heater may act. The air when steam
is admitted to the chamber will be forced into the corners, as shown by dotted
lines in Figure 1; consequently it must be discharged from the bottom; and
as there would be a drip from the condensed steam if the valve O', O', was
placed in the lower portion of the chamber, the tube S is used so as to receive
the air at the bottom of the chamber, and discharge by the valve '0', O',
at the top. The valve also serves to admit any desired quantity of air to the
chamber E, when but a small degree of heat is required in the apartment,
the effect being to diminish the diffusion of steam in the chamber, and
consequently decrease the radiating surface of the heater.
The valve O, O, of the chamber E, E, serves as a means of furnishing
water to the boiler from the cistern D, though another opening to the boiler is
provided, which is not shewn in the Drawing. The advantage of this
apparatus for heating buildings consists in a great measure in the economy
of fuel which it admits of, as a very low pressure of steam is required for the
heating purpose, the thin sheets forming the condensing and radiating
chambers producing rapid condensation and radiation. This advantageous
result of the use of thin sheets in the construction of the chambers is due to
the peculiar mode of securing their sides by the rivets f,
fastening and packing their edges, which enables the thin
strain of the steam without leakage.
and the manner of
sheets to bear the
The self-regulating property of this apparatus is another advantage in its
use; this is owing to the perforation R in the pipe B, which forms the
hydrostatic column for sustaining the head of steam necessary for the heating
operation, while all steam above the required pressure is passed to the con-
denser, and returned as water to the boiler through the hydrostatic column.
This self-regulating property gives a security to the use of steam as a heater

page_text: not possessed by any other apparatus, as nothing is required but to keep up
the fire, and the necessary amount of steam and no more will be conveyed
to the condensers and radiators in the several apartments to be warmed.
What I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-
First, the combination of generator, radiator, and condenser, as herein
described, for the purpose of heating buildings when the connection between
the generator and condenser is perforated, as specified, so as to admit of the
formation of a hydrostatic column, balancing the pressure of steam on the
valve h, and permitting the water from the condensation of the steam to return
to the generator, as herein-before specified.
Second, the mode of regulating the quantity of steam admitted to the
radiator by means of the valve 0, 0, and the tube S, constructed and
operating as set forth.
Third, the herein-described method of producing a steam-tight connection
between the plates of the condensing and radiating chambers E, E', by
means of a cord packed between the edges of the plates, substantially as
set forth.
Fourth, the securing of thin metallic sheets, forming the chambers E', E',
by depressing and riveting, as shewn in Figure 3, for giving the requisite
strength to withstand the outward pressure of the steam in a simple and
economical manner; the mode of securing the sheets by stays as used by
Watt and others being expressly disclaimed, as also the employment of thin
metallic sheets as radiators.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY.
(L.