AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING OR SUPPLYING STEAM GENERATORS WITH WATER, WHICH SAID APPARATUS IS APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING AND FORCING OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Brown, of the Firm of Thomas Brown and
Company, of No. 96, Newgate Street, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
OR SUPPLYING STEAM GENERATORS WITH WATER, WHICH SAID APPARATUS IS
APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING AND FORCING OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS."-
A communication from abroad by Camille Faure, of Grenoble, in.
the Empire of France.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd March 1870.
I, THOMAS BROWN, of the Firm of Thomas Brown and Company, of
No. 96, Newgate Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
FEEDING OR SUPPLYING STEAM GENERATORS WITH WATER, WHICH SAID APPARATUS
I, THOMAS BROWN, of the Firm of Thomas Brown and Company, of
No. 96, Newgate Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
FEEDING OR SUPPLYING STEAM GENERATORS WITH WATER, WHICH SAID APPARATUS

page_text: IS APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING AND FORCING OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS," to be
as follows: —
This Invention consists of the improved apparatus herein-after
described to be applied to steam generators for the purpose of supplying
them with water.
The said apparatus is constructed as follows:-A hollow metal drum
divided internally into three or more chambers or compartments is
mounted on a horizontal hollow axis in which are formed a steam
passage and induction and eduction water passages. This axis is affixed
to a hollow standard or steam pipe bolted to and communicating with
the upper part of the steam generator, from which steam passes through
the said pipe and the steam passage aforesaid to the chambers in the
drum. The induction water passage communicates by means of a pipe
with a water tank, and is furnished with ports which communicate with
ports in the boss of the drum, which latter open into water passages
which are cast or fitted in the said drum, and have at their outer ends
apertures through which the water passes into the chambers aforesaid.
The eduction water passage has ports which communicate with the
aforesaid ports in the boss of the drum, and is in communication with a
feed pipe through which the water passes into the lower part of the
steam generator. The steam passage in the axis is or may be furnished
with a spindle valve by means of which the steam may be wholly
or partially shut off. A small air passage is formed in the axis to
allow of the escape of air from the uppermost chamber as herein-after
.described.
Instead of the aforesaid drum being mounted upon an axis containing
the steam and water passages described the said drum may be mounted
upon hollow axes or plugs inserted in the boss of the drum from
opposite sides, the steam passage being formed in one of the said plugs
and the water passages in the other plug. In this case the said plugs
are affixed to hollow standards one on each side of the drum. The
lower end of the steam pipe herein-before referred to may be caused to
enter the steam generator to the working water level, so that when the
water reaches the said level the steam is cut off from the said pipe,
and the apparatus is thereby stopped until the water falls to a lower
level.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Steam from the generator
11. 111

page_text: uppermost and expels the air, which escapes through the air passage
herein-before referred to. The continuous revolution of the said drum
brings one of its water ports to coincide with the induction water port
in the axis, and water passes from the tank aforesaid into the chamber
referred to and condenses the steam therein, the weight of the water
thus introduced causing the drum to move through part of a revolution
so as to bring the said chamber into its lowest position when the water
and steam ports of the said chamber coincide respectively with the
eduction water port and the steam port in the axis. Steam now enters
the chamber and forces the water therefrom through the eduction
passage in the axis into the feed pipe in connection therewith, whence
the said water passes into the steam generator. Each of the chambers
is in its turn filled and emptied (or partially so) as above described, and
the drum is thus caused to revolve and thereby automatically to effect
the feeding of the steam generator.
The apparatus herein-before described may be applied to the raising
and forcing of water and other liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BROWN, of the Firm of Thomas Brown and Company, of No. 96, Newgate
Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Brown, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Brown, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FEEDING OR SUPPLYING

page_text: me from abroad by Camille Faure, of Grenoble, in the Empire of France,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Brown,
my executors or administrators, 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 Thomas Brown, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of the improved apparatus hercin-after
described to be applied to steam generators for the purpose of supplying.
them with water.
The said apparatus is constructed as follows:-A hollow metal drum
divided internally into three or more chambers or compartments is
mounted on a horizontal hollow axis in which are formed a steam
passage and induction and eduction water passages. This axis is
affixed to a hollow standard or steam pipe bolted to and communicating
with the upper part of the steam generator, from which steam passes
through the said pipe and the steam passage aforesaid to the chambers
in the drum. The induction water passage communicates by means of a
pipe with a water tank, and is furnished with ports which communicate
with ports in the boss of the drum, which latter open into water passages
which are cast or fitted in the said drum and have at their outer ends
apertures through which the water passes into the chambers aforesaid.
The eduction water passage has ports which communicate with the
aforesaid ports in the boss of the drum, and is in communication with a
feed pipe through which the water passes into the lower part of the
steam generator. The steam passage in the axis is or may be furnished
with a spindle valve, by means of which the steam may be wholly or
partially shut cff. A small air passage is formed in the axis to allow
of the escape of air from the uppermost chamber as herein-after
described.

page_text: Instead of the aforesaid drum being mounted upon an axis containing
the steam and water passages described the said drum may be mounted
upon hollow axes or plugs inserted in the boss of the drum from
opposite sides, the steam passage being formed in one of the said plugs
and the water passages in the other plug. In this case the said plugs
are affixed to hollow standards one on each side of the drum. The
lower end of the steam pipe hercin-before referred to may be caused
to enter the steam generator to the working water level, so that when
the water reaches the said level the steam is cut off from the said pipe,
and the apparatus is thereby stopped until the water falls to a lower
level.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Steam from the generator
passes into the chamber, which by the revolution of the drum is brought
uppermost and expels the air which escapes through the air passage
herein-before referred to. The continuous revolution of the said drum
brings one of its water ports to coincide with the induction water port
in the axis, and water passes from the tank aforesaid into the chamber
referred to and condenses the steam therein, the weight of the water
thus introduced causing the drum to move through part of a revolution
so as to bring the said chamber into its lowest position when the water
and steam ports of the said chamber coincide respectively with the
eduction water port and the steam port in the axis. Steam now enters
the chamber and forces the water therefrom through the eduction
passage in the axis into the feed pipe in connection therewith, whence
the said water passes into the steam generator. Each of the chambers
is in its turn filled and emptied (or partially so) as above described, and
the drum is thus caused to revolve and thereby automatically to effect
the feeding of the steam generator.
The apparatus above described may be applied to the raising and
forcing of water and other liquids.
In order the better to explain the said Invention a Drawing is here-
unto appended showing one mode or form of apparatus by which it may
be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus showing the axis on
which the drum or apparatus revolves; Figure 2 is a vertical section
of the said drum and axis in the line a, b, of Figure 1, and parallel to
the plane of rotation; Figure 3 is a similar section in the line c, d,
of Figure 1.

page_text: In these Figures A is the revolving drum containing three separate
chambers 1, 2, and 3 cast hollow in the rim of the wheel. Each chamber
has two passages or pipes connecting the said chambers with ports in
the boss or nave of the drum. These passages or pipes are placed one
at each end of the chamber, so that there are six of such passages for
the three chambers. The drum A is mounted upon the axis B, which is
hollow and contains three distinct and separate passages; the one
passage m begins at the port n and delivers the feed water at o into
the feed pipe and thence to the boiler. The passage p receives the
steam from the standard C through the port q, and delivers it into the
drum at . The third passage is cast parallel to this steam-passage.
It receives the water_from-the-tank or water supply through the pipe S
and delivers it into the drum at t. The standard C is bolted upon the
steam generator or anywhere above the water level of the boiler. The
said standard receives the steam through the steam pipe D, which
plunges into the steam down to the level of the water.
Having reference to the above-named passages in conjunction with
the ports in the axis it will be seen that the chamber 1 is being filled
with water that the chamber 2 receives the steam at its upper part, as
indicated by the arrows, which steam forces the water therein contained
to escape through a pipe or passage at o' connecting the lower part of
the chamber 2 with the feed pipe at o. It is well to observe that the
requisite flow of the water depends upon the difference of level inside
of the apparatus and of the boiler. The chamber 3 is filled with steam,
and by the subsequent rotation of the drum in the direction of the
arrow it will be caused to take the place of chamber 1 and become filled
in its turn.
The rotation of the drum or apparatus is caused by the weight of
water in the chamber on the right being constantly heavier than in the
chamber on the left side of the drum or apparatus. All the details of
operation, such as the expelling of the air or the shutting off of the
It is also necessary to
steam, can be effected by well-known means.
understand that the drum or apparatus can be made in separate parts,
such parts being suitably bolted together, and the form and shape of
the three main parts, namely, the standard, the axis, and the drum or
apparatus, can be varied indefinitely.
:
Having thus described one of the ways in which the said Invention
communicated to me from abroad as aforesaid can be carried into

page_text: effect, I wish it to be clearly understood that what I claim as of the
Invention is, the construction and use of a boiler feeder mounted on a
hollow axis (or axes) revolving constantly in the same direction and
having all the necessary ports in the boss and axis of the same apparatus,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Brown, have hercunto
set my hand and scal, this First day of September, in the
.
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.
having all the necessary ports in the boss and axis of the same apparatus,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Brown, have hercunto
set my hand and scal, this First day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
7, Staple Inn,
W.C.
THO³. BROWN. (L.S.)