IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING HEAT TO STEAM BOILERS, AND IN ANDADATTO TYD DEAD
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Brierley Denham Healey, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer and Contractor, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING HEAT TO STEAM BOILERS, AND IN
ANDADATTO TYD DEAD
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Brierley Denham Healey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th October 1870.
I, BRIERLEY DENHAM HEALEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING HEAT TO STEAM BOILERS,
IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say:
AND
•
This Invention has reference to an arrangement of boiler setting which
will regenerate or utilize otherwise waste heat and prevent the: presence
of smoke in the chimney. For this purpose gas is used of the kind
commonly known as carbonic oxide which may be produced in producers.
of various known forms adapted to the nature of the fuel to be used.

page_text: These producers may be at a distance from the boilers, and the gas may
be conducted through flues to the boilers but are by preference placed in
front of the boilers with a main gas and chimney flue between them and
the boilers; the gas flue being above the chimney flue. The air to
support combustion is passed through one or more series of fire-clay
pipes which are arranged in each side flue of the boiler setting and which
regenerate the waste heat passing to the chimney. These pipes are laid
horizontally and in direct lines from the front to the back of the boiler
and may be of various sizes and lengths, but are by preference made
about three and a half inches in diameter and three feet long, their ends
being entered into bricks of such a configuration as to form sockets.
These bricks are arranged to form bafflers in the side flues of the boiler
causing the heated gases in their passage from the back to the front of
the boiler to impinge several times upon the air pipes as also upon the
sides of the boiler. The heated air is conducted into a receiver placed in
front of the boiler through which receiver there is passed in an internal
pipe of suitable dimensions the gas from the producer or gas flue and
the same is conducted into each flue to be fired. Valves are placed in
the receiver to regulate the supply of gas and air, and provision is made
for lighting the gas, as also for cleaning out any soot or tar that may
accumulate. The air to support combustion flows all around the pipe
which conducts the gas. The gas pipe which acts as the burner is
placed below the centre of the air pipe, the extent of the eccentricity
varying according to the heating power required, the object being to
admit the air more freely on the upper side of the gas burner and cause
more rapid combustion.
The Invention may be applied to boilers with one or two internal
flues or to egg end or other boilers without internal flues.
In applying the Invention to boilers where it may be impracticable or
objectionable to insert the air pipes from any cause soever the air may be
heated by arranging small flues in the brickwork of the gas producer.
The air in this case enters under the incline or front of the producer and
passes up under the front and along the sides and top of the producer to
the receiver in front of the boiler. The arrangement of the apparatus for
combustion is the same as that herein-before described. The air may
also be heated by being passed through flues built in the boiler seating
or between the side walls of the seating. And where the gas used is
produced at such a distance from the boilers as to cause its temperature

page_text: to be greatly reduced then the gas is passed through flues or pipes arranged.
in any known manner for the purpose of raising the temperature before
combustion takes place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
' filed by the said Brierley Denham Healey in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRIERLEY
DENHAM HEALEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer and Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of
Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Brierley Denham Healey, Her special licence:
that I, the said Brierley Denham Healey, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, te said Brierley Denham Healey,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPLYING HEAT TO STEAM BOILERS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Brierley Denham Healey, 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 Brierley Denham Healey, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention has reference to an arrangement of boiler seating
which will regenerate or utilise otherwise waste heat and prevent the

page_text: presence of smoke in the chimney. For this purpose a combustible gas
is used such as that commonly known as carbonic oxide, which may be
produced in well known ways in " 'producers" of various forms adapted
to the nature of the fuel to be used. The air to support the combustion
of the gas is passed through one or more series of fire-clay or other pipes,
which are arranged in each side flue of the boiler seating, and which
regenerate the otherwise waste heat passing to the chimney. These air
pipes are laid horizontally and in direct lines from the back to the front
end of the boiler, and are carried by transverse brick partitions which
act as bafflers and cause the fire gases to impinge repeatedly on the
boiler sides and on the air pipes.
The details of the improved arrangements are susceptible of variation
or modification to suit different forms of boiler and other circumstances,
but their nature and the manner of practically applying them will be
fully understood from the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings
and the following description thereof, the said Drawings showing by
way of example the application of the improvements to a steam boiler
of a common type, namely, a horizontal cylindrical one with two large
internal flue tubes.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2 is a sectional
plan, whilst Figures 3 and 4 are transverse vertical sections, both as
taken between two adjacent pairs of transverse partitions in the seating
but as viewed in opposite directions. The boiler is indicated by strong
dotted blue lines. The gas producer 1 is shown as near the boiler and
as only separated from the front end thereof by upper and lower trans-
verse horizontal flues 2, 3, the upper flue 2 receiving the gas from the
producer 1, through a shutting-off damper 4, and the other 3, leading
the waste fire gases finally away to the chimney. The gas passes from
the gas
flue 2 up vertical pipes 5, and from them issues by the burners 6
into the flue tubes of the boiler. The air to support the combustion of
the gas enters at the back end of the boiler seating into ports at 7
leading into spaces 8, from whence it passes through the fire clay pipes 9
shown in Figures 1, 3, 4, but not in Figure 2, to the front end of the
boiler. The central hollow cast-iron stool or support 10 is also availed
of for the passage and heating of some of the air, and at the front end of a
the boiler the air from it and the pipes 9, enters casings or receivers 11
surrounding the upper parts of the gas pipes 5, and issues thence through
annular openings 12 encircling the burners 6. The supply of air.is

page_text: regulated by sliding valves upon the inlet ports 7, which valves are
adjusted by means of rods 13 passing to levers at the front end of the.
boiler. The air pipes 9 are supported by transverse brick partitions 14,
15, all of which occupy the lower corners of the side flues or spaces in
the boiler seating, but which are extended alternately towards the
middle and upwards so that the fire gases have to pass at the side over
every other one and round every alternate one at the middle in the
zig-zag courses which will be understood on comparing the arrows shown
in the different Figures. The fire gases which after issuing from the
back ends of the boiler flue tubes pass in the zigzag courses along the
sides, on reaching the front end descend by a vertical flue 16, and enter
through a damper 17 into the flue 3 leading to the chimney. The
damper 17 is arranged to oscillate on a central vertical spindle, and is
adjusted by means of a rod passing up through a tube to a lever 18
above. The supply of gas is regulated by mushroom or dise valves 19,
which work inside the vertical pipes 5 and when closed bear on seats
formed just below the burners 6. Any soot or tar that may adhere to
the inside of the gas pipes 5 is cleared away when necessary by means
of scrapers 20, which are worked by rods 21 passing down through the
tubular spindles 22 of the valves 19. The heated air flows out of the
receivers 11' at the openings 12 all round the burners 6, but in larger
volume at the upper side, the burners 6 being by preference placed with
their centres below the centres of the openings 12, to an extent which
may be varied in different cases. The gas is ignited through holes 23
provided with plugs or slides at the outer sides of the pipes 5 directly.
opposite to the burners 6. The fire gases after leaving the points of
ignition may be caused to run in a helical direction through the boiler.
tubes by inserting hollow cylinders of fire-clay of any suitable size, with
inclined fins or blades on the outside, which will cause the gases to
impinge more closely on the tubes. The gas producers (1) may be at
a distance from the boilers instead of being close thereto as shown in.
the Drawing, but in every application the gas is supplied at the.
point (6) of mixture or combustion in such a way as to avoid con-
densation, which is generally done by passing the gas pipes leading from.
the main gas flue (2) through the hot air receivers (11) as shown in the
Drawing. The gas should in every case be heated to a temperature
nearly equal to that of the air, and when the gas producer is at a
distance so that the gas becomes cooled in traversing the flue leading.
to the boiler, this may be attained by making the gas enter at the back

page_text: end of the boiler seating and pass through the hollow stool 10 or
through some of the pipes 9, heated by the impinging fire gases on its
way to the burners 6..
My Invention may obviously be applied to boilers with one or with
two internal flues, or to egg end or other boilers with or without internal
flues.
1
In applying my Invention to boilers where it may be impracticable
or inconvenient to insert the air pipes 9, 10, in the manner shown, the
air may be heated by passing it through small flues constructed in the
brickwork of the gas producer (1). The air in such cases is by
preference made to enter under the incline or front part 24 of the
producer, and to pass up under the front and along the sides and top of
the producer to the receivers 11. The air may also be heated by being
passed through flues formed in the boiler seating and separated by thin
fire-brick slabs from the fire-gas flues.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 represent a construction of burner and accom--
panying details which I adopt when slightly modifying the general
arrangements as immediately herein-after described; Figure 5 being a
longitudinal section, and Figures 6 and 7 transverse sections. In this
modification the air is made to enter a space at what has herein-before
been described as the front end of the boiler, and to pass through the
air pipes 9 to receivers 11 at the back end. The flue 2 for the com-
bustible gas may still be at the front end, in which case the gas will be
led from it along the hollow stool 10 to the back end, thence up by a
pipe or duct 5 to the burner tube 6, which is carried along the boiler
flue from the back end nearly to the front end. Or the gas flue 2 may
be at the back end of the boiler and may communicate directly with
the pipe 5. The burner tube 6 is placed within a larger tube 25, and
the air passes along the annular space thus formed in the latter and
issues from openings 26 nearly at the front end, its supply being
regulated by a cylindrical valve 27 adapted to the openings 26 and
carried by means of radial arms on a spindle 28 which can be turned by
means of an external handle or hand wheel. A mushroom valve 29
carried by a tubular spindle 30 through which the spindle 28 of the air
valve passes covers the ends of the tubes 6, 25, and allows the gas to
issue backwards in an annular stream of greater or less volume
accordingly as it is adjusted further out or in. The adjustment of the
valve 29 is effected by screwing by means of a small hand wheel 31

page_text: fixed on the spindle 30, which spindle is screwed externally to work in a
tappet bearing in the bridge piece 32 carrying it. The air tube 25 is
supported in the boiler flue tube by fire-brick pieces 33, and fire-brick
shells 34 may be applied as shown to protect the tube 25 (when made
of iron) at the part where the heat will be most intense. The scraper 20
for cleaning the burner tube 6 is worked by a rod 21 passing out at
the back end. This modification of my arrangements will be found
advantageous where the combustible gas requires considerable heating,
or in cases where a very intense heat being required it is desirable that
the air and gas should be considerably heated prior to their mixture and
ignition.
My Invention may obviously be applied to marine as well as land
boilers; and in the case of marine boilers I enclose the producers in
hollow iron casings arranged so that the air for combustion passes
through spaces in the casings and takes up the radiated heat. This
arrangement may also in some cases be applied in connection with land
boilers. It will also be obvious that my improved arrangements and
apparatus may be used with carburretted hydrogen instead of carbonic
oxide gas.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the hercin-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
1. The heating of steam boilers by means of gas formed in producers
and burned by the aid of air heated by the fire gases, and by means of
apparatus arranged and combined in the improved manner substantially
as herein-before described.
2. The arranging and combining of the air heating pipes 9 and
baffling partitions 14, 15, substantially in the improved manner herein-
before described and shown on the accompanying Drawings.
3. The arranging and combining together of the pipes or passages,
receivers, and burners for conveying the air and combustible gas to the
point of mixture and ignition in the improved manner substantially as
herein-before described and shown on the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: 4. The arranging of the various valves and the scrapers in the
improved modes herein-before described and shown on the accompanying
Drawings.
5. The heating or partial heating of the air for combustion by causing
it to traverse flues or spaces formed in the building or casing of the gas
producer as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Brierley Denham Healey, 'have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
B. D. HEALEY. (L.S.)