AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Félix Meunier, of Rue des Processions, at
Fives-Lille (France), Builder, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
93
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Félix Meunier at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th October 1872.
I, LOUIS FÉLIX MEUNIER, of Rue de Processions, at Fives-Lille
(France), Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS,"
to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to apparatus for separating from the feed water
of steam boilers the matters suspended therein, which usually form
incrustations on the interior surface of the boiler. By the use of the
improved apparatus, which I will presently describe, I am enabled to.
effect in one and the same vessel the heating of the feed water, and the
precipitation and filtration from it of a large proportion of the solid
matter desolved or suspended in it before it is supplied to the boiler.
For this purpose I provide a purifying vessel which may conveniently.he.

page_text: of cylindrical form placed upright. The feed water from the feed pump
or from a cistern giving sufficient pressure for feeding the boiler is
admitted to the upper end of a vertical tube which descends towards the
bottom of this vessel, the water being made to pass through a sieve and
down the tube. Within the tube is another perforated tube com-
municating with the steam space of the boiler, and a little below the
lower end of the first mentioned tube is fixed a convex disc plate or
spreader, on which the water descending by the tube and heated by its
contact with the steam escaping from the perforations of the inner tube
deposits a portion of its impurities.. In the middle part of the vessel
between two perforated plates and surrounding the descending tube are
placed filtering materials, such as cinders, charcoal, fragments of wood,
and the like, through which the water rises from the bottom of the
vessel. Above the filter is a pipe through which the purified water
flows to the boiler.
The purifying vessel is provided with a stop-cock at bottom, by which
it can be emptied of water, and its upper and lower compartments as
well as the middle compartment containing the filtering materials have
man-holes or hand-holes, by which access is given for cleansing or
changing the filter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said Louis Félix Meunier, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
FELIX MEUNIER, of Rue de Processions, at Fives-Lille (France), Builder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Louis Felix Meunier,- Her special
license, that I, the said Louis Felix. Meunier, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Felix Meunier, 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

page_text: 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 PURIFYING FEED WATER OF STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Louis Felix Meunier, 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 Louis Felix Meunier, 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 following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for separating from the feed water
of steam boilers the matters suspended therein, which usually form
incrustations on the interior surface of the boiler. By the use of the
improved apparatus which I will presently describe, I am enabled to
effect in one and the same vessel the heating of the feed water, and the
precipitation and filtration from it of a large proportion of the solid
matter dissolved or suspended in it before it is supplied to the boiler.
For this purpose I provide a purifying vessel which may conveniently be
of cylindrical form placed upright. The feed water from the feed pump
or from a cistern giving sufficient pressure for feeding the boiler is
admitted to the upper end of a vertical tube which descends towards the
bottom of this vessel, the water being made to pass through a sieve and
down the tube. Within the tube is another perforated tube com-
municating with the steam space of the boiler, and a little below the
lower end of the first-mentioned tube is fixed a convex disc, plate, or
spreader on which the water descending by the tube and heated by its
contact with the steam escaping from the perforations of the inner tube
deposits a portion of its impurities. In the middle part of the vessel,
between two perforated plates, and surrounding the descending tube are
placed filtering materials such as cinders, charcoal, fragments of wood,
and the like, through which the water rises from the bottom of the vessel.

page_text: well as the middle compartment containing the intering materials have
man-holes or hand-holes by which access is given for cleansing or
changing the filter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 shews a side view; and Fig. 2 a vertical section on the
line P, Q, (Fig. 1) of my improved apparatus. Figs. 3 and 4, represent
sectional plans on the lines R, S, & T, U, (Fig. 2) respectively.
The apparatus consists of a cylindrical vessel E, provided at bottom
with a stop-cock J, whereby it can be emptied, and also provided on its
cover with a safety valve D. On the cover is fixed a dome B, having
a branch pipe 6 by which the feed water is supplied from a feed pump or
from a reservoir with the necessary pressure for feeding the boiler. To
the top of the dome B is connected a steam pipe A, furnished with a
cheek valve. A tube L fixed to the dome B descends to the lower part
of the apparatus, and provides a passage downwards for the feed water
which enters the tube L through a sieve K, and which flows from the
tube L upon a convex plate O, whereby it is spread laterally. The steam
entering by the pipe A descends by an inner tube M, which is perforated
with numerous small holes, so that as the water descends the tube Lit
becomes heated by the numerous small jets of steam issuing from the
inner tube M, and prepared to deposit the solid matter dissolved or
suspended in it. N is a mass of filtering materials, such as cinders,
pieces of wood, and the like, resting on a grating or perforated plate n,
and covered by a grating or perforated plate n¹; G is a pipe by which
the feed water is conveyed to the boiler; and F, H, and I, are man-holes
or hand-holes to give access for charging or removing the filtering
materials, and for cleansing the interior of the apparatus. The water
supplied by the pipe 6 descends along the tube L, becoming heated in
its passage by the steam issuing from the inner pipe M, it is spread
laterally by the plate O, and having parted with a portion of its
impurities precipitated from it to the bottom of the apparatus, it
ascends through the filter N, and flows by the pipe G to the boiler,
heated and purified.

page_text: Although I have described an apparatus of cylindrical form as being
one of cheap and strong construction, it may be readily understood that
the form and details can be modified to suit particular circumstances,
the general arrangement and mode of action being maintained as
described above.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I claim, the use of apparatus for
heating and purifying feed water of steam boilers, substantially as herein
described, the action of such apparatus being characterized by the
following features:-
1. The rapid and complete heating of the feed water on entering the
purifying apparatus by its descent along a tube surrounding a per-
forated steam pipe, whereby it is brought in contact with steam in finely
divided jets, and is placed under the most favorable conditions for the
precipitation from it of salts and other foreign matters.
2. The ascent of the water thus partly cleared of its impurities
through a mass of filtering materials, whereby it is completely purified.
3. The arrangement whereby the heating of the water as above
described and the precipitation and filtration of impurities during the
descent and ascent of the water are effected in one and the same vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Felix Meunier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
ALBERT CAHEN,
Civil Engineer,
32, Boulevard Magenta,
at Paris.
L. F. MEUNIER. (L.S.)