IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR CONDENSING STEAM
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thorold, of Norwich, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES
FOR CONDENSING STEAM."
Sealed the 11th April 1860 and dated the 22nd October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thorold at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
October 1859.
I, WILLIAM THOROLD, of Norwich, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE
ENGINES FOR CONDENSING STEAM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus applied to
locomotive engines for condensing steam. For these purposes a chamber is
formed at the lower part of the smoke box connected with the passage from
the exhaust, having a slide or other valve to direct more or less of the steam
as it comes from the cylinders into such chamber. The lower part of the
chamber is separated from the upper part thereof by a partition, by preference
fixed in an inclined direction, with a rising passage therein to allow the con-
densed water to flow over from the upper compartment into the lower one,
from which the water is conveyed to a tank for supplying the boiler. Into
the upper compartment water is injected in divided jets or streams by a suit-

page_text: able pump to condense the steam in the chamber, and in order to get an
extended condensing surface for the external air to act on, numerous pipes,
tubes, or passages, rise from the upper part of the chamber, the uncondensed
steam or vapour ascends into these pipes, tubes, or passages, and by the current
of air (caused by the movement of the locomotive engine) becomes condensed,
and the condensed water falls into the chamber, and is conveyed from it as
already mentioned to the tank from which the boiler is supplied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Thorold in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOROLD, of Norwich, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Thorold, Her special licence that I, the said William
Thorold, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Thorold, 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
APPARATUS APPLIED TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES FOR CONDENSING STEAM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Thorold, 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 William Thorold, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus applied to

page_text: locomotive engines for condensing steam. For these purposes a chamber is
formed at the lower part of the smoke box connected with a passage from the
exhaust, having a slide or other valve to direct more or less of the steam, as
it comes from the cylinders into such chamber. The lower part of the chamber
is separated from the upper part thereof by a partition, by preference, fixed in
an inclined direction, with a rising passage therein to allow the condensed
water to flow over from the upper compartment into the lower one, from
which the water is conveyed to a tank for supplying. the boiler. Into the
upper compartment water is injected in divided jets or streams by a suitable
pump to condense the steam in the chamber; and in order to get an extended,
condensing surface for the external air to act on, numerous pipes, tubes, or
passages rise from the upper part of the chamber, the uncondensed steam or
vapour ascends into these pipes, tubes, or passages, and by the current of air
(caused by the movement of the locomotive engine) becomes condensed, and
the condensed water falls into the chamber, and is conveyed from it as already
mentioned to the tank from which the boiler is supplied.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a-vertical section; Figure 2, a longitudinal section; Figure 3,
a plan, partly in section; and Figure 4 is a front view of a portion of a
locomotive engine to which my improvements are applied. The engine shown
in the Drawing is of a pattern recently introduced by Mr. McConnell, but my
improvements may be applied to engines of other patterns. At the lower part
of the smoke box of the engine and underneath the cylinders a chamber is
formed, into which the exhaust steam from the cylinder or a part of it can be
allowed to pass by placing the valves A so as to uncover openings made in the
exhaust passages of the cylinders; the valves A are actuated by means of
lever handles and connecting rods, the former of which are conveniently placed
within reach of the engine driver. The steam, as soon as it enters the chamber
already mentioned, comes in contact with a number of small jets of water
thrown into the chamber by the double-acting force pump C through the
nozzles D; the force pump draws water for this purpose through the pipe
from the tender; the details of the force pump are not fully shown by the
Drawing, às. its construction will readily be understood by engineers. The
water thrown into the chamber by the force pump, together with that produced
by the condensation of the steam, falls down upon the partition E, which

page_text: divides the chamber under the smoke box into two parts, and it lays thereon
until it has accumulated in sufficient quantity to flow over the top of the pipe
K; by causing the water to stand for a time on the partition E opportunity
is given for the deposit of any solid matters the water may contain, and these
may be removed from time to time through the doors F, F. Any steam
which may escape condensation by the jets of water will rise up the small
pipes P, P, and will there be condensed, the sides of these pipes being kept
cool by passing rapidly through the air. The water condensed in these pipes
will also pass to the lower part of the chamber under the smoke box. S is a
screen against which the water entering by the jets D, D, is thrown, and
which serves to deflect the streams of water down on to partition E; L is a
pipe which conducts the water from the lower part of the chamber under the
fire-box into the cistern M, from whence it is drawn by the feed pump of the
engine and forced into the boiler. When the valves A, A, are made to close
the openings in the exhaust passages of the steam cylinders, all the exhaust
steam passes up the blast pipe, as in engines to which my improved apparatus
is not applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thorold, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM THOKULD. (L.S.)