AN IMPROVED FEED-WATER HEATER FOR STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Begg, of Marsh Lane Foundry, Preston,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
FEED-WATER HEATER FOR STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 15th November 1872, and dated the 23rd May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Begg at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1872. .
I, WILLIAM BEGG, of Marsh Lane Foundry, Preston, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED FEED-WATER HEATER FOR STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved feed-water heater for steam
boilers whereby it is conveyed through the furnace in such a way as to
receive heat from the fire without causing any obstruction to the passage
of heat to the boiler.
According to my Invention I make the side bars of the grate hollow
instead of solid, as heretofore, and connect them with a hollow bridge,

page_text: The side bars are connected at their front ends, the one with the feed
pipe and the other with the boiler, or if there are two flues with
the adjacent hollow side bar of the next furnace. The hollow side
bars and bridge are connected rigidly together, and are quite inde-
pendent of the boiler and fire-bars, being mounted in such a manner
as to afford the necessary freedom for expansion and contraction of
the metal. The hollow bridge rests on suitable supports fixed in the
flue, and may be provided with rollers to permit of its free movement.
The hollow side bars are disposed on a level with the fire-bars com-
posing the grate so as not to intercept the heat passing to the sides of
the flue.
Provision is also made for blowing out by means of the steam pressure
any incrustations which may have formed in the hollow side bars or
bridge, by simply removing caps which close the ends of the hollow side
hars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Begg in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BEGG, of Marsh Lane Foundry, Preston, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Begg, Her special licence,
that I, the said William Begg, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Begg, 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 FEED-WATER HEATER FOR
STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: William Begg, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Begg, 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 accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
My Invention relates to an improved feed-water heater for steam
boilers, whereby the feed-water is conveyed through the furnace in such
a way as to receive heat from the fire without obstructing the heat to
the boiler.
According to my Invention I make the side bars of the grate hollow
instead of solid as heretofore, and connect them by a hollow bridge. The
two side bars and bridge are in one casting, and are quite independent
of the boiler and fire-bars, being fitted in such a manner as to afford the
necessary freedom for expansion and contraction of the metal. The
hollow bridge and side bars rest on suitable supports fixed in the flue
and may be provided with rollers to permit of their free movement.
The hollow side bars are disposed on a level with the fire-bars composing
the grate so as not to intercept the heat passing to the sides of the flue,
and the side bars are connected at their front ends, the one with the feed
pipe and the other with the boiler. When applied to a two-flued boiler
the side bars and bridge of each grate are similarly constructed and the
feed water enters the extreme or outer side bar of each grate, and after
passing through the bridge and back by the other side bar meets at the
front and enters the boiler between the two flues at a point lower down
the front of the boiler.
Provision is made for blowing out by means of the steam pressure
any incrustations which may have formed in the hollow side bars or
bridge by simply removing caps which close the ends of the hollow side
bars.

page_text: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a boiler provided with my
improved feed-water heater taken on line 1-1, Figure 2, which is a hori-
zontal section of the same taken just above the bridge; Figure 3 is a
transverse section of the boiler taken on line 2—2, Figure 1.
In the Drawings a double-flued boiler is shown, but the apparatus is
equally applicable to a single-flued boiler.
a, a', are the side bars of the grate cast hollow and in one with a
bridge b, also hollow or having a passage b¹ through which the two side
bars a communicate. The bridge b is provided with sloping flanges at
back and front and rests on friction rollers c on a fixed support d,
neither the side bars nor the bridge being fixed to the flue. In this
way abundant provision is made for the expansion and contraction of
the metal, which is one of the chief objects of my Invention. The
side bars are supported on a level with the fire-bars e, and form part
of the grate surface for the fire to rest upon. The front ends of the two
extreme side bars a are connected with the feed pipe, and the other side
bars a¹ meet at the front and communicate with the boiler at a point
between the two flues lower down the front of the boiler. In the case
of a two-flued boiler the water thus enters the two outer bars a and
passes back through the inner side bars a¹, and meeting again at the
front passes into the boiler at x. In the case of a single-flued boiler
the water simply passes in at one side bar through the bridge and back
by the other side bar into the boiler. Each side bar has cast on its side
next the sides of the flue a number of projections a² which do not quite
touch the sides, and have air passages or spaces between them. fis an
ordinary dead plate. 9 are caps screwed or bolted to the end of one or
both side bars removable for blowing out incrustations or accumulations
which may form in the side bars or bridge. A tap is provided at the
front end of one of the side bars a to let off the water therefrom.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would observe that I am aware that pipes
have been fixed in a furnace and connected to a hollow fixed bridge for
heating the feed water; but in this arrangement no provision was made
for expansion and contraction, and moreover the pipes were not used as
furnace bars for the fire to rest on, as in the present instance; I do not

page_text: therefore desire to claim the exclusive use of such a feed-water heater;
but what I do claim as my Invention to be protected by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the side bars made hollow and con-
nected by a hollow movable bridge and disposed on a level with the
fire-bars so as to heat the water passing through them without inter-
cepting the heat to the boiler, the whole being so arranged in the boiler
flues without being fixed thereto as to have the necessary freedom for
expansion and contraction of the metal, substantially as herein-before
described and shown in the Drawings.
In witness whereof I, the said William Begg, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM BEGG. (L.S.)