CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING STEAM, AND ON ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS
Year: 1825

page_text: SE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WVILLIAM
GILMAN, of Whitechapel Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and
JAMES WILLIAM SOWERBY, of Birchin Lane, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of April, in the sixth year of His reign,"
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Gilman and James William Sowerby, His especial licence, that we,
the said William Gilman and James William Sowerby, our exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Gilman and James
William Sowerby, our exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, our Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING STEAM, AND ON ENGINES TO BE
WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging us, the said William Gilman and
James William Sowerby, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
William Gilman and James William Sowerby, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which our said improvements
are to be performed and carried into effect, are set forth and explained in
and by the Sheet of. Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the following descrip-
tion thereof (that is to say):
Our improvement for generating or producing steam consists in placing one
or more cylindrical boilers B, B, horizontally over the fireplace C of our furnace,
as seen in the sections Figs. 2d and 3d, within which boilers are shafts or
axles d, d, d, d, running through their whole length, which shafts have leaves or
paddles attached to them, and being connected together by the cross shaft and
beviled geering shewn in Fig. 1st, they form agitators. These agitators are
caused to revolve within the said boilers by the engine, or other adequate
means, with sufficient velocity to give motion to the water injected into the
said boilers for the purpose of being converted into steam, by which means,
and the assistance of its centrifugal force, the said water is spread in an
extremely thin sheet over the whole internal surface of the metal whereof such
boilers are made, and by the said leaves being fixed obliquely, or at an angle
with the shafts or axles, the water is thereby carried or worked forward from
the ends at which it is injected, to the other ends of the said boilers; or this
carrying or working forwards of the injected water may be effected by its own
gravity (and without obliquity in the leaves), if the boilers are fixed in duly
inclined positions, and the water be injected at their upper ends; the water
may, with the use of horizontal boilers, be injected at either end, and the
steam be taken out at the same or the contrary end of either of the boilers, as
convenience may suit. The agitators are either used simply, as above described,
or with concentric cylinders of thin copper or other suitable metal fixed on their
arms, as shewn by the dotted lines in the sections Figs. 2d and 3d, and they
have the leaves or paddles attached to their circumference. The object of this
arrangement is to prevent the water from being carried with the steam into
the steam pipe P of the engine, and in order to prevent the agitation of the
water in boilers used for generating steam on board of boats or vessels, or
in carriages to be propelled thereby, from interrupting or rendering irregular
the generating or supplying of steam to the engine, we sometimes provide a
steam chamber separated from the upper part of such beiler by a valve or
valves opening into such chamber. These aforesaid concentric cylinders (or
cones, if the fancy of the engineer should lead him to make the ends of

page_text: different diameters) being mounted within the boilers, admit the steam through
the numerous minute holes with which their whole surface is pierced, with the
exception of a strip or line about two inches wide immediately adjoining and
running parallel with the face of each leaf or paddle, which unpierced strip
supports and assists in carrying the newly-injected water whilst it is acquiring
the necessary momentum and is spread on the internal surfaces of the boilers,
and is being heated. The steam, after passing through these minute holes
into the insides of the revolving internal cylinders, flows through the steam
connecting pipes R, Figs. 1st and 2d, which pipes are curved so as to project
within the boiler as far as the arms of the agitators will permit, whereby the
steam flowing to the working cylinder of the engine (instead of sweeping the
sides when the boilers are small, and carrying with it a portion of the water) is
compelled as fast as such steam is produced to pass through the minute holes
in the revolving cylinders at right angles, by which that effect is avoided. The
tiers of tubing or pipes, No. 1, 2, 3, 4, sections Figs. 2d & 3d, are traversed by
the water destined to supply the boilers length by length, in every tier
successively from No. 1 to No. 4, and the said water likewise passes through
those other pipes that line the fireplace on each side previous to the entrance
of such water (when considerably heated) into the chambers of the transfer
pumps I, I, Fig. 1st. The forcing pumps F, F, Fig. 1st, inject the cold or
new supply of water. G is the cold water reservoir; H, the suction pipe;"
N, N, the injection pipe connected at N, Figs. 2d and 3d, with the first tube
or pipe in the upper tier. The transfer forcing pumps (I, I), receive the
heated water by the pipe K, connected to the last tube or pipe K, Fig. 3d, of
the system of such pipes lining the fireplace, from the chambers of which pump
the said water is forced through the pipe L, L, L, L, L, Figs. 1st and 2d, into
the boilers, and when there, is carried or worked forward by the agitators in
the manner as before stated. The arrangement of these pumps is such, that
on their being put in motion (by any of the usual methods), a certain quantity
of cold water, proportionate to the bore and length of stroke, will be injected by
one of the pumps. F into the upper tier of tubeing, and during the same time
an equal supply of the heated water will be obtained in the chamber of the
transfer pump
which is in connection therewith, and vice versa, hence the
tubeing is kept continually full, whilst security is obtained by a safety valve on
the pipe N, Fig. 1st, as shewn therein. These forcing pumps and the reservoir
may be placed in any convenient station, their situation being quite immaterial.
In another modification of the apparatus for producing steam, as above
described, the transfer forcing pumps I, I, Fig. 1st, are not employed, but
the water is allowed to flow to the boilers from the tubing or pipes extending

page_text: between N and K, and through the pipe L, which last pipe is in this case
directly connected to the pipe K; the short branch tubes or pipes that connect
the pipe L with the boilers are sometimes extended in length sufficiently for
each to have a stopcock introduced thereon, by which the size of the passages,
and consequently the supply of water, may be regulated; the deposited matters
previously held by the water suspended, or partly in solution, and the super-
fluous water, are carried forward by the agitators and received by the tube or
pipe O, Fig. 2d, and are conducted by the tube S (Figs. 1st and 2d), and
occasionally admitted through the cock No. 1; the passage of this cock is
then closed, and the cock No. 2 immediately opened, when the fluid contents
between the cocks will be discharged, and steam supply its place. These cocks
are to be opened and shut by the engine in any of the usual methods, and the
boilers, without the aid of the engine man, are thereby kept clean, and the
superfluous water discharged into a close vessel E, and the steam that will
separate from it is conducted through the dotted tube shewn in Fig. 1st into
the reservoir of cold water G, where it is condensed and its heat saved. The
quantity of water injected is to be regulated according to the superfluous water
discharged through O, by shifting the coupling rod that works the lever T of
the said pumps F, F, and I, I, into one or other of the pin holes provided in
such lever. The connecting pipes between the boilers, as also the steam pipe
P, and the injection water pipe L, form simple passages, as the Drawings
exhibit, or as they may have valves opening upwards, whilst the pipes O have
their valves opening downwards, by which arrangement, in case of accident
from the bursting of one boiler, the steam in the other is secured. In the
first case the passage of the water to the boilers is permitted without regu-
lators, in the second case the valves form regulators, from their lift or degree of
opening being extended or contracted as the case may require, which is
effected by the action of the screw A, Fig. 7th, but when valves are not used,
cocks are introduced for that purpose if found desirable; and the steam pipes
P should be furnished with a capacious and well-constructed safety valve.
These boilers should be made of scrap iron, without joint or rivits, with the
exception of the end at which the agitators are introduced, and may be lined
and coated, or not, with copper. or other metal to prevent corrosion; they may
be used in any number in the manner above shewn, receiving their supply of
water either after it has traversed the system of heating tubes (No. 1 to 5), or
else directly by the forcing pumps from the reservoir (G). Another form of
arranging the boilers (B) and tubing (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4,) is effected by placing the
cylindrical boilers across or transversely to the furnace, and the tiers of tubing
or pipes likewise in the same direction (instead of lengthways of the fireplace

page_text: (C), as we have shewn by the Figs. 2d and 3d). But that part of the system
of tubes or pipes which lines the sides of the fireplace should be continued in
the longitudinal position as described in the Figures. In case of using trans-
verse boilers and tubeing, the ends of the boilers with the steam and water
pipes, together with the shafts (d) and beviled geering which gives motion to
the agitators (as seen Fig. 1st), will, instead of projecting over the fire doors at
the end of the furnace (C), be ranged along the side of the furance, and there-
fore out of the way of the person tending the fire; the contrary ends of the
cylindrical boilers (B, will be supported by, and either project or not through
the other side of the furnace sufficiently for the vertical tube or pipe O, Fig. 2d,
to be attached to them, either on the outside or else within the furnace, or within
the thickness of its walls, as occasion may require. The tiers of tubeing or pipes
may be ranged across or transversely to the fireplace, whether the boilers are
in the same direction or are placed longitudinally with respect to such fire-
place, and the ends of such tubeing or pipes may be supported withinside the
casing or walls which form the external parts of the flues and furnace, such
caseing or walls being composed of brickwork, metal, or any other fit material;
or the ends of such tubeing or pipes may be allowed to project through the
sides of the furnace so as to admit all the conical joints (as shown in Fig. 5th,
berein-after to be described) to be in view, and likewise the conneting tubes or
pipes 5, 5, Figs. 2d & 3rd, that form the passages from tier to tier respectively,
so as to permit of adjustment when requisite. The ends of the tubes or pipes
are represented in the Drawing as being closed, but one or both ends of cach
of them, if desirable, may be secured with a screw plug, which can be taken
out at pleasure to allow the tubes or pipes to be cleared from time to time of
any sediment or incrustation which may be deposited in them.
We do not confine ourselves wholly to using these cylindrical boilers with
agitators, but we sometimes apply them without agitators, filling them half, or
in any other fit degree of fulness, and cause them to receive their supply of
water from the tubeing as before mentioned, or otherwise; and we sometimes
arrange such cylindrical boilers in more than one tier, as circumstances may
require; in either case they become much more effectual in the production of
high or low steam than the immense boilers or magazines now in use, though
our improved boilers seldom exceed twenty inches in diameter for low steam
and decrease from that to ten inches or under, in proportion to the height or
strength of the steam required to be generated, and hence they are not only
rendered far more secure, but require much less room than the boilers now in
use. The tiers of boilers and tubes or pipes (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4), as shewn by the
sections, Figures 2d and 3d, form the bottoms and tops of flues successively,

page_text: which flues are very shallow in depth, and are floored with fire-clay or loam, or
any other fit material, and they extend the whole width of the furnace, whereby
the hot air and vapours are thinly spread, and the caloric is much more effec-
tually taken up by the water than if conducted in a square volume, more espo
cially as the water contained in each tier of pipes upwards decreases in heat as
they approach the place (N) of injecting the new supply, and the diminishing heat
of the volume of air and vapours in their passage from the fire through the flues
being then brought nearly into contact with water, proportionally increasing iu
coldness, such air and vapours continue to give out their heat to the said water
until their final discharge into the chimney U. Fig. 4th is an horizontal section
through the centres of a tier of tubes or pipes, and shews the manner in which
the tubes or pipes are connected together. Both ends of each tube are closed,
and a conical hole bored in the contrary side at each end, in which holes aro
fitted hollow double cones that form the passages between each pair of ends.
These cones are made of copper or other suitable metals, and being ground
into their holes or seats render the joints completely tight. Fig. 5th shews
one end of a tier of tubes or pipes, and exhibits the method of securing theso
conical joints. B is an oblong square frame, formed of any suitable metal, of
any desirable thickness and width, having the strong screw D tapped into the
end. After the ends of a tier of tubes have been introduced into the opening
of the frame, having alternately the hollow double cones and the curved
blocks a, a, properly adjusted between the tubes, as seen in the Figure, this
one screw will be fully equal to the forcing and retaining of the whole of the
cones in their places. For increasing the effects of the coals, wood, or other
ordinary fuel used in generating steam in boilers on board boats or vessels, or
in carriages to be propelled thereby, we sometimes mix with, add to, or
sprinkle upon the said fuel either tar, pitch, or any other rosinous or inflammable
substances, either mineral or vegetable. To elucidate the principle on which
our engines act for employing the power of steam operating expansively, we
refer to Figure 6th, which may be supposed to represent a cylinder 27 fect
high and one inch area in the bore. On the left hand is written the number
of feet, commencing at the bottom, and opposite on the right are the compa-
rative degrees of power that steam of 500lbs. presses on each square inches is
capable of exerting at each expansion (taking the contractions and expansions
of steam by variations of pressure in the same ratio as those of air). Now,
suppose the first foot to be filled with steam of 500lbs. per inch, and that no
more steam be allowed to enter, the result would be that it will expand and lift
tho piston until it fills the whole cylinder in a decreasing ratio of power, as
shown by the 'Figures on the right. These Figures added together produce

page_text: the aggregate amount of 1939 pounds weight, which one foot of such steam,
by its expansive action, is capable of lifting one foot high; but it is manifest
that so applying high steam in one cylinder is not useful to practicable purposes,
because of the very great difference in its mechanical forco when near to the
commencement and when near to the termination of the stroke of the piston;
therefore, to obviate this and partly equalize the power, we add two or
more cylinders, as the case may require, increasing and apportioning the area
of each succeeding cylinder to the diminishing power of the steam. Thus, if a
non-condensing high-pressure engine with two cylinders be required, allowing
the waste steam to escape into the atmosphere, or otherwise employing it, we
fill the first cylinder in part only or else wholly from the boilers until the
piston in the first cylinder has reached its limit, according to the strength or
power at which it is intended to generate the steam; and when the piston in
the first cylinder has performed its stroke, a communication is then opened
between that and the second cylinder, against the piston of which it acts
expansively, the first cylinder having become as it were a steam chamber to
the second. These two pistons may either (1st) move together in the same
direction, or else (2d) they may move in contrary directions. In the first case,
viz., when the two pistons move simultaneously in the same direction, the
steam from the boilers is admitted above the piston in the first cylinder,
and presses on its top, whilst the steam beneath this piston (which was
admitted from the boilers in the previous ascending stroke) from its expansive
power passes through a communication then opened to the upper side of the
piston in the second cylinder, which it presses downwards at the same time, in
conjunction with the first piston, and vice versa. In the second case, viz.,
when the pistons at the same time are one going down and the other up,
the steam from the boilers is acting upon the top of the first piston, whilst the
steam (previously admitted) beneath this piston is expanding against the
under side of the second piston, and pressing it upwards; this decreases the
resistance (as in the above-mentioned case) or the under side of the first
piston, and occasions it to be carried downwards at the same time by the
steam flowing from the builers, and vice versa.
In the foregoing descriptions of the expansive use of high steam in two
cylinders without condensing the first half of a complete stroke (up and down,
or down and up), or so much of the operations connected with a complete
stroke by the piston, are detailed as are common to a single-acting engine, and
also to a double-acting engine; and by the phrase vice versa, as used above, the
reversed operations in the last half of a complete stroke necessary for com-
pleting a double-acting stroke are intended; but when instead thereof a single-

page_text: acting stroke is required, then at the end of the first half of a complete stroke
(that is, when the piston has either gone up or down, but not returned,) the
connections with the boilers, and also with the atmosphere, are to be cut off,
and other communications are at the same moment to be opened between the
top and the bottom of each cylinder respectively, in order that the descent of
the counter-weight (whether this consists of pump rods or any other load)
on the opposite end of the beam may displace the steam in each cylinder and
cause it to occupy the opposite ends thereof ready for repeating the operations
already described.
As a further improvement on engines to be wrought by steam, we attach
a forcing pump or pumps to the boiler or boilers, or to the steam pipes or any
chambers connected with the boiler or boilers, for the purpose of frequently
proving their strength by forcing water into all or either of them until the
water lifts a safety valve or valves loaded in any requisite degree.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed, and in the foregoing descriptions, we
have shewn and described several parts and things which are already known
and in use, respecting which parts and things singly and apart we lay no claim
of invention or exclusive use, but only as such parts and things are or may be
combined and applied for carrying our said Invention into effect in the
manner herein-before described; and we do hereby expressly ascertain and
limit our claims under the herein-before in part recited Patent to the following
particulars (that is to say):-
First, we claim the principle of spreading thin sheets of water by means
of revolving agitators over the internal surfaces of cylindrical boilers, when
placed horizontally or but moderately inclined, in the modes herein-before
described.
Secondly, we claim the particular arrangements of the tube-lined fireplace
and flues, which are shewn in Figures 1st, 2d, and 3d, and described herein,
with their several modifications that are mentioned, for the purpose of heating
water previously to its being introduced into our boilers.
Thirdly, we claim the mode of connecting and joining together our tubes or
pipes in each of their tiers, which is shewn in Figures 4th and 5th, and
described herein.
Fourthly, we claim the having of a force pump or pumps constantly
attached to the boilers or steam pipes or chambers for the purpose of readily
proving their strength on all necessary occasions.
Fifth, we claim the applying of tar or pitch, either mineral or vegetable, to
increase the inflammability and perfect the combustion of ordinary fuel used
for the generating of steam.

page_text: And, sixth, we claim the principle of using high steam in two or more
steam engine cylinders without condensing (to assist our engine by the vacuum
formed thereby), in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Gilman and James William
Sowerby, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-five.
ERDI. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of October, in
the year of Lord 1825, the aforesaid William Gilman and James William
Sowerby, came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.