Improved Apparatus for Distilling Seawater for Use on Board Ship and for Supplying Fresh Water to the Ship's Boilers.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 188?
Complete Left, 7th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 9th Dec., 1887
Improved Apparatus for Distilling Seawater for Use on Board
Ship and for Supplying Fresh Water to the Ship's Boilers.
I, JOHN DARLING of 34 Queens Square, Strathbungo, in the County of Renfrew,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for object to provide on board ship an improved arrangement of
apparatus for distilling sea water for drinking and culinary purposes or for like use
and for maintaining an adequate supply of fresh water to the ship's boilers. The
improved apparatus comprises an evaporator consisting of a casing of cylindrical or
other form placed around the lower end of the smoke stack, and provided with a gauge
glass and safety valve and with cross tubes or the like to present suitable heating
surfaces whereby the waste heat from the boiler furnaces may be utilised in heating
salt water with which the evaporator is partially filled. From the upper end of this
evaporator a pipe is led to a fresh water condenser of any ordinary type but so
connected to an air pump worked by an engine or engines, independent of the ship's
main engines, that a vacuum or partial vacuum may be produced in the distilling
apparatus whether the main engines be in operation or not and vapour generated
from the sea water at a comparatively low temperature. The engine employed to
work the air pump of the condensing apparatus may conveniently be that employed
for driving the electric generators in vessels which are lighted by electric lamps, but
any other conveniently situated donkey or auxiliary engines may be used for this
purpose and for working the circulating pumps of the condenser. A suitable pipe
connection is provided whereby a portion of the cold water from the circulating
pumps of the main condenser may be directed through the fresh water condenser or
the cold water from the pumps of the auxiliary engine may be directed through the
main condenser. A branch pipe provided with a valve is connected to the main
engine condenser from the evaporator so that loss of fresh feed water for the boilers
occasioned by leakage and otherwise may be compensated for by periodically opening
the valve in said branch and admitting vapour from the evaporator to the main
condensor.
Datal thin wich daw of Fabzuary 1887
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agents.

page_text: Improved Apparatus for Distilling Sea Water for Use on Board
Ship and for Supplying Fresh Water to the Ship's Boilers.
I, JOHN DARLING of 34 Queens Square Strathbungo in the County of Renfrew,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
My invention has for object to provide on board ship an improved arrangement of
apparatus for distilling sea water for drinking and culinary purposes or for like use
and for maintaining an adequate supply of fresh water to the ships boilers.
As represented in the annexed drawings in which figure 1 is a longitudinal section
and figure 2 a cross section of part of a steam ship as fitted with the distilling
apparatus the improved apparatus comprises an evaporator shown detached in
horizontal section at figure 3 and consisting of a casing A of cylindrical or other
form placed around the lower end of the smoke stack B and provided with a gauge
glass C and safety valve D and with cross tubes a or the like to present suitable
heating surfaces whereby the waste heat from the boiler furnaces E may be utilized in
heating salt water with which the evaporator is partially filled. From the upper end
of this evaporator a pipe F is led to a fresh water condenser G of any ordinary type
but connected by a pipe to an air pump H. worked by an engine or engines I
independent of the ships main engines so that a vacuum or partial vacuum may be
produced in the distilling apparatus whether the main engines be in operation or not
and vapour generated from the sea water at a comparatively low temperature. The
air pump H discharges the fresh water through a pipe to a filter g whence it is led
by a pipe 2 to a storage tank.
The engine employed to work the air pump of the condensing apparatus may
conveniently be that employed for driving the electric generators in vessels which are
lighted by electric lamps, but any other conveniently situated donkey or auxiliary
engines may be used for this purpose and for working the circulating pumps J of the
condenser. A suitable pipe connection K is provided whereby a portion of the cold
water from the circulating pumps of the main condenser may be directed through the
fresh water condenser or the cold water from the pumps of the auxiliary engine may
be directed through the main condenser. A branch pipe L provided with a valve is
connected to the main engine condenser from the evaporator so that loss of fresh
feed water for the boilers occasioned by leakage and otherwise may be compensated
for by periodically opening the valve in said branch and admitting vapour from the
evaporator to the main condenser. Of the remaining pipe connections M is the
suction pipe for the circulating pump; N the circulating pump discharge to
the distilling apparatus; O the circulating pump discharge to the ship's side; P the
feed water pipe from the main circulating pump discharge to the evaporator; the
feed pump suction taken from the main condenser and R the feed pump discharge.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
:
The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the improved apparatus
herein described for distilling sea water to supply fresh water for use on board ship
and for maintaining an adequate supply of fresh water in the ship's boilers.
Dated this Fifth day of November 1887
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agents.