AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Hamilton Fowler, of the City of New Orleans,
and State of Louisiana, United States of America, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM BOILERS."
Sealed the 10th July 1857, and dated the 15th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Hamilton Fowler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th January 1857.
I, DAVID HAMILTON FOWLER, of the City of New Orleans, and State of
Louisiana, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
I place a cylindrical boiler in a vertical position on one of its heads,
supporting it below by hollow legs, through which water passes to the boiler,
& sediment is blown off. In the centre of the boiler I place a conical flue.
connecting at top by a tube with the chimney. I leave a space of several
inches between the exterior surface of the sides of the boiler and the brick-
work in which it is set, and this space I connect by many openings with a flue
in the brickwork, concentric with the open space, and opening directly into the
chimney.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Hamilton Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
HAMILTON FOWLER, of the City of New Orleans, and State of Louisiana, United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the
year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Hamilton Fowler, Her special licence that I, the said David
Hamilton Fowler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said David Hamilton Fowler, 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 IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
hat I, the said David Hamilton Fowler, or my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Hamilton Fowler, 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 Drawings,
in which Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the boiler & furnace;
Figure 2 is a front elevation; and Figure 3 is a side elevation of the boiler,
showing the form of the leg & its connection with the boiler head. The same
part is indicated in all the Figures by the same letters of reference.
a indicates the grate bars of the furnace; b, the furnace mouth; c, c, the legs
supporting the boiler & attached to its lower head; d, the boiler; e, e, open
space between the boiler & the brickwork of the furnace; ff, the brick-
work; 9, 9, openings connecting the open space e, e, with h, h, an annular flue;
i, the chimney; j, tube or funnel connecting the flue of the boiler with the
chimney, opening for the purpose of cleaning out flue h.

page_text: Figure 1 shews the relative positions & arrangement of the parts of my im-
proved boiler & furnace. The boiler is vertical, and has a flue k through its
middle, connected at top by the funnel or tube ; to the chimney i. It is sup-
ported upon hollow or tubular legs c, c, connected with its lower head. Through
these legs water is admitted to the boiler, & sediment discharged by means of
valves or cocks, or any convenient mode. The furnace is placed below the lower
head of the boiler and between the tubular legs. Between the boiler & the
surrounding brickwork an open space is left as high as the water level, or as
much below that level as it is desirable to have the heat act on the boiler.
The width of the space e must depend on the draft of the chimney & other
circumstances, but I have found from 4 to 6 inches answer with chimneys of
ordinary power. An annular flue h, h, is built in the brickwork. This flue
opens directly into the chimney i, as shewn in Fig. 1. It is connected with
the space e by means of the openings g, 9, 9, through which the heated gaseous
products of combustion, after having acted on the surface of the boiler, pass to
the chimney. These apertures are made numerous to secure a uniform
distribution of the heat. The flue K allows a portion of the heat to pass to the
chimney through the interior of the boiler. The tube or funnel J sits upon a
flange in flue K placed just below the water line. The top head of the boiler
is made to receive a flue similar to that of ordinary flued boilers.
Figure 3 shows only one leg c of the boiler; I usually employ three such
legs, but do not confine myself to any particular number.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim under the above in part
recited Letters Patent is, the arrangement of the central & annular flues with
the open space e, e, and the apertures 9, 9, substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, there said David H. Fowler, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred & fifty-seven.
DAVID HAMILTON FOWLER. (L.S.)