IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE MEANS FOR MAINTAINING THE PROPER WATER LEVEL IN THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th July 1868.--A communication from abroad by Robert
Wilde, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the International Patent Office, No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS, AND IN THE MEANS FOR MAINTAINING THE
PROPER WATER LEVEL IN THE SAME," a communication, to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to flattened steam boilers or generators
which have the upper and lower sides of their shells stayed to each
other by close vertical longitudinal partition plates, which divide their
interiors into several distinct steam generating chambers.
The said improvements consist partly in perforating the said partition
plates with numerous holes for the purpose of allowing the contained
water and steam free communication with all the different divisions.
My Invention also consists in the application to steam boilers, or
generators having such perforated partition plates, of vertical transverse
partition plates across the divisions for the purpose of preventing any
injurious surging of the contained water of the boiler or generator

page_text: when the same is subjected to a longitudinal or pitching motion, as on
a steam vessel or other carrier.
My Invention also consists in the application to such boilers, when
the same are arranged with one directly above another, of vertical over-
flow pipes for the purpose of affording an open communication and
equality of pressure in the said different boilers, and also for the
pose of allowing the water to be fed to the lower boiler by overflows
from the upper one, substantially in the manner herein-after described.
pur-
And finally my Invention consists, in combination with the said
boilers, arranged with one directly above another and connected together
by means of the said vertical overflow pipes in the employment of a
float in the lower boiler in connection with a feeding cylinder on the
upper boiler arranged to operate together for the purpose of feeding
the said boilers automatically.
The exterior shells of the boilers consist of a series of plates of boiler
iron bent and rivetted together so as to produce a long flattened boiler
with convex ends tied. together by the perforated vertical longitudinal
partition plates. Each of the said chambers is divided by the vertical
transverse partition plates into separate compartments, the said partition
plates being only about half the height of the boilers in which they
are fixed. The boilers are arranged so that one will be directly above
the other, a return flue being left between them. The overflow pipes
are each secured in a vertical position and ex.end through the shells
of the boilers, the lower end of each pipe opening fully into the lower
boiler without projecting downward into the same, and the upper end
of each pipe projecting into the upper boiler and opening into the same
at the intended water line or at about half the height of the boiler.
The two boilers are intended to be "walled in" in any suitable manner
so as to afford a fire space or furnace under the front end of the
lower boiler with a direct flue extending back therefrom and up behind
the rear end of the said boiler into the return flue left between the
two boilers, the latter flue being continued upward in front and back
over the top of the upper boiler to an escape flue or chimney. The
float is a large hollow air-tight sphere of thin metal with a rigid stem
fitted to slide easily through a suitable stuffing box fixed on the upper
side of the lower boiler. The feeding cylinder is a hollow vessel with
an opening through one of its sides, and is fixed concentrically upon
a shaft so that it can be rotated thereby in a case which is fixed

page_text: upon the top of the upper boiler. The lower side of the said case
communicates with the boiler through an opening, and its upper side
communicates with a water supply pipe through a like opening. The
cylinder shaft extends forward to a short distance over the front end
of the boiler and carries fast and loose pulleys, whereon runs a driving
belt. A bent lever whose fulcrum is supported upon the lower boiler
is jointed at one end to the projecting end of the stem of the float,
whilst its other end extends upward and forms a loop in front of the
pulleys, through which loop the driving band is made to pass. The
bent lever is so arranged in its relation to the float and pulleys that
when the water in the boiler is at its proper height or level the float
will hold the loop of the lever directly opposite the loose pulley and
thus allow the band to run without rotating the cylinder, but when
the water falls to any considerable distance below its proper level in
the boiler the float falling with it will move the said lever and
bring the loop opposite the fast pulley, and thereby give motion to
the feeding cylinder.