IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER TUBULAR BOILERS, SURFACE CONDENSERS, AND FEED WATER HEATERS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES FOR THE SAME, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City.
of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER TUBULAR BOILERS, SURFACE
CONDENSERS, AND FEED WATER HEATERS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
TUBES FOR THE SAME, AND OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad
by Stefan Verderber, of Budapest, Hungary, Engineer.
Sealed the 18th February 1879, and dated the 24th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th August 1878.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER
TUBULAR BOILERS, SURFACE CONDENSERS, AND FEED WATER HEATERS, AND IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES FOR THE SAME, AND OTHER PURPOSES." [A commu-
nication from abroad by Stefan Verderber, of Budapest, Hungary, Engineer.]
This Invention primarily and chiefly consists in making and applying channelled
or corrugated tubes instead of the ordinary smooth circular tubes for locomotive,
marine, portable, and other steam boilers.
These corrugations may vary in number and arrangement, and may also run
parallel with the axis of the tube, or spirally, and they may be continuous from
end to end, or may be interrupted by smooth parts. These tubes always offer the
advantages as against the smooth tubes hitherto employed, that, firstly, with the
same diameter and length the heating surface is larger; and secondly, that the
deposition of incrustation on the tubes is materially smaller.
The Invention applies not only to tubes for locomotive boilers but also to the
manufacture and application of such tubes for marine, portable, and tubular boilers
in general, and in each case the thickness of the tube must be regulated by the
diameter and the pressure to be sustained, as well as by the strength of the material,
the same as with the smooth tubes.

page_text: As to the material, the same material as has hitherto been used for boiler tubes
is of course applicable to the manufacture of the corrugated tubes, and the same or
analogous apparatus is also applied in the manufacture thereof.
The Invention so far as it applies to locomotive, marine, portable, and tubular
boilers in general, thus comprises, firstly, the manufacture of a new article; and
secondly, the new application of this article.
Heretofore, corrugated drawn tubes of such dimensions as to diameter and
thickness, as above stated, and to be suitable to supersede the smooth tubes hitherto
used in boilers, have not been made, so that the manufacture of such corrugated
tubes in itself constitutes a novelty, and so is their application in lieu of the
ordinary smooth tubes in locomotive, marine, portable, and tubular boilers
generally. But there are other uses for these corrugated tubes wherein tubes of
small diameter and small thickness are applicable, as, for instance, gas fittings, gas
lamps, and furniture.
'
One of the most important applications is the construction of surface condensers
for steamers, for which I use the corrugated tubes.
In condensers it is of great importance in a given space to establish as large a
surface of contact as possible between the exhaust steam of the engine and the
cooling circulating water, and the corrugated tubes will therefore be found a great
improvement upon the ordinary smooth tubes which have hitherto been employed.
The diameter and thickness of the corrugated tubes for the surface condensers
must of course be chosen in accordance with the purpose which they have to serve
in this new application.
A further novel application consists in the employment of corrugated tubes in
feed water heaters instead of the smooth tubes hitherto employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 24th
February 1879.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169; Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER
TUBULAR BOILERS, SURFACE CONDENSERS, AND FEED WATER HEATERS, AND IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES FOR THE SAME AND OTHER PURPOSES." (A commu-
nication from abroad by Stefan Verderber, of Budapest, Hungary, Engineer.)
This Invention primarily and chiefly consists in making and applying channelled
or corrugated tubes instead of the ordinary smooth circular tubes for locomotive,
marine, portable, and other steam boilers.
Figures 1 to 9 of the annexed Drawings represent in full size the most suitable
sections of such corrugated tubes.
The corrugations may vary in number and arrangement, and may also run
parallel with the axis of the tube or spirally, and they may be continuous from end
to end, or may be interrupted by smooth parts. These tubes always offer the
advantages as against the smooth tubes hitherto employed, that, firstly, with the
same diameter and length the heating surface is larger; and, secondly, that the
deposition of incrustation on the tubes is materially smaller.
The Invention applies not only to tubes for locomotive boilers but also to the
manufacture and application of such tubes for marine, portable, and tubular boilers
in general, and in each case the thickness of the tube must be regulated by the.
diameter and the pressure to be sustained, as well as by the strength of the material,
the same as with the smooth tubes.
As to the material, the same material as has hitherto been used for boiler tubes
is of course applicable to the manufacture of the corrugated tubes, and the same or
analogous apparatus is also applied in the manufacture thereof.
The Invention so far as it applies to locomotive, marine, portable, and tubular
boilers in general thus comprises, firstly, the manufacture of a new article; and
secondly, the new application of this article.
Heretofore corrugated drawn tubes of such dimensions as to diameter and
thickness, as above stated, and to be suitable to supersede the smooth tubes hitherto
used in boilers, have not been made, so that the manufacture of such corrugated
tubes in itself constitutes a novelty, and so is their application in lieu of the
ordinary smooth tubes in locomotive, marine, portable, and tubular boilers
generally.
The Invention further consists in constructing surface condensers with corrugated
or channelled tubes.
In condensers it is of great importance in a given space to establish as large a
surface of contact as possible between the exhaust steam of the engine and the
cooling circulating water, and the corrugated tubes will therefore be found a great
improvement upon the ordinary smooth tubes which have hitherto been employed.
The diameter and the thickness of the corrugated tubes for the surface con-
denser must of course be chosen in accordance with the purpose which they have
to serve in this new application.
A comparison between the corrugated tubes and the usual smooth ones will show
the advantages of the former.
Figures 10 to 14 represent about five times the full size corrugated tubes for
surface condensers, their diameter being about the same as the smooth tubes
generally used in surface condensers.
Let us compare the tube Figure 10 with the ordinary smooth tube. The surface
of this tube is 27.6 per cent. larger than that of the smooth tube, and the inner
section is only 51 per cent. of that of the smooth one; the efficiency will therefore be
2.5, that is to say, that with equal length and diameter the efficiency of the
corrugated tubes will be. 25 times as great as that of one of the smooth tubes, as
1.276
0.51
=

page_text: it is evident that the condensing capacity is in strict proportion to the surface and
in the reverse proportion to the section of the tube.
Although the efficiency of the corrugated tubes is greatly increased through the
proportion between surface and section, there are other advantages to be mentioned.
The condensing power also depends upon the distance between the steam particles
and the condensing surface, and in this respect the corrugated tubes are more
favourable than the smooth ones. From these facts, and considering that the
heating or cooling diminishes in proportion to the square of the distance, it is easy
to understand that there is an immense increase of efficiency in surface condensers
fitted with corrugated tubes.
The Invention further consists in the employment of corrugated tubes in feed
water heaters instead of the smooth tubes hitherto employed.
In all the applications of the corrugated tubes their diameter, length, and
thickness, and the material of which they are made will be determined by the
particular circumstances of the case.
Channelled or corrugated tubes have previously been applied to various purposes,
but this Invention consists in constructing tubular boilers, surface condensers, and
feed water beaters with corrugated or channelled tubes, as herein-before described,
and in manufacturing the tubes for these purposes of such diameter, thickness,
length, and material, as are best suited to the circumstances of each particular
application.
What is claimed under these Letters Patent is,―
First. The manufacture of corrugated or channelled tubes of such diameter and
thickness as will enable them to take the place of the ordinary smooth tubes.in
locomotive, marine, portable, and other tubular boilers, or in surface condensers, or
in feed water heaters, as herein-before described.
Second. Constructing or fitting locomotive and other tubular boilers with cor-
-rugated or channelled tubes, as herein-before described.
Third. Constructing or fitting surface condensers with corrugated or channelled
tubes, as herein-before described.
Fourth. Constructing or fitting feed water heaters with corrugated or channelled
tubes, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-nine.