IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING STEAM BOILERS, ALSO IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING FLUIDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry John Olding, of Sinith Square, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING STEAM BOILERS,
ALSO IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR RAISING FLUIDS."
Sealed the 11th June 1862, and dated the 13th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry John Olding, at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1861.
I, HENRY JOHN OLDING, of Smith Square, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the uture of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING STEAM BOILERS,
ALSO IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS FOR OTHER PURPOSES AND IN
APPARATUS FOR RAISING FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
In feeding boilers I arrange my apparatus in such manner that the fluid is
fed or supplied, intending to act on the law of equilibrium of fluids, that is to
say, in seeking to find its level, and my apparatus is self-acting or self-regu-
lating, so that the decrease of water in the boiler opens the passage for the
feed thereinto. I employ a chamber or vessel, herein-after called "chamber"
[Price 8d.1

page_text: only, which communicates with the boiler by a pipe or passage herein-after
called "feed pipe," so bent or so formed as to proceed in a downward
direction to a level lower than the boiler, and then come upward till it enters
the boiler at a convenient part. The chamber also communicates with the
steam chest or upper part of the boiler by a pipe or passage herein-after called
equilibrium pipe, and it also communicates with the tank or other source of
supply of water. The passage through the feed and equilibrium pipes is
controlled by valves preferably arranged and worked as herein-after set forth.
When the water in the boiler sinks below a certain determined level, the valve
in the equilibrium pipe opens, and steam passes through it to the chamber
the water in which, in seeking to act according to the laws of equilibrium of
fluidsor to find its level, flows into the boiler through the feed pipe, (it s valve
also opening,) and continues so to flow, until the former or determined level
is again attained in the boiler, whereupon the valves in the equilibrium and
feed pipes close, and the feed is stopped. The equilibrium pipe valve is a
valve consisting of a plate or disc which is movable to and from its seat, that
is to say, it is fixed to a stem which is capable of moving up and down or to
and fro (suitably guided), and is attached to aring, annular disc, or float, floating
on the surface of the water in the boiler, so that when the water is low, the
steam is depressed and moves the plate down or away with it, and opens the
pipe, and when the water rises the stem and plate rise with it, so as to close
the pipe. The valve in the feed pipe is also moveable, being a plate attached
to a stem (suitably guided) and capable of moving up and down or to and from
its seat. To this stem another plate of broader surface is attached, working
against an angular bend or projection in or on a spring. When the smaller plate
or valve proper is moved away from its seat so as to open, the water impinges
against the broader plate, which, when carried thereby over the angle, performs
the rest of its travel suddenly.
My improved valves instead of being jointed on to their seats, move
bodily away from or wholly off them; to open the pipes their line of motion to
and from their seats is in a reciprocating-wise direction, or in a right line in
the longitudinal direction of their stems.
Air is admitted into the chamber, so as to accompany the feed water, by a
hollow conical valve or a conical pipe or chamber forming a valve raised and
depressed with the raising and depressing of the water below it, and I prefer
to admit air and water into the boiler, in such proportions as to supply
sufficient oxygen and water, to prevent the generation of explosive hydrogen
ras.

page_text: Certain of my herein-before described arrangements may also be applied
or adapted to apparatus for supplying fluids for other purposes beside feed-
ing boilers, and also to the raising of fluids; in the latter case steam may
be admitted into a chamber, in which the water or fluid to be raised also
enters. The steam enters till the steam valve closes, and on its condensing
the water valve opens; a. vacuum being produced the water rises until
the steam valve again opens and admits steam as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry John Olding, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
JOHN OLDING, formerly of Smith Square, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, but now of Belvidere Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Herreign,did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry John Olding, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
John Olding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Henry John Olding, my executors, administrators, and assigns,should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING STEAM BOILERS, ALSO IN
APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FLUIDS FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR
RAISING FLUIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
John Olding my executors or administrators, 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 Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry John Olding, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
For feeding boilers I arrange apparatus in such manner that the fluid is fed
or supplied, intending to act on the law of equilibrium of fluids, that is to say,
in seeking to find its level; and my apparatus is self-acting or self-regulating,
so that the decrease of water in the boiler opens the passage for the feed there-
into. I employ a chamber or vessel, hercin-after called "chamber" only,
which communicates with the boiler by a pipe or passage, herein-after called
"feed pipe," which pipe or passage is so bent or so formed as to proceed in a
downward direction to a level lower than the boiler, and then rise upward till
it enters the boiler at a convenient part. The chamber also communicates
with the steam chest or upper part of the boiler by a pipe or passage herein
after called equilibrium pipe, and it also communicates with the tank or other
source of supply of water. The passage through the feed and equilibrium
pipes is controlled by valves, which are, preferably, arranged and worked, as
herein-after set forth. When the water in the boiler sinks below a certain
determined level, the valve in the equilibrium pipe opens, and steam passes
through it to the chamber, the water in which, in seeking to act according to
the law of equilibrium of fluids, or to find its level, flows into the boiler
through the feed pipe, the valve thereof opening, and the water continues so
to flow until the former or determined level is again attained in the boiler
whereupon the valves in the equilibrium and feed pipes close, and the feed is
stopped. The equilibrium pipe valve is a valve consisting of a plate or disc,
which is moveable to and from its seat, that is to say, it is attached to a stem
which is capable of moving up and down or to and fro (being duly guided in
its travel), and this stem is attached to a ring, annular disc, or float floating on
the surface of the water in the boiler, so that when the water is low the stem
-is-depressed,-and-moves-the-plate down or away with it, and opens the pipe
and when the water rises the stem and plate rise with it, and close the pipe.
The valve in the feed pipe is also moveable, and consists of a plate attached
to a stem duly guided, and capable of moving up and down or to and from
its seat; to this stem another plate of broader surface is attached working
against an angular.bend or projection in-or-on a spring. When the smaller
plate or valve proper is moved away from its seat so as to open the passage,
the water impinges against the broader plate, which being thereby carried

page_text: over the angle performs the rest of its travel suddenly. I call this valve,
that is the valve plate when combined with the plate of broader surface, the
"impinging plate valve."
My improved valves, instead of being jointed on to their seats, as is usual,
move bodily away from, or wholly off them, to open the pipes; their line of
motion to and from their seats is in a reciprocating-wise direction, or in a right
line in the longitudinal direction of their stems.
Air is admitted into the chamber so as to accompany the feed water by
means of a hollow conical valve, or a conical pipe or chamber forming a valve
raised and depressed with the raising and depressing of the water below it;
and I prefer to admit air and water into the boiler in such proportions as to
supply sufficient oxygen and water to prevent the generation of explosive
hydrogen gas.
Certain of my herein-before described arrangements may also be applied or
adapted, as afterwards explained, to apparatus for supplying fluids for other
purposes besides feeding boilers; they may also be applied for the raising of
fluids. In the latter case steam is admitted into a chamber in which the
water or other fluid to be raised also enters. The steam enters till the steam
valve closes,and when the steam condeuses the water valve opens; a vacuum
being produced, the water rises until the steam valve again opens, and admits
steam as before.
The accompanying Drawings represent apparatus constructed according
to my Invention.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, shewing my improved feeding apparatus
applied to a steam boiler. A is the boiler; B, a chamber or vessel fixed at a
convenient distance from the boiler; C is the neck of the chamber B; c, pipe
furnished with stop-cock, and communicating with a tank or supply of water
by a flexible connecting pipe, or otherwise. D is the feed pipe this pipe
proceeds from within the chamber B to a level lower than the bottom of the
boiler, and then rises to and leads into the boiler; d¹ is a stop-cock in the
pipe D; dis a collar for fixing the pipe D to the chamber B; E is the equi-
librium pipe leading from the upper part of the boiler or the steam chest into
the chamber B; Fis a valve consisting of a conical plate fixed to a stem f;
G, shewn in plan enlarged, Figure 2, is a hollow annular float with convex
surface. This float I prefer to construct of a piece of piping bent iuto
a circular form, and lapping at the ends, which I solder together; and
the material I have hitherto found most suitable for this piping is the
homogeneous" metal such as that manufactured by Messrs. Russell, of

page_text: Upper Ground Street, Blackfriars Road, because I find that a ring of that
material is not liable either to collapse under the pressure of steam, nor to
rust rapidly; I sometimes coat it with zinc or silver. 9, 9, are wires attached to
the ring G, and having eyes gl, g'; the stem f' is held in the lower eye g¹, and
passes up through the upper eye. Instead of one or both of these wires(or with
the wires) convex plates may be used arching over, or even enclosing the
space surrounded by the ring, and having orifices through them tohold andguide
the stem f; h, h, are guides to the stem f. D¹ is a valve chamber in the pipe D,
containing what I call an impinging plate valve J, L; J is a valve consisting
of a conical plate, which is attached to a stemj; this stem is steadied by
guides, and has fixed to it a plate L of broader surface or larger diameter
than the plate J. M,M,are springs with angular bends or projections m, m;
as the plate travels its edge works against these springs. N is a short conica¹
pipe forming a valve capable of a certain up-and-down travel in the neck C,
as afterwards explained; o, o, are orifices in the neck C for admitting
atmospheric air. The valve N is formed with a shoulder n, and is packed
just below it by a caoutchouc or other elastic washer. P is a hollow conical
pipe or chamber similar to N, fitted in a conical case Q, open top and bottom;
its bottom end is directly over the mouth of the pipe D. The valves F and J
are not jointed to their seats, but are capable of moving bodily to and from
them when moved as herein-after described,
The apparatus is thus used:-Suppose the chamber B supplied with water,
the cock i open, the cock d¹ closed, and the level of water in the boiler to be
such that the valve F is pressed up against its seat, and closes the pipe E;
the pressure of water in the boiler will at the same time keep the feed valve J
down on its seat, and close the pipe D. Now, as the generation of steam
goes on, the water in the boiler will gradually descend, and will draw down
the float with it, so as to open the pipe E, whereupon steam will pass through
this pipe into the valve P, and will condense at the top of the pipe D. The
water in B, in "finding its level," or regaining its equilibrium which had
been disturbed by the descent of the water in the boiler, will pass into the
pipe D,force up the valve J,and impinging against the surface of the plate L,
will force that plate upward over the bends m,and will rise into the boiler A
and continue so to feed the boiler until the previous level is regained therein;
whereupon the float G will again force the valve F against its seat, so as to
close the pipe E, and the feed valve J will again drop on its seat, and close
the pipe D. While the pipe E is open, the steam passing through it into the
chamber B will effect the necessary equilibrium, that is to say, it will balance
'

page_text: the pressure exerted by the steam on the surface of the water in the boiler,
so that the steam will not resist the inflow of water therein. The steam
condensing at the top of the pipe D will effect suction or draw in the water
at that part, and thus assist in letting it out from the chamber B.
:
The area of the upper surface of the shoulder p should exceed theareaof the
opening that it surrounds (that is the section of the passage at the top of P),
and I generally recommend that, for this purpose, the diameter of the opening
at the shoulder should be about a third of the whole diameter of the top end
of P, the object being to prevent the steam, whatever be its pressure, from
passing through the valve Pin such excess as not to condense at the top of
the pipe D, for in proportion as the pressure of the steam rises, the valve P
will be forced downward in its casing Q towards the pipe D, and thus reduce
the section of opening between the bottom of P and top of D, and contract
the passage of steam accordingly. Air enters with the feed water into the
chamber B, being admitted through the orifices o, o, so long as the water
keeps the valve up in its seat, but when the water descends, the valve N
descends with it-sufficiently to bring its packing over the orifices o, o, and
close them in such manner as to moderate or exclude the further supply of
air until the valve is again forced upward by the water rising..
The plates J, L, should have both strength and lightness; I mostly prefer
to construct them of steel or the homogeneous metal above referred to. The
advantage of the use of the broad plate Lis, that the valve is thereby opened
suddenly, and the water enters in a full stream instead of gradually.
My apparatus, as applied to the feeding of steam boilers, may also be
applied in like manner to supplying fluids to other closed vessels beside boilers,
for various purposes or operations in which vapour is generated (the vapour
passing through the pipe E, and balancing the pressure, as was before
described in reference to the feeding of boilers). The apparatus may also be
adapted to the feeding of fluids into other vessels, but in such case the pipe E,
and the arrangements P, P, Q, would be dispensed with, and the float valve
or the float would be connected by some ordinary mechanical connection
to the feed valve J, so that when the liquid in the vessel descends below its
proper level, the float G would open the valvė J, and the vessel would be fed,
feed going on until the proper level is regained, when the valve J would
close, and, the feed would stop. The valve J may sometimes be situated in
this adaptation just under the chamber B.
Figure 3 is a vertical section exemplifying my Invention applied to the
raising of fluids; R1, R2, are chambers fixed, say at intervals of ten feet (more.

page_text: or less) between the place wherefrom and the place whereto the water is to
be lifted; S is a suction pipe leading from the water to the lowest chamber R¹;
S1, S2, are pipes leading from chamber to chamber. In each pipe are two
valves, a suction and a delivery valve; t, t', t, are the suction valves; T¹, T²,
the delivery valves; these valves consist of plates or discs attached to stems,
and working bodily to and from their seats in similar manner to the plates J
and F, Figure 1. U is a pipe closed at bottom, and supplied with steam
through its upper end; V, V, are slide valves secured to a rod W, to which
vertical reciprocating motion is communicated by a steam engine or other-
wise, by which means the valves V are caused to open and close openingsX,X,
in the pipe U communicating with bent pipes Y, Y, branching from the
pipe U, and leading into the chambers R1, R2. By these means steam is
alternately admitted into and shut off from the chambers; the steam enters
into all the chambers simultaneously, and is of course shut off therefrom
simultaneously; there are necessarily as many openings X, pipes Y, and
valves V, as there are chambers.
The pump works as follows:-Suppose at first the valves all closed; on
reciprocating motiom being communicated to the rod W, the steam valves V
open the passages X, and steam is admitted into the chambers R1, R2. On
the reverse stroke of the rol W these passages X are closed, and the steam
condenses in the chambers, and a vacuum being thereby formed, water is
drawn up into or towards the first chamber R', the suction or water valve (1
opening. At the next stroke of the valve rod W the steam enters the
chamber as before, forces the water yet remaining in R¹ or S¹, into R2, the
valve Topening, and so on, till the required quantity of water is lifted.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the mode herein before described of arranging, combining, and
applying apparatus for feeding steam boilers, according to, which a chamber
and pipes or passages are so arranged and combined with each other-and-
with the boiler, that the feed or supply of fluid to the boiler is self-acting or
self-regulating, and is effected by the tendency of the fluid to act on the law
of equilibrium of fluids, or to find its level, substantially in manner herein
described.
Second, the improved float valve, herein-before described, in so far as
regards the arranging and combining of an annular float with stem and valve
plate, substantially as described.
Third, the impinging plate valve, herein-before described, in so far as

page_text: regards the combining of a valve plate with a plate of broader surface, sub-
stantially as described.
Fourth, the arranging and combining of the impinging plate valve, herein
described, with the spring, with angular bend or projection, as described.
Fifth, the arrangement and combination of apparatus, substantially in
manner herein described for the purpose of feeding or supplying fluids to
vessels other than steam boilers.
Sixth, arranging and combining apparatus for raising fluids, substantially
in manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry John Olding, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
5.
M. HENRY,
Patent Agent,
HENRY JOHN HOLDING. (L.S.)
84, Fleet Street, London.