IMPROVEMENTS TH STEAM Boilers and in CLEANING APPARATIIS FOR THE SAME.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of Lee Terrace, Plumstead, in
the County of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
TH STEAM Boilers and in CLEANING APPARATIIS FOR THE SAME.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the:
10th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM OLARK, of Lee Terrace, Plumstead, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND IN CLEANING APPARATUS FOR THE SAME,”
to be as follows :---
16
. My said Invention relates first to the novel construction of the flues of
Cornish or other internally flued steam boilers, and is designed to
increase the area of their heating surface and the effectiveness of the
heat in the flues, and to render them stronger and more durable than
heretofore without increasing their weight or cost.
1

page_text: The said Invention also relates to apparatus to be placed in my
improved boilers or others of like construction for cleaning the plates of
their flues, and more especially those immediately over the furnace.
My improved flues or flue tubes are made of thin iron or other
suitable metal corrugated in the direction of the flues circumference, that
is to say, the flue is formed with a series of circular concavities and con-
vexities, and I prefer that the same should extend throughout its entire
length. The said tubes are for convenience made in short lengths, which
are secured together to form a continuous tube by rivetting them to welded.
hoops or rings of T iron, and at both ends of the boiler they are rivetted
in like manner to welded hoops of angle iron, which are also rivetted to
the end plates of the boiler. They also have inside the joints flat hoops or
rings, and they are secured by rivets passing through the rings and tubes.
The said tubes are further supported and strengthened by stay rods
attached to the top or other suitable parts of the boiler.
The furnace bars rest upon cross bearers supported and held by
corrugated brackets that fit the inside of the flues and can be placed in
any position therein to suit furnace bars of different lengths, without
nécessitating the cutting of bolt holes, through the flues to secure the
said brackets: The front bracket may be bolted to the furnace door
frame: The top and sides of the flue plates immediately over the
fire, and which are necessarily exposed to an intense heat are quickly
destroyed if any sediment deposited from the water in the boiler is
allowed to remain thereon, it is therefore very desirable to liave some
convenient means for continually removing any such deposit while the
boiler is in use. For this purpose I use the following contrivance :—A
set of brushes or scrapers is fitted upon that part of the flue plates
which it is desired to clean. These brushes or scrapers are jointed to
sliding pieces which are supported on a rod or bar extending across the
boiler, and they are moved to and fro upon the tubes by a rod which
passes through a stuffing box at the top or side of the boiler, the said rod
being provided with a suitable handle or hand lever. The brushes or
scrapers are also connected with a screw whereby they are raised from
the flues when the operation of cleaning the same has been accomplished,
and are quickly lowered upon the same when required. This cleaning|
apparatus may be applied to boiler flues of ordinary construction, and
may be placed in boilers already in use.
.

page_text: Condition act
filed by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of Lee Terrace, Plumstead, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one; in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said William Clark, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Clark, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS AND IN CLEANING APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, 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.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declaro
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
forming a part of this Specification.
My Invention relates first to a novel method of constructing the flues
of Cornish and other internally flued or tubular boilers, and is designed
to increase the area of their heating surface and the effectiveness of the
heat in the flues, and also to render them stronger and more durable
than heretofore without increasing their weight.

page_text: The said Invention also relates to apparatus to be placed in my
improved boilers and others for cleaning the plates of their flues over the
furnace.
My improved flues or flue tubes are made of thin iron or other
suitable metal, and are corrugated in the direction of the flue's circum-
ference; that is to say, the outline of the boilers consists longitudinally of
a series of undulations or concavities and convexities, and I prefer that
the same should extend throughout the entire length of the tubes. The
said tubes are for convenience made in short pieces, which are secured
together to form a continuous tube, by rivetting them to welded hoops
or rings of T iron, and at both ends of the boiler they are rivetted in like
manner to welded hoops of angle iron, which are also rivetted to the end
plates of the boiler. And I may place flat hoops or rings inside the
tubes at the joints, and pass rivets through the rings and tubes. I prefer
however to make the plates with their edges or borders considerably
thicker than the other portion, to obtain the proper strength for rivetting,
and to allow for calking at the joints between the plates and rings or
otherwise. The said tubes may be further supported and strengthened
by stay rods attached to them and to the top or other suitable part of
the boiler.
The ordinary plates used for boiler flues or flue tubes are necessarily
made so thick that they transmit the heat slowly, and a great portion
thereof passes away instead of being absorbed by the water in the boiler.
But with my improved method of construction I obtain a tube or flue,
which, while offering a greater resistance to compression than tubes made
in the usual manner, has such a slight thickness as to allow a very quick
transmission of heat through it to the water, and the area of its heating
surface is much greater than that of an ordinary tube. I therefore
obtain a very rapid evaporation of the water in the boiler.
In applying my said Invention to small tubes for tubular boilers, I
prefer to have them corrugated spirally, the ends being thickened for
fixing them in the tube plates.
In my improved boiler the furnace bars rest upon cross bearers,
supported and held by corrugated brackets that fit the inside of the flue,
and these brackets can be arranged to suit different lengths of furnace :
bars, without cutting bolt holes through the flues to secure them. The
front bracket may be bolted to the furnace door frame. The top and

page_text: sides of the flue plates immediately over the fire, and which are necessarily
exposed to an intense heat, are quickly destroyed if any sediment
deposited from the water in the boiler is allowed to remain thereon; it
is therefore very desirable to have some convenient means for con-
tinually removing any such deposit while the boiler is in use.
"
My Invention relates secondly to a novel contrivance for this purpose,
which is as follows:-A set of metallic brushes or scrapers is fitted upon
that part of the flue plates which it is desired to clean. These brushes
or scrapers are jointed to sliding pieces supported on a rod or bar
extending across the boiler, and they are moved to-and-fro upon the
tubes by a rod which passes through a stuffing box on the top or front
end, or other convenient part of the boiler, the said rod being provided
with a suitable-handle or hand lever. The brushes or scrapers are also
connected with a screw that passes through a stuffing box on the top of
the boiler, whereby they are quickly lowered or let down upon the flue
to be cleaned and raised from the same when the operation of cleaning
it has been accomplished. This cleaning apparatus may be applied to
boiler flues of ordinary construction, and may be conveniently placed in
bailous aluando in una
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a Cornish boiler fitted
with my improved flue tubes; Figure 2 is a horizontal section, and
Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same. Figure 4 shows one of my
improved tubes rivetted upon welded rings of T iron. Figure 5 shews a
portion of a tube, drawn to an enlarged scale. Figure 6 is a longitu-
dinal section, and Figure 7 a transverse section of a boiler provided with
my improved tube cleaning apparatus. Figures 8, 9, and 10, are vertical
sections of boilers, illustrating the application of my Invention to the
same. Figure 11 shews a portion of Figure 10 detached, and drawn to
an enlarged scale. Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the
Drawings.
A is the shell of the boiler, and B, B, are the corrugated tubes or flues
of the same. The said tubes as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 are made up
of short pieces or sections a, one of which is shewn detached in Figure 4.
b, b, are the T iron rings for securing the sections a together, and c, c,
are the angle iron rings for securing the tubes to the ends B' of the
boiler. The manner of securing the pieces a together is best shewn in.

page_text: Figure 5; a', a¹, are the thickened edges of the plates which are
secured to the T iron rings 6 by the rivets d.
Figure 8 is a vertical section of an "upright" boiler for either
portable or stationary purposes, with a split draught and a central water
chamber or passage e in the fire-box f. This chamber is open at the top, 5
and at the bottom has a branch pipe g, which conducts any sediment
deposited from the water in the central chamber, down to the lowest
part of the boiler beyond the reach of the fire, to a position where it
may be blown through a scum cock; h, h, are mud holes for cleaning
the said pipe; i is a pipe on the top of the fire-box f; this pipe is con- 1
nected with the smoke pipe which extends through the top of the
boiler as shewn.
Figure 9 is a vertical section of a portable boiler with a tubular fire-
box constructed according to my Invention. -
Figure 10 is a longitudinal section illustrating the adaptation of my 1
Invention to the construction of a marine boiler. The small tubes j
may be of the ordinary description, or may have spiral corrugations as
shewn in Figure 11. These corrugated tubes are made of very thin
metal, the ends being thickened to allow them to be properly fixed in
the tube plates. .
2
In Figures 6 and 7, 1, 1, are curved pieces of light angle iron, on which
are fixed other picces of angle iron ♬ that lie parallel with the tube B;
to these picces l' are attached the metallic scrapers or brushes m; n,n,
are cross bars fixed to the boiler to support the sliding pieces o, which
are carried by rollers o' running on the said cross bars. The pieces / have 2
vertical slots into which project pins from the pieces o.. The move-
ment of the scrapers m is effected by means of a hand lever fitted on the
rod p, which also has two arms p'. These arms are arranged to act
upon the two studs o³, on the sliding pieces o, and thereby move the latter
to and fro and through the aforesaid slots and pins, they impart a 3
circular reciprocating motion to the scrapers. The raising or lowering
of the scrapers is effected by a screw wheel 2 on the rod r. This rod is
jointed at its lower end to two levers 8, whose ends & lic under flanges or
projections on the slotted bars of the pieces 1. By turning this wheel
in the proper direction to lower the rod r, the ends s' of the lovers & will 3
be elevated and will raise the pieces 7, and with them the metallic
scrapers, the latter being raised quite clear of the tubes. They are
lowered when required by reversing the wheel q.
8

page_text: Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and
shown how the same may be conveniently and advantageously carried
into practice, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. Constructing steam boilers with tubes or other parts of cor-
rugated metal as herein set forth for the purposes specified.
Second. Providing the pieces or sections of corrugated tubes with
internal rings or thickened edges, in combination with the external
T iron, or angle iron rings or hoops, as herein set forth for the purpose
specified.
Third. The apparatus for cleaning the tube plates of steam boilers
constructed and operating as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
W. ROBT, LAKE.
WILLIAM CLARK. (L.S.)