Improvements in Steam Generators.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Dec., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 14th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 6th Nov., 1897
Improvements in Steam Generators.
I JOHN KIRKALDY of 40 West India Dock Road London Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Mv invention relates to steam generators of the water-tube class, and to that
type which has tubes delivering into and receiving water from an upper receiver
or receivers.
The object of my invention is the simplification of generators of this class and
an arrangement of the tubes and other parts which secures easy construction and
assemblage and connection facility of access and renewal of any of the tubes,
freedom for expansion and contraction and from action of the fire on tube
connections and facility of increase or decrease in heating surface for generators
of different powers.
A preferable form of generator made according to my invention consists of an
upper water vessel and steam receiver into which along one or either side or sides
of the lower parts are inserted rows of tubes dependant therefrom at an angle of
from 40 to 70 degrees from the horizontal or thereabouts such tubes being stopped
at their lower ends where they pass through a guide plate and are outside of the
furnace. The stopped ends of the tubes are easily accessible and may be fitted
with plugs or caps by the removal of which access to each tube is casily obtained
for cleaning purposes. From the lower central part of the receiver depend a
series of U tubes or tubes which are in part spirally coiled and which have their
ends inserted in the receiver at places so situated that the water circulation and
steam generation are efficiently maintained. When the generator is made with
the double series of side tubes it partakes of an inverted V form, over a furnace
partly constructed of brick work, and of size and form to suit the use of solid or
liquid fuel. When the side tubes are not single plug or cap ended tubes, they
may be connected at their lower ends in pairs by means of bent union pieces fitted
with flanges or with suitable unions, so that they may be coupled in any desired
relation, as for instance, the outside row may be coupled to the next row but one
to the fire, and the row next within the outside row may be coupled to the row
nearest the fire on either side. Instead of coupling the straight single stopped
flanged or union ended tubes by these means, each tube may form one leg of a
long the bent lower part forming the connection between them. Whether
connected in this way or by a breeches piece or bend a plug or cap will be so placed
that access for cleaning purposes can be had to either of any pair of connected
tubes. In some cases the rows of tubes are not placed quite parallel with each
other, but the outer and inner tubes may be bent so that the ends of the tubes may
enter the receiver more or less nearly on radial lines. The tubes may be screwed
or expanded into the shell of the receiver which may be of thickened plates at these
parts. The tubes or some of them may in some cases be connected by their lower
ends singly or in pairs to a trunk or connecting tube on either both sides which
may act as water distributor and as a purifier for the deposition of impurities, and
the feed water may be sent into the boiler through the medium of a coil or water

page_text: vessel placed along the edge of the furnace or in the uptake or other suitable
situation.
In some cases more especially for very high pressure boilers I may employ
tubes of smaller diameter within the main tubes already described for purposes of
circulation and in some cases internal tubes may be used having their lower
ends stopped or partly stopped or perforated, so that only a restricted quantity of
water may enter them, so that they may act as evaporation tubes. In forming the
furnace for the herein described generator, the brickwork is carried up a short
distance above the bottom end of the tubes and the guide plate or plates referred
to forms part of the casing which surrounds the generator.
Dated the 14th day of December 1896.
FIRTH & Co.,
77 Chancery Lane W.C. Applicants Agents.
"
I, JOHN KIRKALDY formerly of 40 West India Dock Road London but now of
Fentimores" Harlow, Essex, Engineer c/o Messrs. Firth & Co. 77 Chancery
Lane W.C. do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention relates to steam generators of the water tube class and to that
type which has tubes delivering into and receiving water from an upper receiver
or receivers.
The object of my invention is the simplification of generators of this class and
an arrangement of the tubes and other parts which secures easy construction
assemblage and connection, facility of access and renewal of any of the tubes,
freedom for expansion and contraction and from action of the fire on tube con-
nections, and facility of increase or decrease in heating surface for generators of
different powers.
A preferable form of generator mado according to my invention consists of an
upper water vessel and steam receiver into which along one or either side or sides
and the lower part are inserted rows of tubes dependant therefrom at an angle of
from 40 to 70 from the horizontal or thereabouts such tubes being connected at
the lower ends where in some cases they pass through a guide plate and are or may
be outside of the furnace. The tubes are easily accessible and may be fitted with
plugs or caps by the removal of which access to each tube of any coupled or
connected pair is easily obtained for cleaning purposes. From the lower central
part of the receiver depend a series of U tubes or tubes which may be in part
spirally coiled and which have their ends inserted in the, receiver at places so
situated that, water circulation and steam generation are efficiently maintained.
When the generator is made with the double series of side tubes, it partakes of
an inverted A form. over a furnace partly constructed of brickwork and of size
and form to suit the use of solid or liquid fuel. The side tubes are connected at
their lower ends in pairs by means of bent union pieces fitted with flanges or with
suitable unions so that they may be coupled in any desired relation as for instance
the outside row may be coupled to the row next but one to the fire, and the row
next within' the outside row may be coupled to the row nearest the fire on either
side. Instead of coupling the straight single tubes by these means, each tube may
be one half or thereabout of a long tube bent to form a long U, the bent lower

page_text: part forming the connection between them. Whether connected in this way
within or outside the furnace or furnace casing or by a breeches piece or bend a
plug or cap will be so placed that access for cleaning purposes can be had to either
of any pair of connected tubes. In some cases the rows of tubes are not placed
quite parallel with each other, but may be bent so that the ends of the tubes may
enter the receiver more or less nearly on radial lines. The, tubes may be screwed,
or expanded into the shell of the receiver, which may be of thickened plates at
these parts.
In some cases, more especially for very high pressure boilers I may employ some
tubes of smaller diameter and in the larger tubes in some cases internal tubes
may be used.
In forming the furnace for the herein described generator, the brickwork is in
some cases carried up a short distance above the bottom end of the tubes and the
guide plate or plates referred to forms in some cases part of the casing which
surrounds the generator.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a front end elevation and transverse
section of one of my improved generators:
Figure 2 is a side elevation partly in section of the same form.
Figure 3 is a front elevation and a transverse section of another form of the
generator and Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the same form.
Figure 5 is a front elevation and section of the same generator shown by
Figures 1 and 2 but with modifications including suspension of the generator from
above the receiver instead of support from below partly from the casing and partly
by angularly placed columns or by supports which may be part of the frame work
of the casing.
Figure 6 is a separate view of part of a generator according to my invention in
which long U tubes are used the centre of the lower part of the U being provided
with a boss and plug by means of which ready access can be obtained to the tubes
for cleaning and in which the tubes may pass through holes or slots in a guide
plate forming part of the casing as shown by full lines or through a plate or other
form of guide within the casing as indicated by dotted lines. Some parts of the
casing may be hinged as indicated for ready access to the tube ends. "
In Figures 1 and 2 A is the steam and water receiver placed within a casing B
and from which depend tubes C and C¹ exposed to the heat of the fire on the
grate D within the furnace E access to which is obtained in the usual way by the
firedoors F. The ends of the furnace are closed by fire bricks within the casing
as shown or the front end may be closed by metal plates forming a cellular
structure or carrying fire bricks of suitable form. The ash pit is closed at the
sides by suitable iron supports of usual form or by the hastings G which also
carry the supports for the fire bars or by brickwork for the same purpose. At
H are shown doors for cleaning and draught regulating purposes. The tubes C
may also be closely placed so as to form heat absorbers at the ends of the furnace
as shown hereafter. The receiver A is fitted with the usual steam and water
fittings and with the fittings through which the feed water is admitted. In this
form of generator tubes are coupled in pairs at their lower ends by bends and
collars or union pieces below a guide plate or guide bars and they are fixed at
their upper ends in the receiver either by screwing therein or by expanding therein.
The generator is carried in part by the casing and partly by columns or
supports J.
In Figs. 3 & 4 are shown a form of my improved generator the whole of the
tubes of which are of the U form those heyond the furnace and in the combustion
space being of greater length than those in the furnace and descending into the
combustion space deflector plates or tiles being employed when necessary as at K
Fig. 4 to control the path of movement of the heated gases. The brickwork of
the furnace E may he as shown in Figs. 3 & 4 or may be carried higher or other-
wise modified to suit the requirements of combustion of different fuels or of the
protection of, the tubes,

page_text: A boss may be formed in the bends of each U tube or in some of them and a
plug fitted therein for access to the tube for clearing when required. The products
of combustion from the furnace pass amongst the tubes immediately above it and
among the tubes in the space beyond ascend to the chimney L through holes in
the plates M or at the ends of them and the space between the casing B and the
receiver A.
In Fig. 5 is shown a front elevation of a steam generator made according to my
invention partly in section and of the form suitable for land purposes. It is shown
as suspended or at least chiefly carried by suspension from overhead girders N
to which the receiver A is attached by brackets O the casing and its frame work
and the furnace and furnace fittings being carried on brickwork C and the brick-
work of the back end of the furnace.
In this form of the generator the tubes are shown at C. as connected at their
lower ends by bends and unions the tubes in the row nearest to the fire being
connected to the third row and those of second row being connected to the fourth
row. These tubes may however be connected as shown on the other side of the
boiler at C. The tules pass through the lower plate of the casing B. or they
may be arranged with respect to the casing as hereinafter described with reference
to Fig. 6. In these drawings I have shown each connected pair of tubes or both.
legs of the U tubes as of the same diameter but I may make them
of different diameters as for instance one of 1" diameter and one
of 1" in. in diameter. In the larger tubes internal or "Field " tubes
may be inserted. The products of combustion pass on either side amongst or
through the spaces between the tubes to the space between the outer tubes and the
casing and thence down behind the back wall of the furnace in the ordinary way to
an outlet to the chimney as indicated by the dotted lines of an arched opening.
Fig. 6 shows part of a generator according to my invention with the tubes C in
pairs in the form of a long U the bottom of the U being provided with a plug
preferably screwed into a boss formed upon the bend for the purpose already
described. The tubes may be in the form of a narrow U as shown in full lines or
the first and third row and the second and fourth row may form the legs of a wider U
as shown in dotted lines. In all cases I have shown four rows of tubes but two
or six or more rows may be used or three five or seven rows may be combined in
irregular order by using narrow and broad U's. The tubes may be fixed in the
Feceiver in rows with their centres in parallel rectangular disposition or they may
be in staggered rows partly in parallel rectangular disposition and partly in
parallel but not rectangular disposition.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed I declare that I am aware that single pendant
tubes with closed ends and with Field tubes have been described heretofore for
use with an upper steam and water receiver and in it their ends usually in the
furnace and in other ways; and that single pendant tubes have been used to
connect together upper steam and water receivers and lower water chambers and
I am aware that V tubes have been described heretofore as pendant from the roof
of the fire box of vertical boilers and Cornish boilers or the like and I do not
claim these as my invention but what I do claim is:-
1. A steam generator in which the main heating surface is that of tubes pendant
from a horizontal cylindrical steam and water receiver the tubes being formed or
coupled in pairs at their lower ends which are placed beyond the direct action of
the fire.
2. In a steam generator in which the main heating surface is that of coupled
pendant tubes or connected tubes pendant in pairs from a cylindrical steam and
water receiver the arrangement of the lower ends of these tubes so that they
project through the furnace casing or into the lower part of the casing through
guides substantially as herein described and shown.
3. In a steam generator with coupled tubes pendant from an upper receiver as

page_text: herein described and shown with reference to Fig. 5 the arrangement of the tubes
so that one of each pair may be more directly under the action of the fire than
the other and may be subject to a higher temperature.
4. The construction of a steam generator substantially as herein described
having the main heating surface formed of pairs of connected tubes of different
diameters pendant from an upper steam and water receiver and free to expand
and contract and to move in accordance with change of temperature.
1
ea
.
1005
FIRTH & Co.,
77 Chancery Lane, Solicitors,
Agents for J. Kirkaldy
The Applicant.
FIRTH & Co.,
77 Chancery Lane, Solicitors,
Agents for J. Kirkaldy
The Applicant.