AN IMPROVED MODE OF APPLYING THE WATER USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDEN- SATION IN MARINE AND CERTAIN OTHER STEAM ENGINES TO THE CONDENSER
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WIL-
LIAM GITTINS, of the Parish of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of May, in the fourth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Gittins, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Gittins, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Gittins, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF APPLYING THE WATER USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDEN-
SATION IN MARINE AND CERTAIN OTHER STEAM ENGINES TO THE CONDENSER;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William
Gittins, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Gittins, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in manner following, and by aid of the Drawing hereunto anneied
(that is to say):-

page_text: My Improved Mode of applying the Water used for the Purpose of Condensa-
tion in Marine and certain other Steam Engines to the Condenser consists in
placing the said condenser or condensers at the outside of the steam boat or vessel on
board of which marine or other steam engines are placed so as that the condensers
shall be immersed in the water in which such steam boat or vessel floats, in order
that by such application of the water to the condensers the same may be kept so
cool in consequence of that immersion or application as to condense the steam
which is admitted into them from the cylinders of the steam engines to which they
belong after such steam has performed its intended office of impelling the pistons
of the engines in their steam cylinders; and when it is required to exhaust the
steam from the said cylinders in order to obtain an instantaneous vacuum or
exhaustion therein, in preparation for the pistons being impelled to return in
an opposite direction to the motion which was last given to them, by the intro-
mission of that steam which is next required to be exhausted as aforesaid. The
said condensers should be made of thin metal plate, in order that the heat of
the steam which is admitted into them may pass readily through the metal of
which the condensers are formed, so as to dissipate itself in the circumjacent
water which is applied, by virtue of my said improved mode, to the ex-
ternal surfaces of the condeusers, so as to effect the purpose of condensation
of the included steam without absolute necessity for employing any injection
of cold water into the interior capacity of the condensers, although some
injection may be used in aid of the external application of cold water to the
condensers by my said mode whenever circumstances may render such aid of
injection advisable or desirable. The said condensers must be so constructed
and placed at the sides of the steam boat or vessel (or beneath the bottom
thereof) as to offer the smallest impediment or obstruction to advancing
through the water, for which purpose the condensers should be of a flat form,
exposing large lateral surfaces with but very little thickness. In order that the
steam which is conveyed into them from the engines may be spread out in
thin sheets within the said condensers, and. may be thereby more effectually
exposed to the cooling action of the circumjacent water which is applied
externally against one or both of the opposite flat surfaces of such con-
densers, and also in order that the said condensers may be so applied to the
outside of the steam boat or vessel as to be carried through the water edge-
ways foremost by the advancing motion thereof, or, what is the same thing,
in case of steam engines which are placed on board boats or floating vessels
which are moored in a tideway or current, the said condensers will present
their thin edges to the current of water which is applied to such condensers by
virtue of my said improved mode; and the large flat surfaces of such con-

page_text: densers should be applied parrallel or conformably to the sides or bottom of the
steam boat or vessel, leaving a narrow space between the same for the admis-
sion and passage of a thin sheet of the external water to flow through in order
to cool the condensers on those flat surfaces thereof which are placed adjacent
to the sides or bottom of the steam boat or vessel, as well as on the opposite
flat surfaces of the same condensers, which surfaces are exposed openly to the
contact of the water in which the steam boat or vessel floats. The said con-
densers must be made with sufficient strength, and so fortified as to enable
them to resist the external pressure of the circumjacent water when their
interior capacity is exhausted; and they must have a sufficient internal capa-
city to receive the steam which is required to be condensed in them, and a
sufficiency of external surface exposed to the water to produce the condensa-
tion; and likewise (in addition to being applied so as to offer the least obstruc-
tion to the advancing progress of the vessel through the water) they must be
so disposed as to be least liable to be injured from the grounding of the vessel
in harbour, or from getting foul of other boats or vessels, and also so as they
can be easily repaired in case of injury; and further suitable fenders and
protections must be applied to preserve them as much as possible from
violence.
And, by way of explanation of one example amongst a variety of others
whereby my said Invention may be carried into effect, I have hereunto
annexed a Drawing, wherein Figure 1 represents a transverse midship section
of a steam vessel, shewing a pair of marine engines on board thereof, and
showing large flat condensers 1, 1, placed out beyond the vessel's sides at a
very small distance therefrom, so as to be wholly immersed in the water
wherein the vessel floats. B, B, represents the section of the vessel, shewing
the timbers of the frame with the outside and inside plankings. C, C, C, C,
are the sleepers or large longitudinal beams upon which the engines are
placed; they extend fore and aft along the floor of the vessel for a great
length. The main standards D, D, are fastened down upon them by suitable
holding-down bolts, and also the ordinary condensers E, E, and the steam
cylinders, which latter do not appear; the centres of motion a, a, for the great
levers H, H, H, I, being projections from the condensers E, E, at each side
of each condenser. The main standards D, D, support the bearings for the
main axis F, F, of the cranks b, b, and of the paddle wheels G, G. These
particulars being well understood, and the construction of all the said parts
being the same as is usual in steam boat or marine engines, the parts of which
are to be added for carrying my improved mode into effect are as follows:-
1, 1, 1, 1, are the large flat condensers, viewed edgeways, so as to present the

page_text: par-
same apparent size to the eye as they would present to advancing through the
water in which they are immersed. The steam is conveyed from the ordinary
condensers E, E, of the engines to the new additional condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, at
the outside of the vessel, by two crooked eduction pipes 2, 2, which join to the
upper parts of the condensers E, E, at one end of each pipe, and which pipes
bend upwards to reach over the grent levers II, II, of the engines without
touching the same, and then descend again and pass down to join to two long
eduction pipes 3, 3, which pass horizontally in a direction fore and aft of the
vessel along a great part of the length thereof near to the vessel's sides, but
within board; and from each of the said longitudinal pipes 3, 3, smaller
branches 4, 4, provided with stopcocks 14, 14, pass off in a direction athwart
ship, and pass through the vessel's side to join to the thin flat condensers
1, 1, 1, 1, which are disposed at the outside of the vessel, and which are im-
mersed in the water wherein the vessel floats. The sluice cock 14, with which
cach branch 4 is provided, serves to cut off the communication with that
ticular condenser 1 to which the said stopcock belongs, in case of such an
injury to that condenser as may cause it to leak considerably. Each of the
thin flat condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, may extend upwards nearly to the surface of
the water, the condenser being parrallel to or conformably with the curvature of
the vessel's sides, and extending downwards as low as it can go, in order to
keep out of the way of injury when the vessel grounds in harbour, and as a
protection thereto bilgo keels R, R, should be fixed along the bottom of the
vessel in a direction parrallel to the main keel S, so as to prevent the vessel
from rolling over when aground. Each of the said fint condensers 1, 1, 1, 1,
extends such a distance in a direction fore and aft of the vessel as will give the
required extent of surface for condensation of the steam without rendering
each condenser 1, 1, too large for enabling the steam, which is conveyed from
the long cluction pipe 8, 8, through one of the branches 4, and sluice cocks
14, to be effectually distributed and conveyed into the interior capacity of cach
condenser with promptitude and efficiency so as to be brought into contact with
every portion of the interior surface thereof. And such flat condensers
1, 1, 1, 1, are placed one before the other in the samo range shewn in Figure
1, or conformably with the form of the vessel, so as to occupy so much of the
length thereof as will be requisite to give them an adequate extent of cooling or
condensing surface for effectually condensing the steam which passes through
the engines. And note, these condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, which are placed abreast
of the paddle wheels, must not extend up so high as the other condensers, which
are forward of or abaft of the paddle wheels, which latter condensers may
extend upwards nearly to the surface of the water, although the former con-

page_text: densers must be so much below that surface as to keep quite clear of the
paddle boards, in the manner shewn by the section, Figure 1. From the lowest
part of each of the flat condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, a drain pipe 5, 5, is conducted
through the side of the vessel to draw off the water which is precipitated within
that condenser from the condensation of the steam therein, and which water,
collecting at the lower part of each of the flat condensers, will be drawn away
therefrom by the action of the ordinary air pumps K, K, of the steam engines,
which air pumps are connected with all the several pipes 5, 5, through stopcocks
6, 6, and longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7, extending fore and aft along the vessel
within board thereof, with branches 8, 8, proceeding to join to the lowest parts
of the air pumps K, K. The longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7, are horizontal, and
parallel to the longitudinal eduction pipes 3, 3, and are for a similar object,
videlicet, to connect the drain pipes 5, 5, from all the several flat condensers
1, 1, 1, 1, which are disposed one before the other at the same side of the vessel,
into one common drainage by the action of the air pumps K, K; but, never-
theless, by closing the stopcock 6 belonging to any one of the said flat con-
densers 1, 1, the drainage connection with that particular flat condenser can
be cut off without any interruption to the drainage from all the other flat con-
densers, whereof the stopcocks 6, 6, remains open. The air pumps K, K,
of the steam engines must be made just as usual in marine or other steam
engines on Mr. Watt's principle; but they may be made of a smaller size
than is usual in ordinary marine steam engines, which operate by injection of
cold water into their ordinary condensers E, E, because there will be so much
less water to be drawn out of the flat condenser 1, 1, 1, 1, being only the dis-
tilled water proceeding from the condensation of the steam; and it will also be
advisable to put the air pumps K, K, lower down than usual, and, in fact, as
low down towards the bottom of the vessel as possible; and the branches 8, 8,
of the drain pipes should join to the very lowest parts of the air pumps K, K,
in order that they may more effectually keep the distilled water drained away
from the interior of the flat condensers, so as not to leave any accumulation of
distilled water therein; and in order that the connection of the said drain
pipes 5, 5, from the lowest parts of the flat condensers 1, 1, may have the least
possible rise in proceeding to join by their connections 6, 7, and 8 to the lower
parts of air pumps K, K, the longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7, may be placed
lower down than is represented in Figure 1, by arranging the said parts in
the manner shewn in Figure 2, videlicet, the drain pipes 5, 5, which pass
through the sides of the vessel, are of a bended or cranked form, and are so
disposed in the space between the timbers of the vessel that the said pipes
5, 5, do not pass out through the outer planking exactly opposite to the places

page_text: where they pass through the inner planking, but, owing to the cranked form
of the said pipes 5, 5, they convey the distilled water through the thickness of
the vessel's sides without rising upwards so much as those represented in
Figure 1; and the manner whereby the stopcocks 6, 6, Figure 2, are joined
to the drain pipes 5, 5, and 7, 7, permits the longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7, and s
likewise their connections 8, 8, with the air pumps K, K, to be lower down
than the same can be in Figure 1, as before mentioned, and that will enable
the air pumps K, K, to drain away the distilled water more effectually from
the flat condensers 1, 1.
Figure 3 is a section the same as Figure 1 or 2 (but on a larger scale),
shewing one of the flat condensers 1, 1, in order to explain its structure more
clearly. The sides 1, 1, are made of thin copper or other metal plate, united
by rivetting and soldering, to render the flat condenser air and water tight.
The size of the flat condenser in a vertical direction, or across its width in the
narrowest direction, must be adapted to the size of the steam bont or vessel, as
is represented in Figure 1, so that the condenser, when applied thereto, will
reach nearly from the surface of the water in which the steam boat or vessel
floats, so far downwards towards her main keel S as may be found practicable
without risk of the flat condenser 1, 1, being injured by grounding of the boat
or vessel, and also without impairing the efficiency of the drainage of the
distilled water from the lowest part of the flat condenser by the drain pipe 5,
and the communication 6, 7, and 8, to the air pump K, which pump is capable
of drawing up the distilled water by suction to a small height, but not far,
because the interior capacity of the flat condenser 1, 1, is kept nearly exhausted.
And note, in that respect the arrangement represented in Figure 2 by draining
off the distilled water at a lower level will permit of the flat condenser 1, 1,
being extended lower down towards the main keel S than in Figure 1, and
consequently, being of greater width, without impairing the efficiency of the
drainage, because, with the arrangement, Figure 2, less dependance is placed
upon the power of suction by the air-pump K to draw up the distilled water
out of the flat condenser 1, 1, through the connection 5, 6, 7, and 8. The
dimension of the flat condensers 1, 1, in their horizontal length, or in the
direction fore and aft of the steam boat or vessel, must be regulated according
to the size of the steam boat or vessel, and two, three, four, or more of the flat
condensers may be placed ono before the other in the same range, at the same
side of the steam boat or vessel, leaving only small intervals between them.
The object of thus applying two or more flat condensers, instead of one larger
one, is in order to render them of more manageable dimensions. Each such
flat condenser 1, 1, has its own eduction pipe 4 for conveying steam into it, and

page_text: its own drain pipe 5 for conveying the distilled water out of it, and the longi-
tudinal eduction pipes 3, 3, and longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7, form the requisite
connection with all the several flat condensers, which are disposed one before
the other, for those pipes proceed horizontally withinboard of the steam boat
or vessel, along as much of her length fore and aft as the several flat conden-
sers 1, 1, occupy along that length overboard in the water; and the said
longitudinal pipes 3 and 7 being joined by one large cross branch 2 and 8, from
each pipe to the ordinary condenser E, and to the ordinary air pump K, a
complete communication is thereby established with every one of the several flat
condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, but nevertheless each of the several connections 4 and 5
which penetrate through the side of the steam boat or vessel is provided with
a stop-cock 14 and 6, in order that the communication may be effectually
stopped in case any one of the flat condensers should meet with such an injury
as would cause it to leak considerably. Note, the edges of the flat condensers
which move foremost through the water when the steam boat or vessel advances
must be made sharp in order to cut and divide the water more readily. The
internal width between the sides of the flat condensers 1, 1, made be made
very narrow, so as to spread the steam very thin within them, but in order to
facilitate that spreading a greater internal width may be given to each flat
condenser at the middle part of its length, where the eduction pipe 4 and tho
drain pipe 5 join to it, the internal width diminishing cach way from that
middle part towards the foremost and towards the aftermost edges, which, in
consequence of the said diminishing form, will be well adapted to pass through
the water, and the most diminished part of the foremost edge being made quite
sharp by rivetting together and uniting the two thicknesses of thin metal plate
of which each flat condenser is composed, they will easily make way through
the water without material obstruction. The eduction pipe 4 and the drain
pipe 5 of each flat condenser may be metal (such as copper or bell metal)
tubes, and securely fitted through the side of the steam boat or vessel, and
caulked tight around between the wood and the metal tubes, and to retain these
tubes in their places a flange may be formed around each tube to apply to the
interior planking, and a round ring or flange may be screwed upon the
extremity of each tube where it projects out through the outside of the outer
planking and through the copper sheathing of the steam boat or vessel. The
said ring will serve as a nut to retain the tube in its place; but as a farther
security, and also to attach the flat condenser 1, 1, to the outer surface of the
said ring, four or six bolts may be put through holes in the said ring, and
through all the thickness of woodwork, and through the flange withinside,
in order to bind all the parts fast together by nuts screwed on the ends of the

page_text: said bolts inside the vessel. The head of the said bolts may be within the
interior capacity of the flat condenser, and will serve to hold the thin copper
plate of which it is composed fast in close contact against the outermost flat
surface of the said ring. The heads of the said bolts need not be formed on
the extreme ends of the bolts, but the bolts may extend far enough beyond the
licads to reach through the whole thickness of the flat condenser, in order, by
means of nuts screwed on the extreme ends, to hold the flat condenser to its
place, suitable rings or collets being applied within the inside of the flat condenser
around each of the said bolts, to keep its two thin metal surfaces at their proper
distance assunder. Or, otherwise, the aforesaid bolts being made without any
extension beyond their heads, may have their heads countersunk flush into the
ring above mentioned, in which case they will have no other oflice than to
return that ring very securely to the side of the vessel, and four bolts will
bo sufficient for that purpose, and the flat condenser may be applied against
the surface of the said ring, and fastened thereto by screw pins inserted through
the whole thickness of the flat condenser, and tapped into the metal of the ring
with their heads outside, having rings or collets applied withinside of the flat
condenser, as before mentioned, around the said screw pins. And in order to
keep the thin metal plates which form the surfaces of the said flat condensers
from collapsing together by the external pressure of the atmosphere and the
circumjacent water when a vacuum is formed within the condensers, the said
plates may be indented with concavities on the outside, forming embossed
projections on the inside surfaces, which, by projecting exactly opposite to each
other from the two opposite surfaces, will meet each other and keep those two
surfaces apart, and such embossed internal prominences may be raised on the
thin copper plate in various places, at such distances apart as will best sustain
the copper, and enable it to resist the pressure which tends to colapse the flat
condenser. And rivets or screw bolts may be put through both thickness of
the thin copper plate at some few of the places where the said embossed
internal prominences bring the two thicknesses in contact to keep them firmly
together, and the heads of such rivetts, or the nuts of such screw bolts, will
be countersunk and concealed within the external concavities which are
occasioned by the embossing. And further, the said flat condensers must
be well secured by stay bolts to the sides of the steam boat or vessel, at
a small distance therefrom and parallel to the form of her sides, which
may be done by means of stay bolts put through the woodwork of the
sides of the boat or vessel, their heads outside, and secured by nuts inside,
and such bolts being prolonged so far beyond such heads as to project
out from the sides of the vessel as far the flat condensers are intended

page_text: to project therefrom, the ends of such stay bolts may have shoulders on them,
and the extremities beyond such shoulders may pass through both thicknesses
of the thin metal plate of which each of the flat condensers is composed, and
may have nuts screwed on the extreme ends of the prolonged bolts to retain
the flat condensers in their place by binding the same fast against the aforesaid
shoulders of the stay bolts; those nuts may be lodged within some of the
concavities formed by the aforesaid embossing, so as to be countersunk quito
out of the way. A sufficient number of such stay bolts must be applied at
such distances apart as will effectually secure the flat condensers to the sides
of the steam boat or vessel, and particularly at their narrow edges, which go
foremost.
Note. The Drawings represent the crooked eduction pipes 2, 2, as being
joined to the upper parts of the ordinary condensers E, E, of the steam
engines, in which case the steam which is to be condensed would be ad-
mitted into those condensers as usual, only that in lieu of injecting cold
water into them the cooling and consequent condensation of the steam will be
performed, the external cold of the water in which the steam boat or vessel
floats, that water being applied by my improved mode to the flat con-
densers 1, 1, 1, 1, which are connected by the eduction pipes 2, 3, 4, with
the said ordinary condensers E, E. But it is no way necessary so to retain
the ordinary condensers E, E, in use, for the crooked eduction pipes 2, 2, may
be joined to the ordinary eduction passages which proceed from the sliding
valves of the steam cylinders of the engines in a direction towards the con-
densers E, E, the junctions being made at parts of those eduction passages
which are nearer to the cylinders than to the condensers. The longitudinal
eduction pipes 3, 3, being made of adequate capacity, will give a very free
passage to the steam, and, together with the interior capacity of the flat con-
densers 1, 1, 1, 1, they will form a sufficient space for the steam to expand itself
into when it is first admitted from the steam cylinders into those pipes, and by
that means all necessity for retaining the ordinary condensers E, E, in use is
avoided. In marine steam engines which are already provided with such ordinary
condensers they may be retained in use, but in new engines which may be
built with a view to the adoption of my improved mode there will be no neces-
sity to have ordinary condensers E, E, but the weight and the space which
they occupy may be spared, as well as the expense. In such cases it will be
advisable to provide an injection cock and pipe to each of the longitudinal
eduction pipes 3, 3, in order occasionally to admit an injection of cold water
therein for facilitating the starting of the engines if the same should be found

page_text: to be advisable, and also in case it becomes necessary, in consequence of
injury to any of the flat condensers 1, 1, to shut off any one or more of the
same by their stopcocks 14 and 6, wliereby the engines losing the benefit of a
portion of their condensing surfaces may require the aid of a small injection
to make up for such deficiency. And respecting the extent of surface which will
be required to be exposed in the several flat condensers 1, 1, to the circum-
jacent water by my improved mode, the same ought to be at the rate of at
least ten square feet of thin metal plate in the flat condenser 1, 1, 1, 1, for each
horse power at which marine steam engines are usually rated; so that if a pair
of such engines as are usually denominated fifty horse power (or one hundred
horse power in the two) are employed on board of a steam boat or vessel, the
several flat condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, thereof should altogether contain at least one
thousand square feet of thin metal plate, to which cold water is applied on the
outside by my improved mode, and the steam which is to be condensed being
introduced into the narrow flat internal spaces within the said several condensers
will be spread out in contact with the said one thousand feet of thin metal plate,
so as to be fully subjected to the cooling and condensing action thereof.
And in order to avoid waste of the fresh or distilled water with which the
boiler in consequence of evaporation thereof into waste steam, which is
ordinarily blown away into the open air, the safety or waste valves of the
boilers may be applied within close pipes which are conducted and joined to
the longitudinal eduction pipes 3, 3, so as to receive and conduct the said waste
steam to the flat condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, instead of allowing it to dissipate in the
open air. And note, as the said safety or waste valves will be thereby relieved
from the pressure of the atmosphere, they must be loaded with as much
additional weight as will compensato for that circumstance, and such safety
or waste valves should be additional ones to the ordinary safety valves or
blow-off valves, which should be retained as usual to allow the steam to
escape in case of need, but loaded a little heavier than usual, so that
they will never be lifted in any ordinary case, but only in case of all
the condensers becoming filled with distilled water from the continuance
of the condensation of waste steam in them. And note, when the engines
are not at work the distilled water proceeding from the waste steam which
is so blown into the condensers will accumulate at the bottom parts of the
several flat condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, and in their longitudinal drain pipes 7, 7,
which will hold a considerable quantity. Or one of the flat condensers 1, 1,
may be exclusively appropriated for the reception of the waste steam which
escapes from the safety valve of the boilers, in which case it will not requiro

page_text: to have a vacuum formed therein, and then those safety valves may be loaded
just as usual, and the drain pipe 5 of such flat condenser (instead of joining by
its cock 6 with the longitudinal drain pipe 7, 7,) will be only a spout to drain
off the distilled water into a tank or receptacle for it, and from which receptacle
the said water may be drawn off by the feeding pumps of the engines to supply
the boilers whenever any deficiency of water is found therein; but as the same
distilled water circulates over and over again through the engines no such
deficiency can happen unless it arises from loss of distilled water by leakage
from the boiler, or of steam by blowing off or leaking into the open air; but
the engines being once set to work with an adequate stock of pure water, will
continue working therewith, without change or loss, unless by imperfection of
their tightness. And note, although the flat condensers have been herein-before
stated as having cold water applied to both the opposite sides of each flat
condenser, and between the said condensers and. the sides of the vessel, that
circumstance is not absolutely necessary, because such flat condensers may
be applied in close contact with the sides of the vessel, and will then serve in
lieu of copper sheathing for so much of the surface of the sides of the vessel as
they apply to. This mode will be applicable to new vessels which are built
expressly with a view to the application of my said improved mode of applying
water to the condenser. And note, in lieu of the flat condensers 1, 1, being
made, as herein-before described, of flat surfaces of thin metal plate, they may
be composed of cylindrical tubes of thin metal, in which case the eduction
pipes 4, 4, which pass through the sides of the vessel, must be joined to square
pipes which extend horizontally along the sides of the vessel as far as each of
the flat condensers 1, 1, would extend; and the same of the drain pipes 5, 5,
which come through the sides of the vessel; they must also be joined to other
square pipes which proceed horizontally along the sides of the vessel below the
square pipes first mentioned, and then a row of small upright tubes of thin
metal must be joined at their upper ends to the uppermost of the said square
pipes, and at their lower ends to the lowermost of the said square pipes; in
which case the surfaces exposed by the row of such tubes will be substitutes
in every respect for the surfaces of thin metal plate exposed, as herein-before
described, by the several flat condensers 1, 1. The said square pipes may be
firmly affixed to the sides of the vessel, to secure such tubulated condensers
in their intended places. The junctions of the said horizontal square pipes
with the eduction pipes 4, 4, and drain pipes 5, 5, where the same come
through the sides of the vessel, may be made in the same manner as herein-
before described for the junctions with the flat condensers 1, 1. And although

page_text: the said square pipes may apply close to the sides of the vessel, and may be
fixed fast thereto, the thin copper or other metal tubes may stand in a row
side by side, detached from the sides of the vessel, in order to allow the water
to be applied all around each tube: see a section of this arrangement in
Figure 4 of the Drawing. And note, a small hand pump may be applied
to each of the longitudinal eduction pipes 3, 3, to bo occasionally worked by
hand labour, in order to exhaust air and water from the flat or tubular con-
densers 1, 1, in preparation for starting the engines when they have been
standing still, and the condensers have become too much filled with water or
air to admit of starting without first exhausting them in some degree by work-
ing such hand pumps. And note, blow valves and barometer gages of the
ordinary kind should be connected with the longitudinal eduction pipes 3, 3, in
order to provide for discharging air and water from the condensers by the
operation called blowing through, previously to starting the engines, and the
barometers will show the degree of exhaustion or vacuum which is produced
within the condensers, as is usual in other steam engines.
Having now described my said improved mode, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I, the said William Gittins, do hereby declare
that the new Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted to mo by tho
aforesaid Letters Patent, consists in the improved mode herein-before
described of applying the water used for the purpose of condensation to the
condensers in marine and any other steam engines which are or may bo
applied on board floating vessels or steam boats, either for the purpose
of dredging up mud or ballast from the bottoms of rivers or harbours, or
other like purposes, or for the purpose of propelling the floating vessels
or steam boats on board of which such marine or other steam engines
are fixed. And note, I make no claim to the particular structure of the
condensers hercin-before described and represented, whether the same are flat
condensers 1, 1, 1, 1, of thin copper or other metal plate, or rows of tubes of
thin copper or other metal, or of any other suitable structure, because similar
condensers have been before used for steam engines. But 1 confine my claim
to the mode of applying cold water thereto, by disposing and arranging such
condensers overboard, around or about the sides or bottom of the floating
vessel or steam boat on board of which marine or other steam engines, as
aforesaid, may be used.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gittins, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Sixth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-four.
WILLIAM (L.8.)
GITTINS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, the aforesaid
William Gittins came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.