Connections in Sectional Steam Generators.
Year: 1886

page_text: Connections in Sectional Steam Generators.
I, CHARLES ALBERT KNIGHT, of the Babcock and Wilcox Company, 107. Hope
Street, in the City of Glasgow, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to overcome the difficulty which, owing to the
relative positions of the orifices and the contracted internal form of the structures,
is ordinarily experienced in expanding nipples and other tubular connections in
the headers or manifolds and adjoining parts of sectional steam generators especially
in cases where such headers are of the sinuous or serpentine formation which is now
commonly adopted in generators of the well known Babcock and Wilcox, type in
order to provide for a staggered arrangement of the water tubes. Heretofore it
has been found necessary to employ a special form of expanding apparatus
having an operating spindle formed with an universal joint, looped links or
similar devices providing for the operation of the mandrel of the expander
through one of the hand holes or other orifices whose axis is at an angle to that
of the nipple or tube operated on. Under my invention provision is made for
operating the expander mandrel by a rod or bar in line with or forming a con-
tinuation of the mandrel and having a proper bearing in a suitable centre at its
opposite end provided with means for feeding or pressing in the mandrel said bar
or rod being intermittently or continuously rotated by means of a ratchet and
pawl or by bevel gearing or similar devices from a lever handle, or spindle passing
out through one of the side orifices of the header.
In the accompanying drawings figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations of part
of the headers or manifolds of a sectional boiler illustrating the ordinary expanding
apparatus and a modification of my improved expander-operating apparatus the
latter as adapted for expanding a nipple or tube into the orifices which are difficult
of access with the ordinary apparatus for connecting the header to other parts of
the generator; figure 3 is a vertical section of a header showing the apparatus to
a larger scale as applied in a header and figure 4 is a sectional elevation showing
another modification of the improved apparatus.
As represented in these drawings the expander A may be of any of the ordinary
and well known forms, and it has a central tapered mandrel B in whose end is

page_text: a polygonal recess or groove adapted to receive a correspondingly shaped end c
upon a square or other bar or rod C whose opposite end is rounded and pointed
after the fashion of a centre punch and is fitted in a centre in the end of a
screw pin or spindle D passing through a screwed eye in a clamp E which is
adjusted and secured in position within the header as shown in figures 1, 2, and 3,
by means of a screw e-Upon the bar or rod C is fitted a toothed barrel or
ratchet F which is operated to turn the bar C by means of a pawl f and a hand
lever G, the latter passing through one of the hand holes h in the header H, the
hand-hole being just large enough to permit of the requisite movement of the
operating lever G. The barrel F is loose upon the bar or rod C and is free to slide
upon it in order that the lever may pass out of the orifice when by the turning
of the screw D the bar is pressed upwards or downwards to feed forward the
tapered mandrel. The modified form of the apparatus shown in figure 4 for
operating the expander mandrel has a bevel pinion I fitted upon the polygonal
bar C and carried in a bracket arm J which also carries a spindle K having on its
inner end a pinion I¹ in gear with the pinion I, and operating it to turn the bar C
and the mandrel B when the spindle K is turned by means of a crank wheel
or lever which is fitted at K¹. The bracket arm J passes out through one of the
hand holes in the front or rear of the header. The expander operating apparatus
commonly used in the erection of boilers of the Babcock and Wilcox type is
represented as L, in figures 1 and 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. An apparatus for use in expanding tubular connections in sectional steam
generators, consisting of a tube expander in combination with an operating spindle
connected to the expander mandrel in line therewith and fitted at its opposite end
in a bearing provided with means for feeding forward the spindle and mandrel,
ratchets and levers, toothed gearing or other devices being provided for operating
the spindle, substantially as herein before described.
2. The combination of parts constituting the improved apparatus for directly
actuating tube expanders for expanding tubular connections in sectional steain
generators, substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings
annexed.
Dated thin Fighth dots of tu 1800