IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSERS FOR STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: D
LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSERS FOR
STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER PURPOSES."-A communication from abroad
by William Wright, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America.
Sealed the 3rd October 1871, and dated the 14th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th July 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSERS FOR STEAM
ENGINES AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
.
This Invention relates to condensers in which a toricellian tube or
the toricellian system of action is employed in maintaining or partly
maintaining the vacuum, and it consists in a novel construction of
condensers whereby they may either wholly be made surface condensers
or combined surface and jet condensers.

page_text: While applicable to other purposes or uses than steam engines it will
suffice here to describe the Invention as used in connection with a
steam engine for the purpose of condensing the exhaust steam of the
engine to obtain the benefit of a vacuum on the reverse side of the
piston to that on which the steam acts.
The Invention dispenses with the air pump and much complicated
mechanism and economises the power necessary to work the latter.
It keeps the water of condensation either wholly or in part separate
and distinct from the water by which condensation is effected, and
therefore the same water may be used over and over again in the boiler,
thereby in the case of an engine of a sea going vessel excluding saline
matter from the boiler, little or no air can lodge in the upper portion
of the condenser, and a perfect (or nearly so) vacuum is obtained. The
apparatus may moreover be enclosed within a single outer conduit or
pipe through which the exhaust steam from the engine passes, and this
pipe may be readily supported against the side of a building or up
through a ship's hold or otherwise.
The apparatus consists of an outer conduit or pipe closed at its ends
and disposed to occupy a vertical position or approximately so.
arc inner conduits, pipes, or spaces for the flow (in a separate manner
up within the outer pipe) of the steam or vapor to be condensed and the
cold water by which condensation is effected. The outer pipe has also
arranged within or connected with it a return water conduit or conduits
to connect with the outer pipe at or near its upper end and to extend
to a well or cistern below. The return water conduit or conduits stand
in excess of the height to which a column or columns of water would
be supported therein by mere atmospheric pressure, and the whole is so
constructed and arranged that the steam is mainly condensed by contact
with the surface or surfaces of the conduit or conduits up through which
the cold water is forced, and the remaining steam or vapor is for the
most part condensed by direct contact with the water above, or together
with any air in the upper portion of the structure is removed by a
suction pipe through the downward current of the return water. The
circulation of the water may be kept up in part by atmospheric pressuro
consequent on the condensation of the steam and in part by a pump or
head as applied to the cold water feed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, 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 Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timo
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 CONDENSERS FOR STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER PURPOSES," being
a communication to me from abroad by William Wright, of the City
and State of New York, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hercunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to condensers in which a toricellian tube or
the toricellian system of action is employed in maintaining or partly
maintaining the vacuum, and it consists in a novel construction of con-

page_text: densers whereby they may either wholly be made surface condensers,
or combined surface and jet condensers.
While applicable to other purposes or uses than steam engines it
will suffice hero to describe the Invention as used in connection with a
steam engine for the purpose of condensing the exhaust steam of the
engine to obtain the benefit of a vacuum on the reverse side of the
piston to that on which the steam acts.
As thus applied to an engine the Invention, while dispensing with
the usual air pump and much complicated mechanism incidental to jet
or surface condensers generally, and economising the power necessary
to work the latter, keeps the water of condensation either wholly or in
part separate and distinct from the water by which condensation is
effected, and thereby, as in other surface condensers (not operating upon
the principle of this condenser), the same water may be used over and
over again in the boiler, thereby in the case of an engine of a sea going
vessel excluding saline matter from the boiler. The construction of the
condenser is moreover such that little or no air can lodge in the upper
portion of the condenser, and a perfect (or nearly so) vacuum is ob-
tained. The condensing apparatus may be enclosed within a single
outer conduit or pipe, through which the exhaust steam from the engine
passes, and this pipe may be readily supported against the side of a
building or up through a ship's hold or otherwise.
The apparatus consists of an outer conduit or pipe closed at its ends,
and disposed to occupy a vertical position or approximately so, and
inner conduits, pipes, or spaces for the flow (in a separate manner up
within the outer pipe) of the steam or vapour to be condensed and the
cold water by which condensation is effected. The outer pipe has also
arranged within or connected with it a return water conduit or conduits
to connect with the outer pipe at or near its upper end and to extend
to a well or cistern below. The return water conduit or conduits stand
in excess of the height to which a column or columns of water would
be supported therein by mere atmospheric pressure, and the whole is so
constructed and arranged that the steam is mainly condensed by contact
with the surface or surfaces of the conduit or conduits up through
which the cold water is forced, and the remaining steam or vapor is for
the most part condensed by direct contact with the water above, or
together with any air in the upper portion of the structure is removed
by a suction pipe through the downward current of the return water.

page_text: The circulation of the water may be kept up in part by atmospheric
pressure consequent on the condensation of the steam, and in part by
a pump or head as applied to the cold water feed.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a vertical section
of a condenser constructed in accordance with the Invention; Fig. 2, a
horizontal section through the line x, x; and Fig. 3, a horizontal section
seen from below and taken in the line y, y, in Fig. 1.
In the accompanying Drawing A represents an outer conduit or
pipe preferably of differential diameter. It is placed in a vertical
position, and has its ends closed, and its upper portion or chamber a
arranged to stand at an elevation of thirty-four feet (more or less) from
the surface of the water W in which the lower part of the condenser is
immersed. One or more conduits or tubes B extend upwards through
the pipe A to the chamber a, so that the upper end of the conduit B
stands at a height from the surface of the water W which is in excess
of that to which a column of water would be supported by mere atmo-
spheric pressure. The portion a of the pipe A forms what may be
termed the jet chamber of the condenser. The lower portion of the
conduit B may be composed in part of tubular projections or pipes con-
nected with the lower enlarged portion 6 of the pipe A. and a cold water
chamber C arranged within the latter. This cold water receiving well
or chamber C may be supplied with water at an inlet c, and it is de-
sirable to furnish the conduit B which forms the return water pipe with
a cock at some point below the pipe A to regulate the flow of water
through the condenser. Within the pipe A are one or more conduits,
preferably a series of tubes D, which might be extended to connect with
the jet chamber a above, but are only represented as extending for a
limited distance up within the pipe A. These pipes are in open com-
munication with the latter above a crown plate d. This tubular portion.
of the structure constitutes the surface condensing portion of the appa-
ratus, and the space between the conduits or tubes D. is connected with
the jet chamber a above by one or more conduits or pipes E for steam
uncondensed by the surface portion of the apparatus to pass off upwards
into the jet chamber. The pipe E may either be arranged within or
outside of the pipe A so as to connect with the jet chamber a above.
The steam or vapour to be condensed is introduced to the pipe A by the
inlet at the enlarged portion b, where the steam will have room to
expand itself and pass through openings 7 outside of the cold water.

page_text: well C, and pass up in direct lines or courses among or between the
tubes D. The portion 6 of the pipe A constitutes what may be termed
the hot water well of the condenser, and is provided with an outlet h
for carrying off the water of condensation, which may be drawn off by
a pump or otherwise, and may be used to feed the boiler. F is a tube,
perforated at or near its top, where it is connected with the upper
portion or surface of the jet chamber a, and extends downward for a
given distance within the return water conduit B, so that the water in
passing down this conduit will suck or draw upon the mouth or lower
open end of the tube to discharge air or uncondensed vapor from the
jet chamber: This tube F, however, may be omitted if desired.
:-A.
.vacuum
up
The general operation of the condenser is as follows:-
having been started or formed in the condenser (as by the condensation
of exhaust steam entering by the inlet f), water is forced by atmospheric
pressure up the conduit B to a height corresponding with the condition
of the vacuum.. This water stops short of the upper end of the conduit.
A supply of cold water is then or simultaneously established through
the inlet c in order to fill the well C. This cold water rises. within
the tubes D and pipe A to the chamber a, where it forms a jet, and
from whence it is returned together with any vapor that may be
condensed by it down the conduit B. In this way a circulation of
water is kept up through the condenser, to establish which however no
more force is necessary than is equal to the power required to lift the
water from the height to which the vacuum raises it to the chamber a
above. The exhaust steam when it enters by the inlet ƒ is condensed
by surface contact with the pipe A, cold well C, and tubes D, E, or
certain of them, thereby maintaining the vacuum in the jet chamber a.
Any remaining vapor (if any) which has not been condensed by surface
contact passes off by the pipe E to the chamber a, where it is condensed
by the jet or jets produced by the flow of the cold water up the pipe A
and through openings i in the base of the jet chamber, such water
together with any water of condensation being returned or retired down
the conduit B. Thus the condenser may operate cither wholly as a
surface one (and the water of condensation be passed off or returned
by the outlet / to the boiler separate and distinct from the water by
which condensation is effected), or the condenser may operate partly
and mainly as a surface one and partly as a jet condenser, any deficiency
of water supply or feed to the boiler over and above what is furnished

page_text: by the outlet h being drawn if desired from the well into which the
water from the conduit B is delivered or enters.
When the condenser is applied to a marine engine on board of a sea.
going vessel then it is desirable to arrange the well into which the
lower end of the conduit B is immersed low down in the hold of the
ship and to discharge the surplus water as it accumulates in the well
by a pump worked by the engine while the cold water to keep up
the supply to the condenser may be established under a natural head
or pressure from a pipe or opening in the side of the ship a little below"
the water line thereof.
"
..
The Invention is not restricted to the precise construction or arrange-,
ment of parts here shewn, as these may be variously modified without
changing the distinguishing principle or principles of its action. Thus
numerous changes may be made in the shape, disposition, and number,
of conduits or tubes within the outer pipe or conduit A. and the
disposition or number of the several inlets and outlets as well as the
arrangement of the chamber C (if such be used). Numerous other
changes may be made, but it is an essential feature that the conduit
or conduits up which the cold water is passed, and preferably the conduit
or conduits down which the return water is discharged, or either, should
present an exposed surface to the steam as it passes up through its
conduit or conduits, and that the steam and water conduit should be
connected with the jet chamber above, so as to constitute the condenser
either a surface condenser or combined surface and jet one. The
return water conduit or conduits, if more than one be used, may be
externally arranged, if preferred, and form an outside connection with
the jet chamber above at a height or distance from its immersion in
the water or well below in excess of that to which a column or columns
of water would be supported therein by mere atmospheric pressure.
Furthermore the surface condensing portion of the apparatus may be
made up of sheets or plates, instead of tubes arranged to form conduits
for the passage of the steam or water through them, and the whole
structure with the exception of the return water conduit or conduits
may be made of any desired or suitable length.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated

page_text: .
First. A combined surface and jet condenser constructed to operate
substantially as specified..
Second. The combination with the conduit A (up within which the
steam or vapor to be condensed and water to effect condensation
are separately passed) of the return' water conduit or conduits B, and
the jet chamber a with which the several conduits are connected, as
herein set forth.
Third. The combination of the outer conduit A, the inner cold water
conduits D, the steam conduit or conduits E, the jet chamber a, and
the return water conduit or conduits B.
Fourth. The cold water well or chamber C, in combination with
the tubes or conduits D, the outer pipe or conduit A, the chamber or
hot water well b, the inlets c and f, and the outlet h.
Fifth. The perforated tube F in combination with the jet chamber a,
and return water conduit B, substantially as specified.
Sixth. The arrangement within the outer conduit A of the conduits D
and B, or either, in combination with the jet chamber a above and
steam and cold water inlets below, as and for the purposes herein set
forth.
]
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have 2
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.