Improvements in Apparatus for Utilizing the Heat of the Hot Gases and Products of Combustion Escaping from Furnaces.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Utilizing the Heat of the Hot Gases
and Products of Combustion Escaping from Furnaces.
I, RODOLPHE REUTER, of 11 Square de Messine, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer, 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 :-
Apparatus according to this invention. is designed to effect a considerable saving
in the fuel used in steam generator furnaces by utilizing a great part of the heat of
the products of combustion escaping from the furnace.
For this purpose, these products, on issuing from the flues or tubes of the
generator, are caused to pass through an arrangement of pipes which afford a large
radiating surface and around which the air to support combustion is caused to pass on
its way to the furnace. Inside these pipes there are arranged a series of tubes which
are connected at one end with the feed water supply and at the other end with the
generator.
The construction and arrangement of my apparatus are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
In these drawings
Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a side and a front elevation of the apparatus ;
Fig. 3 shows a vertical section on the line A B of Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 a vertical section on the line C D of Fig. 7 &
Fig.
a vertical section on the line E F of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a plan of the whole apparatus; and
Fig. 7 is a plan of the same with the upper metal sheet or plate removed.
The tubes in or through which the products of combustion pass are made of
thin sheet metal; their ends fit in holes in two tube plates a; and they are supported
inside a.chamber b by plates e formed with holes through which the tubes / pass.
The tube-plates a are fixed to the bottom, the top, and the two sides of a box or
chest d and serve to separate the chamber from a chamber e and a chamber f
On issuing from the tubes or flues of the generator, the gases enter through an
opening g into the chamber e then pass through the tubes into the chamber and
issue thence into the chimney through an opening i.
The air to support combustion in the furnace enters the chamber 6 through an
opening j, and passes out through an opening k after having traversed the whole
length of the tubes in a zig-zag manner, the supports c serving as baffles. From
the opening the air travels through a suitable conduit to the underside of the
grate of the furnace of the generator.
The water for feeding the generator passes through pipes which are arranged
in the tubes h, each tube / containing a pipe . All these pipes / communicate with
one another at their front and rear ends by means of pipes p and q. The feed
water supply pipe m is connected to a pipe n which enters the chamber and from
which the water passes through a pipe o (Fig. 3) into pipes p, whence it distributes
amongst the pipes 1. After traversing these pipes, the water passes at the forward
end of the apparatus into pipes y which lead it into a pipe r, whence it passes into
the generator by means of pipes s and y.
It is obvious that the prolonged contact of the air and the water with large
conducting surfaces heated by the escaping products of combustion will considerably
increase the useful effect of the fuel

page_text: The upper, front, and back plates of the box or chest d are bolted and arranged
in such a manner as to be capable of being readily removed. Individual plates at
the bottom and the sides are removably secured in place.
The apparatus is arranged in such a manner as to enable repairs and cleaning
operations to be readily effected without stopping in any way the working of the
steam generator. The course of the products of combustion in the apparatus may
he intercepted by closing two dampers with which the openings 9 and i should be
provided. When it is required to clean or to repair the pipes l, it is sufficient to
close two cocks t, to remove the front and back plates of the box or chest d and to
remove the plugs u, which are simply screwed into tee-unions inserted into the pipes p
and . When the cockst are closed feed water may be allowed to pass to the steam
generator by opening a cock w; the water coming from the pipe m will then flow
to the pipe y through a pipe x.
is a cock which serves for emptying the pipes /; and when the apparatus is in
work, the said cock z may be used for blowing off the deposits that may have been
formed in the said pipes 7.
As will be obvious, the materials employed in the construction of this apparatus
may be various; and the dimensions and shapes of the several parts should be
arranged to suit the special requirements of each case.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inveu-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An apparatus for simultaneously heating the air for combustion and the feed
water for a steam boiler by means of the hot gases and products of combustion
issuing from the boiler furnace, comprising a chamber through which the said air
can be caused to pass on its way to the furnace and which contains a group or nest
of tubes through which the hot gases and products of combustion pass on their way
to the chimney, the said tubes containing a series of smaller tubes through which
the feed water can be caused to flow, substantially as set forth.
2. Apparatus of the kind specified in the preceding claim in which the chamber
containing the tubes has openings ; and formed in its walls for effecting the
circulation of the air for combustion around the tubes through which the hot
.gases are arranged to be passed by means of openings y and i, partitions a a being
provided to prevent mingling of the said air and hot gases, substantially as
set forth.
3. In apparatus of the kind specified in Claim 1, the arrangement of the inlet
pipes m, n and o, and the distributing pipe p for supplying the feed water to the
pipes contained in the tubes through which the hot gases pass, substantially as set
forth.
4. In apparatus of the kind specified by the preceding claims the combination of
the cocks t and wand the pipe for interrupting the working of the apparatus, and
for allowing the generator still to be supplied with water and with air whilst the
apparatus is being cleaned or repaired, substantially as set forth.
5. The improved feed water and air heater constructed as herein before described
with reference to and shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of December 1894
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.