IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR HEATING WATER FOR SUPPLYING STEAM BOILERS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Barton, of 89, Church Street, Birkenhead,
in the County of Chester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MODE OF AND MEANS FOR HEATING WATER FOR SUPPLYING STEAM BOILERS
AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 17th August 1869, and dated the 19th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Barton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th February 1869:
I, JAMES BARTON, of 89, Church Street, Birkenhead, in the County of
Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MODE OF AND MEANS FOR HEATING WATER FOR SUPPLYING STEAM
BOILERS AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to supply heated instead of cold water
to engine boilers, or to heat water for any purpose by steam, preferably
by the exhaust steam.
The method which I adopt is to connect a pipe from the engine to the
tank or heater for the purpose of conveying the exhaust steam on to the

page_text: water, by which means the cold water in the tank becomes heated before
it
being drawn off for use into the boilers, or for any other purpose
may
be required for. It is obvious that steam other than exhaust steam may
be supplied to the tank or heater for the same purpose and with the
same effect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Barton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BARTON, of 89, Church Street, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Barton, Her special license
that I, the said James Barton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Barton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time 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 "IMPROVED MODE
OF AND MEANS FOR HEATING WATER FOR SUPPLYING, STEAM BOLLERS AND OTHER
PURPOSES,' upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Barton, 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 James Barton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of illustrative Drawings, and to the Figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My improved mode of heating the feed water for boilers and water for
other purposes consists in bringing steam into direct contact with the
water to be heated in a closed vessel when the supply of water to such
closed vessel is controlled by mechanism operated automatically from
or by the water level in the said closed vessel or heater. The advantages
secured by the employment of automatic means for controlling the
supply of water to be heated are, (a), the water level cannot under any
condition rise above a fixed point in the said closed vessel or heater,
hence when used in or in connection with the exhaust steam from an
engine throttling of the exhaust. steam is impossible; (b), water cannot
be drawn into the cylinder of an engine; and (c), the water level
varies within a very short range, whether the heated water is drawn off
in regular or varying quantities. The steam employed may be either
the whole or a portion of the exhaust from a steam engine, waste steam,
or steam direct from a generator.
And the means or apparatus which I have devised for carrying my
my improved mode of heating into effect consists of a closed vessel or
heater with at least four connections thereinto, one to admit the steam,
which steam I greatly prefer to direct downwards over and amongst
the incoming supply of water, another to convey away the surplus
steam, if any, a third to supply the water to be heated, and a fourth to
convey away the heated water. More than one of any of these con-
nections can be made if desired, and test cocks, thermometers, guages,
man-holes, and other appliances may be attached. In or to the end of
the water supply pipe I secure a valve or tap connected by a lever or
other means to a float which swims, when the apparatus is in use, on
the surface of the heated water in the heater. The rising or falling
of the water level decreases or increases the water supply, hence the
water level is constant within any desired and preferably a very short
range.
The Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended contains views, Fig. 1 being
a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a transverse vertical section, and Fig. 3
a plan of a water heater constructed in accordance with my Invention.
The arrangement of parts which I have found to answer best in practice
are delineated. Like letters denote the same parts in all the views.

page_text: a, the closed vessel, hereafter called the "heater," with man-hole at b,
guage at c, and thermometer at d; e, pipe for conveying the exhaust or.
other steam into the heater; f, pipe for conveying away the surplus steam.
When working in connection with a steam engine I prefer to conduct
the whole of the exhaust steam through the heater. 9, water supply
pipe from a cistern or other reservoir, or from the main; h, pipe leading
to the force pump or injector when the heated water is to be supplied to
a boiler, or to pipes for heating factories or other buildings or vessels
by surface radiation, or to any receptacle where hot water is required;
i is a thermometer fixed in the pipe h. Affixed on the end of the pipe g
is a tap j, the plug of which is coupled to a lever k & float 1.
When the water line in the heater rises the float rises with it and
closes the tap, and so reduces or shuts off the supply, and when the
water line is lowered by increased withdrawal through h the float l
falls and opens the tap, and augments the supply of cold water flowing
through g. The nozzle of the tap j is here arranged to deliver into
the bell-mouthed termination of the steam pipe e. In practice this
has been found the most efficient mode of carrying my Invention
into effect, in consequence of the steam when at its highest tem-
perature impinging directly on the cold water, but it will be obvious
the nozzle of the tap j might deliver outside the end of e. The
tap with lever and float have been shown as the simplest
and least costly combination of parts for effecting the desired object;
it will be obvious however other forms of valves and floats, such as a
float provided with a chain passing over a pulley attached to the valve,
may be easily applied. m is a test handle whereby it can be ascertained
without removing the man-hole door whether the tap or valve is working
freely.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and par-
ticularised the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to any precise form of heater, nor to any exact position for
connection thereinto of the steam and water pipes; what I claim is,―
First, Heating water to be used for supplying steam boilers and for
other purposes by bringing or conveying steam into direct contact with
the cold or other water to be heated when the supply of such water to
the heater is controlled by mechanism operating automatically, sub-
stantially as herein set forth.

page_text: Second. The means or apparatus herein described and shown on the
Drawings, or any equivalent therefor, for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Barton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JAMES BARTON. (L.S.)