IMPROVED CONDENSING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Piddington, of 52, Gracechurch Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED CONDENSING
APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES."-A communication from abroad by Wil-
helm Winter, of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, in the Kingdom of
Prussia.
Sealed the 13th June 1862, and dated the 18th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Piddington at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
December 1861.
I, JOHN PIDDINGTON, of 52, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
CONDENSING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES," (a communication to me from
abroad by Wilhelm Winter, of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, in the Kingdom
of Prussia,) to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed to dispense with the cold water pump commonly
used in condensing engines, and to produce purer water for feeding the boiler
by means of improved condensing apparatus, of the following construction:―
I employ a hollow cylinder, to the lower end of which a tube is fixed, and its
other end connected to an air pump; beneath the piston thereof within the
aforesaid hollow vessel are fixed two other vessels of smaller diameters; the
lower end of one vessel communicates by an outlet pipe fitted with a cock,

page_text: with a well or other water supply, and the upper end of this vessel communi-
cates with a perforated hollow chamber formed around the upper part of the
second vessel, the lower end whereof extends to the feed pump of the boiler
beneath the piston thereof. The upper end of the hollow cylinder aforesaid is
fitted with a dome-shape cover, to the top of which a bent pipe is fixed, said
pipe being employed to conduct the steam from the cylinder of the engine into
the condenser, the condensed water passing into a reservoir by a cock fitted in
a branch of the said bent pipe. The effect of this arrangement is as follows:-
The air pump being put in motion, forms a vacuum in the condenser and
causes water to enter thereinto and pass through the perforations in the vessel
therein, and coming into contact with the steam from the cylinder of the
engine will condense the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Piddington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PIDDINGTON, of 52, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Piddington, Her special licence that I, the said John Pid-
lington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Piddington, 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
CONDENSING APPARATUS FOR STEAM ENGINES," (a communication to me from
abroad by Wilhelm Winter, of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, in the King-
dom of Prussia,) upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
John Piddington, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Piddington, 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 follow-
ing statement, that is to say:-
This Invention is designed to dispense with the cold water pump commonly
used in condensing engines, and to produce purer water for feeding the boiler
by means of improved condensing apparatus of the following construction:-
I employ a hollow cylinder to the lower end of which a tube is fixed, and its
other end connected to an air pump; beneath the piston thereof, within the
aforesaid hollow vessel, are fixed two other vessels of smaller diameters; the
lower end of one vessel communicates by an outlet pipe fitted with a cock,
with a well or other water supply, and the upper end of this vessel communi-
cates with a perforated hollow chamber formed around the upper part of the
second vessel, the lower end whereof extends to the feed pump of the boiler,
beneath the piston thereof. The upper end of the hollow cylinder aforesaid is
fitted with a dome-shape cover, to the top of which a bent pipe is fixed, said
pipe being employed to conduct the steam from the cylinder of the engine into
the condenser, the condensed water passing into a reservoir by a cock fitted in
a branch of the said bent pipe. The effect of this arrangement is as follows:
-The air pump being put in motion, forms a vacuum in the condenser and
causes water to enter thereinto and pass through the perforations in the vessel
therein, and coming into contact with the steam from the cylinder of the engine
will condense the same.
In order to explain this Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the improved apparatus adapted to a loco-
motive engine; Figure 2, a longitudinal section thereof; Figures 3 and 4
respectively exhibit horizontal sections through A, B, and C, D. At Figures 1
and 2 similar letters of reference are employed to denote corresponding parts
at each of the said Figures respectively.
At Figures 1 and 2, E, E, is the jacket of the condenser, which receives the

page_text: At the
steam through the pipes E", E", into the chimney. The pipe 6 connects the
jacket E, E, with the tender F, F, will be understood by referring to Figures 1
and 2; the lower part of the inner surface of the condenser is fitted with a
cup-shaped ring provided with a flange, by which it is connected to the jacket
E, E; the upper part F' has small holes h, h, formed all round same.
lower part of F, F, are two short pipes e, e, which communicating with each
other by pipes, lead to the feed pumps c, as shown; in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4
is a pipe inside, attached by screws to F, F, allowing the connection with the
tender.
At Figures 1, 2, 3, f, f, is a circular float of copper of an oval shape in
transverse section, to which is affixed the piece g, connected by a rod with the
valve d.
The operations of the above apparatus are as follows:-The pipe c being
directly connected with the tender leads the water into the space beneath the
valve d. The cup of F, F, being empty at the commencement of the operation,
the float ff, lies at the bottom of F, F, the valve d is wide open, the water
ascends to the small openings h, h, and spouting through them condenses the
steam. By the sudden incorporation of the steam with greasy particles and
the entering water, feed water is obtained, which does not incrustate the sur-
faces of the boiler. This feed water formed of the condensed steam and the
water from the tender having a temperature of 60° to 70° of heat (Reamur),
is therefore calculated to effect a considerable saving of fuel. By the conden-
sation of the steam I effect rarefaction of air in the condenser, which increases
considerably the effective power of the engine, and indirectly effects a saving
of fuel. The above-mentioned feed water fills the cup-shaped ring of the con-
denser. The pumps aspire from the pipes e, e; the pumps, however, as is
well known by experience, requiring plenty of water to work regularly the
entering water (in connexion with that obtained from the steam); this supply
must be more abundant than that raised by the pumps. The cup F, F, and
the jacket E, E, is filled accordingly up to the under surfaces of the pipes a, a,
in which level line the valve d is completely closed by means of the float f, f
and thus the entering of the water from the tender is prevented, when not
required, as the pumps work the height of water in the condenser, and the
float ff, sinks, and the valve d opens, and an equal proportion of water is
obtained accordingly, and at the same time the water from the condensed
steam is utilized in locomotive engines. The complete circulation of the water
is obtained when the pumps work continually, and the water which is not
required to supply the boiler is brought back to the tender by a pipe provided
with a cock.

page_text: In reference to the pumps, I would remark, that the valve through which
the water is forced requires but a small length of stroke, for example, for a
valve of 1 inch diameter, a of an inch length of stroke I have found
sufficient, and in this proportion the pump will always work regular and
safely.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of this
Invention, for "Improved Condensing Apparatus for Steam Engines," together
with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical
effect, I hereby declare this Invention to consist in, and I claim, "an apparatus
of the construction above described and represented by the Drawing."
In witness whereof, I, the said John Piddington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN PIDDINGTON. (L.S.)