IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM-ENGINE BOILERS AND FURNACES, AND IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIUS
JEFFREYS, of Norfolk Crescent, Hyde Park, Gentlenian, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of May, in the
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Julius Jeffreys, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Julius Jeffreys, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Julius Jeffreys, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM-ENGINE BOILERS AND FURNACES, AND IN PROPELLING
VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Julius Jeffreys, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Julius Jeffreys, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say)-
My Inventions for facilitating the movements of vessels in water are twofold;
the one object being to keep sailing vessels in progressive motion by their own
Oscillatory movements, under circumstances in which neither wind or steam are
available, and the other, to render steam and fuel more effective, safe, and free
from the offence of smoke, by certain adaptations to or modifications of boilers
and furnaces. The first object 1 attain by converting the vertical motion of
the sides and extremes of a ship in and out of the water during its rolling and
pitching into a horizontal progressive motion. This I effect by fixing firmly,
but detachably, to each side of a ship near the bows and stern, and in any other
parts, frames A, A. A, A. Figures I., II., 111, IV., consisting of two or
more parallel plates or planks of wood, irou, or other metal of suitable length
and depth (C, C, Figures I., 11., III, and IV.), kept asunder by rods or bars
d, d, &c., Figures III. and IV., on which are hinged a row of leaves or boards
B, B, Figures III. and IV.; these leaves all revolve upon their front edge, on
that towards the head of the vessel, but instead of overlapping each other, like
venetians, they just clear each other so as to be parallel at an angle above
(B, B, Figure 11.) or below (b, b, Figure III.) the horizontal plain, according
as they are raised or depressed by the pressure of the water when the frames
which carry them are forced down and up by the motion of the vessel. The
leaves are all corrected at the suitable angular position by stops (E, E, E. &c.,
and e, a. e, o, Figure 111.) standing out from the frame plates. These stops
may be made to shift their position by being connected to a sliding yoke or rod
on each side, so as to allow the leaves to assume any desired degree of angu-
larity from the middle or horizontal line to the perpendicular to it. When fix
stops are employed, I conceive an angle for the leaves of about thirty degrees
above and below the horizontal to be the best, as seen in Figure 111. The
franes may each carry any number of the leaves or vanes, from half a dozen to
two dozen, the number being only limited by convenience. The frames thus
mounted with their leaves are attached firmly to the sides of the vessel, as in
Figures I. and 11., as near the bows and stern as possible, and so far below
her water-mark as only to rise to the surface when she rolls or pitches con-
siderably. It is plain that when the frames are forced vertically through the
water by the heaving of the ship, the vanes will turu by the pressure of the fluid

page_text: until arrested by the stops at the inclination for which they are. As the frames
rise in the water the vanes will of course become inclined below the horizontal
level in the position of the dotted lines b, b, b, b, Figure III., and as they sink
the vanes will he inclined above it in the position B, B, B, &c., Figure III.
When the leaves are in either of these positions, it is plain that the vertical
pressure of the water upon them, both upwards and downwards, will be resolved
in part into a horizontal pressure, tending to urge the vessel onwards. Now
the force of the vertical motion of the sides and ends of a ship when rolling or,
pitching, especially in the latter case, is such that a very small part of it would
be enough to give a valuable progression, provided the extent of this vertical
motion of those parts to which the frames may be best attached be sufficient.
An ordinarily trimmed ship becalmed in a swell, or opposed by a head wind of
moderate strength, appears by various experiments to have an amount of vertical
motion quite enough that the quantity resolvable by such an apparatus into a
horizontal one shall carry her from one to three miles in the hour, a progression
under such circumstances of great importance. Figure II. represents a plan
view of a vessel with four propelling frames (A, A, &c.) attached to it, and
Figure I., an clevation side view. It is not necessary to specify the manner of
attaching the frames to the vessel's sides; it is sufficient to observe that they are
brought into position by means of iron rods hooked or hinged to the ship above
water, and projecting downwards to the bearing plates or sides of the frames,
and when in position they are held there by means of staples, bolts, and ropes,
so as to be very firm while in use, but at the same time casily removed and
taken on board quickly when not required.
Another form of the incline vanes is seen in B, B, &c., Figures IIIª. and
Figure IV., where instead of revolving round one side, each of them turns
upon a line (IV., d, d, &c.) along its length nearer towards the middle, but
so as to divide the pressure on its surface unequally and ensure its tilting to
the right position; in this construction the loss of motion before the vanes hit
the stops in shifting their position is much lessened. These vanes may also be
made each of two sheets of thin metal i, i, arched so as to allow the bearing rod
d, d, &c., to pass between them, but meeting in a wedge along their edges
(ff, &c.) In this way also lightness and strength will be commanded with
small resistance to the water in the progression forwards; the size of the pro-
pelling frames should be such as carry a sufficient propelling surface of the
inclined vanes, but not such as shall render them cumbrous to move; they
may each be from ten to twenty feet long, and from three to six feet wide.
Large ships would probably require more than four frames, and it would be
better to increase their number than their size; the vanes may vary from three

page_text: to six or more feet in length each, and from nine inches to two feet in width.
In this plan 1 claim as original the right of converting the vertical motion of
exterior parts of a ship up and down in the water during her rolling and
pitching into a horizontal or progressive motion, by means of apparatus fixed
to those parts, and therefore moving bodily with them, which apparatus shall
carry oblong or otherwise formed planes, standing out lengthways perpendicular
to the plane of motion of the sides of the vessel, and revolving upwards and
downwards on a line along the length of each plane by the pressure of the
water, until arrested by stops at the desired angle to the plane of motion, from
which time their inclined surfaces revolve the vertical pressure in part into a
horizontal or progressivo one, which urges the ship onwards.
My improvements in boilers and furnaces are founded upon facts pointed
out by reason and observation, and confirmed by experiment:-", the waste
of fuel and its offence in the form of smoke do not arise from a want of oxygen
in the draught of any of the tolerably well formed boiler furnaces, but from
causes of which the two following are the principal:-11, the first and chief
cause of smoke in boiler furnaces results from the surface of the boiler chilling
the current, impinging upon it from the fire, and reducing it below the tempe-
rature at which flame can exist, so as to prevent the smoke igniting into flame,
and to extinguish into smoke any flame already formed. 11, the second
cause of smoke next in importance is the hurrying of the current away from
the burning fuel in one large unmixed mass before the smoke in it has time to
get heated and ignited. When once the smoke has left the fire unignited, it
has no chance afforded it of becoming ignited, since it is cooled still further by
the boiler through or under which it is conveyed. With respect to the first
of these causes, the chilling effect of the boiler, it must be allowed to operate,
since the business of the current is to give up its heat to the boiler, but its
wasteful and offensive effects in creating smoke may be obviated by peculiar
forms or additions to fire-places, and these are also the best means for prevent-
ing the operation of the other cause, namely, the formation of too voluminous
a current, and its too rapid hurrying away, from the fact before its smoke and
air can be mixed and consumed. My plan in general terms is to detain the
'current from the fire at or near the fuel, and to divide it into a number of
minor currents, so as by moderating its bulk and mixing it well, to give it a
great intensity of heat, that all the smoky and gaseous fuel may be burnt in
the cominencement of its progress. I also ensure this result by employing, as
a material for the barrier by which it is detained and divided, refractory matter,
which becomes and remains so highly ignited as to heat up to the inflaming
point any smoky currents passing through it, and if any addition of oxygenous

page_text: air be wanting to complete the combustion, I introduce it into the current
through interstices in the heated barrier, that it may become hot as it mixes
in the current. In some cases I allow the current to play against the boiler,
and do some duty before it passes the perforated barrier, as in Figure V.
There A, A, &c. is a boiler, cither of the common waggon form, or any other
for giving effect to tho barrier furnace; B, the 'fire-place; C, the ashpit;
C', C', the fire bars, arched as in the Drawing or straight; D, D, a double
pigcon-holed barrier of fire brick; E, E, the consumption chamber beyond
the wall; G, G, Figures V., Va., and VI., a return of the boiler pierced with
tubes M, M, &c., which carry the current to the flue F, F, which may either
leave the boiler at F', or be returned and go out laterally at f and f¹.
e, e, Figures V., Va., and VII., are passages for air to enter (if needed) the
body of the barrier D, D, and be heated by it and conveyed into the current
to favor its combustion. Figure VI. is a section of this boiler across the con-
sumption chamber E, E; and Figure VII., a section at D, D, in front of the
barrier. Figure Va. is a plan or horizontal section of this boiler along the
dotted line P, P. In some cases, where the fuel is very bituminous coal and
liable to cake much, this walled fire may be set at a considerable inclination,
as at an angle of forty-five degrees from the perpendicular, and in that case iron
fire bars may be employed for the fire to rest upon, instead of the front wall C, C.
The position of such an inclined fire in the boiler and the form of the latter must
of course be adapted to each other. In the supply of bituminous fuel to a wall
fire the upper part of the fire chamber or hopper may be inclined inwards
for some distance, like the dotted lines s, t, in Figures IX., XI., and
XI. The caked fuel immediately above the line of ignition (t', ',) is thus
lodged in a space wider below than above, and can therefore find no abut-
ment on its sides, but must rest on and descend with the ignited fuel, as the
latter undergoes consumption. By a little care of this kind, and having the
wall of fire not too thick, as from four to fourteen inches, according to tho
force of the draught and the size of the boiler and furnaces, an effect may be
gained from a wall fire superior to any other, the intensity of the heat and
the rapidity of the combustion greatly surpassing that of an ordinary horizontal
or inclined fire. In other cases I form the body of fire itself into an upright
or inclined wall, as in B, B, Figure IX., supported by two perforated or pigeon-
holed walls of firestone or clay (in the form of bricks, tiles, or short pipes)
C, C, D, D, resting against iron tubes H, H, and I, I, forming part of the
boiler A, A, A, by their connection with its upper and lower part. In this
kind of furnace the whole draught passes horizontally through the upright fire,
and the heated current from it is immediately arrested and divided by the wall

page_text: D, D, Figuro IX. and IX., and burnt in a space or chamber E, E, before it
strikes the boiler or enters the flues L, L, and F, F. This furnace is fed from
above at O. S, S, are two plates of iron forming the space O, O, into a kind
of hopper for the fresh fuel, and keeping the fuel, whether burning or not, from
any contact with the upper part of the boiler, spaces t, t, being left for cold air
to circulate there between the fuel and the boiler. The narrow bottom of the
fire-place Vis a bed of fire clay; in such a fire few or no cinders fall out
from the fuel; nearly all of it is consumed, and the ash melts into a slng, which
runs out over the inclined bottom through the lower holes of the wall C; under
or through this bottom are passages for fresh air (if wanted) to enter and rise
up at c, c, &c., through the body of the wall D, D, and be let out into ench
pigeon-hole passage to enter the current. The portion of the boiler A', A', is
heated by the powerful radiance through the front perforated wall C, C, and
screens the fireman from its severity.
The fluo F, F, turus laterally on one or both sides at F, and thence the
current may be carried round the outer surface of the boiler in any direction,
and to any extent convenient.
Another form of the walled fire is seen in Figures XI., XI., XI., and
XI. Hero the fire B, B, is placed in the heart of the boiler, being supported
on one side from top to bottom by the perforated wall C, C, backed by the
water tubes II, H; and on the other side, at the upper part, by upright or
gently inclined fire bars L, L, and at the lower part by a perforated wall, D, D,
backed by the water tubes I, I. An inner projection of the boiler at i butts
against the fire, and separates the consumption chamber E from the draught
entrance G, G; in this furnace the entering draught passes through the upper
part of the fire only, and comes out from the fresh fuel as a smoky current
(when coal is used) into the chamber K, K. Here the current sweeps round
the curved inner surface of the boiler a, a, a, and then re-enters the fire at its
lower part, crossing it an opposite direction to the upper. The fuel hero con-
sisting of bright cinders kindles the smoke, and the pierced barrier D, D,
dividing and detaining the current, ensures its complete combustion in the
spaco or chamber E; tho current then strikes against the return surface N, N,
of the boiler, and enters' the tubes M, M, passing thenco into the flue F, F,
and impinging against its back the current goes out of the boiler laterally at
F. The tubes IT, II, and I, I, connect the upper and lower portions of the
boiler, and while they support the fire walls receive heat from them and the
The bottom of this fire-place is also of fire brick, but with cross
slits for letting the melted sing run out into the receptacles R, formed by a
long aperture through the bottom of the boiler, corresponding with the bottom
current.

page_text: of the fire, and well closed by a plate U. S, S, are plates of iron as wide as
the fire-place, and forming a hopper for the coals, this fire, like the former in
Figure 9, being fed from above. This fire-place may be modified, as in
Figure XI., a and b, where the chamber E is continued on to the end flue F,
and instead of horizontal fire pipes M, M, the space is occupied by upright
water tubes N, N, amongst which the current plays, giving heat to the water
in them. These tubes connect the middle and lower parts of the boiler, like the
tubes I, I, supporting the barrier wall D, D, and they are similar tubes to
1, 1, but they commence at a little distance, as from two to four feet from
them, that a chamber E may be left for the progress of the current, and
in which it may undergo complete combustion; the tubes N, N, &c. are set
in diagonal rows (as in plan section, Figure XI., 6), that the currents passing
between all the tubes in ono row may impinge upon all the tubes of the next
row, and be forced to sweep round and between them, and then to strike
against the tubes of the third row, and so on, until the current reaches the
flue F. Y, Y, are man-holes into the boiler in the metal sides of K and E, giving
access to these spaces for repairs, &c. Z, Z, &c., Figures XI. and XI". and
XI., are cased passages through the bottom of the boiler for allowing ashes
lodged in the spaces K or E to fall out; these openings are closed by hinged
flaps or doors Z, Z, which may be slightly opened to allow of the entrance of
any air needed for the combustion; these passages in length correspond with
the breadth of the spaces K and E, as seen in Figure XI. With respect to
the bricks, tiles, or pipes, of which the perforated walls are made, though
ordinary fire bricks may not last long, I have compounded bricks so thoroughly
refractory and indestructable, as to last many months in perforated walls, sup-
porting fire, and subjected to extreme heat and sudden changes of temperature
without fusing or cracking; such bricks are necessarily more expensive than
common fire bricks, but in no proportion to their durability.
In these improvements of fire places, I claim, first, the carrying the current
from the fire through a partition numerously perforated, by which the current
is detained, mixed, and heated, so as to inflame the smoke in it. Secondly, I
claim the particular construction by which this is effected, as in Figure V., &c.
Thirdly, I claim the heaping the fuel into an upright wall of fire, supported by
perforated walls of refractory matter, and also the supporting these walls by
water tubes. Fourthly, I claim the feeding of such a fire from above. Fifthly,
I claim the particular construction of such a furnace and boiler constructed
with the consumption chamber E. Sixthly, I claim the employment of a walled
fire of this description, in such a manner as that the current through the fresh
or upper part of the fuel shall return back in an opposite direction through

page_text: the bright and lower part, after having done some duty, so as there to have its
smoke kindled, and thence to proceed through a pigeon-holed barrier into a
consumption chamber, whereby the combustion is rendered intense and com-
plete. Seventhly, I claim the particular construction of fire-place and boiler,
as shown in Figure XI., XI., &c., by which these results are obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Jeffreys, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our
Tord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.