IMPROVEMENTS IN ANTI-INCRUSTATION BATTERIES FOR BOILERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon
and Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, South-
ampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ANTI-INCRUSTATION BATTERIES FOR
BOILERS." A communication from abroad by George Crompton, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America, Loom Manu-
facturer.
Scaled the 16th October 1875, and dated the 29th May 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Morgan-Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 29th May 1875, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue
Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.

page_text: to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it
has been communicated to me from abroad by George Crompton, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America, Loom Manu-
facturer.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-.
This Invention of improvements in anti-incrustation batteries for
boilers, has for its principle the setting up of a continuous galvanic
current within the water space of the boiler through the alkali or acid
always present in the water itself, and from which solution such scale or
deposit is due, and my battery consists in one or more bars of zinc
spanned across its face by a series of copper arches which rise to a
certain distance clear of the zinc, and are separated each by a short
space, so as to allow the water in the boiler representing the solution to
surround them while coming in contact with the adjacent zinc, the
distance between the copper arches representing the space between the
cells.
In Figure I. is shown a plan view of one battery; Figure II., a side
.view; and Figure III., an end view.
In construction I take a coil of copper wire of the form of a coil
spring, and laying it in a mold of slightly greater diameter, run zinc to
enclose a portion of the coil to leave the remaining portion to form the
arches before mentioned, so that the copper and zinc will remain united
while any zinc remains. The battery so formed has the wire at one or
both ends prolonged clear of the zinc to extend the circuit, and when
more than one zinc bar is used, I unite by the wire the contiguous ends,
and leave the far ones that constitute the poles to have the circuit
established between them by the water and iron of the boiler coming in
contact with them, so that an extended magnetic current is induced that
affects all of the surface of the iron against which the water in the boiler
comes, to effectually prevent the attachment of scale and to loosen and
decompose all salts and alkaline deposits previously left.

page_text: Where only a one bar battery is used, the agitation of the water
consequent upon boiling brings all of it under the influence of the
current, to have the impurities decomposed to fall in loose scales to the
bottom of the boiler, where at intervals they can be swept out.
The bars occupy little room and can be laid in the bottom of the
boiler or between the flues, or in any convenient position within the
boiler.
The bar of zinc will of itself when laid upon the bottom of the boiler
form a battery, but the current is much weaker, and a portion of the
zinc unconsumed adheres to the boiler so firmly as to require to be
detached by the chisel, but when united with the copper wire it becomes
entirely consumed and the wire left uninjured to be used repeatedly, and
the galvanic action at the same time so much increased that the
incrustations of a foul boiler are soon decomposed.
I am aware that galvanic piles have been used before for the purpose
of cleaning boilers, and do not make any claim to the principle thus
illustrated, but what I claim is, the battery for use in boilers consisting
of a spiral of copper wire partially incased or imbedded longitudinally
in a base of zinc, substantially as and for the purpose shown and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)