Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Heating Water and Supplying the same to Steam-boilers.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 11th Nov., 1887
Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Heating Water
and Supplying the same to Steam-boilers.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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:
This invention relates to apparatus for heating feed water by exhaust steam in which
an injector is connected with the exhaust pipe of a steam engine so as to receive steam
therefrom, and a feed water tank is connected with the water inlet and discharge
passages of the injector, so that the passage of the exhaust steam through the injector
will heat and circulate the water in the tank. The heated water is forced from the
tank to the boiler by a feed pump. Means are provided for relieving the tank from
pressure caused by the introduction of the exhaust steam; A vapor pump or a safety
valve are suitable means for relieving such pressure; the vapor pump forcing the
vapor or steam removed from the tank directly to the boiler, while the safety valve,
as an alternative device, would permit the discharge of the vapor or steam into the
atmosphere.
These improvements relate in part to the means for relieving the tank from
pressure, and have for their object to enable the surplus steam or vapor from the
tank to heat water in a secondary tank or heater which is connected with the tank
that communicates directly with the injector. To this end the invention consists in
the combination with the apparatus above referred to of a secondary tank or heater
connected to the upper part of the primary tank in which the water is circulated
by the injector so as to receive the surplus steam therefrom, the connection being
such that the steam is conducted downwardly nearly to the bottom of the secondary
tank, and a pump whereby the heated water in the secondary tank is forced into the
primary tank.
The invention also consists in certain other combinations, all of which
I will now proceed to describe and claim.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved apparatus.
Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the secondary tank or heater.
Ր.

page_text: Similar letters of reference indicate similar or corresponding parts in all the figures
of the accompanying drawings.
a represents a steam engine, which may be of any kind.
b represents the feed
water heating tank. c represents the injector, the steam inlet of which is connected
by a piped with the steam exhaust pipe of the engine, while its water inlet is
connected by a pipe e with the tank and its discharge nozzle communicates with
said tank at a point above the point where the pipe e is connected thereto. f represents
the feed pump which forces the heated water from the tank to the boiler 93 said
pump being connected by a pipe h with the tank ↳ above the injector and by a pipe i
with the lower portion of the boiler. ; represents a pipe extending directly from the
boiler to the steam inlet of the injector c for the purpose of supplying steam to
operate the injector when the supply of exhaust steam from the engine is insufficient.
The apparatus operates as follows:
Steam being supplied to the injector, either directly from the boiler or from the
exhaust of the engine, the water is drawn from the lower part of the tank b into the
injector and returned by the latter to the tank, heated and augmented by the steam
supplied to the injector; said steam being mainly absorbed by the water. The heated
water passes from the tank at a point above the injector and is forced by the pump f
to the boiler.
When the engine is in operation the direct steam through the pipe j is shut off and
the exhaust steam only is supplied to the injector. The oil from the cylinder of the
engine, which may be forced into the feed water by the exhaust steam, is prevented
from entering, the boiler by a separator" k.
"
In carrying out the present invention instead of relieving the pressure created in
the tank b by the accumulation of steam or vapor therein by pumping such steam or
vapor, from the upper portion of the tank b into the boiler, as has been done
heretofore I provide a secondary tank b³, which is connected by a pipe with the
upper portion of the tank b so as to receive steam and vapor from the latter. The
pipe is extended downwardly into the secondary tank 6 and into a cylinder or
compartment m within said tank, which compartment is closed at its upper end
around the pipe land is open at its bottom. Said secondary tank is filled with water
up to the line n,
where a pipe o is connected with the tank and conducts water there-
from to a feed pump f¹, which forces such water through a pipe p to the lower portion
of the tank b, which I term the primary tank or heater. The steam and vapor which
is not absorbed by water in the primary heater passes from thence into the water in
the secondary tank and is entirely absorbed by the water therein, the water thus being
heated and augmented, and returned to the primary heater as fast as it accumulates
above the working level of the secondary heater by the feed pump.
The open bottomed compartment m within the secondary heater confines the
heated water around the mouth of the pipe l until it has entirely absorbed the steam,
the heated water being displaced downwardly and into the main body of the tank 61
in which it rises to the working level. This construction prevents the disagreeable
noise which attends the introduction of steam into a body of water.
The upper end of the secondary tank is provided with a pipe q, which is always
open to the atmosphere so that there can be no variations of pressure in said tank.
When the water in the secondary tank becomes reduced by evaporation, or from any
cause, a supply is introduced through the pipe q, or through another pipe provided
for the purpose. The pipe is provided with a check valver to prevent water from
being drawn backwardly from the secondary tank in case of a vacuum in the primary
tank.
The plungers of the two feed pumps ƒƒ¹ are preferably coupled together and operated
by a connection with the crank shaft of the engine, as shown. Each pump is composed
of two cylinders, 2, 3; separated by an enlargement or chamber 4, into which the pipe
enters that conducts the water to the pump, and a plunger 6, which closely fits the
cylinders. The plunger in making its forward stroke passes from the cylinder 2
through the chamber 4 and into the cylinder 3, forcing a part of the water forward
through the pipe that conducts it away. The pipes p i are provided with check

page_text: valves 5, 5, which prevent backward movement of the water from said pipes into the
pumps when the pistons are making their backward stroke.
It will be seen that by the described improvement all the steam is utilized in heating
the feed water and the apparatus is materially simplified.
The injector need not be mainly supplied with exhaust steam as it may be supplied
wholly with direct steam from the boiler. Or it may be supplied with steam that has
first been used for heating or other purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign
Correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The combination with the primary tank or heater and the water heating and
circulating injector connected with the said tank as described, of the secondary tank
connected to the primary tank so as to receive surplus steam therefrom, and a feed
pump and connections, as described, whereby the water is transferred from the
secondary to the primary tank, as set forth.
Second. The combination with the primary tank or heater, and the water heating
and circulating injector connected with said tank as described, of the secondary tank,
the pipe extending from the top of the primary tank to the lower portion of the
secondary tank, and the open bottomed inner receptacle m within the secondary tank,
whereby the heated water is partially confined around the delivery end of the pipe 1,
as set forth.
Third. The feed pump composed of the cylinders 2, 3, the chamber 4 between
the cylinders receiving the supply pipe, the discharge pipe having a check valve
communicating with one of the cylinders, and the plunger adapted to reciprocate in
the cylinders, as set forth.
Fourth. The combination of a steam engine, an injector connected with the exhaust
pipe of the engine, a primary feed water tank connected as described with the inlet
and discharge passages of the injector, the secondary tank connected as described with
the primary tank so as to receive steam or vapor therefrom, and means for forcing
water from the secondary to the primary tank, as set forth.
Fifth. The combination of a steam boiler, an engine supplied with steam by the
boiler, a primary feed water tank, an injector connected as described with the exhaust
pipe of the engine, and with the primary tank, a secondary tank connected as described
with the primary tank so as to receive steam or vapor therefrom, means for forcing
water from the secondary to the primary tank, and a connection substantially as
described between the primary tank and boiler whereby the heated feed water is
supplied to the boiler, as set forth.
Sixth. The combination of a feed water tank, an injector connected as described
with the tank so as to circulate and heat the water therein, and means for supplying
steam to the injector, as set forth.
Seventh. The combination with the boiler, the feed water tank connected as
described with the boiler, the injector connected as described with the tank so as to
heat and circulate the water therein, and means for supplying the injector with steam,
as set forth.
111
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.