IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING SURFACE CONDENSERS, AND APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND COOLING FLUIDS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Julius Jeffreys at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th October
1862.
I, JULIUS JEFFREYS, of The Rise, Hoddesdon, in the County of Herts, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING
SURFACE CONDENSERS, AND APPARATUS FOR HEATING AND COOLING FLUIDS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing surface
condensers, and apparatus for heating and cooling fluids.
In constructing surface condensers of steam engines I employ thin plates of
copper or other metal, which I press or stamp with numerous parallel flutes,
separated the one from the other by flat ridges; these plates are then placed
together in pairs, face to face, so that the ridges of one plate come truly over
those of the other, but they are separated by a soldering or brazing metal
placed between the two. The pairs of fluted plates thus arranged are piled up
one pile over the other, but with suitably fluted plates of iron between the
pairs, so as to make a solid pile, which is then placed under pressure to bring
the ridges of the two plates of each pair close up the one to the other; in this
state the pile is heated till the soldering or brazing metal melts, when the pile
still under pressure, or placed if necessary under increased pressure in a press,

page_text: is allowed to cool; in this manner a perfect union of the ridges is obtained,
each pair of plates becoming a set of tubes. These sets of tubes may be con-
nected together by turning up the edges of the plates of which they are formed
and enclosing them in a split tube, into which cement or solder is then cast;
or soldered or brazed joints may be employed. The whole arrangement is
enclosed in a case, and the steam to be condensed is caused to pass into the
tubular spaces, whilst the cooling or condensing water is made to circulate in
the spaces between the pairs of plates.
By my system of constructing the surface condensers of steam engines I am
able conveniently to make the tubular steam passages much smaller in dia-
meter than the tubes of ordinary surface condensers, and this again enables me
to use much thinner metal than is ordinarily employed, so that by my system
of construction I increase the amount of condensing surface which can be
packed in a given space, and I render a given measure of condensing surface
more effective. Surface condensers constructed as above described are appli-
cable not only to steam engines, but also in other cases for the condensation of
steam or vapour.
Apparatus constructed in a similar manner is applicable also for heating and
cooling fluids, whether liquid or aeriform, one fluid being caused to pass
through the tubular spaces, whilst another is caused to circulate in the spaces
exterior thereof. As an example of this application I would mention the
ventilation of rooms or buildings which are required to be kept at a high tem-
perature; for this purpose the heated air from the room or building is caused
to pass through the apparatus in one direction, whilst the incoming air to
supply its place passes through the apparatus in the contrary direction; thus,
the air from the room or building may be discharged at a temperature but
little exceeding that of the external air, whilst the incoming current is supplied
at a temperature nearly as high as that of the room or building.
Another application of the apparatus is for the heating of water or other
liquid to generate steam or for any other purpose. For heating liquids a con-
venient arrangement is to cause the liquid to surround the tubular passages
between each pair of plates. It is not in all cases necessary to solder or braze
together the two plates forming a pair along the ridges separating the parallel
flutes;
the two plates forming a pair may simply be placed the one on the
other with the ridges in contact, and this arrangement will for some purposes
be as efficacious as connecting the ridges the onewith the other. I prefer, when
the flame and products. of combustion from a fire are to be passed through the
tubular passages, to press or stamp the flutes wider at the mouth than else-

page_text: where, and to protect the plates from being injured by the action of the fire
I employ covering pieces of metal suitably pressed or stamped, which cover
the portions of the plates on which the fire first strikes, and also the entrances
of the tubular passages for a short distance in; these covering pieces are con-
5 nected together so as to form one protecting plate; a similar protecting plate
may be employed in tubular boilers.