IMPROVEMENTS IN THE GENERATION GENERATION OF STEAM
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE GENERATION
Sealed the 19th July 1853, and dated the 25th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th May 1853.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE GENERATION OF STEAM," being
a communication, to be as follows:-
According to the ordinary method of generating steam and applying
the same to motive purposes, such as for driving engines, the steam is
usually conveyed direct from the upper part of the steam boiler to the
steam chest of the working cylinder. The present Invention consists in
causing the steam, in its passage from the boiler to the engine, to. pass
through a pipe or tube which is placed in the fire box, or arranged in
some other convenient manner so that it may be heated. By this
means the steam from the boiler will become surcharged with caloric,
and any watery particles that may come over with it will be converted

page_text: into steam. By the temperature of the steam being thus considerably
raised, its expansive force will be greatly increased without the expen-
diture of any additional fuel, and therefore a considerably increased
motive force can be obtained from a given quantity of fuel than by the
ordinary plan of conducting the steam direct from the boiler to the
engine
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 25th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her
special license that I, the said William Edward Newton, my ex-
ecutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE GENERATION OF STEAM,"
being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
is thus described:
In carrying out this Juvention two pipes are connected to the steam
chamber of a steam boiler, one being passed directly to a steam chest
or reservoir intermediate between the boiler and the cylinder of the
engine to be driven, and the other pipe (which may be of any conve-
nient form) being conducted, first, through the furnace, and thence to
the steam chest, which in its turn is connected with the cylinder of
the steam engine. The steam passing through the first of the above-
mentioned pipes is in a similar condition to that ordinarily used for
motive power purposes, that is, it is more or less dry according to cir-
cumstances. The steam which is passed through the other pipe is, from
being subjected to the heat of the furnace, converted into what is known
as surcharged steam or caloric gas, of a much higher temperature than
that passing through the first-named pipe. When the contents of
these pipes are discharged into the steam chest common to both, or
into a pipe leading to the steam chest, any watery particles which the
steam coming direct from the boiler may contain become at once con-
verted into steam, and the heat expanding the volume of the whole
steam about to pass from the chamber or pipe into the cylinder at the
same time; the result is, the working of dry steam at a greater pressure
than if the steam had been permitted to pass directly into the cylinder
in the usual manner. In case the draught of the cylinder is not suffi-
cient to create the requisite current through the pipes, a cut-off” or
flutter valve may be used, or any other convenient plan by which the
caloric gas or hot air may be forced through the surcharging pipes.
It has been mentioned that the pipes for surcharging the steam are
passed through the furnace, but this may not always be the best mode.
For example, when much heat escapes up the chimney it may be pre-
ferable to make this heat available for surcharging the steam by con-
veying the pipe containing the steam which is to be so operated upon
into the chimney itself, or it may be found more economical to have a
separate furnace for the heating of the surcharging pipes, or it may be
found to be advantageous to have a separate boiler for the production

page_text: of the surcharged stean or caloric gas, but circumstances must deter-
mine the best mode in each particular case.
By the use of super-heated steam, combined with steam taken direct
from the boiler, as above explained, a greatly increased motive power
will be obtained without an increased expenditure of fuel. The rationale
for this effect has been already given in explaining the action of the
surcharged steam or caloric gas on the watery particles contained in
the steam which passes directly from the boiler to the steam chest.
As a guide to the capacity of the pipes employed in carrying out this
Invention it may be remarked, that successful experiments have been
carried on with a twelve horse engine by the use of a steam pipe two
inches and three eighths in diameter and nine feet and a half in
length, with a surcharging pipe one inch and a half in diameter and
fifteen feet in length.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention of improvements
in the generation of steam, and the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim the means herein-before described of obtaining
steam for motive power purposes, as well as for the various purposes to
which it may be found applicable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of No-
vember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)