Improvements in Water-heaters or Economisers in connection with Steam Boilers.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Jan., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 24th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 25th Nov., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Water-heaters or Economisers in connection with
Steam Boilers.
We EDWARD PARTINGTON, Paper Manufacturer, Glossop, and EDGAR
CONISTON MILLS, Engineer, No. 12 Victoria Buildings, Manchester, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
Our invention has for its object the more complete extraction of the heat of flue
gases by means of heaters or economisers placed in the flues of steam boilers, and
it consists of a combination or combinations of appliances whereby this can be
accomplished.
:
We arrange the pipes ordinarily used in such economisers in groups and cause
the water to pass through the groups in series commencing at the chimney or colder
end of the economiser chamber and passing out finally from the hottest or boiler
end of the said chamber. We are aware that this arrangement is not novel but
hitherto when it has been attempted difficulties. have arisen owing to the formation
of. steam and collection of air in the pipes. A necessary part of our invention
consists of extracting or
trapping out such steam and air as forms or collects in
the hotter portions of the apparatus, and for this purpose we employ a vessel or
drum placed on a higher level than the pipes and connected with the head box or
highest points of each such group by collecting outlet pipes. The pipes may be
connected to the under or upper side of the drum and a further connection is made
between the under part of the drum and the lower part of the economiser in order
to. promote circulation. The steam outlet pipe is connected to the upper part of
the drum and the surface of the water in the drum is maintained at or about a
desired level by means of the steam which will collect in the drum such steam being
allowed to escape by the said outlet pipe only when the said surface falls below
the desired level, this being accomplished by means of an outlet valve controlling
We
the outlet pipe and operated by means of a float on the surface of the water.
do not bind ourselves to any number of such vessels or drums as one may be used
to receive steam from a number of groups, or one may be used for each group each
such vessel being complete in itself having the automatic outlet valve and the
steam outlets connected or not as desired.
The steam so collected may be used for any desired purpose and it will be seen
that we encourage the formation of steam in the hotter portions of the economiser
regarding these portions as a secondary part of the boiler.
In connection with our invention we in some cases so place and arrange the
connecting pipes between the groups or between some of them as to compel the
water to flow downwards in the pipes of such group or groups, the object being to
facilitate the passage of the water forward from group to group and into the boiler
unobstructed by steam, the final outlet from the last group to the boiler being in
this case similarly placed at the lowest point.
In cases in which it is desired to pass the steam thus collected from the
economiser into the same pipe or range of pipes as are served by the boiler, or into
the boiler itself, we employ in combination with the other parts of our invention, a
reducing or check valve suitably placed in the ordinary feed pipe leading from the
economiser to the boiler for the purpose of ensuring a somewhat higher presser in
the economiser and drum and their connections in order that the resistance on the
boiler side of the before-mentioned automatic steam outlet valve or valves may be
somewhat less than the pressure within the drum or drums.

page_text: The said automatic outlet valve is preferably constructed in plug or other form
ensuring equilibrium.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1893.
EDWARD PARTINGTON.
EDGAR CONISTONIMILLS.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Water-heaters or Economisers in connection with
Steam Boilers.
We EDWARD PARTINGTON, Paper Manufacturer, Glossop, and EDGAR
CONISTON MILLS, Engineer No. 40 Victoria Buildings, Manchester 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 :-
Our invention has for its object the more complete extraction of the heat of
flue gases by means of heaters or economisers placed in the flues of steam boilers,
and it consists of a combination or combinations of appliances whereby this can be
accomplished.
We arrange the pipes ordinarily used in such economisers in groups and cause
the water to pass through the groups in series commencing at the chimney or
colder end of the economiser chamber and passing out finally from the hottest or
boiler end of the said chamber. We are aware that this arrangement is not novel
but hitherto when it has been attempted difficulties have arisen owing to the
formation of steam and collection of air in the pipes. A necessary part of our
invention consists of extracting or "trapping out "such steam and air as forms or
collects in the hotter portions of the apparatus and for this purpose we employ a
vessel or drum placed on a higher level than the pipes and connected with the head
box or highest points of each such group by collecting outlet pipes. The drum or
collecting vessel may be used in connection with economiser pipes whether the
above described arrangement of divisions or sections in series of the economiser
pipes be adopted or not but we prefer to adopt it as we find it gives a higher final
temperature. In cases in which the feed pipe leading from the economiser to the
boiler or a branch thereof be taken along the main or other flue our drum may
be applied in connection therewith in order to collect the steam at the hottest
point.
In order to make clear the construction and application of our invention we
refer to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1. is a sectional elevation of the drum and its connections.
Fig. 2. is a cross section of the same taken on the line x. y.
Fig. 3. is a diagramatic representation of different methods of applying and
connecting the drum.
"
In Figs. 1 and 2. a is the shell of the drum, one end a¹ being preferably made
to open.
The pipe 6 represents the uppermost or collecting pipe of an ordinary
flue economiser 6' being the connections or "risers from the rows of heating
pipes and being the final outlet from the economiser. In this case the con-
nection between the pipe 6 and the drum is formed simply by providing two
branches on the pipe b and connecting them to the mouth pieces a³ a
respectively formed in connection with or rivetted to the shell a.
We preferably form or attach a dome c closed with a cover c' upon the shell a
and mount therein the outlet valve box d having the plug valve e within it.
The
iniet is at d and the outlet at d. As shown in the drawings the valve is closed.
We do not bind ourselves to this form of valve as any form not liable to be
opened or closed by excess of steam pressure on one side or the other may be used
without departing from our invention. The valve e is capable of being rotated

page_text: through an arc by means of the lever f pivoted to the rod g which is pivoted to the
lever h having a fulcrum at h. From its other end a float k is suspended by a
rod i. is a balance weight. In this case the fulcrum is shewn capable of adjust-
ment from the exterior by means of the lock nuts m m, gripping the bracket n, the
suspending rod o passing through the stuffing box p.
Though this adjustment forms part of our invention it may be omitted without
injuriously affecting the main invention. We prefer to attach an ordinary
guage glass as shewn at 7, by means of which the water level in the drum is
ascertained.
The action is as follows:-When the water level in the drum is at the height
indicated at the. line q' the valve e is closed by the action of the float and levers
but as the temperature of the water in the pipes and brises to a point at which
steam is formed the steam bubbles rise by the connections a' and a' and accumulate
in the dome and upper part of the shell and as there is no outlet the water is
displaced and its level depressed. The float k falling opens the outlet valve e and
a portion of the steam or steam and air is released. If the water level rises the
valve is again closed and thus an equilibrium is formed and the water level
maintained automatically at or about one level.
We do not bind ourselves to the construction of float levers herein described as
the lever h may be dispensed with and the float act direct upon the valve or other
suitable and well known mechanism may be applied without departing from our
invention.
We may use one or more such vessels or drums. One drum may collect steam
or air or both from a number of groups of pipes or one may be used for each
group.
The steam so collected may be used for any desired purpose and it will be seen
that we encourage the formation of steam in the hotter portion of the economisers
or feed pipe regarding these portions as a secondary part of the boiler.
In cases in which it is desired to pass the steam thus collected from the
economiser into the same pipe or range of pipes as are served by the boiler or
into the boiler itself we employ in combination with the other parts of our inven-
tion a reducing or check valve suitably placed in the ordinary feed pipe leading
from the economiser to the boiler for the purpose of insuring a somewhat higher
pressure in the economiser and drum and their connections in order that the
resistance on the boiler side of the before-mentioned automatic steam outlet valve
or valves may be somewhat less than the pressure within the drum or drums. This
is shewn at u in Fig. 3.
In cases in which the delivery of the steam from the drum is intermittent we
apply an additional storage vessel as shown dotted at t in Fig. 3.
In connection with our invention we in some cases so place and arrange the
connecting pipes between the groups or between some of them as to compel the
water to flow downwards in the pipes of such group or groups the object being to
facilitate the passage of the water forward from group to group and into the boiler
unobstructed by steam, the final outlet from the last group to the boiler being in
this case similarly placed at the lowest point.
One or more of the connecting pipes with the economiser may be arranged to
deliver the steam into the steam space by being led into the upper part of the
drum as indicated at r in Fig. 3. and one of the pipes connecting with the lower
part of the drum may be led to the lower part of the economiser as indicated at S
in Fig. 3 in order to promote circulation between the drum and the economiser by
convection. Or the said circulation may be obtained by compelling the whole or
part of the feed water to pass through the drum. This we accomplish by closing
or partially closing the pipe b at 6 see Fig. 1. or by closing the connection at 64
entirely and forming an independent outlet from the drum or from a as indicated.
in dotted lines at a'. In this case 6' is closed and the feed to the boiler connected
to the outlet a*.

page_text: In another form we dispense entirely with the pipe and receive the rising
connections b¹ direct into the drum from which an outlet delivers to the boiler feed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
1. In combination with feed water heaters or economisers placed in the flues of
steam boilers a steam collecting vessel or drum placed over and connected with
their hottest parts to receive the steam or air or both formed therein and given off
such drum being provided with an automatic steam outlet valve operated by a float
lying upon the surface of the water in the said drum and which opens the valve
when the level of water falls below a given point owing to the water being dis-
placed by accumulation of steam in the drum substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In combination with the steam collecting vessel with automatic outlet valve
the pipes of the economiser arranged in groups in series their connections being so
disposed as to compel the water to advance from group to group in the opposite
direction to the travel of the surrounding hot flue gases substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described:
3. The steam collecting vessel with automatic outlet valve in combination with
the pipes of the economiser arranged in groups in series and having their connections
so disposed as to compel the water to flow downwards in the pipes of some or all of
the groups substantially as herein before described.
4. The steam collecting vessel with automatic outlet valve and connected to the
upper portion of feed water heaters or economisers with one or more short pipes
and to the lower portion with one or more longer pipes substantially as and for the
purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. The steam collecting vessel with automatic outlet valve and connected to feed
water heaters or economisers in such a manner as to compel the water to flow
through the said vessel in its progress towards the boiler substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying.drawings.
6. The adjustable fulcrum of the float lever substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. Two or more steam collecting vessels applied to two or more groups of pipes
or to any portion of the feed water pipes of steam boilers substantially as herein-
before described.
Dated this 20th day of October 1893.
EDWARD PARTINGTON.
EDGAR CONISTON MILLS.