IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WATER IN SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Everden Wimshurst, of Grove Road, Victoria Park, in the
County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR DISTILLING WATER IN SHIPS OR VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Everden Wimshurst at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd November 1881.
"
EVERDEN WIMSHURST, of Grove Road, Victoria Park, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WATER IN SHIPS
OR VESSELS."
My Invention relates more particularly to apparatus for distilling sea water, but
it is also applicable to the distillation of other water in ships or vessels.
In carrying out my Invention the apparatus consists of a number of tubes filled
and supplied with salt water for example, and these tubes are so placed in the
funnel or uptakes that the heat escaping from the furnaces of the main boilers
generates steam, which is conveyed to a condenser and becomes distilled water.
The tubes are each fitted with a revolving scraper fixed on a shaft which is
mounted in a bearing at each end, and the shafts are connected together by gearing
so that rotary motion may be imparted to them in order to keep the interior of
the tubes clear of salt or other deposit which is received into a suitable vessel.
The rotary motion of the shaft may be obtained from steam, manual, or other
power.
The condenser consists of a steam-tight jacket or jackets fitted on the inside of
the vessel below the water line, so that the ship's plating conveys the heat of the
steam to the water outside of the vessel, thus producing distilled water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the snid Everden Wimshurst in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd May 1882.
EVERDEN WIMSHURST, of Grove Road, Victoria Park, in the County of
Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WATER IN SHIPS
OR VESSELS."
My said Invention which relates more particularly to apparatus for distilling
seawater, but is also applicable to the distillation of other water in ships or vessels,
consists in arranging in the uptake or funnel of the boiler furnace or furnaces a
number of tubes through which the salt water (for example) to bo distilled is
caused to pass, so that the heat escaping from the furnace or furnaces impinges
upon the tubes and generates steam, which is conducted to a condenser and con-
densed, thereby producing distilled water which may be employed to supply the
boilers and for other purposes.
The tubes are each fitted with a scraper or scrapers mounted on a shaft which
is carried in a bearing at each end, and the shafts of all the tubes are connected
together by gearing so that motion may be imparted to them, all causing the
scrapers to act upon the interior surface of the tubes in order to keep them clear
of salt or other deposit.
The rotatory motion of the shafts may be obtained from steam power, or from
manual or other power.
The condenser may consist of a steam tight jacket or jackets fitted on the inside
of the vessel below the water line, so that the ship's plating, being kept cold, effects
the condensation of the steam, and thus produces distilled water.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the manner in which the same may be carried into
effect, and for that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet
of Drawings, the saine letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the uptake or funnel of the furnace of a
marine boiler with my improvements applied thereto; Figure 2 is a similar view
illustrating a modification in the arrangement of the distilling tubes; Figure 3
illustrates sectional views (taken at right angles to each other and drawn to a
larger scale) of a portion of one of the tubes; and Figure 4 represents a modified
form of tube and scraper to be hereinafter described.
Referring to Figure 1, A is the uptake or funnel provided with a tank or
vessel B containing the water to be distilled. This tank surrounds the funnel, and
is in communication by means of a pipe C with another tank or vessel D situated
at a lower elevation than the tank B, and communicating by a series of tubes E
arranged horizontally one above the other across the interior of the funnel with a
tank or chamber D¹, the ends being preferably connected to the vessels D and D¹
at diametrically opposite points in the funnel A.
The water contained in the vessel A is admitted to the tank D by the pipe C,
which is provided with a ball cock or float valve F to regulate its admission and to
maintain the tubes full and the level of the water in the tanks D and D' uniform.
The heated products of combustion from the furnace passing up the funnel impinge
on the tubes E so as to generate steam, which escapes at G, and is conducted by a
pipe to any suitable condenser.
E' is a tube extending across the interior of the funnel and communicating with
the tanks D, D', in a similar manner to the tubes E, but arranged above the level
of the water in the tanks D, D', so that the steam from the tank D passing through

page_text: the tube E¹ to the tank or chamber D' becomes superheated before it escapes
through the pipe G. The tank D' is provided with a safety valve o to prevent
undue pressure therein.
The tubes E are each provided with a scraper or scrapers H (as shewn moro
clearly in Figure 3) which are caused by rotation to scrape the interior surface of
the tubes for the purpose of keeping them clear from salt or other deposit from the
water, which deposit will collect at the bottom of the tanks D and D¹, and may be
discharged therefrom as required through cocks or valves I provided for the
purpose.
The scrapers of the several tubes which are fixed on shafts I¹, mounted in
bearings a, a, are geared together by pinions, as shewn at K, and may be actuated
by manual power by means of a handle L, but I prefer to maintain them in
constant motion by steam or other motivo power. M is a glass gauge fitted to the
tank B for indicating the amount of water contained therein, a similar gauge being
fitted to the tank D. The steam from the tanks D and D' may be condensed in
any suitable apparatus, but I prefer to form a condenser by fitting to the interior
of the skin of the vessel below the water line a steamtight jacket so as to form a
vessel or vessels into which the steam is conducted and in which it is condensed
(and thus distilled water produced) by coming into contact with the surface of the
skin of the vessel, which is maintained cold by the surrounding water.
In some ships (for example, where the boilers are arranged "athwart ships")
instead of arranging the tubes E horizontally, as in Figure 1, it will be found more
convenient and effective to arrange them vertically, as shewn in Figure 2, wherein A
represents the funnel, B the tank for containing the water to be distilled, and C
the pipe for conducting the water therefrom to the tubes E; d is a small tank
containing a float valve F for regulating the admission of water from the tank B
to the tubes E. The water from the tank d is conducted by a pipe d to a
chamber D, arranged horizontally beneath the funnel. The tubes E are fitted at
their lower ends to the chamber D', and at their upper ends to another similar
chamber D2 fitted across the interior of the funnel. The water entering the
chamber D' rises in the tubes E and is subject to the heated product of combustion
passing up the funnel from the uptakes, as indicated by the arrows, the steam
generated escaping from the chamber D³ by a pipe G, and being conducted to a
condenser, as herein before described. The scrapers fitted in the tubes for
maintaining them clear of deposit may be similar to those shown in Figure 3, or
they may be in the form of an archimedian screw, as shewn at H in Fig. 2, and
are actuated by gearing K.
The tubes E, as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, are circular in cross section,
but they may be of an elliptical or other form, for example, as shewn in Figure 4,
in which case as the scraping edges themselves cannot rotate in order to adapt my
method of actuating the scrapers by a motion of rotation, as hereinbefore described.
I provide the scrapers H with a boss b, tapped to fit a scrow thrend formed on the
shaft 1', so that upon rotating the said shaft alternately in opposite directions the
scraper His caused to travel to and fro along it as a nut and remove any salt or
other deposit that may have accumulated on the interior surface of the tube. The
scraper is perforated to facilitate its passage through the water contained in the
tube.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore
in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. In apparatus for effecting the distillation of water in ships or vessels,
providing a series of tubes arranged in and heated by the waste heat passing
through the uptake or funnel of the boiler furnace for first converting the water
into steam by passing it therethrough and then condensing the steam thus
produced, substantially as bereinbefore described and illustrated by my Drawings.

page_text: Second. In apparatus for distilling water in ships and other vessels, the employ-
ment in combination with a tube or a number of tubes which are subjected to the
action of the heat passing through the uptake or funnel, of a scraper or scrapers
kept in motion in the said tube or tubes to prevent the accumulation of deposit in
the interior of the said tube or tubes, substantially as herein before described with
reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Everden Wimshurst, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and eighty two.
EVERDEN WIMSHURST. (LS.)
10