IMPROVE- MENTS IN THREAD STEAK BOLAND TV HODINA OBEN DAY
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Asbury, of Balsall Heath, in the County
of Worcester, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THREAD STEAK BOLAND TV HODINA OBEN DAY"
Sealed the 18th March 1873, and dated the 13th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Asbury at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th January 1873.
I, CHARLES ASBURY, of Balsall Heath, in the County of Worcester,
Mechanical Engincer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBULAR STEAM BOILERS AND IN FURNACES FOR
STEAM BOILERS," to be as follows:-
My improvements in steam boilers refer to those kinds of steam.
boilers which are composed of tubes fixed preferably in an inclined
position.
One part of my improvements in the said steam boilers consists of the
following method of constructing a steam and water-tight joint between

page_text: the junction pieces or heads which connect the open ends of the tubes
together, and which permit of the free circulation of the water in the
said tubes, and the escape of the steam generated in the said tubes.
A steam and
Each of the
According to my Invention I make in the opposed or abutting faces
of the hollow junction heads, and in the middle thereof, hemispherical
seats or recesses, and I place a sphere of copper or lead or other soft
metal or alloy in the said seats, each seat receiving nearly one-half of
the sphere. When the opposed faces of the heads aro secured together,
the soft metal sphere is compressed between them, and made to seat
itself closely in the hemispherical seats of the said heads.
water-tight joint between the heads is thus formed.
spherical joints described has a tubular passage in its axis, the said
passages forming communications between the several tubes joined
together by the junction heads, the several passages in the spherical
joints being opposite each other, or in the same vertical line. The heads
are connected together by means of lugs at opposite points on the
exterior of the said heads, and screw bolts passed through holes or open
slots or recesses in the said lugs, and fixed by screw nuts. When open
slots or recesses are employed instead of holes the removal of the bolts
from the lugs is facilitated.
Instead of employing heads at the open ends of the tubes for con-
necting the said tubes together, my Invention consists further in
connecting the tubes of the boiler together in the following manner :—
I employ tubes having closed ends, and I connect the several tubes
together by means of vertical tubular junction pieces secured to the
cylindrical surface or sides of the tubes, by preference near the closed
ends thereof. These side junction pieces are made of wrought iron, and
are rivetted to the cylindrical surface of the tubes. Each pair of the
junction pieces is joined together by means of headless screw bolts at
opposite sides of the said junction pieces, one end of each bolt being
provided with a right-handed, and the other end with a left-handed
screw thread. The screwed ends of the bolts take into corresponding
screw boxes inserted in lugs on the exterior of the side junction pieces.
The screw bolt is turned by an angular collar at its middle. By rotating
these collars in one or other direction the opposed faces of the two
tubular junction pieces are simultaneously drawn together or separated
from one another. When drawn together a tight joint is made between

page_text: the opposed faces of each pair of tubular junction pieces by means of
a spherical joint of the kind herein-before described.
In place of, or in addition to the said spherical joint, an annular
groove or recess may be made in the face of the one of the junction pieces,
and a corresponding projection or rib on the face of the other friction
piece; into this groove or recess asbestos is placed as a packing. When
the pair of junction pieces is drawn together and fastened in the manner
before described, the annular rib enters the annular groove, and com-.
pressing the asbestos in the said groove forms a tight joint. To prevent
priming the upper junction pieces terminate at top in short pipes, tho
ends of which are turned towards the lower ends of the inclined tubes.
My improvements in furnaces for steam boilers consist in feeding fuel
and supplying heated air to the said furnaces by the following arrange-
mont of parts:-Above the arch of the furnace or fire-place the upper
or feeding end of a hopper is situated for feeding coal or fuel to the
furnace. The said hopper passes through the arch and projects into the
furnace; the top of the hopper is closed by a lid; the hopper is made
of cast iron or fire-clay. The said hopper, besides serving to feed fuel to
the furnace, also supplics air to the furnace. I effect this by making in
the walls of the hopper air passages which open into narrow slits at the
lower part of the hopper situated in the furnace, the said slits passing to
the exterior of the hopper. The air passing through the walls of the
hopper is heated thereby and enters the furnace in a heated state. The
coal or fuel supplied to the hopper falls into a horizontal rotating tablo
having a slow intermittent motion, by the action of which a uniform
quantity of fuel is supplied to the fire-place at uniform intervals of"
time. As the coal or fuel on the table is brought by its rotation to the
required position in the fire-place, the fuel is moved therefrom by a
fixed scraper, or otherwise removed.
O SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Charles Asbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ASBURY, of Balsall Heath, in the County of Worcestor, Mechanical
5 Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Asbury, Her special license that I, the said
Charles Asbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles Asbury, 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
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBULAR STEAM BOILERS AND IN
FURNACES POR STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Charles Asbury, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Asbury, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements in steam boilers relate to those kinds of steam
boilers which are composed of tubes fixed preferably in an inclined
position.
One part of my improvements in the said steam boilers consists of the
following method of constructing a steam and water-tight joint between
the junction pieces or heads which connect the open ends of the tubes
together, and which permit of the free circulation of the water in the
said tubes, and the escape of the steam generated in the said tubes.
According to this part of my Invention I make in the opposed or
nearly abutting faces of the hollow junction heads, and in the middle
thereof hemispherical or nearly hemispherical scats or recesses, and I
place a sphere or portion of a sphere of copper or lead or other soft
metal or alloy in the said seats, each seat receiving nearly one half

page_text: of the sphere.
When the opposed faces of the heads are secured
together the soft metal sphere is compressed between them and made
to scat itself closely in the hemispherical seats of the said heads. A
steam and water-tight joint between the heads is thus formed. Each
of the spherical joints described has a tubular passage in its axis, the
said passages forming communications between the several tubes joined
together by the junction heads, the several passages in the spherical
joints being opposite each other, or in the same vertical line. The
heads are connected together by means of lugs at opposite points
on the exterior of the said heads, and screw bolts passed through holes
or open slots or recesses in the said lugs and fixed by screw nuts.
When open slots or recesses are employed instead of holes, the removal
of the bolts from the lugs is facilitated.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in transverse section in
Figure 1, and partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section
in Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawings. a, b, are the hollow
junction heads of the tubes a, b, to be joined together; c, c, are the
seats or recesses in the faces of the heads a, b; and d is the nearly
spherical joint of copper or other soft metal placed in the seats or
recesses c, c, of the heads; e is the tubular passage in the axis of the
spherical joint d for forming a communication between the several
tubes.
In order to give greater rigidity to the passage e in the spherical
joint d, the said joint d may be formed by casting it upon a tubular
piece of iron which constitutes a rigid lining to the said spherical joint,
and prevents distension or change of figure by pressure. By connecting
the lugs ff, of the heads a, b, together by screw bolts and nuts at g, .
the said heads a, b, are secured together, and the soft metal nearly
spherical joint d is compressed between them and made to seat itself
closely in the seats c, c, of the heads, as represented in the Drawing.
In place of, or in addition to the nearly spherical soft metal joint
represented, an annular groove or recess may be made in the face of one
of the junction pieces, and a corresponding projection or rib on the face
of the other junction piece. Into this groove or recess asbestos is
placed as a packing. When the pair of junction pieces is drawn
together and fastened in the manner before described, the annular rib

page_text: enters the annular groove and compressing the asbestos in the said
groove forms a tight joint.
In place of a single annular groove and rib two or more of the said
grooves and ribs may be employed.
Instead of employing heads at the open ends of the tubes, as described
and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, for connecting the said tubes together,
my Invention consists further in connecting the tubes of the boiler
together in the following manner :-I employ tubes having closed ends,
and I connect the several tubes together by means of vertical tubular
junction pieces secured to the cylindrical surface or sides of the tubes,
by preference near the closed ends thereof. These side junction pieces
are made of wrought iron or malleable cast iron, and are rivetted to the
cylindrical surface of the tubes. Each pair of the junction picces is
joined together by means of ordinary bolts and nuts, or by means of
headless screw bolts at opposite sides of the said junction pieces, one end
of each bolt being provided with a right-handed and the other end with
a left-handed screw thread. The screwed ends of the bolts take into
corresponding screw boxes inserted in lugs on the exterior of the side
junction pieces. The screw bolt is turned by an angular collar at its
middle. By rotating these collars in one or other direction the opposed
faces of the two tubular junction pieces are simultaneously drawn
together or separated from one another; when drawn together a tight
joint is made between the opposed faces of each pair of tubular junction
pieces by means of a spherical joint of the kind herein-before described.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6,
Figure 3 representing a tubular boiler in elevation, and Figure 4 repre-
senting in plan, Figure 5 in section, and Figure 6 in end elevation
one of the tubes and junction pieces of the boiler, Figure 3. g aro
the inclined tubes of the boiler having closed ends, the said tubes
being connected together at either end by means of the side tubular
junction pieces h, k, the said junction pieces being fixed to the cylin-
drical surface of the tubes by rivets. The opposed faces of each pair of
junction pieces h, h, are provided with flanges 72, 7, which are fixed
together by screw bolts and nuts. Or the arrangement represented in
Figure 9 may be employed. In this arrangement the side junction
pieces 1, h, are furnished with lugs on opposite points, which are

page_text: bolted together by screw bolts and nuts i, i. In Figure 9 a soft metal
spherical joint of the kind herein-before described is represented in con-
junction with the side junction pieces h, h.
I have not represented the arrangement of right and left handed
screws for connecting the lugs of the side junction pieces h, h, together,
but the arrangement of the right and left handed screws will be under-
stood by reference to Figure 9, where that part of the screw bolt
represented between the lugs h², h³, is made square or angular, so as to
be capable of being turned by a spanner or screw wrench. That portion
of the screw on one side of the said angular part is provided with a
right-handed screw thread, and that on the other side of the said angular
part with a left-handed screw thread, the said right and left handed
screws taking into corresponding hollow screws or screw boxes in the
lugs h³, h. The heads of the screw bolts and nuts i, i, are of course
absent in this arrangement.
To prevent priming I adopt the arrangement represented in Figures 1,
2, 7, and 8 of the Drawings. In Figures 1 and 2 this arrangement is
represented in combination with a soft metal spherical joint, and in
Figures 7 and 8 without the said joint. According to this part of my
Invention the junction heads a, b, at the elevated ends of the tubes are
furnished with short curved pipes 7, the vertical branch of which com-
municates with the lower junction head 6 of the pair of junction
heads a, b, and the upper horizontal branch of the pipes opens into the
inclined tube a³, its open end being turned towards the lower end of the
said inclined tube a². The deflection of the current of mixed steam
and water by the pipes / causes the priming water to fall from the steam
before the said steam makes its return course, and escapes from the
opening in the top of the junction head a. In this way priming is
wholly or mainly prevented.
My improvements in furnaces for steam boilers consist in feeding fuel
and supplying heated air to the said furnaces by the following arrange-
ment of parts-Above the arch of the furnace or fire-place the upper
or feeding end of a hopper is situated for feeding coal or fuel to the
furnace. The said hopper passes through the arch, and projects into the
furnace. The top of the hopper is closed by a lid. The hopper is made
of cast iron or fire-clay. The said hopper besides serving to feed fuel to

page_text: the furnace also supplies air to the furnace. I effect this by making in
the walls of the hopper air passages which open into narrow slits at the
lower part of the hopper situated in the furnace, the said slits passing to
the exterior of the hopper. The air passing through the walls of the
hopper is heated thereby, and enters the furnace in a heated state.
The coal or fuel supplied to the hopper falls on to a horizontal rotating
table having a slow intermittent motion, by the action of which a
uniform quantity of fuel is supplied to the fire-place at uniform intervals
of time. As the coal or fuel on the table is brought by its rotation to
the required position in the fire-place the fuel is removed therefrom by a
fixed scraper, or otherwise removed.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention,--
Firstly. Making the joints between the junction pieces or heads,
which connect the ends of the tubes of the boiler together by the use of
a sphere or part of a sphere of soft metal having a central passage, which
sphere or part of a sphere embeds itself on the screwing together of the
junction pieces or heads in concave scats or recesses in the opposed faces
of the said junction pieces or heads, substantially as described and
illustrated.
Secondly. Making the joints between the junction pieces or heads
which connect the ends of the tubes of the boiler together by means of
one or more annular grooves or recesses in the face of one of the junction
pieces or heads, and corresponding projections or ribs on the face of the
other junction piece or head, asbestos being placed as a packing in the
said annular groove or recess or grooves or recesses as described.
Thirdly. Connecting together the tubes of tubular boilers by means of
side junction or connecting pieces of the kind described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing.
Fourthly. Preventing priming in tubular boilers by means of short
curved pipes in the junction pieces or heads at the upper ends of the
tubes of the boiler, by which short curved pipes the mixture of steam

page_text: and water is delivered from the tube to which it is connected to that
next above it in the manner herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing.
Lastly. The general arrangement or combination of the parts herein-
before described for feeding coal or fuel to the furnaces of steam boilers,
and also for supplying heated air to the said furnaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Asbury, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
Clerk to H. H. Murdoch,
7, Staple Inn,
London.
CHARLES ASBURY. (L.S.)