Improvements in the Construction of Steam Generators.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 19th Sept., 1891-Accepted, 7th Nov., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Steam Generators.
I JAMES BLAKE of the Britannia Works Newton Heath Manchester in the
County of Lancaster Engineer and Boiler Maker do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My said invention relates to the construction of steam generators of the Lanca-
shire, Cornish and other types and the object of this invention is to increase the
steam generating or heating surface of such boilers without the use of cross or
Galloway tubes.
My invention may be generally described as possessing a large share of the
advantages of the multitubular system, as far as steam raising power is concerned,
without the disadvantages of multiplicity of parts and joints together with the
inaccessability and costliness which are adherent to the multitubular system.
According to my invention instead of having one, two or more main flues
traversing the boiler as under present practice I use a number of longitudinal flues
extending from the back of the furnace or furnaces or from the back of a com-
bustion chamber interposed between the furnace or furnaces and the flues to the
back of the boiler. The said flues are of such a diameter as will easily permit of
the passage of a man through their length and at the same time of a diameter
which is much less than that of the main flues ordinarily used. By thus using a
number of smaller flues a greatly larger steam generating area is presented and
the steaming power of the boiler considerably increased.
.
In addition to the flues being made of sufficient inner diameter to allow of the
passage of a man for the purposes of inspection and cleansing I space the tubes
apart in such a manner and at a suflicient distance from each other to allow of access
to all parts of the outside of the tubes and of the boiler so as to render such
boilers easy to manufacture and inexpensive to repair and maintain. In the arrange-
ment which I at present consider to be preferable and as applied for example to a
Lancashire boiler the two furnaces lead into a combustion chamber at the back of
the furnaces and the back of the said combustion chamber constitutes a tube or
flue plate to which the front ends of the multiple flues are attached just as the ends
of the tubes are inserted into the tube plate of a multitubular boiler. The other
ends of the flues open through the back end of the boiler. In some cases the
interposed combustion chamber might be dispensed with. Where it would be
difficult to get between the flues or the ranks of flues to the bottom of the boiler, I
might reduce the flues at one or at both ends or where requisite so as to form a
space sufficient to permit of passage or I might apply man-holes and doors to the
ends of the boiler. The flues may be plain corrugated or ribbed and they may be
of a cross section other than circular so long as they are of such shape and
capacity as will permit of the passage of a man. I have found that by con-
structing a boiler with multiple flues as hereinbefore described 1 gain more heating
surface than would be possessed by a similar boiler fitted with cross or Galloway
tubes and at a greatly less expense of labour number of parts and material whilst
the cost of maintenance and difficulty of cleansing are also materially decreased.
Dated this 18th day of December 1890.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE - SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Steam Generators.
I JAMES BLAKE of the Britannia Works Newton Heath Manchester in the
County of Lancaster Engineer.and Boiler Maker 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 and accompanying
drawings:
My said invention relates to the construction of steam generators of the Lanca-
shire, Cornish and other types and the object of this invention is to increase the
steam generating or heating surface of such boilers without the use of cross or
Galloway tubes. My invention may be generally described as possessing a large
share of the advantages of the multitubular system as far as steam raising power
is concerned without the disadvantage of multiplicity of parts and joints together
with the inaccessability and costliness which are inherent to the multitubular system.
According to my invention instead of having one two or more main flues traversing
the boiler as under present practice, I use a number of longitudinal flues extending
from the back of the furnace or furnaces or from the back of a combustion chamber
interposed between the furnace or furnaces and the flues to the back of the boiler.
The said flues are of such a diameter as will easily permit of the passage of a man
through their length and at the same time of a diameter which is much less than
that of the main flues ordinarily used. By thus using a number of smaller flucs a
greatly larger steam generating area is presented and the steaming power of the
boiler considerably increased. In addition to the flues being made of sufficient
inner diameter to allow of the passage of a man for the purposes of inspection, and
cleansing space the tubes apart in such a manner and at a sufficient distance from
cach other to allow of access to all parts of the outside of the tubes and of
the boiler-so-as-to-reuder such boilers. casy to manufacture and inexpensive to repair
and maintain.
I
The annexed sheet of drawings to which I will now refer sufficiently illustrates
the nature of my invention and-the manner in which the same is carried practically
into effect.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a boiler of the Lancashire type a portion of the
side-being-removed-so-as-to-show_the_internal arrangement.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate modifications of the invention.
Referring to Fig. 1 the two furnace flues a a lead into a combustion chamber b
at the back of the furnaces and the back of-the-said-combustion chamber b
constitutes a tube or flue plate to which the front ends of the multiple flues e (five
in number) are attached just as the ends of the ordinary tubes are inserted into the
tube plate of a multitubular boiler. The other ends of the flues c open through
the back end of the boiler. In some cases the interposed combustion chamber
might be dispensed with for example in Figs. 2 and 3 there is no such combustion
chamber.
These figs. illustrate the application of my invention to a single flued boiler. In
this instance I connect three of the so called multiple flues e to the inner end of the
funnace.a. In order to reduce the flues e sufficiently to make connection with the
furnace a restrict the size of the flues at the juncture-in-the-manner-clearly
shown at Fig. 3 by the application of a bent plate or portion c¹. In the case of
the bottom flue 1 taper the joining end of the flue to the required smaller size as
shown in dotted lines at Fig. 3. This reduction or restriction of the size of the
flues may be carried out either where the flues are connected directly to the furnace
flue as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 or where there is an interposed combustion chamber
as in Fig. 1. Also where the multiple flues c issue at the back of the boiler it will
in many cases be found advisable to taper or bend in the sides of the flues lest
there should be too little width of metal left between the side of the flue and the
outer circumference of the boiler end.

page_text: Figs. 4 and 5 are cross and longitudinal sections respectively of a Lancashire
boiler similar to Fig. 1 but with this difference that the heated products of
combustion are caused to circulate first along the upper range of flues c and back
through the lower range c¹. There are two combustion chambers b and b' the
upper chamber 6 being inside the boiler and the lower chamber formed in or from
the shell of the boiler. The shell is cut away at the foot to allow the products of
combustion to pass from the flue c'. Thus the upper current of the heated products
of combustion is divided from the lower current the two currents circulating in
opposite directions as clearly indicated by the arrows. The lower combustion
chamber might be fitted with a cross tube d or with cross tubes to pick up heat
and permit of the free circulation of water through the foot of the combustion
chamber. A brickwork or other flue diverts the current of the products of
combustion at the back of the boiler.
Where it would be difficult to get between the flues or the ranks of flues to the
bottom of the boiler I might reduce the flues at one or at both ends or where
requisite so as to form a space sufficient to permit of passage or I might apply
man-holes and doors to the ends of the boiler. The flues may be plain, corrugated
or ribbed and they may be of a cross section other than circular so long as they
are of such shape and capacity as will permit of the passage of a man. I have
found that by constructing a boiler with multiple flues as hereinbefore described
I gain more heating surface than would be possessed by a similar boiler fitted with
cross or Galloway tubes and at a greatly less expense of labour, number of parts,
and material, whilst the cost of maintenance and difficulty of cleansing are also
materially decreased.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
Constructing boilers of the Lancashire, Cornish and other types with a series of
longitudinal multiple flues extending from the back of the furnace or furnaces
or from the back of the combustion chamber interposed between the furnace or
furnaces and the flues to the back of the boiler, or from the back of the boiler to
a space in the shell the said flues being spaced apart so as to permit of cleansing
the flues and the boiler and being also of such a diameter as will allow of the
passage of a man but still of less diameter than that of the main flues ordinarily
used, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown.
Dated this 17th day of September 1891.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.