IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Timothy Harrington, of Gracechurch Street, in the
City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
ENGINES AND BOILERS."
Sealed the 20th July 1860, and dated the 24th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Timothy Harrington at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 186.
I, TIMOTHY HARRINGTON, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in passing the steam, after having done its duty in
the cylinder, into a surface condenser, wherein I maintain the temperature at
such a point as that the water produced by the condensation shall be as little
below the boiling point as may be.
I then force this water into a generator
separate and distinct from the main boiler, and I either place this generator
in the flues and passages through which waste heat now generally passes on
its way to the chimney or funnel, or I employ a separate furnace for it.
My Invention also consists in carrying the mouth of a pipe leading to the
condenser through the vessel's bottom or side, the opening into which is in
a direction contrary to the vessel's way; I thereby obtain a certain supply
of water available for the purpose of condensation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Timothy Harrington in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TIMOTHY
HARRINGTON, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Timothy Harrington, Her special licence that I, the said Timothy Har-
rington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Timothy Harrington, 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
STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Timothy Harrington, 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 Timothy Harrington, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in passing the steam after having done its duty in the
cylinder into a surface condenser, wherein I maintain the temperature at such
a point, as that the water produced by the condensation shall be as little below
the boiling point as may be. I then force this water into a generator separate
and distinct from the main boiler, and I either place this generator in the
flues and passages through which waste heat now generally passes on its
way to the chimney or funnel, or I employ a separate furnace for it.
My Invention also consists in carrying the mouth of a pipe leading to the
condenser through the vessel's bottom or side, the opening into which is in a

page_text: direction contrary to the vessel's way; I thereby obtain a certain supply
of water available for the purpose of condensation.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, of the accompanying Drawings is a plan, and Figure 2,
an elevation, partly in section, of a boiler, generator, and superheating
apparatus constructed according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a section on
the line B, B, of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a section on the line A, A, of
Figure 1. The same letters refer to like parts in all the Figures on Sheet 1.
A is an ordinary boiler; B is the additional generator; C is the super-
heater is a pipe leading from the boiler A to the superheater; e is a pipe
leading from the superheater to a box f; g is a pipe for the passage of water
from the condenser to the box f; his a pipe for the passage of steam to the
engines. The superheating apparatus is used in connection with a surface
condenser, and its operation is as follows:-Supposing the steam in the
boiler A to be twenty pounds on the square inch, it is passed through the
superheater by the pipe d, where it is heated to a temperature of about 500°.
The steam then. passes down the pipe e, and enters the generator through
the box f, where it mixes with the fresh water thrown into the generator
box by the pipes g, and this water is the condensed steam from the condenser
conveyed into the generator by a double-acting feed pump. This water is
couverted into steam, or nearly so, by the heat of the steam passing into
the box from the pipe c. This steam then passes through the pipes of the
generator B, and thus obtains or regains the elastic force due to a pressure
of 20 lbs. per square inch, and a temperature of about 300°; the steam
then passes out at the pipe h to the engines, and so on.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, Sheet 2, are views of a surface condenser constructed
according to my Invention. The condenser is shewn in two forms. In
Figure 1 the water passes through the tubes, and is made to return, as
indicated by the arrows. In Figure 2 the water passes directly through all
the tubes. The tubes are formed in nests, and are fixed in the tube plates in
the ordinary way, but provision is made for expansion by an india-rubber
packing round the tube plates, as shewn at Figure 5, which arrangement
allows of the tubes being taken out in nests for cleaning or repairing. Figures
6 and 7 shew the manner in which I construct the surface condenser to make
it self-acting when the vessel is under weigh (at starting, a cold water pump
attached to the donkey engine is used); the arrangements, Figures 6 and 7,
shew the action of the slide valves or shutters, which can be worked either by
levers or screws, as shewn. Supposing the valve 1 is in operation as the vessel
moves through the water, the water will enter the valve at 1 and pass out at
2 to the condenser. When the motion of the vessel is reversed, the slide 1

page_text: must be drawn up, and slide 3 pressed down, so that the water passes out
at the opening 4; 5 is a guard rivetted to the bottom of the vessel to pro-
tect the valves, and form a trough for the water to enter.
Figure 8 shews an arrangement more suitable for large power with the
apparatus made self-acting for going ahead or astern; when drawn up the
bottom flange forms a stop valve.
Figures 9, 10, and 11, shew an arrangement suitable for small power, where
a cock may be used having a hollow plug, which is made to answer the
purpose of the slide valves, shewn in the plans, Figures 6, 7, and 8. The
apparatus may be placed in the bottom of the vessel anywhere under water,
and the quantity of water admitted is controlled by the valves or cock. When
the injection water has done its work in the condenser the water is conveyed
to the ship's side, and passes out of a pipe to the sea; the end of this pipe
is fitted with a projecting piece (in the reverse position to the valves for
the admission of the water), so that as the vessel passes through the water
a partial vacuum is formed, which assists the water to discharge itself.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
improvements in steam engines and boilers,-
First, the employment of steam for collecting the waste heat in the uptake
or chimney, bringing this steam in contact with fresh water or coudensed
steam from the condenser, passing the whole through a generator, and so
converting it into steam at the original pressure, and at the same or a
higher temperature, as herein-before described and illustrated at Sheet 1 of
the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the construction of condensers for steam engines in the manner
described and illustrated at Sheet 2 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Timothy Harrington, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
T. HARRINGTON. (L.S.)