Improvements in Surface Heating Apparatus for Water and Fluids of all kinds.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Feb., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 31st Oct., 1892-Accepted, 10th Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Surface Heating Apparatus for Water and Fluids
of all kinds.
I, JAMES WRIGHT, of 17 Hartington Road, Stockton on Tees, in the County of
Durham, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:
My invention relates to surface heating apparatus for water and fluids of all
kinds, also ammoniacal liquors obtained from gas works, from blast furnace gases,
or from distilling oil yielding materials, previous to their entry into, or after their
exit from a still, steam boiler, or any other receptacle.
Hitherto heaters have been made in many forms, some with internal tubes through
which the steam, hot gas, hot air, or any mixtures thereof (hereinafter called the
heating agents) passed, whilst surrounded by the fluids or liquors to be heated.
Other heaters again have been made in short hollow, circular, square or rectangular
chambers in pairs, placed over each other, one of each pair containing the heating
agents, & the other containing the fluid to be heated, these were bolted together,
& placed over each other in pairs, and in alternate layers. The steam, or heating
spaces, or chambers, had pockets cast upon them projecting into the fluid, liquor, or
water space,
the heating agent having been supposed to fill the pockets, and impart
its heat through them to the liquor in the chamber surrounding them, they however
were only partially successful, owing to the want of circulation of the heating agent
in the pockets. It is not only to this latter class more especially, but to all forms
of heaters in general that my improvements will apply.
The surface heater according to my invention, is made either circular, octagonal,
hexagonal, square, rectangular, rhomboidal, or multilateral in plan, having heating
& liquor chambers in pairs, placed alternately over or under each other, but
instead of stop ended pockets, I employ bent tubes of any suitable size, made of
cast or wrot. iron, white metal, lead, brass, copper or any other metal material or
substance, suited to the fluid, liquor, steam, hot gas, or mixture thereof to be used in
the apparatus. These bent tubes are fixed on the steam heating or hot gas chambers,
I divide the interior of these chambers, into two, three, four, or any greater number
of parts by diaphragms extending across in any suitable manner, so that the heating
agent or agents whether live steam, exhaust steam, hot gas, hot air water gas or any
conceivable mixture of them, on entering (say for example) the middle chamber,
shall be compelled to pass (imparting its heat whilst doing so) over to the next
adjoining spaces, on each or both sides and so on, through the series, until by means
of the bent pipes or tubes the heating agent or agents reach the outside of the series
in the first tier, layer, or pair of heating chambers, from whence it is carried as
described hereinafter to the next pair of chambers above or below.
Although I have here described the heating agents as proceeding from the centre
outwards, I do not bind myself to taking them, or making them traverse in that
one direction only, for it will be obvious, that they would work equally well if made
to pass in the contrary direction, viz. from the outside to the centre or partly in one
direction & partly in another. After passing through the first pair of chambers,
the heating agents are conducted by long U shaped pipes bolted on the exterior of
he heater (or by ports, passages, or pipes cast or fixed in the interior) up or down,
as may be required, to conduct the heating agents to the next heating chamber
above or below the first one.
The surface heater I make, under this invention, will consist of two three or any
greater number of pairs of chambers superimposed or bolted together over each

page_text: other, each pair consisting of one chamber as above described with diaphragms
& projecting bent tubes to convey the heating agent or agents, and the other a plain
vessel of the same shape as the heating chamber, for confining the liquor to be
heated above or below the heating chamber.
My improvements will obtain the required effects more easily than has hitherto
been possible, but owing to the differences in the character & chemical com-
positions of the fluids to be heated, I claim the liberty or right to use one, two,
three, or any greater number of pairs of chambers to form the complete surface
heater.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Surface Heating Apparatus for Water and Fluids
of all kinds.
I JAMES WRIGHT, of Springhurst, Hartburn, Stockton on Tees, (formerly of
17 Hartington Road in the same borough, and in the County of Durham) Mechanical
Engineer 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 :-
My invention relates to surface heating apparatus for water & fluids of all
kinds, also to ammoniacal liquors obtained from gas works, from blast furnace gases,
or from distilling oil yielding materials, previous to their entry into, or after their
exit from a still, steam boiler, or any other receptacle. Hitherto heaters for
ammoniacal liquors have been made in many forms, some with internal tubes
through which the steam, hot gas, hot air, or any mixture thereof, (hereinafter
called the heating agents) passed, whilst surrounded by the fluids or liquors to be
heated. Other heaters again, have been made in short hollow, circular, square,
annular or, rectangular, chambers in pairs placed over each other, one of each pair
containing the heating agents, and the other containing the fluid to be heated, these
were bolted together & placed over each other in pairs & in alternate layers, the
steam or heating spaces or chambers had pockets cast upon them projecting into
the fluid, liquor, or water space, the heating agent having been supposed to fill the
pockets and impart its heat through them to the liquor in the chamber surrounding
them, they however were only partially successful, owing to the want of circulation
of the heating agent in the pockets. It is not only to this latter class more
especially, but to all forms of heaters in general, that my improvements will apply.
The surface heater according to my invention is made either circular, octagonal,
hexagonal, square, rectangular, rhomboidal, or multilateral in plan, having heating
& liquor chambers in pairs, placed alternately over or under each other, but
instead of stop ended pockets with no outlets, I employ bent tubes of any suitable
size made of cast or wrot. iron, white metal, lead, brass, copper, or any other metal
material or substance suited to the fluid, liquor, steam, hot gas, or mixture thereof,
to be used in the apparatus. These bent tubes are fixed on the steam, heating, or
hot gas chambers, I divide the interior of these chambers into two three four or
any greater number of parts by diaphragms extending across in any suitable manner,
so that the heating agent or agents whether live steam, exhaust steam, hot gas, hot
air, water gas, or any conceivable mixture of them on entering (say for example)
the middle chamber in the casting containing the heating agent, shall be compelled
to pass (imparting its heat whilst doing so) over to the next adjoining spaces on
each or both sides and so on through the series, until by means of the bent pipes or
tubes the heating agent or agents reach the outside of the series in the first tier,
layer, or pair of heating chambers, from whence it is carried as described hereinaftor
to the next pair of chambers above or below.

page_text: Although I have described the heating agents as proceeding from the centre
outwards, I do not bind myself to taking them, or making them traverse in that
direction only, for it will be obvious, that they would work equally well if made to
pass in the contrary direction, viz. from the outside to the centre, or partly in one
direction, & partly in another. After passing through the first pair of chambers,
and imparting their heat, the heating agents are conducted by long double bend
pipes bolted on the exterior of the heater (or by ports, passages, or pipes cast or
fixed in the interior) up or down as may be required, to conduct the heating agents
to the next heating chamber above or below the first one.
The surface heater I make under this invention will consist of two, three, or any
greater number of pairs of chambers superimposed over (or under) each other
& bolted together, each pair consisting of one chamber as above described with
diaphragms or divisions & projecting bent tubes to convey the heating agent or
agents through a prearranged course, and the other a plain vessel of the same
shape as the heating chamber for confining the liquor to be heated above or below
the heating chamber.
My improvements will obtain the required effects more easily than has hitherto
been possible, but owing to the differences in the character and chemical com-
positions of the fluids to be heated, I use one, two, three, or any greater number
of pairs of chambers to form the complete surface heater.
I will now proceed to describe the said improvements with reference to the
accompanying drawing in which Figure A shews an elevation partly in section
through the line K L of a complete heater of circular form in plan, having
3 chambers for the heating agent and three other chambers for the fluid or liquor
placed alternately over or under each other. Figure B is a plan partly in section
through the fluid chamber on the line H J and pipes therein, projecting from the
heating chamber. Figure C is another sectional plan through two different halves
or planes of the heating chambers viz. at the lines F G & DE shewing one of the
many variations in the relative positions of the divisions over which the heating
agent is made to pass.
The heater consists of superimposed pairs of cylinders or chambers of any shape,
marked respectively 1 & 2 in the figures. Those numbered 1 contain the fluid to
be heated, and sometimes in addition ports or passages are cast in them through
which the heating agent passes from one heating chamber to the next above or
below as may be required. Those numbered 2 contain the steam, gas, air, or other
elastic fluid forming the heating agent. The U shaped tubes (of any metal) are
numbered 3, and the divisions or diaphragms in the heating chambers 4, whilst the
double bend connecting pipes reaching from one division in the heating chambers to
the next adjoining (above or below) are numbered 5, and those between the fluid
chambers 6.
I will now describe the action of the superheater:-The heating agent whether
steam of any kind, hot gas from the saturator, hot air, or any conceivable combina-
tion thereof (according to the arrangement shown on the drawing) is admitted into
the top heating chamber numbered 2 at one of the side branches marked INLET
on plan, Fig. B into a central division port or passage in the heating chamber
casting, it is then conveyed by the various U shaped tubes 3, over the divisions 4,
on both sides right & left to the next adjoining spaces in the heating chamber casting,
from these it again travels up the next series of Ụ pipes 3, over the other divisions
and so on until it reaches the two outlets one on the right hand side of Fig. A and
the other on the left. It will be observed that at this point the heating agent is
passing in two streams or currents through the upper part of the heater and is
conveyed to the heating chamber next in series below by the double bend pipes 5
where it is received in divisions on the opposite outer sides of the heating chamber
casting, whence it is again conveyed over the series of U pipes 3, from both sides
to the next divisions nearer the centre, then over the next set of bent tubes until it
reaches the centre of the middle heating chamber where the heating agents again

page_text: combine and are carried in one stream to the lowest heating chamber by another
double bend pipe 5, and passed similarly through the U tubes and over divisions
until they finally reach the branch marked OUTLET in Figs. B & C on the bottom
chamber. The arrows in the different figures show the directions of the currents of
the heating agent or fluids respectively.
The fluid or liquor to be heated is usually made to traverse the heater in the
contrary direction to that of the heating agent; accordingly it will enter the
apparatus shown on the drawing by the pipe numbered 7, into the bottom of
the lowest fluid chamber numbered 1, there it surrounds the bent circulating
tubes 3, and taking up heat from them, as well as from the tops & bottoms of the
heating chambers above & below, passes out on the opposite side by double bend
pipes numbered 6, and ascends to the next above or middle fluid chamber, from
which it is again conveyed by a similar pipe 6 to the top chamber, whence it is
finally conducted to the purpose required by the pipe numbered 8.
The marks & numbers on the several figures apply to the same parts through-
out this Specification & drawing. I have described the heating agent & fluids as
being conveyed in definite directions, still it will be obvious that they can be made
to traverse quite the contrary, or either of them in direction partly as described
& partly of some other, or a combination of both without in the least departing
froin the main principles of this invention.
Similarly it may be observed that the tubes marked 3 instead of being bent to
convey the heating agent singly to the next adjoining division, may be arranged in
groups of two, or more, bent over each other, where large volumes of it are to be
dealt with.
I may also point out that although for the purposes of this description I have
arranged bent connecting pipes marked 5 & 6 outside the heater for conveying the
heating agent or agents and fluids from one tier of heating & fluid chambers to
the next above or below in alternate series, they can be dispensed with by the
substitution of interior ports or passages of equal area to the bent pipes, either
round, square, rectangular, oval, or D shaped, passing through or cast in one with
the fluid & heating chambers to convey the heating agent or fluid respectively from
one heating or fluid chamber to the next one above or below.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
First. In apparatus for surface heating of water, ammoniacal liquor, or other
fluids, the combination in horizontal chambers or vessels of any form containing the
heating agent, of a number of vertical divisions or diaphragms of suitable metal
dividing each of them into three, four, or any greater number of spaces, so that the
heating agent may be more completely under control, & be made to pass in contact
with as much surface as possible, to impart its heat to the fluids confined above
or below.
Second. The arrangement in combination with the divisions mentioned under
my first claim of U shaped tubes, either in single series, or in groups passing over
each other, communicating with adjoining divisions in such a manner that the
heating agents or currents are passed through either in one volume and direction,
or divided into two or more streams or currents continuously in any desired
direction, imparting their heat whilst doing so to the water, liquor, or other fluid
confined round about them.
Third. The combination of heating chambers & liquor or fluid chambers in pairs,
placed alternately over or under each other in two, three, or any greater number
of tiers filled with U shaped circulating tubes so as to obtain the requisite distance
of traverse for the heating agents to thoroughly impart their heat to the fluids
surrounding them.
Fourth. The use of any or all the parts in combination as before described for

page_text: surface or superheating, to the opposite purpose or process of surface cooling, or con-
densation, no alteration whatever being needed in the mechanical arrangements
of the apparatus as herein before described when applied to surface condensation.
Dated this October 26th 1892.
JAMES WRIGHT,
Springhurst, Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees.