AN IMPROVED METHOD OF HEATING THE FEED WATER FOR BOILERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Lamb, of Southampton, in the County of
Hants, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF HEATING
THE FEED WATER FOR BOILERS."
Sealed the 16th March 1860, and dated the 20th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Lamb at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th September 1859.
I, ANDREW LAMB, of Southampton, in the County of Hants, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF HEATING THE FEED WATER FOR BOILERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in conducting the feed water before entering the
boilers through a space or spaces formed between two plates or thicknesses of
metal, whereby the water is caused to flow in a thin film, or thin films, or
streams, such plates or thicknesses of metal being placed in the smoke-box,
flues, or other convenient part where heat passes from the furnace. The outlet
from the water spaces into the boiler terminates in an open tube.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Lamb in the Great Seal Patent Office on
20th March 1860.
the
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
LAMB, of Southampton, in the County of Hants, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Andrew Lamb, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew Lamb,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Andrew Lamb, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF HEATING THE FEED WATER FOR BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Andrew Lamb, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Andrew Lamb, 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 conducting the feed water before it enters the
boiler through a thin space or thin spaces formed between two or more plates
or thicknesses of iron, copper, or other suitable metal, placed in the smoke box,
flue, or other part or parts of the boiler, through which surplus heat passes
from the furnace or furnaces, by which means the said feed water is caused to
take the form of a thin film or stream, or of thin films or streams, in contact
on each side with the heated metal, and is consequently placed under the best
possible circumstances for absorbing the heat therefrom. A communication is
kept up between the water spaces before described and the interior of the
boiler by means of a suitable tube or pipe.

page_text: In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have illustrated several arrangements:
of apparatus by means of which my Invention may be conveniently carried
into effect. Figure 1 is a front view of a flue boiler constructed on what is
known as Lamb and Summer's Patent principle, furnished with a heating
apparatus constructed according to the present Invention; and Figure 2 is a
side view of the same, partly in outline and partly in section. A is the
improved feed water heater, which is here placed in front of the flues; B, a
valve or cock, through which the supply of feed water to the heater A and to
the boiler is regulated. This valve or cock, which is here shewn at the side of
the boiler, may be situated in any other convenient position. The feed water
before entering the boiler rises through the pipe C, and after passing through
the heater A descends the pipe D, by which it is conducted to the interior of
the boiler. The sectional area of the heater A is made much larger than the
area of the feed pipe, so that the motion of the water through the heater is
retarded, and the water thereby detained in the heater sufficiently long to
cause it to attain a very high degree of temperature before it passes through
the pipe D to the boiler. With the arrangement of apparatus just described,
the flues, together with the heater and its connections, can be cleaned with
the usual facility.
Figure 3 is a front view of a tubular boiler furnished with a heating
apparatus similar, and similarly placed to that already described, but with
sliding or telescopic stanchions and connecting pipes fitted for the purpose of
allowing the heater A to be lowered when it is requisite to clean the tubes
behind it. The manner in which the sliding or telescopic stanchions and
pipes are jointed or connected is illustrated in the separate views, Figures 4
and 5, of which the former is a front view, and the latter a side view, both
being partly in section.
Figure 6 is a front view, and Figure 7 a side view, of a tubular boiler
furnished with a heating apparatus similar, and similarly placed to those
previously described, but with ferruled holes formed through it, immediately
opposite the tubes which are behind it, in order that those tubes may be
cleaned without removing the heater, or interfering with it in any way.
Although I have shewn the feed water heater placed in front of the flues in
all the arrangements before described, and illustrated in the annexed Drawings,
I by no means limit myself to the application of the heating apparatus in that
position, as it may be placed with advantage in any other convenient part of
the back or front uptakes or chimney. It may likewise be fitted to locomotive
and land boilers as well as to marine boilers. It may also be formed not only
with a single water space, as shewn in the Drawings, but with two or more

page_text: spaces, as may best suit the position in which it is placed, a sufficient extent
of heating surface to raise the temperature of the feed water as nearly to the
boiling point as possible being provided in all cases.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the method of
heating the feed water of boilers by conducting it, before it enters the boiler,
through a thin space or thin spaces formed between two or more plates or
thicknesses of metal placed in the smoke box, flue, or other part or parts of
the boiler through which surplus heat from the furnace or furnaces passes, in
order that such feed water may be caused to take the form of a thin film or
stream, or of thin films or streams, in contact on each side with the heated
metal, as herein-before described, and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Lamb, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred sixty.
ANDW. LAMB. (L.S.)