IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND FURNACESiler, and in apparatus connected therewith and in the consumption or prevention
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Stephen, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Mill Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEAM BOILERS AND FURNACES."
Sealed the 20th January 1857, and dated the 13th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Stephen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th October 1856.
I, JOHN STEPHEN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Mill Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS AND FURNACES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates more or less to an Invention of "improvements in
steam boilers and furnaces, and in apparatus connected therewith, and in
the consumption or prevention of smoke," for which British Letters Patent,
bearing date on or about the Twentieth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six, have been granted to David Auld and John
Stephen. It consists in the formation of steam boilers with a narrow water
space, division, or pocket, extending from the under side of the boiler at
the furnace down to and through the line of furnace bars. This water
space opens at its upper wide end into the bottom of the boiler, which has
a row of openings in its shell at that part to form the communication.
The boiler itself is set slightly out of the horizontal line, the furnace end

page_text: being somewhat lower than the reverse end. Hence the mud and deposit of
the water is continually directed towards the front or furnace end, where it
falls from the boiler into the narrow bottom of the water space or pocket.
The part where the deposit accumulates is carried down to a short distance
below the furnace bars, so that the heat of the fuel cannot act injuriously upon
the metal of the division space and burn it where there is no water present to
protect it. The mud or sediment which accumulates in the bottom of
the water space can be removed by an instrument put in either from the
interior of the boiler or through a plug way in the front end of the water space.
Loose deposit can of course be blown out through the plug way by tlie steam
pressure of the boiler. The water space being passed down into the
furnace in the centre thereof forms the means of dividing the furnace into
two equal parts, so that the sections can thus be fired alternately.
Although this Invention applies peculiarly to the combined external and
internal furnace boiler, previously patented by David Auld and John Stephen,
it is obvious that it is suitable for ordinary boilers as well, the grate bars
being either flat or curved to the curvature of the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Stephen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STEPHEN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Mill Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Hér heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Stephen, Her special license that I, the said John Stephen; my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Stephen, my executors, administrators, or 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 BOILERS
AND FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John

page_text: Stephen, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Stephen, 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
in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings; and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates more or less to an Invention of "improvements
in steam boilers and furnaces, and in apparatus connected therewith, and
in the consumption or prevention of smoke, for which British Letters Patent,
bearing date on or about the Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six, have been granted to David Auld and John Stephen.
It consists in the formation of steam boilers with a narrow water space,
division, or pocket extending from the under side of the boiler at the furnace
down to and through the line of furnace bars. This water space opens at its
upper wide end into the bottom of the boiler, which has a row of openings in
its shell at that part to form the communication. The boiler itself is set
slightly out of the horizontal line, the furnace end being somewhat lower than
the reverse end. Hence the mud and deposit of the water is continually
directed towards the front or furnace end, where it falls from the boiler into
the narrow bottom of the water space or pocket. The part where the deposit
accumulates is carried down to a short distance below the furnace bars, so that
the heat of the fuel cannot act injuriously upon the metal of the division space
and burn it where there is no water present to protect it. The mud or sediment
which accumulates in the bottom of the water space can be removed by an
instrument put in either from the interior of the boiler or through a plug
way in the front end of the water space. Loose deposit can of course be
blown out through the plug way by the steam pressure of the boiler. The
water space being passed down into the furnace in the centre thereof forms
the means of dividing the furnace into two equal parts, so that the sections
can thus be fired alternately.
Although this Invention applies peculiarly to the combined external and
internal furnace boiler, previously patented by David Auld and John Stephen,
it is obvious that it is suitable for ordinary boilers as well, the grate bars
being either flat or curved to the curvature of the boiler.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall

page_text: now proceed to describe the several illustrative Figures on the explanatory
Sheet of Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of
showing certain modifications under which my improvements may be judi-
ciously carried out in practice. In the Specification of the British Letters
Patent granted to David Auld and John Stephen, and bearing date on or
about the Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
six, was described the arrangement and construction of certain steam boilers
furnished with internal and external furnaces, and in the Drawing appended
to this Specification I have shown my improvements as applied to a boiler of
that particular class.
Figure 1 is a front end elevation of a pair of steam boilers, one of
which is shown in vertical section and the other complete; Figure 2 is
á vertical longitudinal section of a boiler, similar to Figure 1, the sectional
line being taken to the left of the water space, which divides the lower
or external furnace into two. The boilers A, in the modification here
shown, are of a cylindrical form with flat ends, and each is made with two
internal furnaces B, which open into a combustion chamber C; this chamber
communicates with two flues D, through which the smoke and gaseous
matters from the furnaces B pass. Outside the shell of the boiler and at the
lower part is placed the furnace E, divided in this instance by the central
water way, which descends from the lower part of the boiler, and forms a con-
tinuation of the shell. The furnace E is fitted with doors F for the supply of
fuel, and the gaseous products of combustion from the fires pass along the flue
G to the back of the boiler, where they mingle with the gases from the fires of
the furnaces B. The heated gaseous matters are brought to the front of the
boilers by means of the flues H, from which they pass into the flues J to the
back end of the boilers, and thence into the chimney. The requisite supply of
atmospheric air is admitted to the fires through the hollow bridge K by means
of the lateral passages L. The ingress of air into the passages L is controlled
by the valves M fitted in front of the boilers, and by means of the rods N, the
shaft O, and the lever P the valves are connected to a self-acting apparatus
for regulating the admission of air to the fires. In the illustrative Drawing of
my improvements the boilers are shown with the lower part of the internal
furnaces B on a level with the floor of the engine house, access to the lower
furnaces being obtained by means of a recess R made in the floor and covered
by a staging S. The water space or pocket W forms a narrow cell or hollow
fin, extending along the centre of the bottom of the boiler, and in the modi-
fication shown in my Drawing this water space is made sufficiently deep to
extend to the bottom of the furnace bars. A slightly wedge-shaped form is, by

page_text: preference, given to this water space; the boiler plates of which it is made are
bent to the required shape, and rivetted to the bottom of the boiler. The
water contained in the boiler flows into the water space or pocket W through
a number of apertures made in the cylindrical shell over the centre of the
water space. The boilers constructed according to this improvement should
be set slightly out of the horizontal line, the inclination before towards the
front of the boiler. The object of this arrangement is, that as the mud or
other impurities in the water subside, they collect in the water space, and by.
giving the boiler a slight inclination towards the front, the greater portion of
the solid matter is accumulated at the part whence it is most easily removed.
For this purpose a plug or cock X is fitted at the lower part of the water
space W, and the sediment may be removed, either by introducing a scraper or
other suitable instrument through the plug when the boiler is not in use, or
by turning on the cock and driving out the deposit by the pressure of the
steam when the boiler is at work. The cock X is fitted with a pipe Y,
through which the foul water and sediment is carried away below the flooring
of the recess R. By carrying the water space or pocket W down to the
bottom of the furnace bars, or below the bars, the sediment falls below the
fire, and thereby prevents the plates of the pocket from being burnt, which
would be the case if the sediment was allowed to collect at a part exposed to
the direct heat of the fire. The lower furnace E is divided by the water space
or pocket W into two sections, and this arrangement admits of the fire in the
two divisions being supplied with fuel in alternate succession, by which means
the combustible gases arising from the fresh fuel are ignited by the action
of the incandescent fire in the opposite division, and the fuel is thereby
economized.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of steam boilers with a
water space or pocket at the lower part of the shell, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of preventing the injurious accumulation of
sediment within steam boilers by means of a vertical water space or pocket,

page_text: into which the sediment falls, and may be discharged therefrom at pleasure,
as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of constructing steam boilers, wherein a vertical
furnace water space is carried down below the level of the fire bars.
Fourth, the system or mode of arranging or constructing steam boilers
having a vertical furnace water space, as herein-before described, with an
inclined bottom, for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stephen; have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
JOHN STEPHEN (L.S.)