Babcock and Wilcox’s Patent Model of a Steam Generator – ca 1867
date: label: date made
content: 1867
label: patent date
content: 1867-05-28
name: label: inventor
content: Babcock, George H.
label: inventor
content: Wilcox, Jr., Stephen
notes: label: Description
content: This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 65,042 issued to George H. Babcock and Stephen Wilcox, Jr. of Providence, Rhode Island on May 28, 1867. The patent was for an improved design for steam generators, or boilers. The design is for a boiler in which the water being converted to steam is held in a number of small compartments rather than in one large mass.
label: Description
content: The inventors claimed this had the advantage of greater economy in construction because the lower expansive forces allowed use of cast iron. They also claimed increased safety in that a failure in one of the sections would result in less destructive force, increased efficiency in heating the large surface areas, and easier removal of deposits within the tubes.
label: Description
content: As can be seen in the image of the model, the boiler consists of a nest of horizontal tubes which serve as a steam and water reservoir above and connected to a second next of inclined tubes normally filled with water. The tubes in both nests are arranged in vertical rows with each row being connected by end tubes. Each vertical row forms a section of the boiler. The fire grate is the inclined plane at the lower right corner of the model. Combustion gases would travel up and through the tube sections and out via the flue at the upper right.
label: Description
content: The inventors established Babcock, Wilcox & Company in 1867 to manufacture water tube boilers based on this inclined tube design. The company continues in business as of 2016.
label: Description
content: The patent model is constructed of wood. A full description of the operation of the boiler along with complete diagrams of the patent can be found in the patent document online at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, www.uspto.gov.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Rhode Island
label: associated place
content: United States: Rhode Island, Providence
topic: label: Subject
content: Patent Models
label: Subject
content: Steam Engines
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
label: See more items in
content: Patent Models
label: Exhibition
content: Power Machinery
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Frank A. Taylor. Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States National Museum, Bulletin 173
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.309837
label: catalog number
content: 309837
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 65,042
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, generator, steam
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 10 in x 3 in; 25.4 cm x 25.4 cm x 7.62 cm