US79094A - Improvement in steam-generators - Google Patents

Description

PATENT Orricnt,

JOHN ARMSTRONG, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUIsIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-GENERATORS.

Spccication forming part of Letters Patent No. 79,091, dated June 23, 1868.

To all whom, it may concern: y

Beit known that I, JOHN ARMSTRONG, of the city of N ew Orleans, parish of Orleans, .and State of Louisiana, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improved Steam- Boiler, which, for purposes of distinction, I call an Improved Skeleton Boiler; and I do hereby de# clare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description of the samegreference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in Whic y Figurel, Plate 1, is a side elevation; Fig. 2, Plate 2, a plan or top View, and Fig. 3, Plate 3, a front elevation.

Before I proceed to describe my invention or to indicate its mode of operation, it is proper to premise that in its 'construction or creation my great object has been to increase the re-surface of a boiler of any given Watercontaining capacity, and correlatively the evaporation and vaporization' of `the Water within it, with a reduced consumption of fuel; or, to state my design in other Words, to make a boiler, lof any given `Water-containing capacity, Which will generate more steam with less fuel, be more easily manufactured and repaired, and far stronger, and thereforeless liable to explode, while at the same time occupying less space and securing a more perfect equilibrium of pressure and heat throughout every part of it than any other boiler that has heretofore `been devised, and Which,"fu1ther more, if such condition be requisite, shall be readily portable from' one locality or situation to another in sections, and, therefore, in light and easily-handled form. To accomplish these obviouslyhighly-beneficial and economic ends I have contrived a boiler in which two or more lines or sets of perpendicular tubes or iiues are connected together by a system of transverse or cross flues of smaller. diameter,

"that while approximating to a horizontal po-` sition are yet sufficiently inclined, or lower at one end than the other, to prevent the deposition and lodgment therein of saline or other sediment, and which is also provided, in addition to theI ordinary steam-chamber orr space in which the evolution takes place above the water-line, with capacious steam-drums, that are placed above the same for containing the steam and rarefying and drying the same, as well as to interpose an eifectual guard or preventive against the danger of foaming,*and

" also with clearing-pipes to discharge such extraneous or foreign matter, of a solid or partially-solid form, as may be carried into the boiler with the Water or be created afterward vby the boiling of the same and. precipitated by its gravity into the lower parts or eXtremities of the vertical tubes and thence into the said pipes, thus preventing the formation of anincrustation upon the inner surfaces of the boiler, or the establishment of obstructions l anywhere therein, to stop or check the due 1 circulation of the water or to endanger the integrity of the boiler from the action of the fire. I employ in connection with the clearng-pipes vention will be better and more quickly understood by referring to the drawings, on which the same letters denote the same parts at all the figures. i

, On the drawings, A A A are the perpendicular tubes, and B B B the lateral or cross fines, which, it will be seen on inspection of Fig. 3, are slightly inclined from a true horizontal line, or` so placed as to be lower at one end than the other, thus insuring a certain deposit of sediment that may be made therein, down the inclination into the vertical tubes, `from which it passes into the clearing-pipes, to be discharged by the blow-off valves or cocks. The connection between the vertical and the cross tubes `may be secured by flanged sleevesriveted to the extremities of the latter and to the shell of the former around the openings cut through itd to establish a communication between the two, as shown at Fig. 8, or by any other usual and 'sufficient means known to persons skilled in the art to which my invention belongs.

As a general thing, or for ordinarypurposes,

ordinary valves-such as'are used in all boilers conditions ofsafety andv economy; but my in-I though gradual movement, it may be, of' any i in constructing my boiler l2 propose to have three lines of vertical tubes, in each of which there are ten or more tubes; but obviously this is a matter of detail in no wise affecting 1 the principle of my invention, and any number of lines and a greater or 'less number of tubes in each linemay be used if circumstances should require modification. So, also, it is proper to state, while I do not confine myself to any givennnmber of cross-dues, l should,

for ordinary purposes, prefer to have four be` tween every two of the vertical tubes, excepting just over the grate-bars, w-here, in ord er to t give sufficient space for the fuel, the number `is reduced to three, as shown on the drawings.

IIhe relative diameters of the vertical and cross tubes should be about as twenty-fouris to fifteen-that is to say, if the vertical tubes are to.be twenty-four inches in diameter the crossv iues should be about fifteen inches; but, maniof the boiler that might get outof order without taking it apart. The water-line should be just above the top of the upper crossilue and justabove thehorizontal cover a, which may consist of a plate of iron, through which the l lvertical tubes pass in closely-fitting openings,

vre-enforced by placing `on it fire-brick or some other non-radiating substance, such as is usually employed in making steam-boiler furnaces. The water extending above this cover or plate, and the fire and fiame being confined below it, no lpart of the boiler can ever be unduly heated-or burned.

The space for the steam in the boiler proper is, it will be seen, in the top or upper extremity of each vertical iiue, which present, in fact, multiple steam-drums above the Water-line and in the connecting steam-pipes E, through which a circulation of the steam -is established throughout every part of the boiler in which it is evolved or generated. Above these pipes E, and connecting with them by the short vertical pipes b, are the steam-dru ms proper, (marked F,) from which the steam passes directly to the cylinder or cylinders. The drums F are constructed and calculated with exact reference to the evaporating capacity of the boiler and to the withdrawing power of the cylinders, and being raised considerably above the boiler no foaming of the water nor consequent too .rapid reduction of the same can ever possibly take place. rlhese drums, as shown on the drawings, are merely illustrations, for they may manifestly be of any other suitable form and occupy any other suitable relation that convenience may dictate and produce precisely the same effect.

Underneath each line of vertical tubes, and connecting directly by means of a short pipe with each tube, are the clearing-pipes G,which are provided at both their extremities, as shown, with blow-off'valves or cocks H, which may be, as before intimated, of any usual and approved construction.

The covering-plate a is the top of the furnace,which, as a whole, it will be remarked,

is coextensive with the water-containing parts of the boiler, and c is a division-plate that is placed below it, in order to establish two reverse currents of the heat and tlame,ras shown by the arrows at Fig.,1, and to extend the draft to double the length of the boiler.

The apron J provides for an open space at the rear end of the boiler, that leads from the open furnace-space below plate cinto the space that is above it, -which latter constitutes the return-due of the furnace that connects with and leads into the chimney or smoke-stack K.

In the saine or very nearly the same plane with the lower extremities of the vertical tubes A the plate-d is placed, and this plate constitutes the bottom of the furnace. .The plate c is so placed as to be about twice the distance fro m the bottom plate, d, that it is from the covering-plate a, so as to reduce the return-flue-that is to say, the space above the intermediate plate, c, to half or less than half the vertical dimensions ,of the space below said plate.

The plates a, c, and d are permanently and rmlysecured to the boiler, and each of them f encircles every tube so closely that no flame can pass through either of them. They moreover extend a few inches outside each of the externallin'e of tubes, in order to connect with the side walls of the furnace, which are thus removed for-the purpose of creating a dame-space between the 'said walls and the said outer lines of tubes, and thus to effect a complete envelopment of every tube in the boiler by the flame, and secure an equal and uniform heat in every part of the boiler by an equal exposure of every part of its surface to the action of the fire.

Bridge-supports are xed transversely across the boiler for the grates R in any proper manne'r, so that the said grates can be laid substantially as shown on the drawings.

To steady the vertical tubes and insure an upper longitudinal circulation of the water through them, small sectional pipes or chockjoints e may be introduced, as shown, at a point justbelow the line of the lower surfaces of the upper or top line of cross-fines B.

Every part of my boiler in which water isV l contained being completely enveloped in dame, and every part being circular, it-is plainly manifest that the largest possible extent of nre-surface is presented by it, and hence that the greatest possible evaporation must, necessarily result, and at the same time the greatest possible strength is secured as to every one of its parts. It will be furthermore observed that should any part or section of the boiler explode no extendeddamage can take place, as in the case of boilers o'f ordinary construction, and that in consequence of the existence, as before stated, of considerable space between each tier or system of cross-dues, in the event of any injury toV any part of the boiler the same may be easily and quickly repaired. Man-holes W, which are covered and closed by man-heads (not shown on the drawings) in any usual manner, are made in the top of each Vertical tube A, in order that the Same may be easily entered and cleaned.

I am well aware that James Howard and T. Bonseld have recently patented an improved boiler in which a set of vertical tubes are connected together by means of single horizontal cast-iron tubes that are placed at the lower extremities of the former; but my invention is wholly different in every essential `particular. Especially is it diierent in that it is made throughout of Wrought-iron and is homogeneous in all its parts7 and that it presents more than three times the hre-surface of the said boiler. I therefore disclaim any pretension to any part of Howard and Bonselds boiler, as well asto their method of uniting the parts. i

I would state that I am aware that the employment or use of horizontal flues for connecting two or more lines or series of n upright tubes or boilers is not new; and I am also aware `that inclined pipes or dues have been used to connect vertical tubes or boilers. These, therefore, I do not claim irrespective of the arrangement described; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is-

The-central line'or set of "vertical tubes, A, in combination with the outer lines or sets of tubes, and with the system of oppositely-inclined connecting-hues B, arranged in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

J N O. ARMSTRONG.

W'itnesses:

LYMAN HARDING, RUFUs R. RHODES.

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