Part 1 (2/2)

”Mythe consuines, consists of the following principles:

”First, That vessel in which the powers of steaine, which is called the cylinder in coines, and which I call the steaine is at work, be kept as hot as the stea it in a case of wood, or any otherit with stea neither water nor any other substance colder than the stea that tiines that are to be worked wholly or partially by condensation of steam, the steam is to be condensed in vessels distinct froh occasionally co with theines are working, these condensers ought at least to be kept as cold as the air in the neighborhood of the engines, by application of water or other cold bodies

”Thirdly, Whatever air or other elastic vapor is not condensed by the cold of the condenser, and ine, is to be drawn out of the steaines themselves, or otherwise

”Fourthly, I intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the pistons, or whatever may be used instead of them, in the same manner in which the pressure of the atines In cases where cold water cannot be had in plenty, the enginesthe steam into the air after it has done its office

”Sixthly, I intend in so the stea it considerably, so that the engines shall be worked by the alternate expansion and contraction of the stea water to render the pistons and other parts of the engine air and steaht, I employ oils, wax, resinous bodies, fat of animals, quick-silver and other metals in their fluid state”

The fifth claiine, and need not be quoted here

The early efforts of Watt are typical of those of the poor inventor struggling with insufficient resources to gain recognition and it was not until he became associated with the wealthy ham, that he met with the success upon which his present fame is based In partnershi+p with Boulton, the business of the hly successful in spite of vigorous attacks on the validity of his patents

Though the fourth claiine which would require high pressures, his aversion to such practice was strong Notwithstanding his entire knowledge of the advantages through added expansion under high pressure, he continued to use pressures not above 7 pounds per square inch above the atmosphere To overcoh a stand-pipe of sufficient height to have the column of water offset the pressure within the boiler Watt's attitude toward high pressureafter his patents had expired

[Illustration: Portion of 9600 Horse-power Installation of Babcock & Wilcox Boilers and Superheaters, Equipped with Babcock & Wilcox Chain Grate Stokers at the Blue Island, Ill, Plant of the Public Service Co

of Northern Illinois This Company Operates 14,580 Horse Power of Babcock & Wilcox Boilers and Superheaters in its Various Stations]

In 1782, Watt patented two other features which he had invented as early as 1769 These were the double acting engine, that is, the use of steam on both sides of the piston and the use of stea off of steam from the cylinder when the piston had made but a portion of its stroke, the power for the co supplied by the expansive force of the steam already adulation of steaovernor and the stealass water column

It has been the object of this brief history of the early developments in the use of steah the tiine fro of cylinders, the application of stea of third and fourth cylinders, to the invention of the turbine with its developine to hold its place, is one long attribute to the inventive genius of raphies of Watt as to the improvement of steam boilers, all the evidence indicates that Boulton and Watt introduced the first ”wagon boiler”, so called because of its shape In 1785, Watt took out a number of patents for variations in furnace construction, many of which contain the basic principles of so furnaces Until the early part of the nineteenth century, the low steaiven to the forines above described About 1800, Richard Trevithick, in England, and Oliver Evans, in Ah pressure steaeneral use of high pressure steauished Aht and econoation and the invention of the loconed and constructed to withstand heavier pressures and forced the adoption of the cylindrical form of boiler There are in use to-day many examples of every step in the development of steam boilers from the first plain cylindrical boiler to the most modern type of hest type of fire-tube boiler construction

The early attempts to utilize water-tube boilers were few A brief history of the development of the boilers, in which this principle was e chapter From this history it will be clearly indicated that the first coenerator is properly attributed to George H

Babcock and Stephen Wilcox

[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood

Woolworth Building, New York City, Operating 2454 Horse Power of Babcock & Wilcox Boilers]

BRIEF HISTORY OF WATER-TUBE BOILERS[1]

As stated in the previous chapter, the first water-tube boiler was built by John Blakey and was patented by hiles were arranged in the furnaces, the adjacent tube ends being connected by small pipes The first successful user of water-tube boilers, however, was James Rumsey, an American inventor, celebrated for his early experiation, and it is he who inator of the water-tube boiler In 1788 he patented, in England, several forms of boilers, some of which were of the water-tube type One had a fire box with flat top and sides, with horizontal tubes across the fire box connecting the water spaces Another had a cylindrical fire box surrounded by an annular water space and a coiled tube was placed within the box connecting at its two ends with the water space This was the first of the ”coil boilers” Another form in the same patent was the vertical tubular boiler, practically as made at the present time

[Illustration: Blakey, 1766]

The first boiler made of a combination of small tubes, connected at one end to a reservoir, was the invention of another American, John Stevens, in 1804 This boiler was actually e a steamboat on the Hudson River, but like all the ”porcupine” boilers, of which type it was the first, it did not have the elements of a continued success

[Illustration: John Stevens, 1804]