US1923770A - baker - Google Patents

Description

ug. 22, 1933. J, F L, BAKER I 1,923,770

MEANS FOR MANIPULATING THE DUST BLOWER PLUGS OF WATER TUBE BOILERS Filed 00T.. 16, 1930 cig TTOjPNEY Patented Aug. 22, 1933 f 'UNITED s TATEsf- BLOWER PLUGS Bormes f e OF WATER TUBE John F. L. Baker, Saginaw, Mich., assigner to Wickes Boiler Co., Saginaw, Mich., a Corporation of Michigan i Application oember 1s, 1930. serial Ne. 489,042

f 1 claim. (o1. 2er-131) This invention relates to water tube boilers and is particularly applicable to boilers in which waste gases from cement burning kilns are utilized for generation of steam. In such boilers cement dust, carried by the kiln gases,fsettles onthe `water tubes and must be blown away periodically because it would become solidified and permanently set ifv exposed to the atmosphere for any considerable time.

A number of tubular thimbles extend clearv through the water header. They are expanded into the tube sheet and into the hand hole sheet and are in staggered relation to the water tubes in the tube sheet. The thimbles are of appropriate diameter to permit the lance or tubular nozzle of a pneumatic dust blower` to pass through them and be moved back and forth and variously directed so as to remove dust from the boiler tubes throughout their length. While the boiler is in service the thimbles are usually kept stoppered by means of removable plugs so as to at least partly prevent air leakage into the combustion chamber. The plugs have heretofore been taken out and re-inserted manually, .one at a time in consecutive order, by the-at.-

tendantwhile he was engaged in cleaning the boiler tubes. Necessarily the plugs have been inserted into the thimbles somewhat loosely with the result that they were more or less ineffective in preventing air leakage into the combustion chamber.

A boiler of the size usually installed in the waste gas iiue of a cement kiln will have about 5 Aseventeen hundred of these cleanout thimbles Vand plugs, and since the cement dust should be blown from the tubes once every day it is obvious that speed is necessary in the several operations of removing the plugs, inserting the blower, manipulating the dusting blast, withdrawing the blower and finally reinserting the plug with suflicient care and accuracy to cause it to form an effective air-tight joint.

The present invention has to do with a thimble which is internally tapered and a tapered plug adapted to make an air-tight nt therein, also a plug handling device` This device comprises a lever arranged and adapted for quickly loosening the plug from its tight fitting seat, eX- .tracting it from the thimble and thereafter holding the plug grasped in such a way that the attendant can quickly and accurately aline it with any thimble and crce it fairly into place, The operations of removing many plugs and replacf `ing them are thus performed easily and speedily,

and each plug is inserted to make an air-tight t. l

vrarsENr- VokFFicr.I Simatic H 'l i MEANS FOR MANIPULATNG THE DUST- More specifically, the inventionY comprises a plug that is tapered and has also anend -ormed to present a lug or bail, in conjunction with a plug manipulating handle co-operating with the bail and comprising a lever having a head, ap? propriately "nook-shaped, arranged to be quicklyv and easily engaged with the bail. .The head is also provided with a heel or iulcrum adaptedto taire its seat upon the'hand-hole sheet, adjacent a thimble, thel hook and heel'serving to forcibly draw the plug free from its seat and remove it from the thimble. Furthermore, theV plug and its bail are so shaped that when the plug has been .extracted it will stand straight out` from .the end of Ythe lever, Yin lsubstantial axial parallelism therewith, after the manner of a spear head on a stair. The purpose-oiholding the plug in 'such longitudinal alinement onthe handle is to enable the operator to:y riiorecer-v tainly guide the plug by holdingthe handle With'l both hands, tochter it into a thimble and -toA push it accurately and tightlylto itsseat with rapidity andfwith minimum effort, YAfter the plug is tightly seated, the vhook-shapedend of the lever detaches itself from the bail of the plug, being formed suitably for that purpose.

My invention accomplishes all of the stated results by simple and eiective means and in a novel manner.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side View of a water tube boiler, showing the application of my invention thereto.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary end View, showing vpart of the header of a Water tube boiler employing my invention.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a part sectional detail, showing the tool cr Ylever attached to the plug ready vto dislodge it.

Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively a side view and an end view of a preferred form of bail for the plug.

Figs. '7 and 8 are respectively a side view and an end view of a plug with amodied form of bail.

Fig. 9 is an end View of a modied form ofv the leverv head, adapted for handling a plug having the bail shown in Figs. l and 8.

A boiler structure to which my invention isv applicable is shown in Fig. 1 and consists of Water tubes 1 expanded into tube sheet 2, and a hand-hole sheet 3 spaced from the tube sheet by the usual stay-bolts 4 and sleeves. Arranged in staggered relation with the tubes 1 and staybolts are the thimbles 6 Whose outer ends 5 are expanded into the hand-hole sheet 3, as shown in Fig. 4. The outer end of thimble 6 is formed to a tapered bore 6a. A correspondingly tapered plug 7 is provided having a pointed nose 7a and a bail 7b, which may be perforated at 7c, as shown in Fig. 5, or alternatively, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the bail 9 may be formed with lugs 9a.

A removable handle is used for manipulating the plug comprising the bar 8 having a head formed to present a fulcrum 8a adapted to seat on the hand-hole sheet 3 adjacent the thimble 6. The head is lalso shaped to present a hooklike member 8b located on the opposite side of the head from the fulcrum 8a and remote from it.

The hook 8b is preferably shaped to be inserted in the perforation 7c, as shown in Fig. 4, or if the modified form of plug illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 is used the hook may be bifurcated, as shown at 10 in Fig. 9, to engage the laterally projecting lugs 9a.

When the plug is free from the thimble the head of bar 8 and the bail 7b of the plug cooperate in supporting the plug in substantial axial parallelism with the handle. The lower edge 7d of the plug 7 rests on the head near.

its tulcrum part 8a, and bail 7b engages hook 8b. In that way the plug is supported in alinement with the handle 6 and is prevented from falling 01T from the head under any Aconditions of ordinary handling.

In operation, assuming plug 7 to be tightly driven into the tapered bore 6a of the thimble 6, the plug can be dislodged and removed by inserting the hook 8b'into the aperture 7c of the bail as shown in Fig. 4, with the heel 8a resting upon the plate 3. A downward pull on the bar'8 extracts the plug. The plug, however, remains on the head andthe handle and its attachedplug can be laid aside during the operation of blowing the tubes. After the blowing operation is finished the plug can be reinserted in the thimble 6 much more accurately and quickly than could be done if the operator were to pick up the plug in his hand and force it into the thimble, because the handle holds the plug in position so it can be pointed directly at the thimble and then driven forward to `tightly fit the plug intoV the thimble. The

operator can use both hands and exert as much force as he desires, the result being an air-tight joint at 6a.

The hook V8b thereupon detaches itself from the bail andthe operator applies the tool to the next plug to be removed. As has been pointed out, the bail 7b, the head with its fulcrum 8a and hook 8b, and the bar 8, together constitute an effective combination of devices for extracting the plug 7. The handle thereafter holds the plug in position so it can be easily and quickly inserted in a thimble and can be forcibly driven in to make an air-tight joint.

'I'he operator after a short period of practice is able to remove the plugs and insert them at a much faster` rate of speed than has heretofore been possible by mere hand manipulation of the plugs.

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

A device for removingand replacing tapered plugs in the tubular thimbles of a boiler handhole sheet, each plug havinga bail on its end, said device comprising a bar having a head formed to present a heel-like fulcrum member which is adapted to seat on said sheet adjacent a thimble, said head also shaped to present an oppositely extending hook-like member positioned to releasably engage'the bail of said plug and adapted to serve also as a ram for driving the plug into tight seating engagement with a thimble, and a portion of said head intermediate said fulcrum, said fulcrum and said hook-like member being shaped to engage an edge of the plug and provide a support for the same whereby the plug is held in substantial axial parallelism with ioo the said bar when the plug is freed from the

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