US790378A - Flash steam-generator. - Google Patents

Description

No. 790,878. 4 PATENTED MAY 23, 1905.

.R. J. MINER. FLASH STEAM GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MIA-BN2 1905.

2 SHEETS8HEET 1.

No. 790.378. Y PATENTED MAY 23, 1905.

, R. J.,MINBR.

FLASH STEAM GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2, 1905.

2 B HEETS8HIIET 2.

Fig. 4.

UNITED STATES l 'atented May 23, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT J. MINER, OF GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO W INTHROP WAITE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

FLASH STEAM-GENERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,378, dated May 23, 1905. Application filed March 2, 1905. Serial No. 248,165.

To (ZZZ whom, it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, ROBERT J. MINER, of the town of Greenwich, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flash Steam-Generators, fully described and represented in thefollowing specificationand the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates particularly to that class of steam-generators known as of the flash type, in which steam is produced by the constant application of heat to water rapidly circulating under pump -pressure within a coil of tubes so arranged over the fire that at no point in the coils is the heat not directly ap lied.

The object 0 this invention is to provide a simple means of flash steam generation for automobiles, steam-launches, house-heating, &c., which, while producing steam of very high pressure or expansion, will not produce steam of too high a temperature, as it is a well-known fact that superheated steam of too high a temperature seriously interferes with the proper lubrication of engine-cylinders, &c., causing much serious damage thereby.

Still another object of this invention is to secure at all times from the generator a delivery of perfectly dry steam without undue saturation. How this object is attained will be readily seen from the specification.

A still further object of this invention is to generate steam in the shortest possible length of time from when the cold water enters the enerator to the time it is delivered in the form of superheated steam at the steam-delivery point thereof, thereby saving fuel and avoiding the necessity of a somewhat long Wait while first getting up steam, as is the case with most steam-boilers in existence to- (la till another object of this invention, and a very im ortant one, is to provide means whereby the coil wherein the vapor flashes into steam and becomes hot will not become overheated, thereby avoiding scaling of the metal, which scale particles are sometimes carried with the steam into the cylinders of the engines, with consequent injury to the latter, and prolonging the life of that part of the generator, as well as the life of the entire generator itself.

These objects are accomplished by the means shown in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view of the generator in elevation; Fig. 2, a plan view of the top of the generator looking down through the same toward the fire; Fig. 3, a view of the feed-water section of the generator, shown in perspective, while Fig. 4 shows a plan view of one of the coils constituting the main or steam section of the generator.

The enerator is made of coils either bent in circular fashion, as is shown in the annexed drawings, or in square or rectangular shaped flat coils, depending upon the requirements of use, &c. Each coil is fashioned flat, Worm style, of one piece of tubing, as is shown in Fig. 4. The coil is so bent as to leave open a small portion of its surface, approximately onethird, this open space being invariably in the center of the coil, as shown by letter a in Fig. 4, so that when all the coils are assembled or superimposed one upon another, as shown in Fig. 1, there remains open through the center of the generator a space either circular or square or rectangular, according to the shape of the boiler, as is shown in Fig. 2 by theletter a. This space is immediately over the center of the'fire and approximates one-third of the entire heatingsurface of the boiler. Through this open space is inserted a second coil 5, rising from t e bottom fire-coils c c, (which latter will be described more specifically later on,) wound sion of the lower end of the coil 1). (See Fig. 3.) These bottom fire-coils c 0, taken with the spiral riser-coil b, as shown in Fig. 3, constitute what may be designated as the feedwater section of the boiler.

The bottom fire-coils c c, referred to in the paragraph above as the flattened-out extension of the riser-coil b, are made flat, Wormwound. From what has been said in reference to this second risercoil b, internally arranged within the larger or main coils d d, Fig. 1, it will be seen that the bottom coils c c are in immediate proximity to the flame and being built of smaller tubing andv having thicker walls than the main orlarge coils d d protect the latter at the bottom of the generator from the intense heat of the fire. As the cold water is fed into the small coils c c at the bottom, just referred to, and is forced by the action of the supply-pump continuously around them and up the small spirally-wound central riser-coil b, connected therewith, it will be readily seen that they never can become overheated as long as the boiler is in action, which is a radical departure from the effect obtained from the use of those generators whose construction provides for the introduction of the feed-water into the top of the same, allowing it to flow toward the bottom, flashing into steam somewhere in the middle, and superheating in the coil next to the fire at the bottom, from whence it is delivered to the engine, &c. In this latter method the bottom coil, containing, as it does, nothing but superheated steam, itself of very high temperature, is subjected to a very severe overheating, becoming red-hot in normal action, and sometimes burning out or scaling the metal of the tube. In my generator steam is not produced at any point within this small tube or feed-water section b. The function of this section b is simply to heat up the water to a high degree, so that by the time it reaches main coil (1, directly over fire-coils c 0, (see Fig. 1,) it is in the form of a saturated vapor. Two obj cots are thus accomplished in this feed-Water section. First, it protects the steamholding bottom coil d, Fig. 1, from the intense heat by baffling the flame and taking upon itself the brunt of the same, and, second, it renders the production of steam very rapid, as the cold water being continually forced through the small tubes 0 c, Fig. 3 and Fig. 1, immediately over the fire tends to heat very quickly and continues heating all the way up the spiral coil 6 in the center, as this center is directly in the highest heat Zone.

Continuing the construction of the main or large coil-sectiondd, Fig. 1, of the generator or boiler after the feed-water or central spirallywound section b is connected with the top coil (1, as aforesaid, the main coils d d, Fig. 1, succeed each other in layers, being simply connected by their outside ends by means of nipples preferably removed from the heat zone, the end of each upper coil being bent sufficiently downward to properly make connection with the slightly-upturned end of thesucceedinglowercoil, as shown in Fig. 4. The coils are connected either from their outside ends or their inside ends. If the latter, of course the outside end of the upper coil must be left long enough to run across to the inside end of the next succeeding lower coil, and vice versa, as the ends may happen to be brought together; but in actual construction it is preferable to make allconnections bet-ween coils at the outside away from the heat zone, which is naturally more intense in the center. Another reason for my preference in making the coil connections away from the center is that in case of injury to any one coil the connection is more easilygotten at, thus facilitating repairs. The coils are not superimposed in absolute regularity one above another, being slightly staggered, so as to present all possible heating-surface to the fire. This coil construction as aforesaid continues to a point anywhere between the top main coil (Z, Fig. 1, and the last or bottom main coil (1, Fig. 1, but more particularly to a point about one-third of the way down the main coils (Z (Z of the boiler, which point in actual practice, by way of example, could be the sixth coil from the top. At this point, to which the circulation of saturated vapor has been in. downward motion, I carry the end of the coil direct along the outside of the boiler down to the bottom main or large coil, as designated in Fig. 1 by the letter e. The end of this down-drop tube a is connected with and discharges into the bottom main coil d precisely as the coils preceding above have been connected. This bottom main coil d, into which the downdrop tube a discharges, is immediately above the fire-coils c c and is protected by them from the full force of the flame, as hereinbefore stated. From this point on I continue the main-coil construction (1 (Z as formerly, except that I superimpose the coils with their connections one above the other in such manner that the circulation of vapor takes on an up motion just the reverse of the down motion referred to in the first upper coils (I (Z before the dropping down from the sixth coil to the lowest bottom main coil, as shown by the downward-leading pipe 0. This up motion continues for the remaining space left between the bottom main coil (Z and the lowest upper coil (here, by way of example, the sixth) or the coil from whence the down ward-leading tube 0 proceeds. In actual practice this upward circulation would continue to a point anywhere between the top and bottom main coils, but preferably twothirds the length up the boiler, or, by way of example, to a point between the ninth and tenth coil from the bottom main coil (1, supposing the boiler contained in all fifteen coils exclusive of the smaller-diameter fireopposing feed-water coils c c at the extreme lower end of the generator, as aforementioned. At this point, in example, as above, between the ninth and tenth main coils counting upward, as aforementioned, I take my live steam for delivery to the engine, &c., at the point h, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

In actual operation cold water is fed under pump-pressure to the bottom smaller firecoils c c at the point f, as shown in Fig. 3, through which it circulates immediately'over the flame and from which it rises within the spirally-wound central coil 1) of same diameter as the fire-coils to the top of the generator. form of hot water into the top main or large coil, as shown in the point gin Fig. 2. It circulates through this main coil and the succeeding lower main coils d d in downward motion, gettinghotter and hotter each second as it nears the fire. As it passes from the last of these upper main coils d d it is suddenly dropped through the pipe 0, Fig. 1, to thebottom main coil (1, which is sufficiently near to the flame to instantly flash into steam what up to this point has been an ever-increasingly-heated saturated vapor, but which is nevertheless, on account of the protection afforded by the small feed-water coils c c, enough removed from the fire to be perfectly free from overheating or becoming normally red-hot, even though it carries only steam within itself. From this bottom main coil cl the steam is led in an upward motion gradually away from the intense heat zone, drying out and becoming sufliciently hot to prevent condensation, so that when it reaches the delivery-point h, Fig. 1, which is approximately two-thirds the way up the boiler and At this point it is delivered in thespecially observed that this enerator can be constructed in other forms t an circular, varying as to conditions of use, &c., Without changing the construction as hereinbefore described. This enables my invention to be adapted to diflerent styles of automobiles, such as large and powerful steam-trucks demanding larger steam capacity than the cir cular form of boiler might be able to provide.

I claim as my invention In a flash steam-generator consisting of a number of coils superimposed one above another and connected with each other, and which have a number of flat fire-coils placed immediately above the flame, said flat firecoils being of less inside and outside diameter than the upper, outer main coils, the lower of which latter coils they are designed to protect from the full force of the flame; the combination of a pipe connected with, and leading the discharge of vapor downward from the upper portion of the coils in the generator, and connected with and discharging into the bottom coils of the generator, from which latter coils the vapor rises upward to the point of final delivery as set forth.

ROBERT J. MINER. [L. s.]

In presence of HENRY W. RowLEY, HENRY R. WAITE.

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