USRE1878E - Improvement in condensers - Google Patents

Description

W- A. LIGHTHALL.

Reissued Feb. 21, 1865.

No. b1,878.

Wiz-fri?? J UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WlILLIAM-A. LIGHTHALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y

IMPROVEMENT lN CONDENSERS.

Spcclileation forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,950 dated December 17, 1861; Rcissue No. LSTS,

' dated February 21, ieee.

To all whom, t mary concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. LIGHT- IIALL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful i Method of Set-ting Tubes in Tubular (louture. Fig. 4 a similar yView shovvnvi g the packing swaged77 down to place to secure and set the tube.Y Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the packing'.

1t is requisite in tubular eondensers for condensing the steam exhausted from steam-engines that provision should be made in setting the tubes in their tube-sheets for the movement of themA due to their expansion and contraction, which is produced by the intermission ofthe exhaust, which occurs twice to each stroke of the engine, and which, theretore, pr'oduces two expansions and contr-actions of the tubes at each ot' said strokes, the tubes being expanded'by the transmission to them of the eoloric ofthe steam brought in contact with them, and contracted (after the steam is condensed) by that caloric being abstracted from them by thecurrent of cooliugwater passing through or around them, as the case may be. It' the tubes are secnredtirml y at both ends in their head-sheets, (after the manner of setting boile1-tnbes,) their expansion and contractlon either causes them to leak in their setting or to bend and bre-k them, ineither event rendori ng them valueless for the purposefor which they are designed. They are now secured at one end firmly in the head-sheet and the other end is allowed to move in a packing' formed of india-rubber or other lnaterial, secured by a follower 7 or.other analogous Ineans, which keeps them tight, while it allows them to move freely as they are expanded and contracted'. This device is subject to the objection of its first cost and of the constant care required to keep the follower, or its equivalent, in contact with the packing, in order that vthe packing shall properly perform its otce.

l My invention is intended to effectY the ob jects sought to be eected by the device above named without being subject to its disadvalr tages, and consists in forming a packing around the unfastened ends of the tubes (or around both ends of the same, if desired) of rings made of lead or other soft metal, or of india-rubber, or of wood or properly-prepared paper, or of a combination of either of these materia-ls with the other by forming the packing-rings in two or more sections instead of a single section, as'

shown inthe drawings, and in securing the said packing in place in the head-sheet by the Jrormatlon ofthe packing-apertures in the said sheet, so that the packing will be securely held without the use of a follower or other analogous device and yet allow the free' movement ofthe end or ends of the tube caused by the expansion and contraction above described.

A is a broken section of a head-sheet, made of cast-iron or other east Inetal or composition under my patent ofJune 11, 1861, the apertures Bfor the reception of the tubes being enlarged at their outer end for about two-thirds of their depth to i'orm a space to receive the packing, hereinafter described. The enlarged portion of the aperture is made slightly larger in diameter (say one thirty-second of an inch) at' the bottom than at the top, so as to hold the packing securely in place. As shown in th'e drawings, this packing, C, is made ot' a ring of soi'tmctal of au interior diameter equal to that- -of the exterior diameter ofthe tube l), and ot' an exterior diameter equal to that of the outer end of the aperture B, so as to till the space between the tube and the aperture, as shown in Fig. 3, and of a len th enough greater than the enlarged portion o the aperture B to allow it to be set down 7: by a proper tool, so as to be swaged out to till up the whole of the space between the tube and the aperture, and to be pressed tightly against the exterior of the tube, as shown in Fig. 4, so that it cannot move from its position when the end ot the tube is movedbyrthe expansion and contraction before described, while it allows the tube to -move freely within it and yet be preserved tight.

I iind that lead pipe of proper size, made of soft lead and drawn o f equal thickness and out toAproper length, answers an exeellent purpose' 1n the manufacture' of these packingrings,`not only on account of the readiness f with which it canvbe obtained and fitted, but

also for its cheapness'; but yet.' I can employ instead'a paelging made in two sections, using r `for one section y securing it with'I theI second section formed yof j 'woodgjor' lean employ india rubber or preparedpaper for the first 'section and secure 'them with a.- second section of soft lead or the lead ring` above.named,'and

other'suitable metaLlor with a Wooden ferrule.

These lpacking-rings, when firmly secured as shown and described; preserve the' ends .of

' the tubes perfectly tight in the headlsheeso 'far as regardsIeakage' around-aud pastthe.'

ends ofthe tubes, and yet allow them to move' to the extent required by their expansion and ieonlraction, as before stated," v'v`ithout the nterposition or use ofa followe., or other analogous mechanical device to hold thom'in place.

j It will be apparent topraeticalinen that my improvement is equally applicable to. securingv vthe tubes of condensers to be employed for condensing the steam evaporated from salt' Water to be distilled for making potable water and of those of tubular heaters for heating cold Water andof 'tubular' refrigerators forcooling warm water, to preserve them from the y e'eots of the sudden expansion and 'contraction to which they may be subjectedwhenin use:A

What I claim as my invention, and'd'ir to secure by Letters Patent, s L' 4 Securing the packing-rings G, or their equivalents or substitute'sfas herein deseribedfin .the apertures "inthe head-sheetA around the ends of the tubesD, without the use ofa follower or other analogous mechanical devi'oe drlarrangemenmgas herein set forthfrff. WM. A; LIQHTHALL. Witnesses:

' E. R. VAN BUREN,

yJAi/.rnfs EALER, l

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