BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME' FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage .. 1891 A.^A..? 7:r..7.. s//.U.a,£... 3513-1 Cornell University Library TJ 275.W18 Steam boilers, engines and turbines, 3 1924 004 608 083 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004608083 STEAM BOILERS, ENGINES, AND TURBINES c6 a* r^T OJ I O ^ r/: CI :/j STEAM BOILERS, ENGINES AND TURBINES SYDNEY F. 'gfALKER M.I.E.E^ M.Inst.M.E., M.I.M.E., Assoc.M.I.C.E., Etc. AVTHOR OF "electricity IN MINING," ETC. NEW YORK D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY 23 MURRAY AND 27 WARREN STREETS 1908 PREFACE In the following pages the author has endeavoured to set forth the principles and practice of steam, as they are understood by modern engineers, for the use of the student, using the term in its wide sense, viz. to include all those to whom a knowledge of steam and of steam-using apparatus will be of service. "With the universal -em- ployment of power, a knowledge of the properties of steam is becoming daily of more and more importance to engineers of all branches, and to large numbers of business men and others who are not directly engaged in the practical application of steam appliances..^ The author has endeavoured to set out, in simple language, and with the aid' of only the very simplest forms of mathematics, the properties of water, of steam, of air, and of the gases that enter into the process of combustion, and he has also endeavoured to give a resume of the latest practice in steam, and a description of the latest appliances for its economical generation and use. With the ever- increasing demands for power, and with the repeated warnings from scientists of the possible shortness of cog,l, and again with the steadily increasing cost of mining coal in the United Kingdom, sources of economy in the use of steam, it has appeared to the author, are of increasing importance; and he has endeavoured to give a clear and simple explanation of the different apparatus designed to produce economy, and of the leading forms on the market. The book is divided into six chapters. In the first chapter the author has dealt with the underlying principles upon which the use of steam apparatus is based. In the second chapter he has described the principles and construction, and, as far as space has allowed, the working of the different forms of boilers on the market. In the third chapter he has dealt with the apparatus designed to effect economies in the consumption of fuel. In the remaining chapters vi" PREFACE he has dealt with the construction, arrangement, and working of reciprocating engines, turbines, and condensers, and with the appa- ratus designed for economies in steam consumption, in the cost of condensing, etc. He trusts that the book may be of service to those for whom it is written, and may be an aid to the heavier books on steam, steam engines, etc. SYDNEY F. WALKER. 1, Bloomfibld Cbescent, Bath. CONTENTS CHAPTEE I INTRODUGTOBY PAGE What heat is ..... 1 The ether ... 1 Properties of heat waves 2 Temperature .... i Absolute temperature 5 Measurement of temperatures 5 The expansion pyrometer 6 Thermo-electric pyrometers 7 Entropy . 9 Transmission of heat .... 9 Thermal conductivity of finely divided substances 12 Specific heat ...... 13 The British thermal unit 13 The mechanical equivalent of heat . 15 The rate of doing work .... 15 Expansion of bodies in the presence of heat 16 Latent heat ...... 16 The variation of the boiling-point . 18 The influence of dissolved substances upon the boiling-point of water 21 Absolute pressure ..... 22 Variation of the latent heat with variation of pressure 22 Properties of saturated steam 24 Air ....... 25 Volume and weight of air at various temperatiires 26 Measuring the percentage of vapour in air 28 Volume and pressure 29 The specific heat of air . 29 Water .... 31 Impurities in water 33 Steam .... 34 Superheated steam 35 Specific heat of superheated steam 36 Camot's law of the ef&oienoy of heat engines 36 Euel and combustion .... 37 Calorific power 38 Forms of fuel 39 Coal . 39 Forms of coal 40 Cannel coal . 41 The difierences between coals 42 Carbon and volatile matter in coals 42 Calorimetry ..... 43 a 3 . viii CONTENTS PAGE Wood 44 Spent tan, straw, bagasse, corn stalks, and other organic refuse ... 45 Liquid fuels 46 Flash point and ignition point ......... ^7 Gas tar as a fuel .........•• ^8 Burning liquid fuels 49 Gaseous fuel 49 Producer gas . ... .49 Blast furnace gas ............ 50 Coke oven gas . , . .51 ' Natural gas . 51 Gases found in collieries .......... 52 CHAPTEE II BOILEBS The steam boiler . 53 Circulation in boilers 54 Kre-tube boilers . 55 Galloway cone tubes 59 The construction of Lanes, and Cornish boilers 60 Lanos. and Cornish boiler flues 63 Corrugated flues and furnaces 64 Setting Cornish and Lanes, boilers 68 Firing Lanes, and Cornish boilers from outside 69 The Galloway boiler 70 Multitubular boilers 70 Forms of multitubular boiler 72 The ordinary multitubular boiler 72 The locomotive type of boiler 73 The marine boiler . 73 The dry back boiler 74 Combined Cornish and multitubular boilers 76 Water-tube boilers .... 77 An advantage claimed for water-tube boilers with high pressures 79 Convenience of transport of water-tube boilers 81 The water circulation in water-tube boilers .... 81 The furnace of water-tube boilers .... 82 Forms of water-tube boilers 82 The Stirling water-tube boiler ...... 84 The Nesdrum water-tube . boiler . 87 The Woodeson water-tube boiler ...... 88 Water-tube boilers with horizontal or nearly horizontal tubes 90 Marshall's water-tube boiler ......'. 91 Davey, Paxman's water-tube boiler ..... 91 The Wood water-tube boiler ....,.] 92 The Galloway water-tube boiler ...... 93 American boilers with straight, or nearly straight, horizontal tubes 93 The Atlas water-tube boiler ....... 93 The .' water purifying apparatus of the Atlas boiler 95 The Heine and the Detroit water-tube boilers ', . , 95 Water-tube boilers with vertical tubes ..,'.', 96 Water-tube boilers with curved tubes ..,''. 98 The Climax water-tube ' . boiler 98 Thornycroft water-tube boilers .....' 99 Thornyoroft-Schultz boiler .....'.' 100 The Taylor water-tube^boiler ...!"' 104 Small vertical f boilers 104 The Straker motor-wagon boiler . , . , , 105 CONTENTS IX CHAPTEE III BOILER ACCESSOBIES Burning the fuel .... Special forms of furnace bars Apparatus for burning coal dust Apparatus for burning lic^uid fuel. —The Holden System Liquid fuel burners.—Marshall's Apparatus Burning town's refuse . Meldrum's colliery refuse destructor Mechanical stokers Forms of mechanical stoker . The grate bars of over-feed stokers . The Auto stoker .... Vicars mechanical stoker Chain-grate stokers Under-feed stokers Providing the air for the furnace . Chimney draught Sizes of chimneys and horse-power of boilers The factors ruling the height of a chimney Construction of boiler chimneys Forced draught ..... Induced draught ..... Induced draught combined with heating of the air for the furnace Forms of fans employed for mechanical draught Sizes of fan required Draught by means of steam jets . Boiler dampers .... Automatic damper regulators The Lagonda damper regulator Boiler cleaners .... Turbine boUer-tube cleaners Boiler fittings .... Safety valves .... Atmospheric relief valve High and low water safety apparatus Combined stop and safety valve Heating the feed water for the boilers Economizers .... Green's Economizer . Heating air and water by economizers Steam feed-water heaters The enclosed steam feed-water heaters Open steam feed-water heaters Feed-water pmnps Ram pumps .... Special pumps .... The Pulsometer feed pump . Electrically driven boiler feed pumps Donkey or wall pumps . Injectors ..... Feed-water regulators . Purifying the feed water Other scale-forming substances Methods of removing foreign bodies, etc CONTENTS PAGE Water softeners .... 182 The Arohbutt-Deeley water softener 183 The Griton water softener 184 186 The Eeisert water softener . The Bruun Lowener water softener 187 Guttman water softener 188 Doulton's water softener 188 The Kennioott water softener 189 190 The Desrumeaux water softener . The Arthur Koppel water softener 191 Harris-Anderson water softener 192 Eemoving the oil from the water . 193 Oil separators .... 193 Cochrane vacuum oil separator 195 Beid oil separators 195 A steam exhaust head and oil catcher 197 Special apparatus for removing oil 197 Davis-Perrett's electrical emulsifier 198 Superheating the steam 199 Forms of superheating apparatus 200 The Baboook Wilcox . 200 The Stirling superheater 201 The Nesdrum Superheater 202 The Sinclair Superheater 203 The Galloway Superheater 203 The Tinker Superheater 203 Steam separators 203 The Harriot Steam Separator 203 Evaporators .... 204 Apparatus for testing the flue gases in the chimney 205 The Saroo automatic COj recorder 208 The Simmance and Abady COj recorder 211 The Orsat apparatus for flue gas analysis 212 CHAPTEE IV TEE STEAM ENGINE The reciprocating steam engine 218 The mean effective pressure . 215 The work a steam engine will perform . 218 Indicated horse-power and brake horse-power 219 Double-cylinder engines 220 Compound Engines 221 Triple-expansion engines 226 Quadruple-expansion engines 227 High- and low-speed engines . 227 The Ernest Scott and Mountain higgh-speed engine 232 The Willans central valve engine 232 Bunsted high-speed engine . 236 The Peache engine 237 Vertical and horizontal engines 239 Lancashire mill engines 240 Keciprocating valves for engines 242 The slide valve 243 Giving motion to the slide valve 246 Objections to the slide valve . 247 Lap and lead of slide valve . 248 CONTENTS XI PAGE The piston slide valve 248 Drop valves .