Steam, Its Generation and UseBabcock & Wilcox Company
History
Steam, Its Generation and Use
Babcock & Wilcox Company
Steam-boilers, Water-tube
The improvement in boiler and engine design of Smeaton, Newcomen and
their contemporaries, were followed by those of the great engineer,
James Watt, an instrument maker of Glasgow. In 1763, while repairing a
model of Newcomen's engine, he was impressed by the great waste of steam
to which the alternating cooling and heating of the engine gave rise.
His remedy was the maintaining of the cylinder as hot as the entering
steam and with this in view he added a vessel separate from the
cylinder, into which the steam should pass from the cylinder and be
there condensed either by the application of cold water outside or by a
jet from within. To preserve a vacuum in his condenser, he added an air
pump which should serve to remove the water of condensation and air
brought in with the injection water or due to leakage. As the cylinder
no longer acted as a condenser, he could maintain it at a high
temperature by covering it with non-conducting material and, in
particular, by the use of a steam jacket. Further and with the same
object in view, he covered the top of the cylinder and introduced steam
above the piston to do the work previously accomplished by atmospheric
pressure. After several trials with an experimental apparatus based on
these ideas, Watt patented his improvements in 1769. Aside from their
historical importance, Watt's improvements, as described in his
specification, are to this day a statement of the principles which guide
the scientific development of the steam engine. His words are:
"My method of lessening the consumption of steam, and
consequently fuel, in fire engines, consists of the following
principles:
"First, That vessel in which the powers of steam are to be
employed to work the engine, which is called the cylinder in
common fire engines, and which I call the steam vessel, must,
during the whole time the engine is at work, be kept as hot as
the steam that enters it; first, by enclosing it in a case of
wood, or any other materials that transmit heat slowly;
secondly, by surrounding it with steam or other heated bodies;
and, thirdly, by suffering neither water nor any other substance
colder than the steam to enter or touch it during that time.
"Secondly, In engines that are to be worked wholly or partially
by condensation of steam, the steam is to be condensed in
vessels distinct from the steam vessels or cylinders, although
occasionally communicating with them; these vessels I call
condensers; and, whilst the engines 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 may impede the working of the
engine, is to be drawn out of the steam vessels or condensers by
means of pumps, wrought by the engines themselves, or otherwise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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