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flue L. The side flue is represented, stripped of the masonry, in fig. 71., and also appears in the plan in fig. 74., and in the The course of the air is represented

cross section in fig. 73. in fig. 74. by the arrows.

From the flue L the air is con

ducted into the chimney at M.

By such an arrangement, the flame and heated air proceeding from the grate are made to circulate round the boiler, and the length and magnitude of the flues through which it is conducted should be such, that when it shall arrive at the chimney its temperature shall be reduced, as nearly as is consistent with the maintenance of draught in the chimney, to the temperature of the water with which it is in contact.

The method of feeding the furnace, which has been described above, is one which, if conducted with skill and care, would produce a much more perfect combustion of the fuel than would attend the common method of filling the grate from the back to the front with fresh fuel, whenever the furnace is fed. This method, however, is rarely observed in the management of the furnace. It requires the constant attention of the stokers (such is the name given to those who feed the furnaces). The fuel must be supplied, not in large quantities, and at distant intervals, but in small quantities and more frequently. On the other hand, the more common practice is to allow the fuel on the grate to be in a great degree burned away, and then to heap on a large quantity of fresh fuel, covering over with it the burning fuel from the back to the front of the grate. When this is done, the heat of the ignited coal acting upon the fresh fuel introduced, expels the gases combined with it and, mixed with these, a quantity of carbon, in a state of minute division, forming an opaque black smoke. This is carried through the flues and drawn up the chimney. The consequence is, that not only a quantity of solid fuel is sent out of the chimney unconsumed, but the hydrogen and other gases also escape unburned, and a proportional waste of the combustible is produced; besides which, the nuisance of an atmosphere filled with smoke ensues. Such effects are visible to all who observe the chimneys of steam-vessels, while the engine is in operation. When the furnaces are thus filled with fresh fuel, a large volume of

dense black smoke is observed to issue from the chimney. This gradually subsides as the fuel on the grate is ignited, and does not reappear until a fresh feed is introduced.

This method of feeding, by which the furnace would be made to consume its own smoke, and the combustion of the fuel be rendered complete, is not however free from counteracting effects. In ordinary furnaces the feed can only be introduced by opening the fire-doors, and during the time the fire-doors are opened a volume of cold air rushes in, which passing through the furnace is carried through the flues to the chimney. Such is the effect of this in lowering the temperature of the flues, that in many cases the loss of heat occasioned is greater than any economy of fuel obtained by the complete consumption of smoke. Various methods, however, may be adopted by which fuel may be supplied to the grate without opening the fire-doors, and without disturbing the supply of air to the fire. A hopper built into the front of the furnace, with a moveable bottom or valve, by which coals may be allowed to drop in from time to time upon the front of the grate, would accomplish this.

(148.) In order to secure the combustion of the gases evolved from the coals placed in the front of the grate, it is necessary that a supply of atmospheric air should be admitted with them over the burning fuel. This is effected by small apertures or regulators, provided in the fire-doors, governed by sliding-plates, by which they may be opened or closed to any required extent.

A patent has recently been granted to Mr. Williams, one of the directors of the City of Dublin Steam Navigation Company, for a method of consuming the unburned gases which escape from the grate, and are carried through the flues. This method consists in introducing into the flue tubes placed in a vertical position, the lower ends of which being inserted in the bottom of the flue are made to communicate with the ash-pit, and the upper ends of which are closed. The sides and tops of these tubes are pierced with small holes, through which atmospheric air drawn from the ash-pit issues in jets. The oxygen supplied by this air immediately combines with the carburetted hydrogen, which

having escaped from the furnace unburned is carried through the flues at a sufficient temperature to enter into combination with the oxygen admitted through holes in the tubes. A number of jets of flame thus proceed from these holes, having an appearance similar to the flame of a gas-lamp.

It is evident that such tubes must be inefficient unless they are placed in the flues so near the furnace, that the temperature of the unburned gases shall be sufficiently high to produce their combustion.

(149.) The magnitude of the grate and ash-pit must be determined by the rate at which the evaporation is required to be conducted in the boiler and the quality of the fuel. It must be a matter of regret, that the proportions of the various parts of steam-engines, with their boilers and furnaces, have not been determined by any exact or satisfactory experiments; and those who project and manufacture the engines themselves, are not less in ignorance on those points than others. With coals of the common quality a certain average proportion must exist between the necessary magnitude of the grate-surface and the quantity of water to be evaporated in a given time in the boiler. But what that proportion is for any given quality of fuel, is at present unascertained. Each engine-maker follows his own rule, and the rule thus followed is in most cases a matter of bare conjecture, unsupported by any experimental evidence. Some engine-makers will allow a square foot of grate-surface for every cubic foot of water per hour, which is expected to be evaporated in the boiler; others allow only half a square foot: and practice varies between these limits. Bituminous coals which melt and cake, and which burn with much flame and smoke, must be spread more thinly on the grate than other descriptions of fuel, otherwise a considerable quantity of combustible gases would be dismissed into the flues unburnt. Such coals therefore, other circumstances being the same, require a larger portion of grate-surface; and the same may be said of coals which produce clinkers in their combustion, and form lumps of vitrified matter on the grate, by which the spaces between the grate-bars are speedily closed up. When such fuel is used, the grate-bars require to be frequently raked

out, otherwise the spaces between them being obstructed, the draught would become insufficient for the due combustion of the fuel.

To facilitate the raking out of the grate, the bars are placed with their ends towards the fire-door: they are usually made of cast-iron, from two to two inches and a half wide on the upper surface, with intervals of nearly half an inch between them. The bars taper downwards, their under surfaces being much narrower than their upper, the spaces between them thus widening, to facilitate the fall of the ashes between them. The grate-bars slope downwards from the front to the back. The height of the centre of the bottom of the boiler, above the front of the grate, is usually about two feet, and about three feet above the back of it. The concave bottom of the boiler, however, brings its surfaces at the slide closer to the grate.

(150.) Between the evaporating power of the boiler, and the magnitude of surface it exposes to the action of the furnace, there is a relation which, like that of the grate surface, has never been ascertained by any certain or satisfactory experimental investigation; much less have the different degrees of efficiency attending different parts of the boilersurface been determined. That part of the surface of the boiler immediately over and around the grate, is exposed to the immediate radiation of the burning fuel, and is therefore probably the most efficient in the production of steam. The tendency of flame and heated air to rise, would naturally bring them in the flues into closer contact with those parts of the boiler-surface which are horizontal in their position, and which form the tops of the flues, than with those which are lateral or vertical in their position, and which form the sides of the flues. In a boiler constructed like that already described, the flue-surface therefore, which would be most efficient, would be the concave bottom of the boiler extending from the fire-bridge to its remote end. In some boilers, especially those in which steam of high pressure is produced, the form is cylindrical, the middle flue being formed into an elliptical tube the greater axis of which is horizontal from end to end of the boiler. It seems doubtful, however,

whether in such a boiler the heat produces any useful effect on the water below the flue, the water above being always at a higher temperature, and therefore lighter than that below, and consequently no currents being established between the upper and lower strata of the water.

It was considered by Mr. Watt, but we are not aware on what experimental grounds, that from eight to ten square feet of heating surface were sufficient to produce the evaporation of one cubic foot of water per hour. The practice of engine-makers since that time has been to increase the allowance of heating surface for the same rate of evaporation. Engine-builders have varied very much in this respect, some allowing twelve, fifteen, and even eighteen square feet of surface for the same rate of evaporation. It must, however, still be borne in mind, that whether this increased allowance did or did not produce the actual evaporation imputed to it, has not been, as far as we are informed, ever accurately ascertained. The production of a given rate of evaporation by a moderate heat diffused over a larger surface, rather than by a fiercer temperature confined to a smaller surface, is attended with many practical advantages. The plates of the boiler acted upon by the fire are less exposed to oxydisation, and the boiler will be proportionally more durable.

(151.) Besides presenting to the action of the fire a sufficient surface to produce steam at the required rate, the capacity of the boiler must be proportioned to the quantity of water to be evaporated. The space within the boiler is appropriated to a twofold purpose: 1st, To contain the water to be evaporated; 2dly, To contain a quantity of ready made steam for the supply of the cylinder. If the space appropriated to the steam did not bear a considerable proportion to the magnitude of the cylinder, the momentary expansion of the steam passing to the cylinder from the boiler at each stroke would reduce the pressure of the steam in a great proportion, and unless the pressure in the boiler were considerably greater than that which the steam is intended to have in the cylinder, the pressure in the latter would be reduced below the proper amount. The proportion of the

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