30 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 20, 



o an aicliitect to endeavour to do justice to his patrons — to study his 

 ground plan — to be harmonious in his proportions — choice in his cor- 

 nices, if the lights and shadows he carefully designs are to be botched 

 by a glaring paper — Grecian cornices, disgraced by surrounding 

 Louis XIV papers, and the whole design to be left to the tender 

 mercies of a lot of well-meaning but ignorant artificers? What are 

 the profession about? What is the Institute doing? Will architects 

 never combine together for their mutual assistance and the advance- 

 ment of their profession, but spend their days in petty squabbles and 

 low envy ? 



We have been led to these remarks by a recent visit to a house now 

 in the hands of the decorator. No. 37, Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, 

 and we hail this attempt as the dawning of a new era in decorative 

 architecture, as a promise that, hereafter, grace and beauty shall not 

 be contined to the palaces of the rich and powerful, but be diffused 

 through all classes, till they gladden the home, and elevate the con- 

 dition of the poorest among us. The house alluded to stands in a ter- 

 race, designed in a rich Italian style, with bold cornices, and rich 

 cohimniated windows. The credit, we believe, of the design, is ilue 

 to Mr. Nelson, and the evident carf bestowed on the interior effects, 

 and general ground plan, is a lesson that many of his brother profes- 

 sionals would do well to copy. 



Tiie walls of the hack and front drawing rooms are painted in a dead 

 ground, and relieved bv raised gilt panels in the Louis XIV style, the 

 interior panels are painted in oil, with little scenes of courtlv and pas- 

 toral life, alter the stylf of the refined and elegant Watteau. These 

 are from the able pencil of Mr. Baines. the artist, and do him much 

 credit in a walk of art that most arUslsafftCl to despise. We earnestly 

 recommend all architects who have the real good of their profession 

 at heart, to study and agitate this subject. Should they feel inclined 

 to visit the house in question, they will, 1 am sure, meet a most 

 obliging guide in Mr. Baiues himself. 



JVeslmiiisteT, January. A. H. Patterson. 



FEEDING APPARATUS FOR HIGH PRESSURE BOILERS. 



For which the Silver Medal of the Society of Arts, London, w.is pre- 

 sented to Mr. C. Grafton, of Dover Street, Chorlton-on-Meillock. 

 It is, I believe, an acknowledg^'d fact, that the absence of any prac- 

 tical self-acting feeding apnaraius for boilers in which high-pressure 

 steam is empli'\ed, is a deficiency of a most serious nature. The de- 

 plorable consequences which may ensue from the neglect of those who 

 have the care of such boilers, in keeping up the requisite supply of 

 water fa neglect which I believe to have been the cause of three 

 out of five of the steam-boiler explosions which have as yet taken 

 place), the wasteful expenditure of fuel, and deterioration of the 

 boiler, which must arise Irom irregular feeding, when the due level is 

 not maintained equally during the period of working, are consequences 

 of this deficiency so obvious as scarcely to need a comment. It is now 

 a principle, recognised by the highest authorities, that the most eco- 

 nomical engine is that in which the expansive property of steam is 

 put forth to its fullest extent, by employing high-pressure steam in 

 one of the ordinary condensing constiuction, and cutting it off at an 

 early period of the stroke, which will of course neutralise the present 

 system of feeding by means of a column of water ; for, supposing that 

 a pressure of Salb. on the square incli were employed, it would re- 

 quire a column of water 87 tt. Gin. high to overcome such a resistance ; 

 recourse must then be had to hand feeding, with all its disadvantages. 

 It has occurred to me that possibly a remedy for these evils might 

 be found in the application of a plan which i have endeavoured to 

 delineate in the accompanying section through the feed apparatus and 

 part of an ordinary ten horse high-pressure boiler, mounted in the 

 usual manner with steau. nozzle, loaded safety-valve, man-hole, and 

 additional safety-valve ; but in place of the common feeding ajiparatus, 

 I propose to lead the feed-pipe A, provided with a common conical 

 valve at B, into a small tank C, placed immediately over the boiler, 

 through the bottom of which the end of the internal ieed-pipe D, fitted 

 •with a rising valve E, is inlroduced; the spindle of this valve is 

 brought down, and passing through a small stuiiing-box, is attached to 

 a lever at F, which is loaded by means of a float G, buoyed up by the 

 ■water in the boiler; a slight brass wire tapped into the stalk of the 

 valve E, and passing through the top of the tank, shows, by means of 

 an indtx-|jlato H, tlie position of the valve. On the opposite side of 

 the tank I would |ilaee another valve 1, the spindle of which would be 

 atlacliLd to the rod of a small piston working in a cylinder J, open at 

 bottom, and of equal area to the valve I, the top side of which is ex- 

 posed to the ste.im-pn-ssure of the boiler by mean~ of a pipe K. This 

 valve is also loaded with a slight weight L, and the water, alter pass- 

 ing through it, escapes througli the overflow-pipe M. 



<Oi 



The action of this apparatus may be explained in the following 

 manner: — Supposing the boiler at work with a pressure of 4Ulb. on 

 the square inch, I propose that the weight L should exert a pres- 

 sureof l^lb. on each square inch of the valve I, which would be (sup- 

 posing the valve to be 2iin. diameter) "-SSilb. on the whole, 

 which, together with the pressure communicated by means of the 

 pipe K, from the boiler to the piston of the cylinder J, would give a 

 total load of 41-5 lb. on each square inch of the valve J. This pres- 

 sure would soon be exerted by the force-pump of the engine ; but 

 when the water in the tank C, attained more than this pressure, the 

 valve I would rise, and allow the water to escape down the overflow- 

 pipe M. But supposing the level of the water to be lowered, the float 

 G will descend with it, and, aided by the lever F, raise the valve e, 

 and allow the water in the tank to force its way into the boiler till the 

 requisite level is obtained, and the float again buoyed up till it closes 

 the valve E, and the water escapes through the valve I; for, supposing 

 the float G to weigh -lib., and the leverage (which might be increased, 

 if necessary) to be as 9 to 1, you would then have a pressure of 7'33lb. 

 on each square inch of E; but this must be diminished by l-6lb., 

 which is the extra weiglit on the valve I. This would give an efftc- 

 tive pressure of fi-SSlb. on the square inch to raise the valve E; for 

 it must be borne in mind that (as both these valves are of equal area) 

 by this arrangement the pressure of steam in the boiler is exerted 

 equally to raise the one and depress the other; and therefore, as soon 

 as the equilibrium is disturbed by the descent of the float, consequent 

 upon the diminished level of the water, the extra weight being over- 

 come, the water will rush into the boiler with a force of l-Slb. on the 

 square inch more than the actual steam pressure. This is supposing 

 the water to fall entirely below the bottom of the float G, but it is ob- 

 vious that it would, even with the leverage and adjustment 1 have 

 given it, not require to fall more than an inch and a half before the 

 valve would be raised, and by a judicious ailjustment of the leverage, 

 still greater nicety might be attained. (A small wire might be at- 

 tached to the float and rise through the boiler, to close the valve E, by 

 hand, if necessary.) It is upon the fact of the pressure upon both the 

 valves E and I being constant, that I rely for success ; for all the other 

 schemes of whose existence I am aware have this defect, that the 

 pressure from the boiler is variable, while the pressure from without 

 is fixed; and even in boilers working with common low-pressure 

 steam, that which is technically termed •' boiling over," is often noticed 

 when the steam becomes suddenly of a higher pressure than the feed- 

 pipes were calculated to overcome, and the safety-valve is neglected. 

 I have brought this proposition forward as applied to high-pressure 

 boilers, but I am inclined to think that it migiit be applied with eco- 

 nomy, as far as regards the prime cost, even in cases wdiere the jack- 

 head system is etfective, as the cost of the extra valves and tank 

 would certainly not be more than that of the great amount of piping 

 required under the above-named system; and the inconvenience to 

 which their heiglit and position expose them, and the absolute neces- 

 sity v\hich must exist, whenever the pressure is increased, of adding 

 to that height, would be done away with. 



