Transactions of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland with Which Is Incorporated the Scottish Shipbuilders' Association Volume 11 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 Excerpt: ...condenser and pumps, and circulation of the cooling water was admirably simple and effective; while his plan of fixing the tubes, which at the same time securely holds the tubes and provides for expansion, is certainly much superior in every respect to those plans which have been so much brought before our notice of late years, and for which so many advantages have been claimed. The condensers as made by Hall, at least from 1837, were much simpler in their construction than the mode specified in his patents. They were, in fact, reduced to the simplest arrangement possible, consisting, in side lever engines, of a rectangular box, with the tubes standing vertically, and connected with a plain tube plate at each end. The steam entered at the top, and the condensed water was drawn off at the bottom by the air pump. The cooling water entered immediately above the bottom tube plate at one side, and passed out at the top on the opposite side. He at first used division plates to circulate the cooling water to and fro across the tubes, and also up and down, in several courses, expecting to get a better effect; but finding that the passing of the water only once through was equally as effective and more simple, he subsequently abandoned their use. His air pumps do not appear to have been of large capacity, and he made them serve also as feed pumps. I shall have occasion afterwards to explain his mode of fixing the tubes when I come to that division of my paper. Previous to Hall's time there is no record of the successful use of a surface condenser in a sea-going steamer, or for any lengthened period in any steamer. In 1837 and the succeeding four or five years, Hall fitted a considerable number of sea-going steamers of large power with his condensers, and with invari...