and a hand-hole closed by a suitable door is provided in the outer
shell opposite to each tube for cleaning purposes. A boiler of
this kind is illustrated in fig. 4. This form is often used on board
ship for auxiliary purposes. Where more heating surface is required
than can be obtained in the cross-tube boiler other types of vertical
boiler are employed.
Fig. 3.—Lancashire Boiler (Messrs Tinker, Ltd.).
For instance, in the “Tyne” boiler (fig. 5)
the furnace is hemispherical, and the products of combustion are led
into an upper combustion chamber traversed by four or more
inclined water-tubes of about 9 in. diameter and by several vertical
water-tubes of less diameter. In the “Victoria” boiler made by
Messrs Clarke, Chapman & Co., and illustrated in fig. 6, the furnace
is hemispherical; the furnace gases are led to an internal combustion
chamber, and thence through numerous horizontal smoke-tubes
to a smoke-box placed on the side of the boiler. In the somewhat
similar boiler known as the “Cochran,” the combustion chamber is
Fig. 4.—Simple Vertical Boiler.
made with a “dry” back. Instead of a water space at the back of
the chamber, doors lined with firebrick are fitted. These give easy
access to the tube ends.
The cylindrical multitubular return tube boiler is in almost universal use in merchant steamers. It is made in various sizes ranging up to 17 ft. in diameter, the usual working pressure being from 160 to 200 ℔ per sq. in., although in some few cases pressures of 265 ℔ per sq. in. are in use. These boilers Marine. are of two types, double- and single-ended. In single-ended boilers, which are those most generally used, the furnaces are fitted at one end only and vary in number from one in the smallest boiler to four in the largest. Three furnaces are the most usual practice. Each furnace generally has its own separate combustion chamber. In four furnace boilers, however, one chamber is sometimes made common to the two middle furnaces, and sometimes one chamber is fitted to each pair of side furnaces. In double-ended boilers furnaces are fitted at each end. In some cases each furnace has a separate combustion chamber, but more usually one chamber is made to serve for two furnaces, one at each end of the boiler. The two types of boilers are shown in figs. 7 and 8, which illustrate boilers made by Messrs D. Rowan & Co. of Glasgow, and which may be taken as representing good modern practice. The furnaces used in the smaller sizes are often of the plain cylindrical type, the thickness of plate varying from 38 in. up to 34 in. according to the diameter of the furnace and the working pressure. Occasionally furnaces with “Adamson” joints similar to those used in Lancashire boilers are employed, but for large furnaces and for high pressures corrugated or ribbed furnaces are usually adopted. Sketches of the sections of these are shown in fig. 9. The sections of the Morison, Fox and Deighton types are made from plates originally rolled of a uniform thickness, made into a cylindrical form with a welded longitudinal joint and then corrugated, the only difference between them being in the shapes of the corrugations. In the other three types the plates from which the furnaces are made are rolled with ribs or thickened portions at distances of 9 in. These furnaces are stronger to resist collapse than plain furnaces of the same thickness, and accommodate themselves more readily to changes of temperature.
There are two distinct types of connexion between the furnaces and the combustion chambers. In one, shown in fig. 8, the furnace is flanged at the crown portion for riveting to the tube plate, and the lower part of the furnace is riveted to the “wrapper” or side plate of the combustion chamber. In the other type, shown in fig. 7, and known generally as the “Gourlay back end,” the end of the furnace is contracted into an oval conical form, and is then flanged outwards round the whole of its circumference. The tube plate is made to extend to the bottom of the combustion chamber, and the furnace is riveted to the tube plate. The advantage of the Gourlay back end is that in case of accident to the furnace it can be removed from the boiler and be replaced by one of the same design without disturbing the end plates, which is not possible with the other design.
Fig. 5.—Vertical Boiler with Water-tubes (the “Tyne,” by
Messrs Clarke, Chapman & Co.).
