fird[ rm3[ri^[r^rr^fr^ li^i i ruTJfTD^nxrQnxi^lTu^frlnin^^ AT 325 M Clas.5 ics ^ THE LIBRARIES COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Avery Library |si pjxl [giT] ITErD [rEfTI HtTP ITTrO [•51 ruTI IrErO rrErD IrErg [Tut] fTTri] [rEn] rfmJ 1 ruii rnTD frur] f l 1^11 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.Qrg/details/highpressuresteaOObabc COPYRIGHTED BY THE BABCOCK & WILCOX CO.. US95 PRESS OF BARTLETT & COMPANY NEW YORK. * ■* HIGH PRESSURE STEAM THE"[bABCOCK & VGLCOX^CO^) 29 CORTLANDT STREET, NEW YORK AND BABCOCK & WILCOX, L IMITED 147 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON NEW YORK AND LONDON APRIL. 1895 1000 W H ILE all the manufacturing world have been investigating their scrap heaps, and in many instances making their profits out of by and waste products, economies in steam power have also received attention. The necessity of reducing the cost has made imperative the steady rise in steam pressures that has been so marked in the last few years, and the same causes will force them still higher. The governing factors having the great- est influence have undoubtedly been, primarily, to obtain decreased coal con- sumption, with its attendant economies in handling and storage, and, secondarily, the necessity of placing the greatest amount of power in a given space, to save in real estate investments and size of buildings. For many years the pressures carried on locomotives in this country greatly ex- ceeded those carried on stationaryplants It started at about ioo pounds, rose to 120 in i860, to 150 in 1880, and at the present time as high as 180 pounds pres- sure is carried on compound locomotives. The earlier stationary plants were mostly low pressure or condensing, and it was not until the advent of the high speed engine that pressures approach- ing locomotive practice were commonly adopted. In 1875 the pressures carried on the best class of stationary plants did not average over 65 pounds, in 18S0 about 90 pounds, in 1890 about 125 pounds, and to-day pressures ranging from 185 to 250 pounds are not uncom- mon where the highest economy is re- quired. driving compound, triple and quadruple expansion engines. In this, as in many other lines of me- chanical development, the large electric power plants have led the way. The severe requirements of their service — demanding economy and absolute cer- tainty of action, conjoined with sudden and enormous fluctuations of load, and the necessity at times of forcing every device to its utmost capacity — have given the engineering public a series of ideal practical tests, in which the value of high pressure for all power purposes has been amply proved. The sectional water tube boiler has made possible this rise in pressure and consequent gain in economy, having superseded the shell boiler to a great extent. The most successful of those are based on the original design by Stephen Wilcox in 1856. This was the first water tube boiler with inclined tubes connecting water spaces at front and rear with an overhead steam and water reservoir lying horizontally and parallel with the tubes, and producing a continu- ous round of water circulation by a cross flow of furnace gases at right angles to the tubes. The power plants of the Centennial Exhibition (1876) and the World’s Fair (Chicago, 1893,) may be taken as fairly representative of the best boiler engi- neering of their time, and the special features of the boilers exhibited may be studied to advantage. 4 7 mmmniwmm m m m m ^ v. w, i* . / i|lll IN l| ■HlllllUljl CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT, 1876. * At the Centennial Exhibition the power plant was made up of boilers that may be classified as follows, the horse-power being that obtained by tests : 1 ST. SHELL BOILERS, Having an aggregate horse-power in excess of all other styles combined, as follows: -° ^ 4 TH. SECTIONAL WATER TUBE BOILERS. BABCOCK & WILCOX . 17SH.-P. ★ROOT 140 H P. WIEGAND 156 H.-P BABCOCK & WILCOX 178 H.-P ANDERSON 126 “ KELLY . 96 - ★ ROOT . . 140 “ WIEGAND 156 “ Total . 696 “ fit KELLY 96 H.-P. Making a total power plant, Corliss not included, of 1369 TI.-P. !3 ■>« \ . / WHAT HAS BEEN THEIR RECORD SINCE? IV_Y0* v — 'Those marked with a dash arc no longer built; those marked with a star ★ are no longer built as then exhibited. In the Harrison boiler the particular disposition of the units of heating surface in relation to the fire has been changed. The Root boiler has been changed from a cross steam drum connected to the front end of a bank of tubes having an internal circulation within the bank, to a steam and water drum running par- allel with the tubes, connected to the front and rear end of the bank of tubes, the circulation running through it, em- bodying the Wilcox circulation. This leaves three shell boilers fitted to carry low pressure, the Lowe, the Galloway and the Corliss, and one sectional high pressure boiler, the Babcock & Wilcox, as the only ones that have survived the test of time as then built, except in some minor details of construction. It is well to note that both the non-sectional water tube boilers, the Firmenich and Rogers & Black, were abandoned ; also that the cast-metal sectional boilers proved failures for power purposes and have been practically abandoned. MirijK: WORLD’S FAIR, CHICAGO, 1393. At the World’s Fair, in Chicago ( 1893), there was 19,700 horse-power used in the power plant. Based on the evaporation that they were contracted to deliver (30 pounds of water per horse-power from 100 degrees feed into steam at 70 pounds pressure) there were the following: SECTIONAL WATER TUBE BOILERS. NATIONAL (KELLY) . 1500 H.-P. ZELL HEADERS. «<■ GILL 1500 H.-I GILL HEADERS. BABCOCK & WILCOX ROOT GILL . . . NATIONAL ... CAHPBELL & ZELL. Making a total of 11,250 H.-P. of sectional water tube boilers, all of which were based on the principles of the Wilcox patent of 1856. At the Centennial the Babcock & Wilcox exhibit was the only boiler embodying the Wilcox principle. o 000 H P 1500 1500 iqoo V Total 11,250 H.-P WILCOX DESIGN (1856), * * NON-SECTIONAL WATER TUBE BOILERS. Of the non-sectional water tube type there were 3750 horse-power of Heine boilers y with stayed water legs) being a modified form of Maynard s design of 1870. Also 2700 horse-power of Stirling boilers (a modified form of Firmenich s exhibit at the Centennial in 1876). * 21 * STiRLINO (1893), FIRHEN1CH (1876) Also 2000 horse-power of Climax or Morrin boilers ia modification of Rogers & Black’s bent-tube Centennial exhibit of 1876 The three last-mentioned boilers, the Heine, Stirling and Climax, must all be classed as non-sectional water tube boilers. Not a single example of the shell boiler was exhibited under pressure in the power plant. It is due to the developments embodied in the World’s Fair exhibit in 1893 that pressures of about 125 pounds are com- mon in first-class steam plants. By them the sectional principle, as in con- tradistinction to the non-sectional water tube and shell boilers, has been demon- strated to be the best and most available for obtaining the maximum of economy and safety, and minimum of deprecia- tion in ability to carry high pressures l and in cost of repairs. ROGERS & BLACK (1876). But as in the past the shell boiler and boilers having stayed surfaces reached their limit of comparative safety at about 100 pounds, and were superseded by the sectional type, so have the ordinary forms of sectional water tube boilers using cast-metal parts reached their limit of absolutely safe endurance at about 125 pounds, and still the demand for higher pressures is forced upon the manufacturer by the competitive calls for better economy and higher evapora- tive duty per square foot of heating surface. The present demands are such that to produce a safe and satisfactory high pressure boiler, every item of “ boiler- maker’s” work must be discarded — the engineer and machinist must take his place. Brains, high-grade materials and close mechanical tits must supersede rule of thumb, stays and drift pin en- gineering. It is not enough to build a boiler that will just barely carry the pressure re- quired when the plant starts up, but it must be able to carry this pressure for a long term of years, and, if necessary, to carry any reasonable increase in load that the balance of the plant will also carry. This is an absolutely necessary requirement, otherwise some local or insurance inspection is liable at any time to cut the pressure down to a point where the engines cannot give either their best economy or deliver the required capacity. 1'he owners should command the situa- tion and be able to demand an increase of pressure instead of being forced to submit to a reduction. For high pressures, boilers with shells of large diameter, whether internally or externally fired, are no longer admissible. 1'heir deterioration under heavy strains is too rapid to warrant the danger of running them. The same may be said of any con- struction depending on stays. The latter are simply a substitution of brute force for skill in designing. They are gen- erally so placed that inspection is impos- sible, and if any one of the hundred or more used in an ordinary size boiler is defective, either through flaws in the material, improper workmanship or cor- rosion. the structure is dangerous. In fact, the large stayed surfaces of some classes of boilers can only be viewed as aggregations of possible defects. The next stage in high pressure de- velopment, the non-sectional water tube boiler, must also be discarded. As a class they have been failures, and all possess grave structural defects. All of those made up of bent tubes, and some of them made of straight, cannot be cleaned. No matter what their original efficiency and economy, due to this one defect, they contain the certain elements of self-destruction following close on the heels of extravagant fuel bills and fre- quent repairs. No provision is made in the non-sec- tional water tube boiler for correcting the defects and decay that are insepara- ble from all human constructions. Mate- rial, design and workmanship may all be good, but they may not. Some hidden defect is developed in service, is caused by low' water or lack of cleaning, and then comes repairs. On a non-sectional boiler repairs mean patches. Even the casual re- newal of tubes in tube sheets of large area, or a drum full of holes, means the stretching of the holes and the over- straining of the metal, unfitting it for high pressures and making it as a whole defective ; it becomes a chain with a weak link no longer fitted to carry the strain that the balance of the structure is amply strong to withstand. Patch it again? No. Adopt the one form that avoids such difficulties — the sectional water tube boiler. Make it not only so it can be cleaned, but cleaned and in- spected from the outside, not by a work- man squeezed through a manhole work- ing away in the dark, hidden from the eye of the superintendent inside of a drum where he cannot or will not go. Build it up of units that can be removed when defective and replaced by others, leaving it as perfect as when new'. For high pressures — and they must be used or economy cannot be obtained — avoid cast metal in pressure parts ; avoid its uncertainties and lack of strength. Use wrought-steel. Such are the logical conclusions to which the steam user must arrive if in ■* studying the progress of the past he is to benefit himself by actual experience obtained at infinite cost and effort. Such are the conclusions of the man- ufacturers of the Babcock & Wilcox boiler, based on actual experience cover- ing twenty-seven years, with over one and a half millions of horse-power of the boilers running under every conceivable condition. The Babcock & Wilcox Company, acting strictly on the lines of their past success, based on the belief that there is always a market for the best that can be made, have brought the sectional type to its present perfection, adopting as their standard a wrought-steel sec- tional boiler built for any desired pres- sure. The drums, drum heads, man- hole plates and flanged connections, the cross boxes and headers into w'hich the tubes are expanded, and all their hand- hole fittings, are hydraulic forged out of the best open hearth steel, every piece being annealed after forging. The fittings are designed and tested especially for long and continuous serv ice at high pressure. They invite attention to the annexed detail specification on which all bids are made, and to the cuts of their various shops indicating their facilities for filling orders. NAT. W PRATT. E.H BENNETT. Dfr'/foft J.C V/ARD, WtVJt/r'/ C.A. MILLER, fm Won/ urns II XWfV © coniti^^x. BOSTON. * 0/Or.’\ iftfft. PHILADELPHIA j-i. Ib.J'ti'f. BU F FALO. N Y. f/h Co Son/.'//, i //(III/' /•/'/,/ PITTSBURGH. Conn l/lf Will/ NEW ORLEANS. 13$ Co/MIf/lt. / Vt SAN FRANCISCO, fin/* • ' • ' Chicago,. V/0 . Uaswur / r/u/oe. CINCINNATI, o. 90C . I rut r /i /ill/. Minneapolis. 60/ Cn/n £\rfia/n/t' st. lo u i s. m o . \ / 7 . Sri /tnh/ Jilt//, HAVANA CUBA //O'- Cdlll (/( I/lHdbtUUl , ‘-ONTRE AL CANADA. //} /Joillli uC 7Yailf’ /)//// SIMA II R ATION No. New York, 189). WE PROPOSE TO FURNISH TO Oi l'll K ™ V1R H.-P. WROUGHT-STEEL SECTIONAL NO EM ENT BOILERS. (i H.-P. — 30 Lbs. of Water Evaporated Per Hour from ioo Degrees at 70 Lbs. Pressure.) HAVING A TOTAL OF SQUARE FEET OF HEATING SURFACE AND SQUARE FEET OF GRATE SURFACE. ARRANGED TO BE SET BOILER IN BATTERY. AS PER '1 HE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION. The heating surface of each boiler to consist of steam and water drum inches in diameter and feet inches long, placed above and connected to a set of sections of tubes, each section consisting of tubes, inches in diameter and feet long. The lower ends of the sections to be connected to a mud-drum. The connections between all parts to be made by expanding wrought tubes into bored tube seats. SPECIFICATION OF OPEN HEARTH STEEL WROUGHT-STEEL. All wrought-metal for pressure parts, except tubes, to be of the best open hearth steel, having a tensile strength of from 56,000 to 62,000 pounds per square inch, to show an elongation of not less than 25 per cent, in a parallel test piece of 8 inches, accompanied by a reduction in area of at least 50 per cent. ; to endure bending double upon itself both before and after being brought to a flanging heat and quenched. All forgings for pressure parts to be made of the above steel by hydraulic presses and annealed after completion. FORGINGS. THICKNESS OF SHEETS. RIVET SEAMS. DRUM CONSTRUCTION. The cylindrical portion of the drum to be made of three sheets, each inch thick, the longitudinal seams butt- strapped inside and out. The seams to have two rows of rivets passing through both straps and the shell, and two rows through the shell and inner strap only, the butt straps to be bent to a proper radius in a hydraulic press. The circular seams lap-joint, single riveted. The edges of all plates to be planed. 26 ameter of rivets to be used, through steel templates, and drilled out to full size after the sheets are rolled and assembled with their butt-straps. After drilling, the straps are to be removed, all burrs cleaned off, and the plates as- sembled, metal to metal, with parallel turned bolts fitting the holes before riv- eting. assembling. Each course to be built inde- pendently to template. The various courses and their heads to be assembled by a hydraulic forcing press, at a pressure of not less than 1 2 tons. 27 RIVET PRESSURE DRUM HEADS All rivets to be driven with 60 tons pressure and held until cool. All drum-heads to be fitted with manholes. The heads to be hydraulic forged at a single heat, with manhole ring and stiffening plate in position, and to have flat raised seats for stand pipe and feed connections. The edges of head and manhole face to be turned off true. 28 MANHOLE FITTINGS. STEAM FLANGES. CROSS HONES. The drum cross boxes to be hydraulic forged from a single sheet without seams or rivets. The manhole plate and guards to be of forged steel. The nuts case hardened. The plate, i i inches by 1 5 inches, to be faced and turned to a true oval to fit head. The steam flanges, inches by inches diameter, of forged steel, recessed to make a male and female joint, fitted with stud bolts, with taper threads and inside keeper nuts ; outside nuts case hardened. 2 9 TULili SHEDS. SECTIONS. * The sections to be built up of 4-inch tubes made of the best knobbled, hammered charcoal iron blooms, of standard weight, and of such quality that a i-inch section shall, when subjected to three blows from a 1 500-pound hammer dropped five feet, be crushed into itself without showing cracks or flaws. 150979 The tubes to be expanded into forged steel headers of serpentine form, disposing the tubes in a staggered position when assembled in the furnace. 4 * 3 HAND-HOLES. HAND-HOLE FITTINGS. A hand-hole of sufficient size to permit the cleaning, removal and renewal of a tube to be placed opposite each tube end, said hand-hole to have a raised seat milled off to a true surface. i-—...--' The hand-holes to be closed on the outside by a forged steel cap milled to a true surface, and to be held in position by a forged steel safety clamp, closing the hand-hole opening from the inside, secured by a ball-headed bolt to insure correct alignment, and a forged cap nut. All joints to be made tight, metal to metal, without packing of any kind. MUD-DRUMS. To be 12 inches diameter and of proper width to be connected with all of the sections in the boiler by means of wrought nipples expanded into counterbored seats. To be tapped for blow-off connections on its rear side, and furnished 3 2 * hand-holes. with hand-holes for cleaning. The hand-hole plates to be faced and cap nuts to be used for hand-hole bolts, to avoid sticking from outside corrosion. The mud-drums to be of best car-wheel mixture charcoal cold blast iron, tested to 400 pounds pressure. 4 33 -« SAFETY VALVES. STEAM GAUGE. STAND PIPE WATER GAUGE TRY COCKS. BLOW-OFF. COMBINATION STOP AND CHECK. VALVES AND FITTINGS. Each boiler to be provided with “Consolidated Co.’s” nickel seated safety valves, inches diameter, set to blow at 200 pounds (unless otherwise ordered). One Ashcroft steam gauge, with ia.O-inch dial, and inside syphon, mounted in a heavy brass case. One stand pipe fitted with extra heavy bronze mountings for glass water guage, with special shut-off device operated from fire room floor, to allow renewal of glass when under pressure. Three try cocks with lifting handles for operating from fire room floor, fitted ] I i with steam metal valves arranged for pres- under sure. Independ- ent blow-off pipes for bot- tom of col- umn, and ried down the front, terminating with valves at height of hand FEED CONNECTIONS A combination stop and check valve of heavy bronze pattern, to be flanged di- rectly to the drum head, operating automatically in case of rupture of feed piping. 34 STOP VALVE. CHECK VALVE BLOW-OFF CLEANING VALVES. PIPE AND FITTINGS. STEAM OUTLET WKOUGHT-IRON FRAME. FIRING FRONTS. One stop valve for feed, inches diameter, and One check valve for feed, inches diameter, to be placed hand high from boiler-room floor, connected by flanges, to allow of removal without disturbing main feed line. Two inch blow-off valves, with loose sleeve for blow- off pipe, for building into brick work, to allow for expansion and contraction. Two 3^ -inch stop valves connected to steam and safety valve outlets, for cleaning hose connection. Extra heavy brass pipe, and bronze fittings, to be used for connecting all the above mountings to the boiler. All angles in feed and stand pipe connections to be made with crosses and tees for cleaning. CROSS PIPES. FOR DOUBLE DRUM BOILERS. The steam drums to be connected by a balance pipe upon which the safety valves are to be mounted, and a cross pipe for steam valve. Steam delivery outlet, inches diameter, inch flange. BOILER FRONT The front of the battery to be of an ornamental design, consisting of a heavy wrought-iron I and channel beam frame, fitted with large doors for access to the hand-hole plates and front headers. The fire fronts arranged to allow for expansion and con- traction. Independ- ent frames for fire doors bolted on, and ash doors fitted with blast catches. All joints to be fitted and faces of doors planed. FURNACE AND WALL FIXTURES. FIRE-DOOR FITTINGS. GRATES. FLAME BRIDGES. Dead plates and supports, the plates to be arranged for a fire-brick lining. Fire-brick arches and jambs for fire-door openings. A full set of grate bars and bearers, the latter to be fitted with expansion sockets for side wall. Two sets of flame bridge plates with bolts and backing rings, and special fire-brick for lining the same. BRIDGE WALL GIRDER. CLEANING DOORS. DAMPER. BUCKSTAYS, ETC. One bridge wall girder for hanging bridge, fitted with expansion sockets for side wall. A full set of cleaning and ash doors for side walls, giving access to all parts for exterior cleaning. One swing damper and frame, with an auxiliary slide for closing tight when boiler is out of service. And the necessary buckstays, tie and anchor rods, anchor plates and lintels for securing all parts in position. i TOOLS. steel wrenches for hand-hole nuts. Two tube scrapers, with handles. One set of fire tools, consisting of poker, slice bar and hoe. One set of best steam hose and cleaning pipe for blow- ing dust and soot from the exterior of tubes. MATERIAL AND WORKMANSHIP. All materials to be of the best quality, each specially adapted to the service required, and the workmanship to be first-class in every particular. WORKING PRESSURE. The boiler, as specified, will carry 200 poupdfi-prqssur.e^ if desired. WEIGHT. SPACE. BRICK WORK TESTING. All pressure parts to be tested and made tight under hydrostatic pressure before leaving shop, as follows : Sections, 400 pounds. Drums, 300 pounds. Mud-drums, 400 pounds. When erected complete on foundations, the whole structure to be tested and made tight at 300 pounds pressure. WEIGHT, SPACE AND BRICK WORK. Approximate shipping weight, pounds. The space occupied by the battery, including brick work, feet inches long, feet inches wide, feet inches high to the top of steam flange. The brick work (to be provided by the purchaser), will require about fire bricks and red bricks, Not including foundations or flues. 4 37 ERECTING. DELIVERY. TERMS. LIMIT DELIVERY Full drawings and directions for erecting to be furnished, and services of man to do mechanical work and superintend erection, board and traveling expenses to be paid by pur- chaser, who is also to furnish the ordinary labor. To be delivered f. o. b. New York. Price as per accompanying letter. One-half payable on presentation of sight draft with shipping receipt. Balance, sixty days from shipment. Foreign and mining shipments on presentation of bill of lading. This proposal will be void, unless accepted within thirty days. Deliveries subject to strikes, accidents or causes beyond our control. The Babcock & Wilcox Co. THE BABCOCK & WILCOX CO.. 29 CORTLANDT STREET, NEW YORK, U S. A. NAT. W PRATT, PRESIDENT E. H. BENNETT, vice-president. F. G. BOURNE. Directors : J G. WARD, TREASURER. CHAS. A MILLER. SECRETARY CHARLES A. KNIGHT Branch Offices: BOSTON, Mass., U. S. A S Oliver Street. PHILADELPHIA, Pa., U. S. A.: 32 N. Fifth Street. PITTSBURGH, Pa, U. S. A.: 1014 Carnegie Building. CINCINNATI, O., U. S. A.: 906 Neave Building. ST. LOUIS, Mo., U. S. A.: 817 Security Building. MONTREAL, Canada : 415 Board of Trade Building. SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., U. S. A.: 32 First Street. CHICAGO, III., U. S. A.: 910 Masonic Temple. MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., U. S. A.: 604 Corn Exchange. CLE\ ELAND, O., U. S. A. : Cuyahoga Building. NEW ORLEANS, La., U. S. A. • 339 Carondelet Street. HAVANA, Cuba: 116J4 Cali.e de la Ha ban a ATLANTA, Ga., U. S. A. 819 Equitable Building, BUFFALO, N. Y., U. S. A.: C. M. Morse. CABLE ADDRESSES: For New York, - CLONE BOXES" ; For Havana, “ BABCOCK .” BABCOCK & WILCOX, Limited, 147 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E. C. Directors : ANDREW STEWART, chairman. SIR WILLIAM ARR0L. CHAS. A. KNIGHT, managing director. ARTHUR T. SIMPSON, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E. JAMES H. ROSENTHAL. MGR., LONDON I. G MAIR RUMLEY, M.I.C.E., Mem. Council I.M.E. WALTER SHAW, secretary. Offices : LONDON, England : 147 Queen Victoria Street. GLASGOW, Scotland: 21 Bothwell Street. PARIS, France: 15 Rue de la Chausee d’Antin MILAN, Italy: 7 Via Dante BRUSSELS, Belgium: 68 Boulevard du Nord. SYDNEY, N. S. W., Australia: 83 Pitt Street. Representatives : BERLIN Germany: Berliner Maschinenbau Actien-Gesell- SCHAFT. VoRMALS L. SCHWA RTZKOPFF. VIENNA, Austria: Ekste Brunner Maschinen Fauriks-Gb- SELLSCHAFT. THE HAGUE, Holland: W. Schlusen. COPENHAGEN, Denmark: C. H. D Zahrtmann. CHRISTIANIA, Norway: A. L. Thunb, Mechanisk Vaerksted. HELSINGFORS, Finland: Fritz Wilen. BARCELONA, Spain: A lfonso Flaquer FLORENCE, Italy: A. Edlmann. MEXICO, Mexico: F. M. De Prez & Co. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, C. A. E. G. Chamberlain. BUENOS AYRES, Argentine Republic: Agar, Cross & Co. COLOMBO, Ceylon : Walker, Sons & Co., Ltd. TIRHOOT, East India: Arthur Butler. SOERABAYA, Java : J. Grundel. JOHANNESBURG, Transvaal, South Africa: Reunert & Lknz. CABLE ADDRESS : For London, Glasgow, Paris and 'Brussels, “ dlA'BCOCK.”