All the drain pipes from the cylinder pa.s.s into the condenser so as to save the fresh water.
The air pump is usually worked by a beam, receiving motion from the cross head of the low pressure cylinder.
The circulating pump is usually worked by the same beam as the air pump, or receives its motion from some other part of the main engine. In some cases, however, an independent circulating pump is employed.
It receives its water from a pipe leading to the sea, which is provided with an injection c.o.c.k or Kingston valve, placed close to the side of the ship and well below the sea level. This valve is used to shut off the circulating water and prevent its flooding the ship in case of accident to the condenser or circulating pump.
The circulating water, after pa.s.sing through the condenser, discharges overboard through the circulator discharge pipe.
This pipe is also provided with a valve placed close to the ship"s side, at or above the water level, so that the opening at the ship"s side may be closed, and sea water prevented from entering the ship in case of breakage to the condenser, etc.
To enable a surface condenser to be used as a jet condenser in case of accident to the circulating pump, a pipe leads from the injection c.o.c.k of the circulating supply pump into the bottom of the exhaust pipe or column, where it enters the condenser.
This pipe is supplied with a spray or rose nozzle, which divides up the injection water and causes it to condense the steam as it enters the condenser.
An additional pipe is sometimes added to the suction side of the circulating pump, for use in pumping out the bilge by means of the circulating pump in case of emergency, and also for pumping out ballast tanks when the vessel is provided with such tanks.
An air valve is sometimes fitted to a reciprocating double acting circulating pump. It admits air to the water during the up stroke of the pump, and closes on the down stroke. The air thus admitted acts as a cushion to soften the shock of the water.
A snifting (or snifter valve, as it is sometimes called) is a valve fitted to the condenser and that opens upwards to permit of the discharge of the air and gases before the engine is started. It also serves to prevent any water from leaky condenser tubes from filling the condenser and flooding the engine cylinders. It is so loaded with dead weight that it opens automatically when the water in the condenser has reached a certain height and must be placed as low down on the condenser as possible, so as to receive the weight of the full height of the water in the condenser.
Condenser tubes are made water tight in the tube plates of the condenser by wooden or sometimes paper ferrules, which fit the tube and drive into the tube plate. In other cases, however, the tube ends project through the plates, and a rubber washer is placed on the end of each tube. A covering plate is then bolted over the whole of the tube ends, the holes in the covering plate being parallel for a short distance, and then reduced in diameter so as to form a shoulder. The rubber rings compress and make a joint, and the shoulders prevent the condenser tubes from working out endways from expansion and contraction. The tubes are usually about 3/64 inch thick.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _VOL. II._ =TRIPLE EXPANSION MARINE ENGINE.= _PLATE x.x.xVII._
Fig. 3404.]
A blow through valve is a valve attached to the casing or steam chest, and connecting by a pipe to condenser to blow out the air and gases that may have collected there when the engine is standing still, and that also connects to the exhaust port of the high pressure cylinder, so as to supply live steam to the low pressure cylinder in case the high pressure cylinder should get disabled.
A bucket air pump is one in which there is a valve or valves in the pump piston, hence the pump is single acting, drawing on the lower side of the piston and delivering on the upper, hence the capacity of the pump per engine revolution is equal to the diameter of the bucket multiplied by the length of its stroke. The suction or foot valve is at the foot of the pump, and the delivery valve at the head.
A piston air pump is double acting, since it draws on each side alternately of the piston, one side delivering while the other is drawing, hence two suction and two delivery valves are required.
A plunger air pump is one in which a plunger is used in place of a piston, the delivery being due to the displacement of the plunger.
An air pump trunk is a hollow bra.s.s cylinder attached to or in one piece with the piston or bucket of the air pump. The rod which drives the piston pa.s.ses through the trunk, and connects to a single eye at the bottom of the trunk.
A trunk air pump is necessary when the pump rod is driven direct from the crank shaft, and therefore has sufficient lateral motion to push the pump piston sideways, which would cause friction and excessive wear to the gland that keeps the trunk tight. The delivery capacity of the pump is obviously diminished to an amount equal to the displacement of that part of the plunger that pa.s.ses through the gland and within the pump bore, whereas in a piston pump the delivery capacity is only diminished to an amount corresponding to the displacement of the pump piston rod.
A bucket pump may in some cases be worked without either a foot or a head valve, since the bucket valve will answer for both in cases when the delivery water cannot pa.s.s back into the pump on the down stroke of the bucket.
It will, however, be more efficient with the addition of either of them, and most efficient with both.
A bucket pump with a foot valve and no discharge valve would, however, suffer more from a leaky gland than if it had a discharge valve and no foot valve, because the air would, on the ascent of the bucket and the closing of the bucket valve, pa.s.s to the suction side of the bucket and impair the vacuum.
Let the delivery valves be where they may, the foot valve will always have some water above it, and the pump bucket will dip into this water, and on lifting produce a vacuum that will cause the pump to fill with water. Notwithstanding that the gland may leak air on the other side of the bucket, this air will in a single acting pump be expelled with the water, but in a double acting pump it will impair the vacuum, and therefore the suction, on the gland side of the piston.
Bucket air pumps are provided with a valve or pet c.o.c.k on the top or delivery side of the bucket and above the bucket, when the latter is at the highest point of its stroke. This valve opens on the descent of the bucket, admitting air to act as a cushion between the surface of the water and the delivery valve, when the water is about to meet the latter. It obviously reduces the effectiveness of the pump, and in a double acting pump is inadmissible, because of its impairing the vacuum and the suction.
This valve also enables the engineer to know whether the air pump is working properly.
A pet c.o.c.k is also supplied to the feed pumps for this same purpose.
A bilge injection is one in which the injection water is taken from the bilge, which may be done when the ship makes more water than the bilge pumps can get rid of.
The fittings necessary for a bilge injection are a c.o.c.k or globe valve placed on the side of the condenser, and at or near the foot of the exhaust pipe, with a spray or rose inside that pipe. From the c.o.c.k a pipe, usually lead, leads to the bilge, having at its end a strainer or strum, and care must be taken that this strum does not get choked and let the condenser get hot from the exhaust steam not being condensed.
The water in the hot well of a surface condenser is usually kept at a temperature of about 100 Fahrenheit. A higher temperature than 100 Fahrenheit injures the rubber valves of the air pump, while lower temperatures cool the engine cylinders too much and cause waste from cylinder condensation. Moreover, it is obvious that, since the boiler feed is taken from the hot well, it is desirable to keep it as hot as the valves and as the desired degree of vacuum will permit.
An air vessel or air chamber is a vessel fitted to the delivery and sometimes also to the suction side of a pump. Its office is to maintain a steady flow of water through the pipes.
Thus, in the case of the delivery air chamber, when the pump piston is travelling at a speed above its average for the stroke, the water acc.u.mulates in the air chamber, and the air is more compressed, while, when the pump is on the dead centre, or at the end of its stroke and the delivery valve closes, the air compressed in the air chamber continues the delivery or discharge, thus maintaining a more uniform flow.
Pumps sometimes have an air or vacuum chamber on the suction side, from which the air is exhausted when the pump starts, leaving a vacuum which causes a steady flow of water up the suction pipe.
Both these chambers are more effective as the speed of the pump increases. The chamber on the delivery side is apt to lose its air, which is gradually absorbed by the water, which should be let out when the pump is standing still.
Feed escape valves or feed relief valves are fitted to the feed pumps, so that in case all the feed water cannot pa.s.s into the boiler it may pa.s.s back to the hot well.
The construction of a feed escape valve is as follows:
It is an ordinary mitre valve held to its seat by the compression of a spiral spring, whose pressure upon the valve may be regulated by an adjusting screw, whose end abuts upon a stem provided for the purpose.
In proportion as the valve is relieved of the pressure of this spring, a greater proportion of the water delivered by the feed pump will pa.s.s back into the hot well, hence the amount of boiler feed may be regulated by the feed escape valve, which also acts as a safety valve, preventing undue pressure in the feed pipe.
When no feed escape valve is employed, the delivery water from the feed pump must pa.s.s un.o.bstructed to the boiler, or the feed pipes may burst from over pressure, and it follows that the feed check valve on the side of the boiler must not be restrained in its amount of lift, hence it must not have a lift adjusting screw.
The amount of the boiler feed must, in this case, be regulated from the suction side of the pump, the suction pipe being fitted with a c.o.c.k or valve whose amount of opening may be adjusted so as to regulate the amount of water drawn per pump stroke from the hot well.
If the feed valve on the suction side, or the escape valve on the delivery side of the pump, as the case may be, is adjusted to permit of a proper amount of boiler feed, and yet the feed is insufficient or ceases altogether, it may occur from the following causes:
1st. From the suction valve sticking or being choked, or from the delivery valve being choked and not seating itself, thus either letting the suction water pa.s.s back into the hot well, or the delivery water pa.s.s back into the pump.
2d. Through leaks in the joints of the pump or of the suction pipe.
3d. From the water in the hot well being too hot.
4th. Through the spring of the escape valve having become disarranged.
5th. If two or more boilers are connected, and one has less pressure in it than the other, it may take most of the feed water, or the water of the other may empty itself into it.
Bilge Injection. The injection water for a common or jet condenser may be obtained in one of two ways: first, direct from the sea, which is that for ordinary use; and secondly from the bilge, which is resorted to to a.s.sist the bilge pump in cases of emergency.
The necessary fittings for a bilge injection are, a pipe leading from the condenser to the bilge, with a c.o.c.k at the condenser end and a strainer at the bilge end.
This pipe should be fitted with a check valve, which opens by lifting upwards so that no water can pa.s.s down it into the bilge, or otherwise, if the main and bilge injections should happen to be left open together, the water from the main injection might pa.s.s down into the bilge. This check valve should be so constructed that its amount of lift can be regulated and as much of the bilge water used for injection as the circ.u.mstances may require.
In the case of surface condensers, the bilge water is drawn off by the circulating pump and used to supplement the main circulating water. The pipe from the bilge in this case leads to the suction side of the circulating pump, and requires a strainer at the bilge end, a c.o.c.k at the circulating pump, and a check valve.