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Fire-tube boiler
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A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which

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hot gases from a fire pass through one or

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(many) more tubes running through a sealed

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container of water. The heat of the gases is

transferred through the walls of the tubes by
thermal conduction, heating the water and
ultimately creating steam.

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The fire-tube boiler developed as the third of

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the four major historical types of boilers: low-

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pressure tank or "haystack" boilers, flued

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boilers with one or two large flues, fire-tube

boilers with many small tubes, and highpressure water-tube boilers. Their advantage

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over flued boilers with a single large flue is

that the many small tubes offer far greater
heating surface area for the same overall

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boiler volume. The general construction is as

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a tank of water penetrated by tubes that carry

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the hot flue gases from the fire. The tank is

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usually cylindrical for the most partbeing the

Sectioned fire-tube boiler from a

DRB Class 50 locomotive. Hot flue
gases created in the firebox (on the left)
pass through the tubes in the centre
cylindrical section, which is filled with
water, to the smokebox and out of the
chimney (stack) at far right. The steam
collects along the top of the boiler and
in the steam dome roughly halfway
along the top, where it then flows into
the large pipe seen running forward. It
is then divided into each side and runs
downward in the steam chest (at the
rear of the smoke box), where it is then
admitted into the cylinders by means of
valves.

strongest practical shape for a pressurized

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containerand this cylindrical tank may be either horizontal or vertical.

This type of boiler was used on virtually all steam locomotives in the horizontal
"locomotive" form. This has a cylindrical barrel containing the fire tubes, but also has
an extension at one end to house the "firebox". This firebox has an open base to
provide a large grate area and often extends beyond the cylindrical barrel to form a
rectangular or tapered enclosure. The horizontal fire-tube boiler is also typical of

Languages

marine applications, using the Scotch boiler. Vertical boilers have also been built of

the multiple fire-tube type, although these are comparatively rare; most vertical

Deutsch

boilers were either flued, or with cross water-tubes.

Hrvatski
Italiano

Contents

Srpskohrvatski /

1 Operation
2 Types of fire-tube boiler
2.1 Cornish boiler

Suomi
Edit links

2.2 Lancashire boiler

2.3 Scotch marine boiler
2.4 Locomotive boiler
2.5 Vertical fire-tube boiler
2.6 Horizontal return tubular boiler

2.7 Admiralty-type direct tube boiler

2.8 Immersion fired boiler
3 Variations
3.1 Water tubes
3.2 Arch tubes
3.3 Reverse flame
3.4 Package boiler
4 Safety considerations
5 Maintenance
5.1 Daily inspection
5.2 Washout
5.3 Periodic examination
5.4 General overhaul
6 References
7 External links

Operation

[ edit ]

In the locomotive-type boiler, fuel is burnt in a

firebox to produce hot combustion gases. The
firebox is surrounded by a cooling jacket of
water connected to the long, cylindrical boiler
shell. The hot gases are directed along a
series of fire tubes, or flues, that penetrate the
boiler and heat the water thereby generating
saturated ("wet") steam. The steam rises to
the highest point of the boiler, the steam

Schematic diagram of a "locomotive"

type fire-tube boiler

dome, where it is collected. The dome is the

site of the regulator that controls the exit of steam from the boiler.
In the locomotive boiler, the saturated steam is very often passed into a superheater,
back through the larger flues at the top of the boiler, to dry the steam and heat it to
superheated steam. The superheated steam is directed to the steam engine's
cylinders or very rarely to a turbine to produce mechanical work. Exhaust gases are
fed out through a chimney, and may be used to pre-heat the feed water to increase
the efficiency of the boiler.
Draught for firetube boilers, particularly in marine applications, is usually provided by
a tall smokestack. In all steam locomotives since Stephenson's Rocket, additional
draught is supplied by directing exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokestack
through a blastpipe, to provide a partial vacuum. Modern industrial boilers use fans to
provide forced or induced draughting of the boiler.
Another major advance in the Rocket was large numbers of small-diameter firetubes
(a multi-tubular boiler) instead of a single large flue. This greatly increased the
surface area for heat transfer, allowing steam to be produced at a much higher rate.
Without this, steam locomotives could never have developed effectively as powerful
prime movers.

Types of fire-tube boiler

[ edit ]

For more details on the related ancestor type, see Flued boilers.

Cornish boiler

[ edit ]

For more details on this topic, see Cornish boiler.

The earliest form of fire-tube boiler was Richard Trevithick's "high-pressure" Cornish
boiler. This is a long horizontal cylinder with a single large flue containing the fire. The
fire itself was on an iron grating placed across this flue, with a shallow ashpan
beneath to collect the non-combustible residue. Although considered as low-pressure
(perhaps 25 psi) today, the use of a cylindrical boiler shell permitted a higher
pressure than the earlier "haystack" boilers of Newcomen's day. As the furnace relied
on natural draught (air flow), a tall chimney was required at the far end of the flue to
encourage a good supply of air (oxygen) to the fire.
For efficiency, the boiler was commonly encased beneath by a brick-built chamber.
Flue gases were routed through this, outside the iron boiler shell, after passing
through the fire-tube and so to a chimney that was now placed at the front face of the
boiler.

Lancashire boiler

[ edit ]

For more details on this topic, see

Lancashire boiler.
The Lancashire boiler is similar to the Cornish,
but has two large flues containing the fires. It
was the invention of William Fairbairn in 1844,

Lancashire boiler in Germany

from a theoretical consideration of the

thermodynamics of more efficient boilers that led him to increase the furnace grate
area relative to the volume of water.
Later developments added Galloway tubes (after their inventor, patented in 1848),[1]
crosswise water tubes across the flue, thus increasing the heated surface area. As
these are short tubes of large diameter and the boiler continues to use a relatively low
pressure, this is still not considered to be a water-tube boiler. The tubes are tapered,
simply to make their installation through the flue easier.[2]

Scotch marine boiler

[ edit ]

For more details on this topic, see Scotch

marine boiler.
The Scotch marine boiler differs dramatically
from its predecessors in using a large number
of small-diameter tubes. This gives a far
greater heating surface area for the volume
and weight. The furnace remains a single
large-diameter tube with the many small tubes
arranged above it. They are connected
together through a combustion chamber an
enclosed volume contained entirely within the
boiler shell so that the flow of flue gas
through the firetubes is from back to front. An
enclosed smokebox covering the front of
these tubes leads upwards to the chimney or

Side-section of a Scotch marine

boiler: the arrows show direction of flue
gas flow; the combustion chamber is on
the right, the smokebox on the left.

funnel. Typical Scotch boilers had a pair of furnaces, larger ones had three. Above
this size, such as for large steam ships, it was more usual to install multiple boilers.[3]

Locomotive boiler

[ edit ]

A locomotive boiler has three main components: a double-walled firebox; a horizontal,

cylindrical "boiler barrel" containing a large number of small flue-tubes; and a
smokebox with chimney, for the exhaust gases. The boiler barrel contains larger fluetubes to carry the superheater elements, where present. Forced draught is provided
in the locomotive boiler by injecting exhausted steam back into the exhaust via a blast
pipe in the smokebox.
Locomotive-type boilers are also used in traction engines, steam rollers, portable
engines and some other steam road vehicles. The inherent strength of the boiler
means it is used as the basis for the vehicle: all the other components, including the
wheels, are mounted on brackets attached to the boiler. It is rare to find superheaters
designed into this type of boiler, and they are generally much smaller (and simpler)
than railway locomotive types.
The locomotive-type boiler is also a characteristic of the overtype steam wagon, the
steam-powered fore-runner of the truck. In this case, however, heavy girder frames
make up the load-bearing chassis of the vehicle, and the boiler is attached to this.
Taper boiler
Certain railway locomotive boilers are tapered from a larger diameter at the firebox
end to a smaller diameter at the smokebox end. This reduces weight and improves
water circulation. Many later Great Western Railway and London, Midland and
Scottish Railway locomotives were designed or modified to take taper boilers.

Vertical fire-tube boiler

[ edit ]

Main article: Vertical boiler

A vertical fire-tube boiler (VFT), colloquially known as the "vertical boiler", has a
vertical cylindrical shell, containing several vertical flue tubes.

Horizontal return tubular boiler

[ edit ]

Horizontal return tubular boiler (HRT) has a

horizontal cylindrical shell, containing several
horizontal flue tubes, with the fire located
directly below the boiler's shell, usually within
a brickwork setting

Admiralty-type direct tube boiler

[ edit ]

Extensively used by Britain, before and in the

early days of ironclads, the only protected
place was below the waterline, sometimes
under an armoured deck, so to fit below short
decks, the tubes were not led back above the
furnace but continued straight from it with
keeping the combustion chamber in between

Horizontal Return Tubular boilers

from the Staatsbad Bad Steben GmbH

the two. Hence the name, and considerably

reduced diameter, compared to the ubiquituous Scotch or return tube boiler. It was
not a great success and its use was being abandoned after the introduction of
stronger side armouring the furnace crowns, being very near the water-level, are
much more liable to over-heating. Further, on account of the length of the boiler, for
an equal angle of inclination, the effect on the water-level is much greater. Finally, the
unequal expansion of the various parts of the boiler is more pronounced, especially at
the top and bottom, due to the increased ratio between the length and the diameter of
the boiler; the local strains are also more severe on account of the comparatively
feeble circulation in long and low boilers. All these also resulted in a shorter life. Also,
the same length of a combustion chamber was much less effective on a direct tube
than on a return tube boiler, at least without baffling.[4]

Immersion fired boiler

[ edit ]

The immersion fired boiler is a single-pass fire-tube boiler that was developed by
Sellers Engineering in the 1940s. It has only firetubes, functioning as a furnace and
combustion chamber also, with multiple burner nozzles injecting premixed air and
natural gas under pressure. It claims reduced thermal stresses, and lacks refractory
brickwork completely due to its construction.[5]

Variations

[ edit ]

Water tubes

[ edit ]

Fire-tube boilers sometimes have water-tubes as well, to increase the heating

surface. A Cornish boiler may have several water-tubes across the diameter of the
flue (this is common in steam launches). A locomotive boiler with a wide firebox may
have arch tubes or thermic syphons. As firebox technology developed, it was found
that placing a baffle of firebricks (heat-resistant bricks) inside the firebox to direct the
flow of hot flue gasses up into the top of the firebox before it flowed into the fire tubes
increased efficiency by equalizing the heat between upper and lower fire tubes. To
hold these in place, a metal bracket was used, but to prevent these brackets from
burning and eroding away they were built as water tubes, with cool water from the
bottom of the boiler moving upwards by convection as it heated, and carrying the heat
away before the metal reached its failure temperature.
Another technique for increasing the heating surface is to include internal rifling inside
the boiler tubes (also known as Serve tubes).
Not all shell boilers raise steam; some are designed specifically for heating
pressurised water.

Arch tubes

[ edit ]

Arch tubes are pipes connected to the water-space of the boiler provided in and
across the firebox in order to add extra high-temperature heating surface. They also
serve to support the brick arch or equivalent.[citation needed]

Reverse flame

[ edit ]

In homage to the Lancashire design, modern shell boilers can come with a twin
furnace design. A more recent development has been the reverse flame design

where the burner fires into a blind furnace and the combustion gasses double back
on themselves. This results in a more compact design and less pipework.

Package boiler

[ edit ]

The term "package" boiler evolved in the early- to mid-20th century from the practice
of delivering boiler units to site already fitted with insulation, electrical panels, valves
and gauges. This was in contrast to earlier practice where little more than the
pressure vessel was delivered and the ancillary components were fitted on-site.

Safety considerations

[ edit ]

Because the fire-flume boiler itself is the

pressure vessel, it requires a number of safety
features to prevent mechanical failure. Boiler
explosion, which is a type of BLEVE (Boiling
Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion), can be
devastating.
Safety valves release steam before a
dangerous pressure can be built up

Kewanee Gas-Fired Packaged FireTube Boiler from 1974 rated at 25

horsepower

Fusible plugs over the firebox melt at a

temperature lower than that of the firebox plates, thereby warning the operators
by the noisy escape of steam if the water level is too low to cool the firebox crown
safely.
Stays, or ties, physically link the firebox and boiler casing, preventing them from
warping. Since any corrosion is hidden, the stays may have longitudinal holes,
called tell-tales, drilled in them which leak before they become unsafe.
The fire-tube type boiler that was used in the Stanley Steamer automobile had
several hundred tubes which were weaker than the outer shell of the boiler, making
an explosion virtually impossible as the tubes would fail and leak long before the
boiler exploded. In nearly 100 years since the Stanleys were first produced, no
Stanley boiler has ever exploded.[citation needed]

Maintenance

[ edit ]

An intensive schedule of maintenance is needed to keep a boiler in safe condition. A

typical regime will involve regular external inspections (including the inside of the
firebox), washouts (with an internal inspection), periodic detailed examination and a
general overhaul.

Daily inspection

[ edit ]

The tube plates, the fusible plug and the heads of the firebox stays should be
checked for leaks. The correct operation of the boiler fittings, especially the water
gauges and water feed mechanisms, should be confirmed. Steam pressure should be
raised to the level at which the safety valves lift and compared with the indication of
the pressure gauge.

Washout

[ edit ]

The working life of a locomotive boiler is considerably extended if it is spared from a

constant cycle of cooling and heating.

Historically, a locomotive would be kept in
steam continuously for a period of about
eight to ten days, and then allowed to cool
sufficiently for a hot-water boiler washout. The
schedule for express engines was based on
mileage.[6] Today's preserved locomotives are
not usually kept continuously in steam and the
recommended washout interval is now fifteen
to thirty days, but anything up to 180 days is
possible.[7]
The process starts with a blowdown while

Cutaway of locomotive boiler. Note

the narrow water spaces around the
firebox and the "mudhole" for access to
the crown sheet: these areas require
special attention during washout

some pressure remains in the boiler, then the

draining away of all the boiler water through
the mudholes at the base of the firebox and the removal of all the washout plugs.
Scale is then jetted or scraped from the interior surfaces using a high-pressure water
jet and rods of soft metal, such as copper. Areas particularly susceptible to scale
buildup, such as the firebox crown and narrow water spaces around the firebox, are
given special attention. The inside of the boiler is inspected by sighting through the
plug holes, with a particular check paid to the integrity of the firetubes, firebox crown
and stays and absence of pitting or cracking of the boiler plates. The gauge glass
cocks and tubes and fusible plug should be cleared of scale; if the core of the fusible
plug shows signs of calcination the item should be replaced.
On reassembly care should be taken that the threaded plugs are replaced in their
original holes: the tapers can vary as a result of rethreading. The mudhole door
gaskets, if of asbestos, should be renewed but those made of lead may be reused;
special instructions are in force for the disposal of these harmful materials.[7] At large
maintenance facilities the boiler would have been both washed and refilled with very
hot water from an external supply to bring the locomotive back to service more
quickly.

Periodic examination

[ edit ]

Typically an annual inspection, this would require the removal and check of external
fittings, such as the injectors, safety valves and pressure gauge. High-pressure
copper pipework can suffer from work hardening in use and become dangerously
brittle: it may be necessary to treat these by annealing before refitting. A hydraulic
pressure test on the boiler and pipework may also be called for.

General overhaul

[ edit ]

In the UK the specified maximum interval between full overhauls is ten years. To
enable a full inspection the boiler is lifted from the locomotive frame and the lagging
removed. All firetubes are removed for checking or replacement. All fittings are
removed for overhaul. Before returning to use a qualified examiner will check the
boilers fitness for service and issue a safety certificate valid for ten years.[7]

References

[ edit ]

1. ^ "Lancashire Boiler"

(pdf) . Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester.

2. ^ K. N. Harris (1974). Model Boilers and Boilermaking. MAP. ISBN 0-85242-377-2.

3. ^ General Ship Layout
4. ^ Louis-mile Bertin: Marine boilerstheir construction and working, dealing more
especially with tubulous boilers - Ed. 2 (1906), tr. and ed. by Leslie S. Robertson.
Freely available on the Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/marineboilersthe00bertuoft

. pages 233, 235 and others

5. ^ http://www.gbt-inc.com/sps-single-pass-steam-boilers.html
6. ^ Bell, A M (1957): Locomotives, seventh edition, Virtue and Company, London.
7. ^

a bc

Unknown authors (2005):The management of steam locomotive boilers. Health

and Safety Executive, Sudbury, Suffolk, England.

External links

[ edit ]

A locomotive boiler

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Fire-tube
boilers.

Picture gallery showing boiler internal

features and defects.
BS EN 12953 is the relevant contemporary

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Scotch
marine boilers.

standard, which supersedes BS2790.

US Patent 5558046 fire-tube boiler
suitable for ash-containing fuels

Steam engines

V T E

Operating cycle

Atmospheric Watt Cornish Compound Uniflow

Valves

Valves
Valve gear

Slide (D slide) Piston Drop Corliss Poppet Sleeve

Bash
Gab Stephenson link Joy Walschaerts Allan Baker
Corliss Lentz Caprotti Gresley conjugated
Southern

Mechanisms

Beam Cataract Centrifugal governor Connecting rod Crank Crankshaft

Hypocycloidal gear Link chain Parallel motion Plate chain Rotative beam
Sun and planet gear Watt's linkage
Simple boilers

Boilers

Fire-tube boilers
Water-tube boilers
Boiler feed

Cylinder
Condenser

Other

Haystack Wagon Egg-ended Box Flued Cornish

Lancashire
Locomotive Scotch Launch
Babcock & Wilcox Field-tube Sentinel Stirling
Thimble tube Three-drum Yarrow
Feedwater heater Feedwater pump Injector

Locomotive Oscillating Single- and double-acting

Condensing steam locomotive Jet Kirchweger Watt's separate "Pickle-pot"
Surface
Crosshead Cutoff Expansion valve Hydrolock Piston
Reciprocating engine Return connecting rod engine
Six-column beam engine Steeple engine Safety valve
Steeple compound engine Stroke Working fluid
Precursors
Newcomen engine

Savery Engine (1698)

Newcomen Memorial Engine (1725) Fairbottom Bobs
(1760) Elsecar Engine (1795)
Kinneil Engine (1768) Old Bess
Beam

Watt engine

(1777) Chacewater Mine engine

(1778) Smethwick Engine (1779)
Resolution (1781)
Soho Manufactory engine (1782)

Rotative beam
History

High-pressure

Compound
Murray
High-speed

See also

Bradley Works engine (1783)

Whitbread Engine (1785)
National Museum of Scotland engine
(1786) Lap Engine (1788)

Richard Trevithick (Puffing Devil (1801)

London Steam Carriage (1803)
"Coalbrookdale Locomotive" (1803)
"Pen-y-Darren" locomotive (1804))
Woolf's compound engine (1803)
Murray's Hypocycloidal Engine (1805) Salamanca
(1812)
Porter-Allen (1862)

Glossary of steam locomotive components History of steam road vehicles

(Cugnot's fardier vapeur (1769) Murdoch's model steam carriage (1784))
Lean's Engine Reporter List of steam technology patents Modern steam
Stationary steam engine Timeline of steam power Water-returning engine

Categories: Fire-tube boilers

Boilers

Locomotive parts

This page was last modified on 13 June 2016, at 23:55.

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