Re: Electrospray Ionization (ESI)

[Frederick Sparber]

Michael Foster wrote:

 

>>
>> Keep in mind, the Armstrong and subsequent Faraday experiments involved
>> high pressure steam and fairly high heat. 
>>
I wrote:

>

> I doubt that 1840's steam boilers were working over 30 - 50 psig (275-300 deg F)

>

Here are some 1840s boiler pressure figures:

 

"As with their steam engines, millowners appear to have been equally conservative in their choice of boiler. During the 1830s, average steam pressures rose from approximately four pounds per square inch to more than twelve, and this increase seems to have been sustained thereafter. But in 1840, 75 percent of boilers in the Manchester area were still of the old and weak wagon type, and it was only after that date that the Cornish boiler developed by Trevithick began to be widely used."

 

Richard Trevithick
Early Experiments

"Richard Trevithick was an advocate of the ‘dangerous’ practice of using high-pressure steam. At this time a pressure of only a few pounds above that of the atmosphere, coupled with a condenser to create the vacuum on the other side of the piston, was employed in the ponderous pumping and mill engines manufactured by Boulton and Watt. Trevithick used high-pressure to create compact steam engines, which he soon realised could be used to power a self-propelled vehicle. The big advantage of using high-pressure steam was that you could dispense with the bulky condenser.

At the pressure Trevithick favoured, 50psi (pounds per square inch), you could expect four times the power compared with a piston of the same size used in an atmospheric steam engine. Trevithick used a strong cast iron boiler, which was utilised as a structural member. He then placed the cylinder inside it, the great advantage of this being that it kept the cylinder hot and so did not have to waste steam re-heating the cylinder with every power stroke. In 1803 he turned the exhaust steam up the chimney to create a blast effect. He also replenished his boilers with heated feed water by means of a pump. In 1804 he arranged the valves on his engines to give an early cut-off and so used the steam expansively."

 

1844 Lancashire boiler (12 Bar gauge ~ 180 Psig) :

http://www.spiraxsarco.com/learn/default.asp?redirect=html/3_2_01.htm

"Sir William Fairbairn developed the Lancashire boiler in 1844 from Trevithick’s single flue Cornish boiler. Although only a few are still in operation, they were ubiquitous and were the predecessors of the sophisticated and highly efficient boilers used today. "

"The Lancashire boiler comprised a large steel shell usually between 5 - 9 m long through which passed two large-bore furnace tubes called flues. Part of each flue was corrugated to take up the expansion when the boiler became hot, and to prevent collapse under pressure. A furnace was installed at the entrance to each flue, at the front end of the boiler. Typically, the furnace would be arranged to burn coal, being either manually or automatically stoked."

Frederick