Stirling Water Tube Boilers 1906

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The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Stirling Water Tube Boilers 1906

Regional Historic MechanicalEngineering Landmark

October 1 4, 1 98 7Dalton, Georgia



1906 Stirling Boiler

O ne hundred and three years ago, in 1884, a young47-year-old community of Cross Plains, Georgia,welcomed its first major industrial plant, the CrownCotton Mills. Since then, the community has become athriving north Georgia city called Dalton, owing itsprosperity and growth in large measure to the mill,now owned by CrownAmerica, Inc.

The Stirling Water Tube Boilers installed in the millin 1906 were purchased from the Elk Cotton Mill andwere in continuous use until the transition topurchased electric power was made in 1955. Theboilers were then used to provide mill heat during thewinter and were coal fired by hand on the originalgrates. In 1986 they were relegated to a standby basisfor mill heat in light of EPA rules on air pollution and

the elimination of a firefighter. These boilers are amongthe oldest existing steam generators in a cotton mill inthis country.

Water-tube Boller

In 1840 John H amilton, patriarch of Crown Co ttonMills and ancestor of the Hamiltons who now headCrownAmerica, bought the land that would latercontain the mill. Before that, it was owned by Chief Red Bird, leader of the Cherokee Indian tribe. JohnHamilton, a civil engineer, did stone culvert work on arailroad extension for the Western and AtlanticRailroad, which ran from Atlanta to Tennessee. Hemarried Rachel Loyd Wester and fathered sevenchildren. Following the Civil War, Hamilton’s son,George, sold the land for the Crown Cotton Mills.

Much credit for the interest in establishingmanufacturing plants in this area is attributed to theInternational Cotton Expostion in Atlanta in 1880. Itwas there that cotton’s prominence and greaterpotentials were brought into new perspective. Duringthis period the South began to experience a feeling of strong revitalization in an industrialized environment.

Because of its fertile plains and its reputation as afrontier market, Dalton was referred to in its pioneerdays as “The N ew Egypt,” famous not o nly for cottongrowers but for cattle ranchers and grain farmers alike.

In 1867 a patent for the original Babcock & Wilcoxboiler was granted to George Babcock and StephenWilcox, and the partnership of Babcock, Wilcox &Company was formed. The first boiler was built by thepartners at the H ope Iron Works in P rovidence, Rhode

Island. Its design was based on the safety water tubeboiler invented by Wilcox in 1856. Designed to avoidexplosion, it was built to operate at 50 pounds pressureand 50 horsepower. From that point, a drive for highercapacity and safety created a continuing demand forboilers.

While Babcock and Wilcox continued to improve ontheir boilers, Alan Stirling was also working to establishhis own boiler business in the United States andCanada. By 1892 he had invented a Stirling four-drumboiler, which was instantly successful. Shortly afterthat, he invented a machine for bending tubes, whichmade the use of bent tubes in boiler constructionpossible.

Water-tube boilers were constructed so that the flame was outside of the tubes

and transmitted heat to the water which was inside the tubes. In a firetube boiler

the opposite was true—hot gases and heat of the fire went through the inside of the

tubes and transmitted heat to the water which was outside of the tubes. The

maximum design pressure and capacity of a firetube boiler were restricted by

practical limitations on the size and thickness of the shell.

In 1906 B&W purchased the Stirling ConsolidatedBoiler Company, with its 65-acre plant in Barberton,Ohio. This initiated the mass production of B&W bent-tube boilers.

This design had particular value in installations inlow headroom conditions. The continuous andeconomical production of clean, dry steam, even whenusing poor feedwater, and the ability to meet suddenload swings, also characterize the Stirling type boilers.By 1906 Stirling boilers had been built in sizes up to823 horsepower and 300 pounds pressure. They weresixteen times more powerful than the B&W boilerof 1867.



The 1906 boilers supplied 180 psi steam to operate aHamilton compound engine, a Fleming high-speedengine, an electric generator, a fire pump, and relatedshafts and pulleys. The boilers were designed withthree steam drums and one mud drum. The steamdrums were fabricated from ¾ -inch steel plate of notless than 54,000 psi tensile strength and elastic limit

not less than one-half the tensile strength. The drumwas 11 feet, 4 inches in length and 42 inches indiameter.

The mud drum had the same steel specification butonly 12 inches in diameter and 8 feet, 10 inches long.The “bent tube” configuration allowed the boilers tobe installed in a low-roofed structure. The tubes werewedged into reamed holes and then rolled for sealing.

The boiler drums and structures were designed tostand alone and the firebrick flame encasement wasbuilt around the structure. There were 45,059 firebricks and tiles in each boiler casing. Testing of thesystem required an imposed pressure of 270, whichwas 50 percent more than the designed pressure.

The firing was by hand, with coal placed on theboiler grate through do ors on the front of the boiler.These doors were of the hinged swing type largeenough to get a firing shovel into them.

Governor’s Proclamation

The E lk Cotton Mill, purchased by the Crown Co ttonMill in 1925, was the second factory built in NorthwestGeorgia during the Reconstruction Period. Ironicallythe Confederate Army trained there during the winterprior to Sherman’s famous march to Atlanta.

Most early Georgia mills were powered with waterwheels on the river at Augusta and Columbus. The millin Dalton, however, did not have a water power source,so the sole source of mechanical power was a steamengine, supplied by the Stirling boilers. This set thebasis from which future cotton mills were built.

These 1906 boilers do no t have much in com monwith today’s boilers of similar size. Each boiler was300 horsepower and sold for $5,750—approximately$19 per horsepower. This represents approximatelyone twentieth the cost of a comparable boiler today.Although the boilers are not currently being used totheir fullest capability, they remain in operablecondition.



5. Aerial View of CrownAmerica today.

300 horsepowerCoal-firedHand-fedGrate consumedThree steam drums of 3/ 4 inch, 54,000 psi

tensile, 42-inch diameter and 11 feet 4 incheslongO ne mud drum o f 3/ 4 inches, 54,000 psi tensile,

12-inch diameter and 8 feet 10 inches longBrick and tile outer structure with independent

support steel for drumsWorking pressure 180 psiTesting at 270 psiTubes in reamed holes in drum plates finally roll

expandedTubes of the “bent tube” configuration to reduce

heightMaximum height 20 feet 10 inches (actual 20 feet

8 l/ 4 inches)

Designated to provide steam volume and pressureto operate a Hamilton compound engine; aFleming high speed engine; electric generator;fire pump; related belts, pulleys, and shafts

Operated from 1906-1975 to power millmachines

Operated from 1975-1986 to supply mill heatPlaced in standby service in 1986

REGIONAL HISTORIC MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING LANDMARK

STIRLING WATER TUBE BOILERS

1906DALTON, GEORGIA

THESE BOILERS ARE AMONG THE

OLDEST EXTANT STEAM

GENERATORS IN A COTTON MILL

IN THE NATION AND ARE

REPRESENTATIVE OF STEAM BOILER

DESIGN IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE

TWENTIETH CENTURY. THEY

PROVIDE STEAM FOR THE CROWN

COTTON MILLS, WHICH WERE A

SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN THEINDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF DALTON,

GEORGIA.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERS–87



George Herman Bancock Stephen Wilcox

George Babcock was born in Unadilla Forks,New York, on June 17, l832. His father, Asher M.Babcock, was a mechanic, an inventor, and atextile manufacturer. George was educated atpublic schools and spent one year in a college inDeRuyter, New York. He began his career

working with daguerrotype, starting a printingoffice in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1851. Hefounded the journal L iterary E cho and thePawcatuck A dvertiser, later called the N arragansett W eek ly. He and his father patenteda polychromatic printing press that won a prize atthe Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1855;however it was so advanced for its time it wascommercially unsuccessful.

He received several other patents in his lifetimefor inventions including a foot-powered jobprinting press (1856), a bronzing machine (1859),and boiler cut-off valves (1866).

In 1860 he became assistant in the office of

Thomas D. Stetson, a mechanical engineer andpatent solicitor in Brooklyn. In the evenings hetaught mechanical drawing at Cooper Union.During this period he was also a draftsman at theHope Iron Works in Providence, where heworked on war vessels and made improvementson the shrapnel shell (he was granted a patent in1863). At about th is time he met his boyhoodfriend, Stephen Wilcox, and together theypatented pumps in 1863 and the Babcock &Wilcox steam engine in 1867, which was an earlyautomatic cut-off engine.

In 1867 they also patented a water-tube boilerdesigned to avoid explosion, based on the Wilcoxsafety water-tube boiler, 1856.

Babcock lectured on mechanical engineering atCornell University. In 1885 he was president of the Board of Education, Plainfield, N.J., president

of the Public Library, the Board of Trustees atAlfred University, and in 1887 he was president of ASME. He was superintendent of the Seventh DayBaptists Sabbath School and correspondingsecretary of the American Sabbath Tract Society.

He died in Plainfield, N.J., in 1893.

Stephen Wilcox was born in Westerly, R.I., onFebruary 12, 1830. He was educated in commonschools in Westerly. He invented the caloric and hot-airengine (before John Ericsson), and in 1856 he inventeda safety water-tube boiler with inclined tubes. In 1860

he began working with his boyhood friend, GeorgeHerman Babcock. In 1863 they patented pumps and in1867 the B&W steam engine, and the safety water-tubeboiler based on Wilcox’ earlier work.

In 1881 Wilcox retired but continued experiments onmultiple-expansion engines in connection with high-pressure boilers for marine use. He earned thefollowing patents: the hot-air engines; gas engines;friction gear; pressure gauge (1885); gas engines and avalve mechanism for engines (1886); and a compoundengine (1891).

He died in Brooklyn on November 27, 1893.



The firm of Babcock & Wilcox, incorporated in1881, was the first to manufacture water-tube boilerson a large scale. It was a vigorous business with plantsin New Jersey and Glasgow, Scotland. Wilcox wasconsidered the inventor and mechanic in thispartnership, while Babcock was the executive andexpositor. In 1906 B&W purchased th e StirlingConsolidated Boiler Company, with its 65-acre plant in

Barberton, Ohio. This move initiated the production of B&W bent-tube bo ilers.

Allan Stirling was born in Rutherglen, Scotland,on July 26, 1844. He was educated in Rutherglenand Glasgow and emigrated to the United Statesin 1860. In 1870 he graduated from the CooperInstitute in N ew York. During the Civil War hewas a draftsman at the D elamater Iron Works andfor the Navy Office in New York City. From 1866to 1888 he worked in various foundries and

ironworks including Winslow, Griswold & Holleyin Troy, N.Y.; the Burden Iron Works in Troy;Metropolitan Elevated Railway in New York Cityand Deseronto, Ontario, where he designed andbuilt one o f the first cable conveyors.

In 1883 he designed and b uilt a boiler andspent the next few years as a consulting engineer,designing, building, and installing boilers forRathbun Co. in Ontario and for the Otis ElevatorCo. In 1888 he established the Stirling BoilerCompany in New York City. In 1892 he patentedthe Stirling four-drum boiler, which was instantlysuccessful. In 1893 he patented a steam boilerand a machine for bending tubes, making the use

of bent tubes in boiler construction possible. Alsoin 1893 he received the first mechanicalengineering degree conferred by CooperInstitute. He was also known for the installationof b oilers for use in anthracite mines. H e sold hiscompany to Babcock & Wilcox in 1906 andretired in 1918. He died in Norfolk, Virginia,in 1927.

The ASME Atlanta Section gratefully acknowledgesthe support and cooperation of CrownAmerica Inc.with the landmark designation ceremony. Gratitude isalso extended to Robert F . Haller, for his efforts inseeking out and nominating the Stirling Boilers as anASME Regional Historic Mechanical EngineeringLandmark. The following sources were used to writeand edit the commemorative brochure: Babcock &

Wilcox Co. archives; CrownA merica and Tex ture-Tex : A C entury of T ex t il e P rod uct E x cellen ce; M echa nica l E ngineers in A merica Born Prior to 186 1: A

Biographical D ictionary (ASME); Dalton Chamber of Commerce, and CrownAmerica Inc. archives.

Richard Rosenberg, PresidentWilliam P. Miller, Jr., P.E., Vice President, Region XIJ. L. Lee, P.E., History & Heritage Chairman, Region XID r. David L. Belden, Executive DirectorD avid R. Cook, Director, Southern Regional O ffice

Katherine F. Morgan, ChairwomanWilliam J. Conley, II, Vice ChairmanDr. William J. Wepfer, TreasurerThomas J. O’ConnorFred E. ShroyerRobert F. Haller, P.E.Bobby L. Green, Vice President-Nominee, Region XI

Dr. Euan F. C. Somerscales, ChairmanRobert M. Vogel, Secretary (Smithsonian Institution)Dr. Robert B. GaitherD r. Richard S. HartenbergJ. Paul HartmanJoseph P. Van OverveenD r. R. Carson D alzell, Chairman Em eritusCarron Garvin-Donohue, Assistant Director, Public

Information

David Hamilton, PresidentG. Lane Hamilton, Secretary-TreasurerH. Clay Hamilton V, PresidentD ean Smith V, PresidentW. C. Bowen III , DirectorH. E. Kinney, DirectorJ. H. Patton IV, Director

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

345 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017

Stirling Water Tube Boilers 1906

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