The LaMont boiler is a semi-flash boiler in which the feedwater is supplied by means of a pump to the ends of long closely

spaced tubes of small diameter. The tubes end in a separating drum where the emulsion of steam and water separates. The boiler requires a powerful pump for the forced circulation of the boiler water. The LaMont boilers forced water circulation and the tubes of small diameter gives enormous freedom as far as the design of the heating surfaces concern.

Operating priciples:
The Lamont boiler is like a big Doble F boiler in that it has a large helical furnace wall and helical coils top and bottom. The furnace is large and the water in the coils is force circulated at more than 5 times full boiler output. Thus very high heat transfer and radiation rates can be designed for with complete safety as the tube walls are nailed to a temperature a few degrees higher than the steam-water saturation temperature. Heat absorption rates as high as 60,000BTU/ft.sq. for the entire boiler surface were possible and evaporation rates as high as 47#/ft.sq obtained. Compare that to a Doble F with exhaust turbine fan booster at highest output of 26,000BTU/ft.sq. and almost 20#/ft.sq. evaporated and running at the ragged edge of possible tube overheating. The price to pay is a small outside vertical drum with a small circulating pump of a few psi. pressure differential that does the forced circulation in the very high heat areas of the boiler. In a Doble or White the circulation ratio is nominally one, with pumps momentarily off, zero and with pumps catching up, possibly two. The great success to the White and Doble F boiler was a fast control system and massive amounts of feedwater available as these boilers had a safety time constant of 15-20 seconds. The Stanley had such storage and water mass that simple control systems and low pump capacity could be used safely as the boiler at full output had several minutes of reserve water capacity before the crown sheet and lower tube temperatures would rise substantially. The upper sections of the Lamont boiler (bottom fired) were basically stacks of spiral coils cooled by incoming feedwater a la Doble.

Advantages:
Very high heat transfer rates safely available, large reserve capacity due to water in vertical drum, simple control systems adequate with safety, forced circulation until drum runs dry (a pressure differential safety switch on the circulation pump can shut off fire), low carbon inexpensive lightweight thinwall tubing can be used with complete safety, large firebox allows for 45-50% of all heat transfer to be absorbed in fire box by radiation; this allows less spiral coil stacks needed for complete heat transfer and lower blower horsepower for convective heat transfer. Up to two minute time constant requiring smaller water pumping capacity, less tubing length and weight than a Doble F, virtually no salt or carbon buildup on inner tube walls as there is always considerable water in circulation to take everything back to the vertical drum and blown out of the bottom, no scale trap necessary for same reason (Abner Doble pointed out that deposits only occurred at the very end of the evaporation zone where there was no liquid and required periodic sandblast removal). Balanced radiant/convective superheater gives balanced output temperature under all load conditions and precludes the need of a normalizer syst