Stephen Wilcox, 1856
Stephen Wilcox, in 1856, was the first to use inclined water tubes connecting water spaces at the front and rear with a steam space above. The first to make such inclined tubes into a sectional form was Twibill, in 1865. He used wrought-iron tubes connected at the front and rear with standpipes through intermediate connections. These standpipes carried the system to a horizontal cross drum at the top, the entrained water being carried to the rear.
Clarke, Moore, McDowell, Alban and others worked on the problem of constructing water-tube boilers, but because of difficulties of construction involved, met with no practical success.
