A PNEUMATIC MODERATOR
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William George Wilson, of Penton Cottage, Penton
Place, Newington Butts, Zinc and Tin Plate Worker, for the Invention
of "A PNEUMATIC MODERATOR."
ealed the 6th June 1856, and dated the 6th December 1855
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William George Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1855.
I, WILLIAM GEORGE WILSON, of Penton Cottage, Penton Place, Newington
Butts, Zinc & Tin Plate Worker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for a "PNEUMATIC MODERATOR" to be as follows, viz. :-
A flat metallic plate of suitable size, to which is attached a self-adjusting
mechanical balance, which preserves the plate in the required position, and
which plate and balance combined constitute the moderator, the whole of
which is fitted into a suitable metallic frame, and sustained there by a spindle
which passes through the frame and balance, and is so arranged that the
moderator moves freely on it, and it in the frame, to prevent the soot from
clogging or stopping any portion of the apparatus.
The mode of application is as follows:-The moderators are placed hori-
zontally in the interior of the chimney, generally in opposition to each other,
at proper intervals to check the down current, which, when it strikes upon the
flat surface of the first moderator plate, is thereby immediately caused to
rebound and escape with the hot air. Should, however, any portion of the
cold air escape the first moderator plate, it is immediately acted upon by tho

page_text: second moderator, which renders it almost neutral, and so on, in succession,
until the down current is entirely overcome, and the hot air and smoke allowed
to ascend freely.
The peculiar property of the moderator is, that although when in action it
extends over half, and sometimes more than half of the area of the chimney
flue, it offers no obstruction whatever to the use of the machines used for
cleansing chimneys.
The accompanying Diagrams will show the principle of the moderators, and
general mode of their application.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William George Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GEORGE WILSON, of Penton Cottage, Penton Place, Newington Butts, Zinc
and Tin Plate Worker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William George Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said William
George Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William George Wilson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for A PNEUMATIC MODERATOR, upon the condition (amongst others) that I
the said William George Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William George Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and bythe

page_text: following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a balance valve working in a frame suitable for
being fitted into a flue, chimney, or shaft. The moderators or valves, while
neutralizing the effect of down draught, allow of the free passage of smoke,
and heated or foul air up the flue in which they are placed, and also of the
flue being swept. In the accompanying Drawings, I have shewn the manner
in which I carry my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a plan of a pneumatic moderator fixed in a chimney; Figure 2,
section, through the line a, b, of Figure 1; and Figure 3, section of a fluo
with the moderators fixed therein. A is a frame, let into or affixed to the
brickwork; B, a balance plate or valve, free to oscillate upon an axis or axes C;
the weight D-is sufficient to keep the plate when at rest in the horizontal
position shewn in Figure 3. In order to allow of the free escape of smoke
or heated or foul air, the area between the edge of the plate and the opposite
side of the chimney should be equal to that of the cowl or chimney pot, and
the moderators should be fixed on opposite sides of the chimney, as shown.
in Figure 3.
Any down draught entering a chimney with my moderators therein would
depress the top plate, and would thereby be deflected upon the next in suc-
cession, and so on, until its force became neutralized. The plates being free
to move both upward and downward, would yield and allow passage to a
sweeping brush, both in its ascent and descent.
My moderators are as equally applicable to ventilating flues as to chimneys.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the pneumatic
moderator, constructed and acting in the manner herein-before described, and
represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
W. G. WILSON. (L.B.)