IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITIES OF AIR CURRENTS "
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Thompson of Bolton le Moors in the County of
Lancaster Mining Engineer for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITIES OF AIR CURRENTS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st April 1883.
JOSEPH THOMPSON of Bolton-le-Moors in the County of Lancaster, Mining
Engineer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITIES OF
AIR CURRENTS
"
My Invention relates to apparatus specially designed to be used in indicating
the velocities of air currents in mines but is also applicable in the construction of
apparatus intended to be used in other situations.
I employ a set of Robinsons cups which I prefer to be so proportioned as that one
complete revolution shall represent a flow of ten feet. The cup spindle is connected
by bevel gearing with a shaft on which is a cam which makes and breaks electric
contact at each revolution of the said spindle or the said cam may be upon the
said spindle. The apparatus is fixed in a suitable situation in an air passage in
the mine and is connected by means of a wire with a simple beating apparatus
having an ordinary coil and armature which apparatus is fixed in the office of the
engineer or in a suitable situation on the surface that is above ground. For each
revolution of the cup spindle the armature of the beating apparatus is attracted
and a beat is given which represents say a travel of the air through ten feet of
the air passage so that by counting the number of beats in a minute at any time
and multiplying by ten the engineer or any other person can readily obtain an
indication of the velocity of the air current in feet per minute.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th October
1883.
JOSEPH THOMPSON of Bolton-le-Moors in the County of Lancaster, Mining
Engineer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITIES OF
AIR CURRENTS
"
My Invention relates to apparatus specially designed to be used in indicating
the velocities of air currents in mines but is also applicable to the construction of
apparatus intended to be used in other situations.
I employ a set of Robinson's cups which I prefer to be so proportioned as that
one complete revolution shall represent a flow of ten feet. The cup spindle is
connected by bevel gearing with a shaft on which is a cam which makes and
breaks electric contact at each revolution of the spindle or the said cam may be
upon the said spindle. The apparatus is fixed in a suitable situation in an air
passage in the mine and is connected by means of a wire with a simple beating
apparatus having an ordinary coil and armature which apparatus is fixed in the
office of the engineer or in a suitable situation on the surface that is above ground.
For each revolution of the cup spindle the armature of the beating apparatus is
attracted and a beat is, given which represents say a travel of air through ten
feet of the air passage so that by counting the number of beats in a minute of any
time and multiplying by ten the engineer or any other person can readily obtain
an indication of the velocity of the air current in feet per minute.
In Order that my Invention may be fully understood I have attached hereunto
a sheet of drawings to which I will refer in this place. In the said drawings.
Fig. 1 partly in section is an elevation of my apparatus for measuring the velocity
of the air currents Fig. 2 being a plan and Fig. 3 a cross section of part of the
apparatus the dotted lines A and B indicating the lines of section. In the said
Figs. a is a vertical spindle which carries a set of Robinson's cups indicated
by b, b, in Fig 1. The said spindle revolves in a bearing in a bracket c and in a
footstep bearing d and is connected by means of a pair of bevel wheels e with a
shaft ff, which revolves in bearings in standards g, g. On the said shaft is
fixed or formed a cam h which at each revolution of the shaft lifts a contact lever i
which is hinged to the upper end of a pillar k. Upon the upper end of a second
pillar is fixed a contact piece m which is provided with a screw adjustment
whereby its weight may be regulated to suit the contact piece n on the free end
of the contact lever. The pillars k and are connected with pillars o, o, in which
the wires of an electric circuit are fixed. The effect of the arrangement is that
at each revolution of the shaft the electric circuit is broken by the lifting of the
contact lever by the cam and is made again by the lowering of the said lever.
One of the wires of the circuit is connected with any ordinary or suitable form of
beating apparatus as herein before mentioned. This apparatus may be at any
required distance from the apparatus represented in the drawings and indicates
the velocity of the air currents in the manner hereinbefore mentioned The details
of the apparatus may be varied so long as the revolutions of the spindle a are
caused to make and break an electric circuit whereby indications of the velocity
are given by a beating apparatus. For some purposes the beats of the apparatus
may be recorded by means of an ordinary or suitable train of gearing. I do not
confine the use of my apparatus to the measurement of air velocities in mines.
For some purposes the apparatus might be moved through the air and be used to
indicate the speed of such movement.

page_text: Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of my said Invention and
the manner in which I carry the same into practical effect I would have it to be
understood that I claim :-
First. The combination of apparatus substantially as and for the purpose.set
forth and indicated hereinbefore with reference to the accompanying drawings.
And secondly. The employment for the purposes herein set forth of the
measuring apparatus known as Robinson's cups and indicated in the drawings
to make and break an electric circuit at intervals corresponding with a movement
of ten feet or any other selected quantity and the electric connection of such
apparatus with a beating or recording apparatus whereby the velocity or movements
can be indicated at a distance from the measuring apparatus substantially as
set forth.
In Witness whereof I the said Joseph Thompson have hereunto set my hand
and seal this nineteenth day of October in the gear [sic] of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three
Witness
EDWARD K. DUTTON
41 John Dalton St, Manchester.
J THOMPSON (L.S.)