AN IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad
by Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant, of West Roxbury, Massachusetts,
United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tion, on the 29th March, 1869, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
BLOWING APPARATUS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for
[Price 8d.j

page_text: the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has been communicated
to me from abroad by Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant, of West Roxbury,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings forming a part
of this Specification:-
This Invention consists in. improvements in the detail of arrangement
and construction of the case containing the blast wheel, and in the
detail of arrangement and construction of the apparatus combined with
the blast apparatus, by which the air acted upon is cooled or heated,
or both cooled and heated according to the requirements of any specific
case.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shows in vertical central longitudinal section
an apparatus embodying the said Invention, the section being taken in the
plane of the line 2, 2, seen in Figure 2, which Figure is a vertical section of the
same apparatus, the section being taken in the plane of the line y, y,
which is a vertical plane passing through the axis of the shaft a of the blower
wheel.
In the construction of centrifugal blowers it has been usual to make
the case of but two main parts, these being the side plates with peripheral
flanges of considerable depth or projection cast integral with said plates
and projecting therefrom to an extent sufficient to make when the edges
of the flanges are joined together a sufficient width of space between
the plates to accommodate the blower wheel. But this old method of
making the blower case is objectionable for various reasons, which
increase in force as the blowers are increased in size. Where flanges are
cast integral with the side plates the depth of the flanges strains the
mould and gives unnecessary and objectionable thickness and weight
to the side plates, and when the casting is distorted by strain in cooling
the flanges thereon render it impossible to correct the distortion with a
hammer. The patterns when made with flanges on the side plates are
very expensive and require expensive and deep flasks in casting and
make the moulds excessively heavy, all of which greatly adds to the
expence of so making a blower case. But in this Invention the
periphery of the blower case instead of being made integral with the

page_text: side plates is made of separate sections which at their sides are fitted
between the side plates and are bolted thereunto and abut with their
ends against each other. The side plates are thus made substantially
flat though more or less curved or corrugated for utilitarian and
ornamental purposes, and can be sprung by hammer blows if needed,
and by reason of their general thinness and flatness can be easily
inoulded and cast, and if broken do not involve so much expence in
The blower
replacement as if forming an entire half of a blower case.
case made in accordance with this part of my Invention in many
pieces instead of but two is more easily handled in the fitting shop and
in transportation.
In the Drawings the side plates are marked b, 61, and the peripheral
sectious, which are preferably arched in cross section, are denoted by c,
the butt joints of the sections being made tight by cement or lap plates.
In the outer surface of each side plate is made, as seen at d, Figure 2,
a dovetailed groove concentric with the axis of the blower wheel, said
groove being intended to receive the head ends of bolts by which are
fastened to the sides of the blower case in a very convenient manner
the bearing for the pulley end of the shaft, and the pipe or other apparatus
through which air is introduced at the centre of the blower. The sides
of the blower case are also swelled outward or corrugated, as seen at e
in Figure 2, so as to form an internal space or channel concentric with.
the blower wheel on each side, this serving the double purpose of
stiffening the sides and giving air space within the blower case.
The peculiarities described form so much of the Invention as pertains
to the blower case, and the remainder of the Invention, which will be
explained in the description which follows, consists in peculiarities of
detail, arrangement, and construction by which air may be either warmed
or cooled, or both warmed and cooled, in its passage to and from the blower.
At the right of Figure 2 is shown. u drum made with its
cylindrical surface and heads of thin sheet metal, copper, or brass,
preferably with tubes g of thin metal passing, through the heads haud
secured therein. Both heads are covered by bonnets, which are
contracted from the diameter of the heads to a central opening equal in
arca to the joint areas of the tubes, g. One bonnet is arranged to be.
connected to the head b of the blower case by bolts which have their
heads in the grooved, there being a central opening in this head, and
the other head & being closed. The outer end of the other bonnet has

page_text: a pipe attached thereto, through which when the blower wheel is set in
motion the air passes into the blower to be acted upon by the blades or
fans of the wheel to expel the air through the tangential outlet from
the blower seen in Figure 1. The drum f is provided with inlet and
outlet
passages j, k; through which exhaust steam enters and leaves the
space in the drum around the tubes g if it is designed to heat the air
acted on by the blower, or if it is designed to cool the air ice and salt
may be introduced into the space in f and the drippings would then be
conducted off through k. A current of water might be made to flow
through the drum f, or any other cooling medium or mixture could be
made to pass through or to fill the space in the drum f. Whether the
object is to heat or to cool air passing through the tubes g, the drum
should be covered or jacketed, as shown, to prevent useless radiation of
heat in one case and to prevent absorption of heat from the atmosphere
surrounding the drum in the other case. The object of making the
drum and tubes of very thin metal is to obtain the greatest possible
conductivity in the apparatus, so that the maximum of heat or cold may
be received by the air from the contents of the drum f by conduction
through the heads h and tubes g. Thin iron or steel is objectionable
for the drum and tubes on account of the rapidity with which such
metal oxidises. But in making the heads thin the tubes cannot be
secured therein by expanding the euds of the tubes in the usual manner,
and hence it becomes necessary to provide an efficient means for securing
the tubes, which is done by turning a flange around each tube hole in
the heads, and this gives opportunity to solder or brase the tube securely
in their places. From the manner in which the bonnet i is united to
the head b it will be seen that the whole heating or cooling apparatus
may be turned to bring the passages; and into any convenient position
needed for attachment of steam or water pipes thereto. Instead of
connecting the drum f, as shown in Figure 2, to the centre of the blower
so that changes of temperature are made in the air before it passes to the
blower, the drum may be connected, as indicated in Figure 1, to the
delivery outlet from the blower. To make such connection with facility
the end of the tangential delivery pipe is provided with a ring having in
it a dovetailed groove similar to the groove seen at d in the head b and
for the same-purpose. The drum too inay to suit the requirements in
some cases be located at some distance from the blower and connected
therewith by an interposed pipe of the required length.
The uses
to which this described apparatus may be put are too

page_text: numerous to be given in detail; it may be mentioned however that by
change in the contents placed in or passing through the drum it may
be used to supply dwellings, hospitals, and factories with cool air in
summer and hot air in winter. When it is desirable to supply very
dry hot air for drying lumber, bricks, and for other like purposes, two
drums should be used, one to cool the air as it enters the fan, thereby
causing it to contract and deposit its moisture, and the other to heat the
air as it is driven from the blower, thus supplying to the drying room
hot anhydrous air.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
15 Witness,
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.8.)
THOS. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.C.