Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Introducing Air into Buildings, Apartments, or Chambers, Distributing the same therein and removing it therefrom.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Jan., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Oct., 1899-Accepted, 20th Jan., 1900
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Introducing Air into
Buildings, Apartments, or Chambers, Distributing the same therein
and removing it therefrom.
We, JAMES WILLIAM THOMAS CADETT, Chemical Engineer, of Crampshaw
Works, Ashtead, in the County of Surrey, and THOMAS GLOVER LYON, Physician,
of No. 1, Victoria Square, in the County of London, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in or connected with means for intro-
ducing air into, evenly distributing it, and removing it from, buildings, apart-
ments or chambers, and has for its object to convey a considerable volume of air
into and in some cases through, buildings apartments or chambers in such
manner as to effect the even distribution thereof.
In carrying the invention into effect, the air supply is conducted into one end
of a conduit located in a convenient position above or immediately below the
ceiling of the building or apartment into which the air is to be distributed and
this supply of air is obtained either by forcing the air through the conduit into
the room by the aid of a fan or other suitable blowing device, or by exhausting
the air from the room or apartment.
The conduit communicates with the room or apartment by means of a long
tapered or wedge-shaped slot or opening or there might be several of such
openings, said slot or opening being arranged with its narrow end at the point
of greatest pressure, that is to say, the wider end of the slot or opening is at the
supply end of the conduit, and the taper is so proportioned as to equalise the volume
of air passing into the room or apartment along the entire length of the
tapered slot or opening, and, in order to assist to this end, deflecting plates are
fitted across the tapered slot or opening.
Or, in lieu of forming a tapered slot in the floor of the conduit a row of
graduated perforations may be substituted therefor.
The conduit, as hereinbefore described, is placed at the upper part and at one
side of the room or apartment, or it might be placed above the ceiling and the
necessary opening or openings may be made in the latter so that the air issuing
from the tapered slot can be carried or directed down the side of the room or
apartment and if desired a deflecting plate extending at an angle from the roof
or ceiling of the building or apartment towards the wall adjacent to the conduit
is employed, said plate being made co-extensive with the conduit and arranged
beneath the tapered slot or opening so as to deflect the air issuing therefrom
towards said wall.
In some cases, a vertical perforate partition is arranged longitudinally of the
conduit and co-extensive with the wall of the apartment or a part of it so that air
issuing from the conduit is delivered into the space between the perforate par-
tition and the wall and thence passes through the perforate partition into the

page_text: apartment, the perforations of the partition gradually diminish in size towards
that point where the pressure of air is the greatest, and the partition thus
materially assists to evenly distribute the air as it passes into the room or
apartment.
In order to provide for the eduction or passage from the building or apartment
of air, a similar conduit leading to the open air or to an exhausting contrivance
is arranged preferably at the opposite side of the room and communicates with
the interior of the room by means of a tapered slot or opening similar to that
herein before described.
It will be evident that instead of placing the conduit above the ceiling of the
building or apartment it may be placed immediately beneath the same and that
a number of such conduits and co-acting parts may be employed, if desired.
In cases where the air supplying conduits are arranged along all sides of the
building or apartment, the exhaust conduit or conduits may be arranged at or
about the centre of the ceiling thereof so that the air will pass from all sides to
that focus and thus a complete change and even flow of air. will be ensured.
Where the flow of air is created by the employment of exhaust fans or the like
in connection with the exhaust conduits the tapered slots or openings and
deflecting plates of the supply and exhaust conduits must be arranged so as to
secure an even flow in volume throughout the wedge shaped openings both of
the supply and exhaust conduits.
The air previous to entering the supply conduit may be treated in any required
manner, for example, it may be heated or the heat may be extracted therefrom
by any suitable means or it may be dried or saturated with moisture, ozonised,
or otherwise medicated or dealt with according to the purpose in view.
The means herein before described may be employed in a variety of situations
where the introduction and even distribution of a considerable volume of air is
required and such for example as in sanatoria where the introduction in such
manner of specially treated air would be a desideratum.
Dated this 25th day of January 1899.
VAUGHAN & SON,
Agents for the. Applicants.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Introducing Air into
Buildings, Apartments, or Chambers, Distributing the same therein
and removing it therefrom.
We, JAMES WILLIAM THOMAS CADETT, Chemical Engineer, of Crampshaw
Works, Ashtead, in the County of Surrey, and THOMAS GLOVER LYON, Physician,
of No..1, Victoria Square, in the County of London, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement.
Our said invention relates to improvements in apparatus for introducing air
into chambers distributing the same therein and removing it therefrom and the
object of our invention is to evenly distribute air into chambers and also when
desired to evenly remove air from chambers.
In carrying out our invention we use one or more conduits (the plural is
assumed to include the singular). The conduits are placed in any suitable posi-
tion as regards the chambers, and the connections between the conduits and the
chambers consist of tapering slots with baffle or deflecting plates across such

page_text: tapering slots. The conduits which introduce air have the wider ends of the
tapering slots placed nearest the source of air supply the narrow ends of the taper-
ing slots being placed furthest from the air supply.
The conduits which remove air from the chambers have the tapering slots with
their narrow ends nearest the openings where the air leaves the conduits. In
this case baffle plates are not necessary.
Instead of tapering slots, equivalent perforations may be used, the area of such
perforations becoming greater or smaller corresponding to the width of the
tapering slots and in this case baffle plates or tubes must be adjusted to the
apertures as hereinafter described.
Perforated materials such as muslin or wire gauze stretched across the slot or
equivalent perforations may take the place of baffle plates, and would have an
equivalent effect.
..
To further-distribute the¯air entering the chambers, perforate screens of any
suitable material may be interposed between the tapering slots and the chambers. "
In the case where very even distribution of air entering the chambers is
required, such screens, when arranged in connection with the supply conduits,
are made with the perforations of larger area nearest to the tapering slots when
the air supply issues from the screen at great velocity, but, if the velocity be
moderate, the openings should be of uniform area throughout the screen, and,
when the velocity of the issuing air is small, the openings should gradually
increase in size from that part of the screen which is adjacent to the slot.
the case where very even removal of air from the chambers is required the area
of the perforations in the screens is made larger where furthest from the slots of
the conduits for the removal of the air from the chambers.
In
The tapering of the slots in the conduits may be adjusted by sliding plates
so as to regulate the amount of air passing at various parts of the slots.
The operation of our invention is as follows:-
Firstly with respect to the introduction of air into the chambers:―
Either a fan or equivalent means are employed to force air into the conduits
for supplying air to the chambers at that end of each conduit where the tapering
slot is widest, or a fan or other equivalent means are employed to extract air
from the chambers thus forming a partial vacuum in the chambers, the air being
drawn into the chambers through the conduits and tapered slots. By either of
these means the distribution of air through the tapering slots and perforate
screens (if the latter be used) into the chambers would be effected.
Secondly Respecting the removal of air from the chambers. A fan or other
equivalent means are employed at that end of each conduit where the tapering
slot is narrowest to exhaust the air from the conduits.
Thirdly The methods before described may be used in combination as
follows:-
Fans or equivalent means are employed to force air into the conduits for
supplying air to the chambers and at the same time fans or equivalent means are
employed to remove air from the conduits for removing air from the chambers;
in this way the air in the chambers would more nearly conform to the air outside.
the chambers as regards barometric pressure and the opening and closing of doors
made easier.
And, in order that the said invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed, aided by the accompanying drawings,
more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a conduit constructed according to our
invention.
Figure 2 is an underside view thereof.
Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof.
Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section representing a further modification in

page_text: Figure 5 is an elevation representing the application of the invention to the
ceiling and wall of a room.
Figure 6 is a sectional view representing the application of the invention to
the floor and wall of a room.
Figure 7 is a sectional view representing an arrangement of conduits for ven-
tilating a chamber from the floor and ceiling.
Figure 8 is a view of a modified form of conduit, and
Figure 9 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof.
Referring to Figures 1 to 3, we represents a conduit which may be located in
any suitable situation where air is required to be distributed.
The floor of this conduit a is provided with a longitudinal slot al, which in
the example given is formed with inclined sides so as to constitute a long narrow
wedge-like opening although the sides of the slot might be parallel as hereinafter
described and the air to be distributed is supplied to the conduit a in any
suitable manner.
The slot or opening a¹ is fitted with a regulating plate or valve provided
with handles and this plate b is adapted to be moved more or less over the slot
or opening as indicated more particularly at Figure 2. The degree of the
taper and the total area of the slot may be regulated in the manner desired by
manipulating the handles b¹.
Or, the slot or opening a might be formed with parallel sides from end to end
thereof and the required taper might be obtained by means of a plate or valve
such as b.
The baffle or deflecting plates a³ are fitted across the slot a¹ at right angles
to the conduit or they might be inclined downwards towards the supply or
exhaust end of the conduit as shown at * Figure 3.
In the example given at Figure 4, the conduit is supplemented by the hollow
screen or partition into which the air passes from the conduit and each side
of this hollow screen or partition c is perforated with graduated openings c¹.
By this arrangement, the air forced into the conduit a is effectually distributed
into the chamber.
In the example given at Figure 5, an arrangement similar to that represented
at Figure 4 is shown applied to the wall of a room provided with windows d'
but in this case the wall of the screen or partition c is furnished with perfora-
tion upon one face only thereof and said screen instead of being continuous is
formed with breaks corresponding with the windows of the room and the
conduit a is provided with corresponding slots al and the handles b¹ for adjusting
the plates or valves are arranged upon the face of the screen and connected
with the plate or valve 6 by passing through slots as will be readily understood.
In the example given at Figure 6, the device is shown applied to adjacent
rooms or chambers and in this case it is shown fitted to the lower part of a room
and in one form the screen is provided with a single face and abuts against a
party wall whilst in the other form it is formed double-faced and stands apart
from the walls and is similar to the device shown at Figure 4 except that it is
inverted.
In the example given at Figure 7, conduits are shown fitted beneath the
ceiling and floor of a room or apartment and either conduit might serve as the
supply and the other as the exhaust.
In the example given at Figures S and 9, the conduit a instead of being
formed with a long slot or opening a therein is provided with a number of
separate openings graduated in size from end to end thereof and in this case
the deflecting or baffle plates are tubular as shown at and although the
regulating valve or plate b is not shown in connection with these openings it will
be understood that it may be so employed.
The wall or walls of the screen instead of being formed solid and provided
with openings cl may be composed of woven or perforate material, the mesh of
which is graduated so as to offer a graduated resistance to the passage of the air.

page_text: The openings c¹ in the screens c may be of any suitable size and would in most
cases be smaller in proportion than those illustrated at Figures 4, 5 and 6. The
particular arrangement of the graduated openings shown would be suitable when
the air supply issues from the screen at great velocity, but, if the velocity be
moderate, the openings c¹ should be of uniform area throughout the screen and
when the velocity of the issuing air is small the openings should gradually
increase in size from that part of the screen adjacent to the slot.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as applied to the
air supply but when applied to the air exits, the slots of the conduits would, as
hereinbefore stated, have their narrow ends situated at the exit ends of the
conduits.
Although, when the air is supplied by the means hereinbefore described to a
chamber the air exit may consist of a corresponding conduit and slot neverthe-
less the outlet for the air may consist of a simple opening or openings arranged
in any suitable position.
It will be understood that the apparatus herein before described may be
employed in any suitable situation where the even distribution and removal of a
considerable volume of air is required and such for example as sanatoria or drying
chambers where the introduction thereof in such manner would be a desideratum.
The air previous to entering the supply conduit may be treated in any required
manner, for example, it may be heated or the heat may be extracted therefrom
by any suitable means or it may be dried or saturated with moisture or ozonised
or otherwise dealt with or treated according to the purpose in view.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: -
1. Conduits provided with tapering slots or equivalent perforations, substan-
tially as herein shown and described and for the purpose stated.
2. Conduits provided with tapering slots or equivalent perforations and baffle
plates or perforate material, substantially as herein shown and described and for
the purpose stated.
3. Conduits provided with tapering slots or equivalent perforations and baffle
plates or perforate material, in combination with perforate screens, substantially
as herein shown and described and for the purpose stated.
Dated this 3rd day of October 1895.
VAUGHAN & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.