IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND IN COMBINED MATERIALS FOR GENERATING GASES FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN MINES, VESSELS, BUILDINGS, OR OTHER PLACES, SUCH APPARATUS BEING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Atkins, of Watford, in the County of
Herts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND IN
COMBINED MATERIALS FOR GENERATING GASES FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN
MINES, VESSELS, BUILDINGS, OR OTHER PLACES, SUCH APPARATUS BEING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Atkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th March 1870.
I, THOMAS ATKINS, of Watford, in the County of Herts, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
AND IN COMBINED MATERIALS FOR GENERATING GASES FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES
IN MINES, VESSELS, BUILDINGS, OR OTHER PLACES, SUCH APPARATUS BEING
AVAILABLE FOR WARMING BUILDINGS OR APARTMENTS," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to apparatus and in combining materials for
generating gases for extinguishing fires in mines, vessels, buildings, or
other places, such apparatus being available for warming buildings or
apartments. For this purpose in accordance with the first part of my

page_text: Invention I construct of sheet or cast iron a case, either square, round, or
other suitable form, and of any strength, breadth, or depth that may be most
convenient. This case or stove may be formed with two compartments,
which arrangement I term a double apparatus for generating carbonic
acid and nitrogenic gases. Or the apparatus may be formed with a
single compartment, the top being movable and arranged to work in a
sand dip. The grate bars may be moved by a handle to keep the grate
clear from ashes in the fire chamber. Doors are arranged of any
convenient size.or form or may be made air-tight to admit of air being
forced in at any required pressure for insuring either rapid or slow
combustion; or a valve may be suspended to admit air to the said
chamber by a vacuum formed in the gas chamber by means of a gas
pipe passing through the fuel, such pipe being pierced with fine holes
and covered with several layers of wire gauze of any required fineness,
pumice stone, fire-brick, or other porous slow conducting material to
protect the pipe from being burnt, and to keep the dust, ashes, or other
matters from entering the pipe. The said pipe may rest on a piece of
iron or may be secured in a chamber pierced with holes to admit a free
passage of the gases. A fire door is so arranged that it may fit air-tight
and be capable of being removed to admit fuel to the stove or apparatus
when required; or a pipe may be added to the fire of any convenient
size or strength for giving draught to the stove. The said stove may be
cased with fire-bricks or surrounded with another case for circulating
hot air or water for heating buildings or apartments. The gas pipe
is arranged to pass through the stove, being formed with a tee piece to
admit of air being blown through for cleansing the pipe, which may be
connected with suitable taps, cocks, or valves. One of these taps is
employed to admit water to a pump or pumps when required, another
of such taps being employed to convey the gases from the stove or
apparatus into the vacuum chambers. Before entering the pumps such
gases may be forced into a suitable vessel, and the supply may be
regulated by adjusting apparatus furnished with regulating dials. In
this arrangement of regulating apparatus there is a lever which connects
two handles combined with a pointer working over an indicating plate
with divisions and figures shewing the exact proportion of water and gas
that may be allowed to pass to the pumps. This arrangement is
intended with due attention to give the man managing the machine a
controlling power for admitting any proportion of gas or water that may
be desirable for the vacuum chamber, such gases passing through spiral

page_text: tubes pierced with holes for ensuring a proper admixture of gases with
the water passing to the pump or pumps and thence to the air chamber
of the apparatus. By this arrangement I obtain under various given
pressures a proper admixture of gases and water, and I prefer such gases
and water to work under a pressure of 100 to 150 lbs. on the square inch,
or as near as may be 10 of the gases to 1 of water.
According to another part of my Invention in order to ensure an
effective saturation or admixture of the gases before distribution I
construct a mixing vessel of any form or size with either plain or spiral
plate in the interior pierced with holes to ensure mixture of the said
gases with the water required. I attach to such vessel a distributor or
discharging apparatus so adjusted to throw such vapours in a volume or
as a fine mist for extinguishing fire. For this purpose I arrange a pipe
or pipes with cocks or valves combined with a mixing chamber
furnished with a spiral plate pierced with holes and covered with wire
gauze of any required mesh, the object of this spiral plate and wire gauze
being to ensure a thorough mixing of the gases and water before
entering the chambers for distribution. A cap is arranged to slide or
screw on the discharging nozzle, and may be pierced to any degree of
fineness capable of producing a thorough distribution of gases or vapour
for extinguishing fire.
Another part of my Invention relates to the application of the above-
described apparatus to steam, fire, or hot air engines. In the fire boxes
I place one or two gas pipes as far above the fire as may be found
convenient, such pipes to be protected from the fire with any non-
conducting material, such as fire-brick or plate iron, the said pipes to be
protected by wire gauze, pumice stone, or small pieces of fire-brick, the
said pipes to be conducted to the vacuum chamber leading to the pumps
connecting the spiral tubes or gas distributors as before mentioned.
Another part of my Invention relates to the mixing of the fuel to be
used in the fire-boxes or chambers, employed for generating the gases
required for the purposes of this Invention, that is to say, I prefer using
one part coke, nine parts vegetable charcoal, and five parts animal
charcoal, but I do not confine myself to the exact proportion herein
stated, as other proportions or combinations of materials may be used
which give off carbonic acid gases without departing from the character
of this part of my Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Atkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ATKINS, of Watford, in the County of Herts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Atkins, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Atkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Atkins, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND IN
COMBINED MATERIALS FOR GENERATING GASES FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN MINES,
VESSELS, BUILDINGS, OR OTHER PLACES, SUCH APPARATUS BEING AVAILABLE FOR
WARMING BUILDINGS OR APARTMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Atkins, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 Thomas Atkins, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention relates to apparatus and in combining materials for
gencrating gases for extinguishing fires in mines, vessels, buildings, or
other places, such apparatus being available for warming buildings or
apartments. For this purpose in accordance with the first part of my
Invention I construct of sheet or cast iron a case or chamber either
square, round, or other suitable form, and of any strength, breadth, or

page_text: depth that may be most convenient. This case constituting the chamber
of the stove for generating gases may be formed with two compartments,
which arrangement I term a double apparatus for generating carbonic
acid and nitrogenic gases. Or the case A may be formed with a single
compartment, as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings hereunto
annexed, which show apparatus arranged in accordance with my In-
vention for generating gases and combining them with water under
various pressures as herein-after described. The top C of the case A
is moveable and arranged to fit into a sand dip as shown. The grate
bars (or a plate pierced with fine holes) on which the fuel rests may be
moved by a handle a to keep the grate clear from ashes in the fire
chamber. Doors B are arranged of any convenient size or form or may
be made air-tight to admit of air being forced in at any required pressure
for ensuring either rapid or slow combustion, or a valve may be fixed to
admit air to the said chamber by vacuum formed by the pumps H
working in connection with the pipe E which conducts the gases from the
stove to the pump, such pipe being pierced with fine holes and covered
with several layers of wire gauze of any required fineness, pumice stone,
fire-brick, or other porous slow conducting material to protect the pipe
from being burnt and to keep the dust and ashes from entering the pipe.
The pipe E may rest on an open frame or may be secured in a chamber
pierced with holes to admit a free passage of the gases from the stove to
the pump. The fire-door is so arranged as to fit air-tight and be capable
of being removed to admit fuel to the stove or apparatus when required;
or a pipe or chimney may be added of any convenient size or strength
for giving draught to the stove. The said stove may be cased with fire-
bricks or surrounded with another case for circulating hot air or water
by means of pipes suitably arranged for heating buildings or apartments.
The gas pipe is arranged to pass through the stove, and a tee piece with
a tap connected may be added to admit of air or steam being blown
through for cleansing the pipe. A tap G is employed to admit water to
a pump or pumps H when required from the tank K, another tap F
being employed to regulate the supply of the gases from the stove or
apparatus to the pumps H. In order to render the apparatus portable I
combine the stove A with a water tank or reservoir K, upon which the
pump His supported by the cross bars O, the whole being mounted on
wheels M and legs or supports N, so that the apparatus can be moved
from place to place by means of the handles L, but I do not confine

page_text: myself to this particular arrangement, as the apparatus may be stationary.
Either before or after entering the pumps the gases may be forced into
a suitable vessel, the supply being regulated by adjusting apparatus, as
shown at Figure 4, arranged with indicating dials. In this arrangement
of regulating apparatus there is a link which connects two lever handles
combined with two pointers working over two indicating plates with
divisions and figures shewing the proportions of gas and water allowed
to pass to the pumps H. Such gases may pass through spiral tubes
pierced with holes for ensuring a proper admixture of gases and water
passing to the pumps H, and thence to the air chamber of the apparatus. :
In place of employing the mixing vessel as previously described I prefer
using in connection with the pumps H an enlarged air vessel I, which
may or may not contain the spiral plate. For the purposes of my
Invention I prefer to combine about ten parts by volume of the gases to
one part by volume of water, and to obtain a proper admixture I prefer
working at a pressure of 100 lbs. to 150 lbs. on the square inch.
According to another part of my Invention in order to ensure an
effective saturation or admixture of the gases before distribution I
construct a mixing vessel of any suitable form or size with either plain
or spiral plate in the interior pierced with holes to ensure a proper
admixture of the said gases with the water, and I attach to such vessel
a distributor or discharging apparatus shown separately at Figures 5
and 6 so adjusted as to throw the mixture of gases and water in volume
or as a fine spray for extinguishing fire. On the distributor a cap is
arranged to slide or screw on the discharging nozzle, and may be pierced a
to any degree of fineness capable of producing a thorough distribution
of the gases or vapour for extinguishing fire. By means of leather
or other tubing this nozzle or distributor may be connected with the
pipe P when the enlarged air vessel is used in the place of the mixing
vessel.
Another part of my Invention relates to the application of the above-
described apparatus to steam, fire, or hot air engines. In the fire-box I
arrange a pipe or pipes as far above the fire-bars as may be found con-
venient to conduct the gases to the pumps from the fire-box, such pipes
to be pierced and protected from the fire as before described, the said
pipes to be connected with the pump and thence to distribute the gases
as before mentioned. Or the gases may be conducted from the fire-box

page_text: and forced through the water into a steam boiler, and the gases, steam,
and water may be discharged from such boiler for extinguishing fires in
accordance with my Invention.
Another part of my Invention relates to the combined materials or
fuel to be used in the fire-boxes or chambers A employed for generating
the gases required for the purposes of this Invention, that is to say, I
prefer using one part coke, nine parts vegetable charcoal, and five parts
animal charcoal, but I do not confine myself to the exact proportions
herein stated, as other proportions or combinations of materials may be
used which give off carbonic acid and nitrogenic gases without departing
from the character of my Invention.
In order to render the gases generated and combined with water as
previously described available for immediate use for extinguishing fire
the same may be stored under considerable pressure in vessels or reservoirs
of any convenient size and of suitable strength in any part of a building
or vessel, and pipes connected with the reservoirs may be arranged to
conduct the gas and fluid over every part of a building or vessel, such
pipes being furnished with suitable cocks and valves for immediate
distribution when required.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is carried into practice, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein described;
but what I claim is, the arrangement of apparatus and combination of
materials herein described for generating gases by the combustion of
coke or anthracite coal, animal and vegetable charcoal, such gases being
mixed with sufficient water to form and distribute a volume or volumes
of vapour at suitable pressures for extinguishing fires, part of such
apparatus being available for warming buildings or apartments, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Atkins, have hereunto set
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