IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND ARRANGING WARMING APPARATUS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Purnell, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer and Manufacturer of Warming and Ventilating
Apparatus, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND
ARRANGING WARMING APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Purnell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
September 1861.
I, HENRY PURNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer and Manufacturer of Warming and Ventilating Apparatus, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CON-
STRUCTING AND ARRANGING WARMING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention comprises improvements in constructing and arranging appa-
ratus for warming buildings, apartments, or enclosed spaces by means of hot
water, or for heating water for baths or other purposes, such improvements
permitting of a more convenient and economical application of such apparatus
than hitherto under particular conditions, such as, for example, where it is
required to carry the pipes to a level below that at which it is convenient to
place the boiler or heating vessel. And in carrying out this Invention accord-
ing to one modification; the boiler is formed with a kind of receiver communi-
cating with its top by a valve or valves permitting the water to rise, but
preventing its return into the boiler, except by the return pipe. From this
receiver a pipe is extended to the apartments or spaces to be warmed, these
being, we shall suppose in this example, at a lower level than the boiler, and

page_text: the returning end of this pipe is made to communicate with the bottom of the
boiler. A cistern for supplying water is placed on a level with the receiver,
or nearly so, and communicates with the receiver by a pipe entering it above
the valve, a valve being placed in such pipe to prevent the water from return-
ing to the cistern. The receiver is made so as to allow of the expansion of
the water when heated, and an air pipe is fitted to its upper end, and arranged
for convenience with its outlet directed into the cistern. With this construc-
tion and arrangement there is in practice a continuous circulation of the water
through the system of pipes and boiler, and the water in the pipes is conse-
quently kept at the required temperature.
The various details of the arrangement may be modified to suit particular
situations or conditions, thus the receiver with its valve may be placed at some
distance from the boiler, and the supply pipe may communicate with the boiler
direct or with any convenient part of the piping. The warming pipes may be
extended in any direction above or below the the level of the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Purnell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
PURNELL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer and
Manufacturer of Warming and Ventilating Apparatus, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Purnell, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Purnell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Purnell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thercafter 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 CON-
STRUCTING AND ARRANGING WARMING APPARATUS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said Henry Purnell, 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 Inven-

page_text: tion, 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 Henry Purnell, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My said Invention comprises improvements in constructing and arranging
apparatus for warming buildings, apartments, or enclosed spaces by means of
hot water, or for heating water or conveying heated water for baths or other
purposes, such improvements permitting of a more convenient and economical
application of such apparatus than hitherto under particular conditions; such
as, for example, where it is required to carry the pipes to a level below that
at which it is convenient to place the boiler or heating vessel.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and carried
into effect, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings repre-
senting one modification of the principal part of the improved apparatus,
Figure 1 being a vertical section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section thereof.
The boiler and piping may be of the ordinary construction, and are not shown
in the Drawing.
. A receiver or box A is fitted in communication with the top of the boiler.
by means, for example, of a short pipe B, and a continuation C of this passage.
is formed within the box A, being fitted with a couple of valves, which permit
water to enter the box A from the boiler by the pipe B, but prevent its return
by that pipe. The water can, however, return to the boiler through the range
of piping laid where the hot water is to be conveyed; the flow pipe E, or
commencement of this range of piping communicating with the box A at one
side, whilst the other end or the return pipe communicates with the bottom or
lower part of the boiler. The piping may be carried to a lower level than
that of the boiler, or partly to a lower and partly to a higher level, or other-
wise. A cistern F for supplying water is placed in any convenient situation
on a level, or nearly on a level, with the receiver or box A; and this cistern F
communicates with the box A by a pipe G, provided with a valve H, which
allows the water to pass in one direction only, namely, from the cistern into
the box. The box or receiver A is made of sufficient size to allow for the
expansion of the water when heated; and an open air pipe I is fitted to its
upper end, which pipe, if convenient, may have its outlet directed into the
cistern F, as shown, so that any water or steam that may happen to be thrown

page_text: out may be delivered into the cistern. It is also desirable to provide a small
aperture J in the top of the valve inlet C, for the escape of air from the boiler
and pipe B, but the same end may be obtained by making the valves D fit
somewliat loosely, provided they are not liable to become too close fitting from
use. With this construction and arrangement there is in practice a continued
circulation of the water through the system of pipes and boiler, and the water
in the pipes is consequently kept at the required temperature.
The various details of the arrangement may be modified to suit particular
situations or conditions. Thus the receiver with its valve or valves may be
placed at some distance from the boiler, and the feed or supply cistern may be
placed near the receiver or away from it, and the supply pipe may communi-
cate with the boiler directly, or with any convenient-part of the piping. The
cistern F need not be made larger than what is required for feeding, whatever
may be the size of the receiver or box A, whilst the latter should be made suffi-
ciently large to accommodate the expansion of the water, this depending, of
course, upon the quantity of water in circulation, and upon the mean tem-
perature to which it is raised.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details berein-before described or delineated;
but that what I consider to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the con-
structing or arranging of the circulating details of hot-water warming apparatus
substantially as herein-before described, and particularly the applying therein
of a valve or valves opening only in the direction of the current.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Purnell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
HENRY PURNELL. (L.S.)