IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES
Year: 1846

page_text: STRUVE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PRICE STRUVÉ, of Swansea, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of March, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Price Struvé, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Price
Struvé, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said William
Price Struvé, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said William Price Struvé, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso; I, the said
William Price Struvé, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
In ventilating mines, as heretofore practised, it has been usual to employ
furnaces in the upcast shafts so as to produce a rush of air upwards through
such shafts, by which the gases and impure air pass out of the mines, pure
air descending down the downcast shafts to supply the mines, and a pumping
apparatus of small dimensions has occasionally been employed in addition to
the usual furnace or furnaces), a pipe of a few inches diameter descending
from such pumping apparatus to a particular locality from which it may have
been desired to withdraw foul air.
Now, the object of my Invention is to dispense with the furnaces heretofore
used for obtaining the requisite draft, and to use pumping apparatus of such
dimensions as to remove the air from the upcast shaft in sufficient quantities
to ventilate the mine where such pumping apparatus may be applied. In
carrying out this Invention all the air, gases, and vapours ascending in the
upcast shaft pass into the pumping apparatus, and from thence are ejected into
the outer atmosphere, while pure air enters through the downcast shaft to
supply their place. And in order that my Invention may be more fully
understood and readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the means
pursued by me..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a side view of pumping apparatus constructed and
applied to the upcast shaft, according to my Invention. Figure 2. shows a
plan of the apparatus; and Figure 3 shows an elevation view of it, partly in
section. The construction of the pumping apparatus may be varied, but I
prefer the arrangement shown in the Drawing:-a is the upcast shaft or pit,
which, according to my Invention, is to be so enclosed as to cause all the air,
gases, and vapours ascending from the mine to pass into the pumping
apparatus; 6, 61, are two flues or passages, each of equal transverse area with
the upcast shaft branching from the upcast shaft and leading into the tanks
c, c, built of masonry; 63, 6³, are two other flues or passages of similar area
branching from the upper part of the upcast shaft and leading to the upper
parts of the tanks. These tanks are filled with water nearly to the top of the
flue or passage 6 in each tank; d, d, are two inverted cylinders similar in
construction to those of gasometers; such vessels should be guided in their
movements up and down. I prefer to use two of these, so that one may
counterbalance the other, and thus reduce as much as possible the power
b

page_text: requisite for putting the apparatus in motion. These inverted vessels are to be
moved alternately up and down by means of a.steam engine or other power,
which gives motion to them by means of a strap e; this gives motion to the
drum f fixed on the axis g, and the axis g gives motion to two connecting rods
h, h, by means of cranks, one at each end of the shaft or axis. The cranks are
so fixed that one vessel d is rising whilst the other is descending, by which the
weight of one will counterbalance the other. iandjare valves opening inwards
or towards the cylinder; k and 1, yalves opening outwards or towards the
external air; there are duplicates of these valves to the other pumping apparatus.
These valves may be made of any suitable material; I prefer that they should.
be as shewn at Figure 4, where z, z, are plates of metal which are affixed to
pieces of leather; these pieces of leather also serve as hinges at the points x;
they had better hang from a hinge at their upper edges, be as light as
practicable, and of equal area with the cross section of the upcast shaft.
As each cylinder is raised, the air from the mines will enter the cylinder
through the valve i, while that on the outside is expelled through the valve l,
and as each is depressed, the air will enter though; to the space above the
cylinder, and that from the interior be expelled through k, so that at each
alternation, air will be drawn from the mine on one side of the cylinders and
that already drawn be expelled into the open air on the other. The rate of
motion of these cylinders should be guided by the pressure on the valves, and
should not be faster than will produce a slight pressure on them; they will not
therefore be required to be very strong. I may observe that I have spoken
of the upcast shaft, that being the usual exit for the air, but the above will
apply to other channels through which it may be desirable to draw off the air;
and I recommend where my method of ventilation is adopted, the working
of the mine should take place through the downcast shaft, or through that
adit where the pumping apparatus is not applied.
From the above description it will be seen that the peculiar character of my
Invention consists in closing in the upcast shaft or pit so as to cause all the air,
gases, and vapours which it may be required to remove for the purpose of
ventilation to pass into and form suitable pumping apparatus, and thus to
produce the requisite rush or flow of air up the upcast shaft, rendering
unnecessary the furnaces heretofore employed for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Price Struvé, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
WILL PRICE (L.S.) STRUVE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid William Price Struvé came before our
said Lady' the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.