AN IMPROVED THERMOMETRICAL FIRE ALARUM AND EXTINGUISHER
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Carter, of Blackburn, in the County of Lan-
caster, Plumber, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED THERMOMETRICAL FIRE
ALARUM AND EXTINGUISHER."
Scaled the 5th November 1861, and dated the 9th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Carter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 9th
May 1861.
1, GEORGE CARTER, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Plumber,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED THERMO-
METRICAL FIRE ALARUM AND EXTINGUISHER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in fixing a metal expansion chest of any convenient
size or form in a room or chamber of a dwelling or other house, or the cabins
of ships, from which chest is carried a pipe of metal or other suitable material,
and one end of the aforesaid tube is attached to the expansion chest, the other
trapped by mercury in a cistern or other convenient receptacle. In this mer--
cury a tube, hermetically sealed at one end, is made to rise and fall by the
expansion and contraction of the air, or made air-tight by means of a conical.
tube of india-rubber or other suitable material, which allows a rod to work
freely, and communicate the motion of the tube through an arrangement of
levers, rods, and wheels, or segments of wheels, so as to turn on steam or
water by means of a cock or valve, at any required temperature. The alarm
is given by a steam whistle or a bell, also put in motion by the herein-before
mentioned arrangement of levers, rods, and wheels, or segments of wheels.
The wheels can be graduated or divided, so that the instrument can be
regulated so as to act at any desired temperature.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Carter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CARTER, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Carter, Her special licence that I, the said George Carter,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Carter, 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 "AN IMPROVED THERMO-
METRICAL FIRE ALARUM AND EXTINGUISHER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Carter, 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
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 George Carter, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the novel employment or application of the expan-
sive power of the caloric or heated air caused by the accidental occurrence of
a fire in a chamber of a dwelling house or other place, for the purpose of
actuating machinery or apparatus, which is so constructed as to give an alarm
and to subdue or assist in subduing or extinguishing such fire before it has
time to spread; and my Invention further consists in the construction and
arrangement of the machinery or apparatus for this purpose. My self-acting
machinery consists of an air-tight chest or chests of copper or other suitable
material, placed in the ceiling or any part of the room or rooms, so as to be
affected by the temperature being raised by fire; the chest or chests commu-
nicate by a metal pipe or pipes to machinery, which can be placed in any part

page_text: of a building. At the end of this metal pipe (which is inside the machine
case) is an air-tight moveable cylinder which traps the air either by using oil,
mercury, or vulcanized india-rubber. To the top of this air-tight moveable
cylinder is attached a rod with an index, which can be adjusted to any degree
of heat required, so that when the air inside the chest or chests expands with
the temperature raised by fire, and thereby presses the air along the pipe to
the moveable cylinder, the cylinder is thereby raised till the index reaches tho
levers (one on each side), and when these levers are thus released, in which
action one lever lets fall a weight inside a tube on to a vulcanized india-rubber
ball, the air is driven along another pipe to another machine, which can bo
placed at the top or any part of the building; the compression of the air in this
pipe lifts another cylinder, which also lifts a lever and sets a self-acting
machine to work, constructed so as to ring a large bell forcibly, either by check
weights or other appliances, or to blow a steam or air whistle. The other
lever before mentioned releases a large metal roller, which is supported in an
oblique position on a lever; this ball runs along the lever in a groove, and
forces the lever down by its weight, so as to open a tap for steam or water,
which is admitted by pipes laid to any part of the building.
The alarum can be adapted for any kind of building, including gentlemen's
residences, and when used for the latter as an alarum alone, can be made
complete in one case like an ordinary barometer; or in any other ornamental
form, from which pipes are conducted to expansion chests in the different
rooms. The machine can be hung in the hall, and when acted upon it rings
a gong by a spring or any other appliance, or it will release a piston in an air
cylinder, which in its descent will blow an air whistle.
In order that my Invention may be more particularly described and ascer-
tained, I hereunto append a Sheet of Drawings having figures and letters of
reference marked thereupon, the same letters being used to represent similar
parts in each Figure.
In this Drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of alarm machine; Figure 2 is
the expansion chest; Figures 3 and 4 are cross sections of the alarm machine;
Figure 5 is an outside elevation of alarm machine case; Figure 6 is an cleva-
tion of machine and case with moving cylinder and tap; Figures 7 and 8
are cross sections of machine and case; Fig. 9 is an outside elevation of
machine case.
A is the expansion chest fixed in ceiling of room or rooms, from which a
pipe leads to the moving cylinder B in machine case; on this moving cylinder
is an indexed rod C, on which is a moveable ring D; this ring can be set to
any degree indexed on rod by a thumb screw; on its ascent by (expansion of

page_text: air in chest caused by the temperature being raised by fire) the lugs or move-
able ring E, E, lift the levers F, F, one of which releases the weight G, which
falls and strikes the vulcanized india-rubber ball H; this compresses the air
along another pipe I, which collapses another india-rubber ball K (in alarum
case), and releases the lever L; this causes the lever with weight M to fall
out of catch, thereby releasing the drum N; this drum is so arranged (as
shown) that when the weight O descends and lifts the lever with weight P
and strikes the bell Q on one side, and catches the drum at the same time by
catch lever R, the former lever with weight P then descends and strikes the
bell on the other side, and at the same time takes the catch R out of
which causes the drum N to revolve again by weight O, and strikes the other
side, and vice versa. By this arrangement regularity in striking as well as a
slow movement of large weight is obtained; the other lever F, before men-
tioned, releases the upright lever S, which allows the roller weight T to run
along the lever U in a groove, and which forces it down, thereby opening the
tap V, which admits water or steam along pipes laid through the building.
The last-named levers are adapted for any other position of tap besides where
shewn; the drum N can be taken out of gear by lifting a collar W at back,
so that it can be pushed back to allow it to be wound up.
gear,
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and the
means by which the same is effected, I claim the novel employment of the
expanded or heated air produced by a fire, as a means for giving an alarm and
for extinguishing or assisting to extinguish such fire, by its action upon the
machinery or apparatus herein described, which I also claim; and I claim the
application or employment of the said heated or expanded air in connection
with any other arrangement of levers and alarums than that herein specified,
when employed for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Carter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JOHN WINDER.
GEORGE CARTER. (L.S.)