AN IMPROVED COVER FOR CHIMNEYS, ADAPTED TO PREVENT THEM FROM SMOKING, AND TO FACILITATE THE EXTINGUISHING OF FIRES THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Eugenio de la Bastida at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
September 1862, A communication from abroad by Mr. Auguste Louis
César de Montagu, of Paris (France.)
I, EUGENIO DE LA BASTIDA, of 43, Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square, W.C.
London, in the County of Middlesex, England, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COVER FOR CHIMNEYS, ADAPTED TO
PREVENT THEM FROM SMOKING, AND TO FACILITATE THE EXTINGUISHING OF FIRES
THEREIN," which Invention is a communication from abroad to
Mr. Auguste Louis César de Montagu, of Paris (France), to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of a truncated cone H, A, B, (Fig. 1), made of
iron-plate, zinc, baked earth, or any other convenient matter. The diameter of
its base A, B, is the same as that of the flue to which it is fixed; the height
H, A. is in proportion to the diameter of the base.. This truncated cone is
pierced laterally with holes of a circular or any other form, the number and
size of which vary according to the volume of smoke escaping from the chimney.
To this truncated cone pierced laterally other truncated cones M & N (Fig. 2)
may be fixed; these truncated cones, called reducers, are not perforated, are
of different heights, and are used when needed for limiting the number

page_text: of lateral orifices according to the draught of each chimney. These
reducers are used when the apparatus is in place. In this manner if
the chimney is regularly built, smoking in the interior can with certainty
be prevented. This advantage is peculiar to the improved conical cover,
and gives it a positive superiority over every other kind of apparatus.
In order permanently to secure the advantages of this graduated apparatus in
all weathers and in all positions, a smooth, fluted, or cut wind screen V, T,
(Fig. 8) is affixed to the summit of the perforated truncated cone. This
wind screen protects the upper part of the lateral orifices from the action of
the winds which glance off some higher object near to and blow down into the
chimney, and which is generally the cause of the smoke being driven back into
the apartments. The apparatus thus constructed and furnished is called
"the improved conical cover or pot." The principle upon which it is based
being "a truncated cone open at the top and perforated laterally," it is evident
that the shape of the orifices does not at all change the nature of the Invention
it is useless and even impossible to describe different shapes of holes in a
definite manner, since it is always possible and easy to modify these described
shapes without these arbitary modifications changing the nature of the Invention.
Being unable to describe then that which defies all description, the principle
only upon which this apparatus is based will be asserted, viz.,. a truncated
cone open at the top and having lateral perforations, of which the number,
shape, and size vary according to the total wants of the chimney and the
nature of the fuel used and of which the number is limited by means of reducers.
On the top of the perforated truncated cone a smooth, fluted, or cut wind
screen is affixed for the purpose of preserving the lateral orifices from the action
of the winds which glancing from off some high object near to penetrate into
the chimney.
.
Another kind of wind screen formed of different plates may be substituted
for the one made of a single piece only (Fig. 4). Still further, by means of
a cone without any opening whatever except at the base and so 'constructed
as to cover the perforated cone, a fire in a chimney may instantly be
extinguished, for in thus covering the cone (from which, of course, the
wind screen must first be removed) the air is prevented from entering the
chimney from without, and by also closing the back of the fire-place in
the apartment the current of air is entirely stopped, and the fire in the
chimney is immediately extinguished by the accumulation of its own smoke
(Fig. 5.)
Having now described the nature of the said improvement, and the manner

page_text: of carrying it out, it should be understood that I do not confine myself to the
precise proportions of the improved cone herein laid down, as the same may be
varied according to circumstances; what I-claim is, the construction, application,
and improvement of a cone or conical cover for preventing chimneys
from smoking internally, and faciliting the extinguishing of fires in chimneys.
Besides this, I also reserve to myself the right of making any improvement
or modification in my apparatus that I may judge convenient or necessary.