IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES AND TUNNELS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE- WITH, APPLICABLE ALSO TO VENTILATING BUILDINGS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lamb Scott, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VENTILATING MINES AND TUNNELS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH, APPLICABLE ALSO TO VENTILATING BUILDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lamb Scott
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th December 1871.
I, GEORGE LAMB SCOTT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES AND TUNNELS AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH, APPLICABLE ALSO TO VENTILATING BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
1.
My improvements refer to that Invention for which Provisional
Protection has been granted to me dated October 5th 1871, No. 2647.
According to the method therein specified I proposed to ventilate mines'

page_text: and tunnels by causing a jet or jets of steam to issue into the upper part
of the shaft or into a passage leading therefrom.
According to my present improvements thereon I propose to seal the
said shaft or passage by means of boards and concrete, iron plates, or
other ordinary means, and to use a certain arrangement of apparatus
connected with a steam generator. This apparatus consists of a number
of tubes or channels placed in a suitable frame or casing and furnished
with steam jets extending therein, the said tubes or channels being open
at one end to the up-cast shaft or passage connected therewith and at
the other end to the atmosphere. The number of steam jets in 'use
át a time may be regulated by suitable taps or valves, and thus the
ventilation may be increased or diminished. A provision may also be
made by any ordinary apparatus to seal those tubes or channels which
are not in use.
In cases of tunnels my apparatus may be adapted to a shaft or passage
made therefrom, if it do not already exist.
L
As regards buildings the arrangement will be the same, the system
.”
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Lamb Scott in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 18th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LAMB SCOTT, of Manchester, 'in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,-by-Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing-date-the-Eighteenth-day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Lamb Scott, Her special license
that I, the said George Lamb Scott, my executors, administrators, 3
and assigns; or. such others as, I, the said George Lamb Scott, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during th
the
نے

page_text: 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
VENTILATING MINES AND TUNNELS AND IN. APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO VENTILATING BUILDINGS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said George Lamb Scott, by an instrument'in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Lamb Scott, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (and accompanying Drawings) that is
to say :-
My Invention refers to improvements upon that arrangement for
which Letters Patent were granted to me dated October Fifth, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, No. 2647. According to the
method therein specified I proposed to ventilate mines and tunnels by
causing a jet or jets of steam to issue into the upper part of the shaft or
into a passage leading therefrom.
According to my present improvements thereon I seal the said shaft
or passage therefrom where the jets are adapted, and use a certain
arrangement of apparatus connected with a steam generator. This
apparatus consists of a number of tubes or channels placed in a
suitable frame or casing and furnished with steam jets extending
therein, the said tubes or channels being open at one end to the up-cast
shaft or passage connected therewith and at the other ends to the
atmosphere.
In cases of tunnels my apparatus may be adapted to a shaft or passage
made therefrom if it do not already exist, and in the cases of buildings I
adapt my said improved apparatus in a similar manner.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents the apparatus in
section, and Fig. 2 in plan view, broken off at the lower part of the Fig.,
tition of that shore it

page_text: Y
end by
At a is the up-cast shaft of a mine which I close at its upper
any ordinary means, but according to the method shewn there are ribs
of timber b placed across the mouth of the pit, and these are covered
with a stratum of concrete.c, thus: effecting: an air-tight covering, beneath
which and leading from the shaft is a passage à leading to an under-
ground chambere. The upper part of this chamber is sealed by a
plate fupon which are rows of pipes I, I, I, I, I, I, 9*, 9*, I*, 9*, 9*, 9*,
extending upward, as seen in Fig. 1, the upper ends of the said pipes
being open to the atmosphere and the lower ends to the chamber e.
"Ath is the main steam pipe leading from a steam generator placed in any
convenient situation. Extending from this main is a side pipe closed
at its other end, there being also a similar pipe on the other side, but
which, as before stated, is omitted in the Drawing, and at jis a a cross
central pipe also in communication with the main; but closed at its other
end. At ; are other pipes in communication with the side and
central pipes above mentioned, but situate at right angles thereto, and
the whole of the said pipes may therefore be filled with steam. Upon
the pipes k, k, k³, are formed bonnets which carry short pipes,m, each
of which has a rectangular portion n which passes into two of the
tubes g, as seen in Fig. 1 and 2, and is provided at its ends with jets o
turned upward. When the valve p is turned so as to admit steam from
the generator to the main the other pipes above mentioned will also
become filled with steam which will issue through the jets o situate in the
tubes g, and by causing a partial vacuum will draw air from the mine
and thus effect the required ventilation. Each of the short pipes m is
provided with a stop itap q, by means of which- any, desired number of
jets may be closed or opened, so as to regulate the draft at pleasure. At
Figs. 3, 4, is shewn an arrangement which I have found convenient in
fitting up the tubes g and their jet pipes.m, n. The short pipes m and
their stop taps q are screwed to the bonnets 1, the cross parts being also
-screwed-thereon.-This-is. done before the tubes 9-are-adapted, the
portions-g*-thereof; they-being-provided with slots in which the jet
pieces n are situate. The upper parts g of the tubes are now adapted,
they being provided with enlarged ends & which pass over the lower
parts and are provided also with slots to admit the jet pieces n.
When the two portions 99* of the tubes are thus put together; the two
slots above mentioned are it will be perceived closed. The apparatus
above described might, of course be placed direct upon the upper end of
the shaft so that the plate would occupy the position of the parts.b, c,

page_text: •
and the effect as regards ventilating power would be the same; but I
have shewn it on a separate chamber as the more convenient arrangement
because the up-cast shaft is sometimes required to be open for pumping or
other purposes, and it would be more convenient to remove the parts b, c,.
than to alter the arrangement of the ventilating apparatus. Sometimes
also it is desired to wind in the up-cast shaft, under these circumstances
the top of the shaft cannot be permanently closed, and it will therefore be
provided with doors which are lifted by the ascent of the cage which
then itself closes the orifice, which closing should be effected to produce
the best effect, for otherwise the steam jets would draw air from the
external atmosphere; the method of adapting these doors is well known
in cases where fans are used, and the arrangement may be the same as
applied to my Invention. In some cases one shaft only is used, it being
divided so as to form up and down cast shafts; under these circumstances
my Invention will be adapted to the up-cast portion, precisely as above
described.
1
In applying my Invention to ventilating tunnels up-cast shafts may
be formed in the usual manner if they do not already exist, and the
tubes and their steam jets adapted as above described, and in ventilating
buildings I apply my Invention in a similar manner. The quantity of
air drawn will of course be determined by the pressure of the steam
employed and the number of tubes and jets used; this however will
readily be found by experience, and more or less of the said jets may be
used by opening or closing the stop taps q. It will be seen, as in the
case of my previous Invention aforesaid, that I apply steam at the upper
part of the shaft or passage therefrom, but that in the present instance
the opening from which the air is immediately drawn is sealed, excepting
the orifices which communicate with the jets. I have above described the
use of a considerable number of jets and tubes, but it will be evident
that for some purposes, as in the case of ventilating comparatively small
places, that a small number or one only may be employed.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I
desire it to be understood that as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent for the purposes above described, and as applied to
ventilating by a steam jet or jets placed substantially at the top of the
shaft or other such ventilating medium, I claim, sealing the orifice from
which the air is immediately drawn, as illustrated at f, and adapting to
•

page_text: such sealed parts a steam jet or jets enclosed within a tube or tubes,
substantially as described."
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lamb Scott, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.