CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILA- TION
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUGUSTUS GUY, of Bloomsbury Square, in the County of Middlesex, Bachelor
of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Augustus Guy, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Augustus
Guy, my exors, admors, or assigns, and such others as I, the said William
Augustus Guy, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILA-
TION;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the
said William Augustus Guy, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her 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 there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Augustus Guy, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The nature of my said Invention consists in effecting the ventilation of
buildings and apartments of buildings, carriages, ships, and boats, by making
provision for a constant influx of atmospheric air, but under such checks and
guards as shall prevent the draught commonly attendant on the admission of
air; and the manner in which I effect this is by inserting into an opening or
openings in the wall or walls, window or windows, door or doors of the
building or apartment or carriage, or in the sides of the ship or boat, a plate
or plates of metal or other suitable material perforated with a number of
holes, and fixing at a little distance behind and parallel (or nearly so) to the
same a shield or shields of glass, metal, or other suitable material, so that the
air entering through the perforated metal may be deflected and distributed by
the shield or shields; or, instead of ventilating the building or apartment from
the side in manner aforesaid, I effect the ventilation of the same from the top
by means of pipes or vents carried from the roof downwards, and so con-
structed at their upper terminations as to favour the production of downward
currents, and shielded below in the same way as the openings in the walls or
windows.
Exemplifications of the several modes in which this Invention may be
carried out and modified according to circumstances, are given in the
Drawings hereunto annexed and before referred to. Figures 1, 2, and 3,
represent it in one of its simplest forms, Figure 1 being back elevation,
Figure 2a horizontal section, and Figure 3 a vertical section. A is the
plate of perforated metal inserted into a square of a window frame (the usual
pane of glass being removed). B is the shield of glass fixed behind and
parallel to the perforated plate, which is kept in its place by means of screws
D, D, passed through the shields into the astragals C, C, of the window frame.
Instead of the spaces between the perforated plate and shield at top, bottom,
and sides, being left quite open, they may be filled up with perforated plates, in
the manner shewn in the sectional elevation Figure 4. A is the outer
perforated plate as before, only that it is provided with solid or unperforated
rims a, a. D is an additional perforated plate with rims d, d, which fit
tightly within the rims a, a, of the outer plate, the four sides of this
additional plate being inclined inwards, as shewn. The shield B is made fast
to the upper and lower ends of the additional plate D, and the screws used in

page_text: Figures 1, 2, and 3, are thus dispensed with. The shield, instead of being
entire throughout, may itself be perforated in certain parts, provided the outer
air plate is closed at the parts immediately opposite the perforated parts of the
shield. Thus, in Figure 5, A represents an outer perforated plate, with
inclined pieces f, f, which are not perforated, but entire; and B, a shield united
to it at the edges, which is entire in the centre, but is perforated all round at
the parts g, g, opposite the inclined planes f, f; or two plates may be used, as
represented in Figure 6, each of which is half entire and half perforated, that
is to say, the upper half of the outer plate may be entire and the lower
perforated, and the upper part of the inner plate perforated and the lower
entire, or vice versa, and the two plates may be united at the edges by rims or
flanges, in the manner shewn. Figure 7 represents an entire window formed
on the same plan. A¹ is an outer frame, and B¹ an inner frame, the former
having its lower squares filled with perforated plates, and the latter its upper
squares so filled.
An economical modification of Figure 7 is shewn in
Figure 8. Here the inner window frame is dispensed with, and the outside
squares a, a, of the outer frame are filled with perforated plates, and shields
B, B, are fixed on the inside, opposite to the plates a, a. A window, con-
structed on the same principle as the preceding, but with a considerable
difference in the details, is represented in the sectional view, Figure 9. A is
a hollow case in the centre of the window, which communicates by hollow
astragals D, D, with a similar case C, which extends all round the outer edges
of the frame. The outer side of the case A and the inner sides of the case C
are perforated, the other sides are entire. The external air entering the
case A passes through the hollow astragals into the case C, whence it is
diffused throughout the apartment. The passage of the air into the interior
of the house or apartment, or other place ventilated on this system, may be
rendered still more indirect by the additional contrivance represented in the
sectional view, Figure 82. A is the outer perforated plate and B the inner
shield, both as before described. C is a solid partition, inclined in the manner
shewn, from one side of the perforated plate towards the entire portion of the
inner shield, so that the air entering through the outer perforated plate A is
deflected by the partition C, and forced to take the circuitous course indicated
by the arrows towards the perforated portion of the inner shield B. Where
the building or apartment required to be ventilated is situated more or less
below the level of the roadway, a modification of the invention, such as is
represented in Figure 10, may be adopted. E is the apartment. C, an air
passage or vent formed in the wall D, above the ground level, having
perforated plate A (or other suitable apertures) in the side fronting the
a

page_text: external atmosphere, and terminating at bottom, a little way below the roof and
inside of a shield B, which serves to disperse the air over the apartment. The
mode of ventilation from the top, by pipes or vents, before mentioned, is repre-
sented in Figure 11. C is the interior of a building or apartment. A is a vent
which rises above the roof like a common chimney, but is closed at top. B' is an
opening to the external atmosphere, which is made in one side of the vent,
just below the top, in which opening is inserted a perforated plate of metal,
or an open piece of work of brick, stone, or any other suitable material.
B is an opening in the opposite side, near to the bottom, at the place in the
apartment where the vent terminates (which, though represented in the
Figures as being near to the ground, may be at any other height in the
building or apartment that may be preferred). D is a shield fixed opposite to
the opening B. A modification of the preceding arrangement is shewn in
Figure 12.
Here the portion of the vent A, which is above the roof, is
perforated on all sides, and a second and smaller tube E, E, closed both at top
and bottom, is fixed within the vent A, which serves to deflect downwards the
currents of air. In the case of chimneys or apartments already provided with
chimneys or flues, a cowl, formed as in Figure 13, may be fixed on the top of
the chimney or flue, and a board be inserted in the lower aperture, having an
opening protected by a shield or fitted merely with a perforated plate. In all
the preceding cases the means of ventilation are supposed to be permanently
fixed, but a portable ventilator may be constructed on the same principle,
suited for occasional use only. A, B, Figure 14, is a sectional elevation of a
ventilator of this sort, adapted to fit into the lower or upper half of a window,
according as the under sash is thrown up or the inner one drawn down.
The ventilation of ships and boats (such particularly as are employed in the
transport of passengers), I propose to effect by means similar to those employed
for the ventilation of buildings and apartments; or, instead thereof, I make
use of means such as are represented in Figure 15. A is the side of the
ship. B is a bent tube carried through the side, the shorter leg of which
terminates on the outside of the vessel and the longer in the cabin, hold, or
other part of the ship or boat desired to be ventilated. The inner opening
C is fitted with a plate of perforated metal, wood, or other suitable substance.
The outer opening is also closed in the same way. D is a solid conical valve,
which is inserted loosely in the shorter leg of the tube B to prevent the
entrance of water into the longer leg, and rests when not acting on the ledge
D, D. E is a conical perforated hood fixed also in the shorter leg, imme-
diately above the valve D. When water rises in the short leg it forces up the
valve D into close contact with the perforated hood E, and so prevents any

page_text: escape of water into the longer leg, while on the recession of the water the
valve falls back into its seat, and there is then a free passage for the air
through the tube, as before. Should such a constant communication as has
been before provided for between the interior of a building or apartment of a
building, carriage, ship, or boat, and the external atmosphere be in any case
found or deemed inexpident, it may be rendered intermittent to any extent
desired by inserting valves in the air passages, to be acted on by hand or in
any other convenient manner; or should the external atmosphere be so loaded
with impurities as to make it desirable that it should be more or less purified
before admitting it inside, it may be made to pass through sieves of muslin or
any other finely reticulated material, as well as through the perforated plates
before mentioned; and should it be desired in any case to warm or heat the air
before its admission inside, this may be effected either by conducting a supply
of heated air by a pipe or pipes into the space between the outer perforated
plate or plates and the inner shield or shields, or by placing in that space any
suitable heating apparatus. And, though I have before directed that perforated
plates of metal or other substance should be employed, as aforesaid (con-
sidering them to be preferable to anything else), I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the use of such plates, and that there may be
substituted for them any other substance or combination of substances, which
by perforation, weaving, plaiting, or otherwise, shall present a surface having a
number of openings for the admission of air. I declare also, that where in the
case of windows any obstruction of light may be objectionable, the outer
perforated plate or plates may be omitted, and the space or spaces which
would have been otherwise filled by them may be left open to the external
atmosphere. I declare, further, that though I have represented and described
the outer plate or plates and the inner shield or shields as being plain surfaces,
and parallel to one another, or nearly so, and though I believe that it will, in
most cases, be found preferable so to construct and fix them, yet that the plates
and shields, or one or other of them, may be made more or less curved. The
plates and shields may also be made of any ornamental form, combined with
any sort of ornament not inconsistent with or prejudicial to the main object of
ventilation.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,-
Firstly, the ventilating of buildings, apartments, carriages, ships, and boats,
in manner herein described, by means of an outer perforated plate or plates of
metal or other suitable material, combined with an interior shield or shields of

page_text: glass, metal, or other suitable material fixed at a little distance behind, and
parallel to the same, or nearly so.
Secondly, the ventilating of buildings or apartments from the top, by means
of vents or pipes so constructed at their upper terminations as to favour the
production of downward currents of air, and shielded interiorly in manner
herein described.
Thirdly, the ventilating of buildings or apartments by means of a cowl and
chimney board with shield, or a cowl and perforated plate only, both as herein
described.
Fourthly, the portable ventilator represented in Figures 13 and 14, and
herein-before described.
And fifthly, the ventilating of ships and boats by means of a bent tube with
guard plates, valve, &c., all as before described.