IMPROVEMENTS IN HOT WATER. APPARATUS, APPLICABLE TO THE HEATING OF BUILDINGS, SUPPLYING BATHS AND LAUNDRIES, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Purnell, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOT WATER.
APPARATUS, APPLICABLE TO THE HEATING OF BUILDINGS, SUPPLYING BATHS
AND LAUNDRIES, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES."
Sealed the 10th August 1860, and dated the 11th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Purnell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1860.
I, BENJAMIN PURNELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOT
WATER APPARATUS, APPLICABLE TO THE HEATING OF BUILDINGS, SUPPLYING BATHS
AND LAUNDRIES, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in attaching a valve box and self-acting valve to any
part of the return pipe of circulating hot water apparatus, by preference
selecting a position at or near the end of such return pipe. This valve is for
the purpose of preventing the passage of cold water into the return pipe, and
its action is as follows:-The clack of the valve opens inwards towards the cold
water supply pipe, so that the hot water easily lifting the valve clack is allowed
a free passage, whilst the cold water by its own pressure upon the clack of the
valve closes the passage into the return pipe, and effectually prevents any cold

page_text: water entering it. This arrangement will admit of hot water being drawn
from the pipes at any part of their length, and either from the return pipe or
from the flow nine so that the boiler which supplies the heating annaratus for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Purnell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BENJAMIN
PURNELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Benjamin Purnell, Her special license that I, the said
Benjamin Purnell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Benjamin Purnell, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOT WATER APPARATUS, APPLICABLE TO THE HEATING
OF BUILDINGS, SUPPLYING BATHS AND LAUNDRIES, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Purnell, 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 Benjamin Purnell, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in attaching a valve box and self-acting valve to any
part of the return pipe of circulating hot water apparatus, by preference
selecting a position at or near the end of such return pipe. The valve is for

page_text: the purpose of preventing the passage of cold water into the return pipe, and
its action is as follows:-The clack of the valve opens inwards towards the
cold water supply pipe, so that the hot water easily lifting the valve clack is
allowed a free passage, whilst the cold water by its own pressure upon the
clack of the valve closes the passage into the return pipe, and effectually.
prevents any cold water entering it. This arrangement will admit of hot
water being drawn from the pipes at any part of their length, and either from
the return pipe or from the flow pipe, so that the boiler which supplies the
heating apparatus for a building, will also supply hot water for bath or
culinary purposes.
This will be more readily understood by a reference to the accompanying
Drawings, in which is represented a form of valve which I have invented for
the purpose above described, and which form of valve being simple and not
liable to derangement, I find especially suitable for my purpose.
I will now
proceed to illustrate the action of this valve.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical section and part elevation of the valve box and valve;
Figure 2, a plan of the same. Similar letters on each Drawing refer to
similar parts.
(A) is a valve box or case; (B); the valve or clack, hung from a pin or
rivet joint (E) immediately at the mouth of the ingress or hot water pipe (C);
(D) is the egress pipe, and upon the same side of the valve is attached the
pipe for the supply of cold water to the boiler. It is a well known fact, that
by the ordinary arrangement of these pipes without a valve, if hot water be
taken from any portion of the system, the flow of hot water being temporarily
suspended, the return pipe is necessarily filled with cold water, thus rendering
a circulating apparatus of this description subservient to one use alone.
Whereas by my improvements in attaching an automatic valve to the return
pipe, the same hot water system will meet all the requirements, whether
heating, bathing, or culinary, usually found in large establishments, either
public or private. The valve when in action operates thus:-So long as the
apparatus may be merely answering the purpose of warming a building, the
hot water flowing through the pipe (C) by its pressure easily lifts the
valve or clack (B), and passing through the valve box (A) issues through
the pipe (D), but if a supply of hot water be taken from any part of the
system of pipes, the flow through the pipe (C) being temporarily suspended,
the cold water flow through the pipe (D) fills the valve box, and by its
pressure on the clack (B) closes the mouth of the pipe (C), and thus prevents
on

page_text: the cold water from entering that pipe, so that any number of separate
supplies for other purposes may be taken from the one system of circulating
pipes.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to these precise details, nor to the form of valve shewn in
the Drawings, though I find that form the most suitable for the purpose; but
that which I claim and desire to have secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the application of a valve box and self-acting
valve to any part of the return pipe of circulating hot water apparatus, as
herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Purnell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
BENJAMIN PURNELL. (L.S.)