CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CHIMNEY CAPS, TO FACILITATE THE DISCHARGE OF SMOKE, AND PREVENT ITS RETURN
Year: 1837

page_text: BULLS SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
BULL, of Adam Street West, Portman Square, in the Parish of Saint Maryle-
bone and County of Middlesex, Ironmonger, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April; in the seventh year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
seven, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Reuben Bull, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Reuben Bull, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Reuben Bull, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN CHIMNEY CAPS, TO FACILITATE THE DISCHARGE OF SMOKE, AND PREVENT ITS
RETURN;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Reuben Bull, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and cause to the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Reuben Bull, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)-
These improvements in chimney caps are designed to allow the smoke to
discharge itself freely from the chimney whatever may be the state of the wind.
The top of the cap is covered by a dome, of a spherical, conical, or curved
ornamental form, which prevents any sudden descent of gusts of wind from
driving back the smoke down the chimney, a circumstance that often happens
in open-mouthed chimney tops. The apertures for the escape of the smoke are
in lateral directions all round the cap, and these are guarded externally by
pendant, vibrating, or moveable flaps or shutters. The smoke, after entering
the chimney cap, passes into lateral chambers, and thence discharges itself
upwards, downwards, through openings into the atmosphere. The pendant or
moveable flaps or shutters protect the lateral apertures of the cap from the
action of the wind passing horizontally, from whatever point it may blow; and
when tho wind is powerful those flaps or shutters which face the wind are
pressed inward, closing the lateral apertures of the cap on that side; but the
flaps, or shutters on the opposite side not being acted upon in this way by the
wind, allow the smoke to pass freely from the cap into the lateral chambers,
and thence to escape as aforesaid through the openings to the atmosphere; so
that whatever may be the state of the wind its intrusion into the chimney
is precluded by the pendant, vibrating, or moveable flaps or shutters, and a free
passage is afforded on that side opposite to the wind; in addition to which the
warmth thus preserved in the interior of the chimney cap facilitates the draft,
and the enlarged space or capacious receptacles formed round the cap by the
lateral chambers afford ample room for the ready escape of the smoke from
the chimney. These chimney caps may be made in a great variety of tasteful
and ornamental forms, some examples of which I have shewn in the accom-
panying Drawings, but to which of course I by no means intend. to confine
myself, as the leading featuro of my improvement consist in the manner of
adapting pendant, vibrating, or moveable flaps or shutters in connection with
lateral openings and lateral chambers, as more particularly shown in the
sectional Drawings which I am now about to explain: The several Figures 1,

page_text: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, in Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, are différent
representations of one construction of my improved chimney caps with pendant
flaps or shutters adapted thereto. Fig. 7, (Sheet 2), is a vertical section of
the same construction; and of the form or design shewn at Fig. 5. a' is the
chimney top, to which the lower part of the funnel 6 of the chimney cap is
fastened in any proper manner, and may be used with or without a common
chimney pot, as shewn in the Drawings. c, c, is the internal framework
of the cap in which the lateral apertures d, d, are formed for the escape
of the smoke from the interior. The framework in this instance is
formed as an inverted cone; e is the dome or cover of the cap; ff, are
the pendant flaps or shutters, which are attached or hung to the top part
of the framework c, by hinge joints in any convenient manner, so that as they
hang pendant by their own gravity, the apertures d, d, in the inclined side of
the frame will be left open, and when the wind blows hard the flaps will be
forced inward and close the openings opposite to them; 9, 9, are partitions or
projecting wings fastened on to the side of the framework. c and funnel b;
these wings divide the space around the framing c into separate chambers, and
they are furnished with outer flanges h, h, which serve to prevent the flaps from
moving too far outwards, and also to direct the action of the wind upon those
flaps situated facing it and at the same time prevent the wind acting upon
those flaps which are at the sides or not directly facing the wind, as will be
best seen in the horizontal section Fig. 8, where it will be seen that, sup-
posing the wind to be blowing from the N.E., the flaps or shutters 1, 2, 3,
next the wind, will close the apertures opposite to them, and all the others
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, will remain open, allowing a free discharge of the smoke there-
from. Fig. 9 is an outside view of another construction of my improved
chimney caps, in which the flaps or shutters are not pendant, but are hinged
or jointed at the bottom part, and the smoke escapes from the outer apertures
d, d, at the top part of the cap underneath the cover or dome. The same letters
of reference being marked on corresponding parts as in the former Figures, the
above description will suffice for these. Fig. 11 is a section of another
modification of my improved chimney caps with pendant flaps or "shutters, in
which the interior framing c, is formed as a cylinder, and the pendant flaps or
shutters are bent or cranked at the upper part, so that as they hang pendant
by their own gravity, the apertures d, d, will remain open, but when the wind
acts upon the flaps or shutters, they will be made to close the openings. The
same letters of reference are also marked in this Figure. Figures 12, 13, and
14, represent another. modification of my improved chimney cap, in which the

page_text: projecting wings or partitions g are dispensed with, and I have adapted other
projecting wings i, i, attached to the pendant flaps or shutters f; these wings
prevent communication with the next flap or division. Fig. 12 is a front
elevation, with the cap or cover e, shewn in section, in order to shew more
distinctly the method of hanging the shutters or flaps. Fig. 13 is a transverse
section taken through the entire chimney cap; and Fig. 14 is a horizontal
section for the purpose of shewing the pendant shutters with the projecting
wings attached thereto. These Figures are a modification of the construc-
tion described under Fig. 11, the shutters or flaps being hung in the same
manner. Fig. 15 represents another modification of my improved chimney
cap, the shutters being hung in the same manner as those in Fig. 7, but the
flange attached to the projecting wings 9, 9, are dispensed with. It may be
thought desirable, in order to ensure the proper action of the shutters or flaps,
to connect them in pairs, one opposite the other, by means of rods which are
jointed or connected to the inner side of the flaps or shutters, so that upon any
of them being forced inward by the wind to close the apertures d, d, the rods
will by their connection force the opposite shutters or flaps outward, and
insure their opening and a free exit for the smoke; and the extent of their
opening will be determined by the length of the rods. This is shewn applied to
the flaps or shutters in this Figure. j, j, are the rods connecting the flaps to-
gether in pairs; and k is a false top, to prevent the rods from being clogged up
by the soot. Fig. 16 is a front elevation of another modification in which the
framing c is conical, and the flaps or shutters being hung in the same manner as
in Fig. 7; but the projecting wings are dispensed with, the wings being attached
to the pendant flaps or shutters as shewn in Figures 12 and 13. Fig. 17 is
another modification, in which the framing c is cylindrical, and the apertures
are kept open by means of rods attached to the pendant flaps or shutters, as
in Fig. 15. It will be perceived, that the connecting rods are longer than the
diameter of the cylinder, and thus the apertures d, d, are always kept open,
except when some of the flaps or shutters are forced inwards by the action of
the wind. I would here remark, that these rods may be applied to the con-
struction of chimney caps in which the flaps rest upon the hinge joint, as shewn
at Figs. 9 and 10, and that the edges or other parts of the flaps or shutters, or
the edges of the apertures d and of the flanges h, should be supplied with a
leather, cloth, cork, or other packing or lining, to prevent noise; and in con-
clusion, that I do not intend to confine myself to any particular form or figure
of my improved chimney caps, or to the number of flaps or shutters used therein,
nor to the situation in which they are placed in the chimney cap, as they may

page_text: REUBEN (L.S.) BULL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of October, in
the first year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Reuben
Bull came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year
of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.