A NEW APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE DRAUGHT OF CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING THEIR SMOKING.” CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING THEIR SMOKING.”
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hamilton Turner, of Great Winchester
Street, in the City of London, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "A NEW APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE DRAUGHT OF
CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING THEIR SMOKING.”
CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING THEIR SMOKING.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Hamilton Turner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th February 1875.
I, CHARLES HAMILTON TURNER, of Great Winchester Street, in the
City of London, Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A NEW APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE
DRAUGHT OF CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING THEIR SMOKING," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to a new and simple apparatus to be placed
in a chimney to ensure the maintenance of a proper and regular draught
through the same and to prevent its smoking, no matter what may be
the direction or force of the wind or the condition of the atmosphere,

page_text: The annoyance and inconvenience arising from smoking chimneys are
almost universally felt. It is only where chimneys are of very great
height or are used under other favourable conditions that their smoking
is not occasional if not frequent, and the consequent discomfort and
injury to health occasioned by the necessity of opening doors and !
windows to get rid of the smoke are very serious, while the walls,
ceilings, pictures, and furniture of the household are more or less soiled
and injured. Many contrivances for preventing or mitigating these
evils have been adopted, but all have been more or less unsatisfactory.
Blowers, shields, and other contrivances used at the fire-place or at or
near the bottom of the chimney have no effect except under very
favourable conditions, while external appliances, such as chimney pots,
cowls, and long and unsightly metal pipes, and the like, are ineffectual
during some conditions of the weather.
My Invention is designed to obviate all of these difficulties, and is :
carried into practice as follows, that is to say, near the top or in any
other suitable part of the chimney or in a chimney pot placed thereon
I arrange a rod or bolt which is passed through the said chimney or
chimney pot and secured therein by a screw nut, or pin, or in any other.
suitable manner. Upon this rod or bolt I suspend by means of a metal
hook or link a ball or sphere formed of metal or other suitable material.
The said ball is made nearly of the same diameter as the interior of the
chimney or chimney pot in which it is suspended, but there must be a
space all around the said ball for the upward passage of the draught and
smoke. In ordinary conditions of the weather the ball will remain
stationary, but whenever through strong and varying gusts of wind or
otherwise the top of the chimney is exposed to downward currents or
draughts the ball, which will oscillate freely under very slight impulses,
will meet such currents and instantly check their passage down the
chimney and prevent their obstructing the upward passage of the
smoke.
I modify my said Invention by fitting the ball or sphere to rotate
upon a rod or bolt passed through the chimney instead of suspending
the said ball as above described. In this form of my Invention the said
rod or bolt is preferably placed somewhat out of the centre of the :
chimney, so that there is a wider space between the ball and the chimney
on one side than the other, through which space the smoke passes
upward. Below the said ball and on the opposite side of the chimney to

page_text: the said space I place a curved metal plate or tongue which guides the
draught and smoke upward to the ball, and which forms an additional
safeguard against downward currents.
The said Invention may be quickly applied to any chimney; it is
very simple and inexpensive; when once fixed it will not require any
care or attention, and will not be liable to injury or derangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Hamilton Turner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HAMILTON TURNER, of Great Winchester Street, in the City of London,
Merchant and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Hamilton Turner, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Hamilton Turner, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Hamilton
Turner, 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 Invention for
"A NEW APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE DRAUGHT OF CHIMNEYS AND PREVENTING
THEIR SMOKING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Hamilton Turner, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Hamilton Turner, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
My said Invention relates to a new and simple apparatus to be placed
in a chimney to ensure the maintenance of a proper and regular draught
be
through the same, and to prevent its smoking no matter what may
the direction or force of the wind or the condition of the atmosphere.
The annoyance and inconvenience arising from smoky chimneys are
almost universally felt. It is only where chimneys are of very great
height or are used under other favourable conditions that their smoking
is not occasional if not frequent, and the consequent discomfort and
injury to health occasioned by the necessity of opening doors and
windows to get rid of the smoke are very serious, while the walls,
ceilings, pictures, and furniture of the household are more or less soiled
and injured. Many contrivances for preventing or mitigating this evil
have been adopted, but all have been more or less unsatisfactory.
Blowers, shields, and other contrivances used at the fire-place or at or
near the bottom of the chimney have no effect except under very
favourable conditions, while external appliances, such as chimney pots,
cowls, and long and unsightly metal pipes, and the like, are ineffectual
against some conditions of the weather.
My Invention is designed to obviate all of these difficulties, and is
carried into practice as shown in the accompanying Drawing, in which I
shew vertical sections of chimneys provided with my apparatus.
In the arrangement of the said apparatus, as shewn in Figure 1, I
place near the top of the chimney or in a chimney pot placed thereon
a rod or bolt a which is passed through the said chimney or chimney
pot and secured therein by a screw nut or pin, or in any other suitable
manner; upon this rod or bolt I suspend by means of a metal hook or
link ba ball or sphere c formed of metal or other suitable material.
The said ball is made somewhat less in diameter than the interior of the
chimney or chimney pot in which it is suspended, so that there will be a
space all around the said ball for the upward passage of the draught and
smoke. In ordinary conditions of the weather the ball will remain
stationary, but whenever through strong or varying gusts of wind or

page_text: otherwise the top of the chimney is exposed to downward currents or
draughts the ball which will oscillate freely under very slight impulses
will meet such currents and instantly check their passage down the
chimney and prevent their obstructing the upward passage of the
smoke.
In Figure 2 I have shewn the ball c supported by pins or studs c¹ to
turn freely-in eyes in the hanger d which is suspended from the rod a.
In this case the said ball will both oscillate and rotate when acted upon
by the currents of air.
I further modify my said Invention, as shown in Figure 3, by fitting
the ball or sphere c to rotate upon a rod or bolt a passed through the
chimney instead of suspending the said ball as above described.
In Figures 1 and 3 it will be observed that the ball c is placed some-
what out of the centre of the chimney, so that there is a wider space
between the ball and the chimney on one side than the other, through
which space the smoke passes upward. Below the said ball and on the
opposite side of the chimney to the said space I fix a metal plate or
tongue e which guides the draught and smoke upward to the ball, and
which forms an additional safeguard against downward currents.
I wish it clearly understood that although I have shewn in the
Drawing the best way with which I am acquainted of suspending or
supporting the ball in the chimney, yet I do not limit myself to the
particular means shewn and described, but may adopt any appliances
for suspending or supporting the said ball which will ensure its acting
freely in the manner specified.
I prefer in some instances to place a bar or rod ƒ across the chimney
below the ball to prevent injury to the latter in sweeping the chimney.
The said Invention may be quickly applied to any chimney; it it very
simple and inexpensive; when once fixed it will not require any care
or attention, and will not be liable to injury or derangement.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim, a ball or sphere
suspended or supported in a chimney or chimney pot in such a manner
that it is free to oscillate or rotate, or to both oscillate and rotate when
acted upon by draughts or currents of air, and either with or without

page_text: the tongue, strip, or bar of metal below the said ball for the purposes
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Hamilton Turner, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
HY. JA³. NoONE.
C. HAMILTON TURNER. (L.S.)