AN IMPROVED PORTABLE CINDER-SIFTING APPARATUS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ridley, of Stagshaw, in the County of North-
umberland, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE
CINDER-SIFTING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 16th October 1861, and dated the 19th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ridley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th April
1861.
I, JOHN RIDLEY, of Stagshaw, in the County of Northumberland, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE
CINDER-SIFTING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct a cinder-sifting apparatus which
may be easily carried about, and which may be used in every apartment where
there is a fire. My apparatus is constructed with an inclined closed cover, in
the lower part of which is suspended, by preference, upon a spring or springs,
an inclined sifter formed of longitudinal and transverse wires. An inlet is
provided at the upper end of the cover through a hopper fixed for the purpose.
At the lower end the cover opens into a spout or shoot which may be closed:
by a leather or other flap. The cover is placed over a closed box, and for the
purpose of giving motion to the sifter one or two rods is or are carried through
the lid and rest on the sifter. On cinders being thrown into the hopper they
run down the inclined sifter and find their outlet through the shoot at the
lower end, while the ashes and dust fall through the sifter into the box. If.
necessary, the sifter may be worked by pushing down oue or other of the rods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Ridley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RIDLEY, of Stagshaw, in the County of Northumberland, Gentleman, send
greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Ridley, Her special licence that I, the said John Ridley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Ridley, 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 "AN IMPROVED
PORTABLE CINDER-SIFTING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Ridley, 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..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Ridley, do hereby declare tho
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
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
The object of my Invention is to construct a cinder-sifting apparatus which
may be easily carried about, and which may be used in every apartment where
there is a fire. My apparatus is constructed with air inclined closed cover, in
the lower part of which is suspended, by preference, upon a spring or springs,
an inclined sifter formed of longitudinal and transverse wires. An inlet is
provided at the upper end of the cover through a hopper fixed for the purpose.
At the lower end the cover opens into a spout or shoot which may be closed
by a leather or other flap. The cover is placed over a closed box, and for the
purpose of giving motion to the sifter one or two rods is or are carried through

page_text: the lid and rest on the sifter. On cinders being thrown into the hopper they
run down the inclined sifter and find their outlet through the shoot at the
lower end, while the ashes and dust fall through the sifter into the box.
If necessary, the sifter may be worked by pushing down one or other of
the rods.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a sectional elevation, and
Figure 2 a perspective view of a cinder-sifting apparatus constructed in this
manner.
a is the box with a cover b, at the upper end of which is a hopper c; e is a
screen set at, by preference, an angle of 45°; d is a spring above it; and
d', d', are rods and knobs for working it; f is a spout or shoot at the lower
end of the screen with a sliding door g at bottom. Ashes thrown in at the
hopper c pass down to the screen, through which the dust falls, while the
cinders pass over the screen and fall into the spout f, from whence they are
removed by the sliding door g. The spring materially assists the sifting; in
some cases it is however dispensed with. The cover and screen are easily
removed from the box and the ashes emptied out. Sometimes the door g is
left open, and the ashes, which are poured in at the hopper, are sifted as they
pass over the screen, while the cinders fall through the aperture, which the
door closes, into any suitable receptacle. The apparatus just described is
particularly applicable for use in rooms, where it is taken, and the cinders
sifted without removing them to the ash-pit, as has been hitherto the case with
cinder sifters.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the shape or to the exact arrangement shown, but I claim as my improved
portable cinder-sifting apparatus, the employment of a screen set at an angle
over a box constructed and fitted substantially in manner and for the purpose
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ridley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one.
JOHN RIDLEY. (L.S.)