Improvements in Respirators or Inhalers.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Nov., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Respirators or Inhalers.
1, JOHN WILLIAM TOWERS of Brantwood, Allerton near Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster, Laboratory Furnisher do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to respirators, inhalers or the like, and has for its object
a device to be worn by operators or workmen in chemical works, gas works,
sewers, white lead works, or other places, to exclude poisonous or noxious gases,
dust or other injurious matters from the lungs, or even change the condition of the
air by passing it through medicaments, etcetera.
In carrying out my invention, the plan I prefer is to form my device of a
chamber of any suitable shape, the bottom of which is closed, whilst the top is
formed with a perforated cover or lid. Near the bottom of the chamber,
I provide a perforated diaphragm, and the space between it and the perforated
cover is filled with charcoal saturated or not with caustic soda, or any other
suitable filtering material may be used. Communication with the space between
the perforated diaphragm and the bottom of the chamber which is not filled
with charcoal is had by means of a pipe, which passes up through the charcoal
in the chamber and out through the perforated cover. This pipe is fitted with
a flexible tube having a mouthpiece to be held between the lips through
which the user breathes, thus drawing the noxious air through the perforated
cover and filtering material in the chamber where it is purified, the purified
air being drawn through the perforated diaphragm and so along the pipe to the
mouth.
Instead of using a mouthpiece, the tube may be attached to a mask, an inhaling
valve and valve for expiration being provided in the mask. The valve for admitting
air from the chamber to the mask and so to the lungs, and the valve for exhaling
the breath, open and close alternately and automatically during the process of
breathing.
The device may be conveniently carried in the pocket or may be fastened to the
person in any suitable manner. Gauze or the like may be substituted for the
perforated diaphragms if so desired.
Dated this 31st day of January 1896.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Respirators or Inhalers.
I, JOHN WILLIAM TOWERS of Brantwood, Allerton near Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster, Laboratory Furnisher, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to respirators, inhalers or the like, and has for its object

page_text: a device to be worn by operators or workmen in chemical works, gas works, sewers,.
white lead works, or other places, to exclude posionous or noxious gases, dust or
other injurious matters from the lungs, or even change the condition of the air by
passing it through medicaments, etcetera.
The invention will be understood from the following description, reference
being had to the accompanying drawings, which show my respirator or inhaler
ready for use. The example shown has been constructed especially to enable a
man to breathe safely in air containing sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid or
chlorine. It consists of a container A of any suitable shape, the bottom of which
is closed, whilst the top is formed with 'a lid B perforated at C and D, C being an
air inlet and D the outlet to which the flexible tube E leading to the mouthpiece
is attached. 'Near the bottom of the container A, I provide an ebonite chamber F
with a perforated diaphragm or with gauze, said chamber being filled with cotton
wool or other filtering medium, and the container with a suitable absorbent, adapted
to absorb the noxious gases, or with charcoal saturated with caustic soda solution,
or with any other suitable material according to the purpose to which the apparatus
is to be used. Communication with the bottom of the container is had through
the ebonite chamber F and pipe G, which latter passes up through the absorbent
in the container A, and out through the cover B, where is fitted the flexible tube E
having a mouthpiece H, adapted to be held between the lips, and provided with
inlet and outlet valves. I, is 'an exit valve in the mouthpiece through which the
expired air escapes, and J, a nose clip for the prevention of accidental inhalation
through 'the nose; attached to the mouthpiece by a chain or cord. The plug K
closes the inlet C when the respirator is not in use, and at the same time serves as
a convenient support for the mouthpiece.
"In use, the 'respirator or inhaler is carried by a belt round the waist or by a
shoulder strap or even in the pocket, the tube leading from the pocket to the
mouth. The mouthpiece H is placed in the mouth, and the clip J Stted to the
nose: In inhaling, the air enters by the opening C and passing downwards through
the absorbent contained in A, is filtered through the cotton wool in the ebonite
chamber F, and conveyed to the mouthpiece H by the flexible tube E, while the
expired air from the lungs escapes through the exit valve I.
My respirator, when charged with absorbent, will keep a man safe in air
containing ten times the minimum poisonous quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, for
six hours, or in 'gas of one hundred times the poisonous strength, for forty minutes:
The absorption remains perfect until practically the whole of the absorbent has
become saturated with the gas.
Instead of using the mouthpiece H, the tube E may be attached to a mask, the
inhaling valve and valve for expiration being provided in the mask. The valve in
the mouthpiece or in the mask for admitting air from the container to the mask
and so to the lungs, and the valve for exhaling the breath, open and close
alternately, and automatically during the process of breathing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An improved inhaling or respirating apparatus for enabling a man to breathe
safely in air containing poisonous or noxious gases, or matter injurious to the
lungs in breathing, which consists of a container or receptacle adapted to be
strapped or otherwise affixed to the person using it and containing an absorbent or
a filtering substance, in combination with a pipe or tube fitted at one end with a
mouthpiece or mask and at the other dipping down to near. the bottom of the
container 'where it is provided with a perforated chamber filled with a filtering
medium such as cotton' wool; substantially as described.
2. In combination with the inhaler or respirator containing an absorbent or a
filtering medium, a mouthpiece or mask fitted with valves so arranged that the
valve for admitting air from the container to the lungs, and the valve for exhaling

page_text: the breath, open and close alternately and automatically during the process of
breathing, substantially as described.
3. The improved respirator or inhaler taken as a whole substantially as
described.
Dated this 30th day of October 1896.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, Patent Agents.