Iμ- PROVEMENTS IN EXTINGUISHING FIRE, IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, AND IMPROVEMENTS TO ASSIST IN SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY PHILLIPS, of York Terrace, Camberwell New Road, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Henry Phillips, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Henry Phillips,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Phillips, my exors, adiñors, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend; within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN EXTINGUISHING FIRE, IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED
FOR THAT PURPOSE, AND IMPROVEMENTS TO ASSIST IN SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William
Henry Phillips, should cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: 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
William Henry Phillips, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
.ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in apparatus used in extin-
guishing fire, and thereby to assist in saving life and property; and, secondly,
my Invention consists in improvements in preparing the materials used for
extinguishing fire.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood, and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a section of an apparatus for evolving, when in action,
gases and vapors capable of extinguishing fire; and I prefer to employ for such
purpose the ingredients described in my former Specification, enrolled on the
Fourth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, but the
materials employed for this purpose may be varied. In my former Paten'
I described the apparatus as being formed in such manner that the combined
materials should burn upon and the gases be evolved from the top surfaco
only; now I have since discovered that it is desirable that the whole of the
surfaces of the mass of matters should become ignited as quickly as possible;
and my present improvements, amongst other advantages, are designed to
accomplish this end, and will further allow of the use of the improved
apparatus, whether it be placed on its bottom, or inclined, or other position.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the apparatus; and Figure 3 shows a
means where a cap is used for discharging in place of a globule of glass con-
taining sulphuric acid, as shewn in Figure 1. a is a moulded mass of the
materials employed, and which is ignited by means of a pin 6, when the same
is driven down by a hammer or other instrument into the position shown at
Figure 1 by dotted lines. The tube below contains a mixture of equal parts
of chlorate of potash and sugar. The matter being ignited, the products flow
through the holes in the inner vessel c, c, into the vessel d, d, and out through
the holes in that vessel into the vessel e, c, by which means the heat acting on
the vessel e, e, will cause the air between the vessels e and f to expand, and the

page_text: water in the vessel f, f, will be driven up the tube 9, 9, which is surrounded
by a handle of wood or other material, and the water will flow in at g+, and
thus the gases and vapours evolved will be brought in contact with water, and
then the products will go off at the opening or passage h; and supposing such
an apparatus to be in a room, a cabin, or other part of a ship, or other place
where there is a fire to be extinguished, immediately the apparatus is in action,
and the products pass off, the fire will be acted on and quickly subdued ; and in
cases where the apparatus cannot be readily introduced into the place where
the fire is it may (immediately on being put into action) be thrown through a
window or other opening as near to where the fire prevails as possible, and the
beneficial effect will immediately follow. It will therefore be readily under-
stood that apparatus thus arranged will have considerable advantage over
those formerly described by me, as the present one will not require any care in
being placed in a room or other place, and there will be more extensive
surfaces burning at the same time than could be obtained by the former con-
struction of my apparatus, hence the saving of property will be rendered more
easy, and saving of life be more sure.
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 show sections of two arrangements of apparatus,
having similar advantages to that above described, but more simple in con-
struction. In each of these the water is contained in vessels closed with a plug
readily melted or driven out. In Figures 4 and 5, the matter having been
ignited in the vessel h, the products will pass out at the holes in that vessel
into the vessel i, and the heat will expand and evaporate the water in the
vessel j, and drive out the stopper k, and water, as it is driven out, will come in
contact with the products passing out at the holes in the vessel i, and then the
products will pass away by the outlet / into the room or other place where a
fire may be raging, and the same will quickly be extinguished. In Figures
6 and 7, the products from the ignited mass within which the vessel containing
the water is placed will descend, and the water becoming heated the plug will
be driven out and the water discharged into the perforated vessel below, and
the products passing from the upper to the lower part of the vessel h, will
combine with and evaporate the water, and the products will pass through the
holes and ascend within the outer vessel m, and thence away through the
holes and away by the passage n. These two arrangements of apparatus are
equally efficient, whether they stand on their bottoms or are placed or thrown
so as to assume other positions.
Figure 8 shows the section of another apparatus very similar to that at
Figure 4, the principal difference being that there is in the present a separate

page_text: vessel for containing the vessel for the water, and the upper cover passes into
in place of over the top of the apparatus.
Figures 9 and 10 are two sections taken at different parts of Figure 8.
In some cases I find it desirable to employ the use of a steam jet to aid the
products of combustion, such steam jet not only acting itself as a means of
extinguishing fire, but also quickening the discharge of the products from
burning matter such as before mentioned, or it might be for ordinary fuel, so
as the more quickly to pervade a room or other space more quickly and
cheaply with gases and products of combustion capable of extinguishing fire.
Figure 11 shows a section of a suitable apparatus for this purpose. In this
case the products may be conveyed by a suitable pipe or hose from the
apparatus into the room or other place. is the vessel or compartment into
which the matter to be consumed is to be placed, which I prefer to be a
composition such as before described, in which case no grating at bottom
would be required; but if other fuel be used, a grating would be required to
admit air to support combustion if air be not forced in so as to pass amongst
the fuel; p is a vessel containing water surrounding the vessel o, which
vessel o is fed through a shoot with a close cover, as shown; 9 is a steam pipe
to produce a jet, and it is surrounded by the pipe conveying away the products
of combustion, which pass in contact with water in getting into the outer
vessel 7, as is indicated by the arrows. And in order to get a quick supply of
inflammable matter, I (in addition to the burning mass in the vessel o) can
admit turpentine or other matter in a liquid state in a regulated stream
through the pipe s³, from a vessels, as shown.
I would remark, that air may be admitted into the chamber or compartment
containing the burning materials from above in the manner shown, and the
effect of the steam jet will be to draw off the products in the direction of the
arrows through the water below the fire. When using turpentine or other
liquid to aid the combustion, I cause the same to be driven in by a com-
munication from the steam boiler p, into the vessel containing the liquid, as
shown at t.
The second part of my Invention consists of causing the combined ingre-
dients used, such as are described in my former Patent, by the aid of boiling
in place of simply mixing them with a quantity of water, to render them
plastic, and then moulding the same as formerly described by me, and for this 3
purpose I apply to such materials about their weight of water, and subject
them to heat in any suitable vessel, keeping the matters well stirred till the
boiling and heat has driven off the larger part of the water, leaving the mass

page_text: in a state to be moulded, when I fill the same into moulds when in a hot
state, and press the same into the moulds, by which means I obtain the
matters more equally blended, and the moulding is more advantageously
performed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which I perform the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,―
First, the apparatus, herein described, for facilitating the extinguishing of
fires, and thereby aiding in saving life and property.
And, secondly, I claim the means of preparing matters for extinguishing
fires, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Phillips, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
WILLIAM HENRY (L.s.) PHILLIPS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid William Henry Phillips came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.