IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING SHIPS, MINES, AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1857

page_text: :
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Florentin Delmas at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th July
1857.
I, FLORENTIN DELMAS, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENTILATING SHIPS, MINES, AND OTHER PLACES," to be as follows:-
My means of ventilating is applicable for the transport of grain, colonial
produce, and any merchandise subject to fermentation & spontaneous com-
bustion, and is also applicable for the ventilation of all places which have not
sufficient communication with the exterior atmosphere, such as granaries,
interior of ships, mines, barracks, hospitals, &c., &c., containing and exhaling
unhealthy gasses.
This system is based on the utilisation of the motion of the air itself, the
motion being excited and augmented as follows:-By utilising the motion of
the ship across the column of air to which it gives an impulse. This air
put in motion by the ship is thus utilised: The interior of the ship is fur-
nished with pipes pierced with holes; these pipes are adapted to receivers
placed in communication with the exterior column of air through which the
ship passes, and each receiver, by the forward motion itself of the ship,
receives a column of air, which is carried and distributed in the interior of
the pipes. The number of these exterior receivers may be increased as much
as desired, and they can be put in communication with pipes, arranged
according to the greater or less circulation of air required. The mouths of
the exterior receivers, placed on the level of the deck above and below, may
be of different shapes, but always so covered as to be sheltered from the

page_text: water. All these pipes correspond or communicate with one or several
openings at the stern of the ship for the escape of prejudicial or unhealthy
air and gases, which are generally heavier than air.
The pipes may be fixed and made of metal, or moveable and made of soft
and elastic substance, or may be made of metal and moveable by combining
such metal tubes with elastic material, and arranged so that the several
ramifications pass through the bulk or body of the merchandise, and place it
in more direct communication with the air.
Pipes thus placed thus serve for airing the holds or other parts of ships
stationed at port, the receivers aro then turned to the wind; or for granaries
or stores of any merchandise, and of all places to be ventilated on shore, the
moveable receivers are furnished with a vane or weathercock, which by
turning to the wind, of itself will always present the readiest approach for the
air. The aperture for the exit of air and gasses is in this case furnished with
two hoods or covers, one above the other; the upper one forms a shelter from
the rain, and the other, which is one to two feet below the first, serves as a
collar or flange at the extremity of the outlet pipe. By this means a suction
is produced, based on the current of air established between the two covers,
which partly neutralizes the atmospheric pressure, and consequently becomes
an exhausting apparatus. This latter complement is not indispensable on
board ships while sailing at sea. I mention its utility in case of immobility,
it is also necessary for certain applications herein-after mentioned, for
example, for airing cavities and dwellings the inlet pipe may stop at the
ceiling or at the top, and the outlet sucker or drawer descend to the floor or
ground, in order to exhaust or suck in the gasses which are heavier than air.
The apparatus may also be utilised in order to produce the ventilation &
draught of chimnies, so as to prevent down draughts. For this purpose, if
desired, three parallel hoods or surfaces may be used, the highest serving
as a protector from the rain, and the two others as collars or flanges; the
smoke will thus be exhausted and will escape, for this reason, that the wind,
from whichever side it blows, strikes on the surfaces of the collars or flanges,
and passing between them neutralizes two-thirds of the atmospheric pressure
by the current of air which it creates.
The extremities of the tubes may be furnished with convex surfaces, having
the form of a watering pot rose.