IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS TO FACILITATE RESPIRATION UNDER WATER, OR UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FIRE. OR IN OTHER SITUATIONS WHERE AN ARTIFICIAL SUPPLY OF AIR MAY BE REQUIRED PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO ADAPTED TO FACILITATE MOVEMENT IN OR UPON THE SURFACE OF WATER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John White, of Finchley, in the County of Middlesex,
Surgeon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS TO
FACILITATE RESPIRATION UNDER WATER, OR UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FIRE. OR
IN OTHER SITUATIONS WHERE AN ARTIFICIAL SUPPLY OF AIR MAY BE REQUIRED
PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO ADAPTED TO FACILITATE MOVEMENT IN
OR UPON THE SURFACE OF WATER."
Sealed the 22nd July 1859, and dated the 25th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John White at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
January 1859.
I, JOHN WHITE, of Finchley, in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS OR APPARATUS TO FACILITATE RESPIRATION UNDER WATER. OR UNDER THE
INFLUENCE OF FIRE. OR IN OTHER SITUATIONS WHERE AN ARTIFICIAL SUPPLY OF AIR
MAY BE REQUIRED. PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO ADAPTED TO FACILITATE
MOVEMENT IN 02 UPON THE SURFACE OF WATER," to be as follows:-
The object of my improvements is to provide air for respiration in sub-
aqueous operations, as also in houses on fire, and in other cases in which
an artificial supply of air for respiration is necessary. For this purpose I
Price 8d.1

page_text: provide a close covering for the mouth and nose, and also in most cases a
water and air, or, as the case may be, a fire-proof covering for the entire body.
In connection with this covering to the nose and mouth, there are two pipes,
each provided with a valve, one with an inlet valve for the supply of fresh air,
the other with an outlet valve for the air after it has passed through the lungs,
or is exhaled. The pipe for inhaling fresh air may be in connection with a
suitable flexible or other reservoir adapted to hold air for a given time, or it
may be extended above the surface of the water in free communication with
the atmosphere when used in subaqueous operations, or to such other situation
as to receive supply. The pipe for the exhaled air is similarly provided for
the outlet of air. When using a reservoir for air under or upon the surface
of water, the various tools or other matters required for operations in or upon
the water may be supported by it. The respective pipes may be in communi-
cation with elastic bags, or other expanding and contracting chambers, capable
of being operated upon, to facilitate the passage of air (for being inhaled in
the one case and exhaled in the other case) through such pipes. and such
elastic bags or expanding and contracting chambers may also he employed as
means of increasing or diminishing the buoyancy of bodies in water for the
purpose of enabling them to rise or descend therein, as also of enabling them
to float on the surface of the water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITE, of Finchley, in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John White, Her special licence that I, the said John White, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
White, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS
IN
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
MEANS OR APPARATUS TO FACILITATE RESPIRATION UNDER WATER, OR UNDER THE
INFLUENCE OF FIRE. OR IN OTHER SITUATIONS; WHERE AN ARTIFICIAL SUPPLY OF AIR
MAY BE REQUIRED. PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO ADAPTED TO FACILITATE
MOVEMENT IN OR UPON THE SURFACE OF WATER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I. the said John White, 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 White.. do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of my improvements is to provide air for respiration in sub-
aqueous operations, as also in houses on fire, and in other cases in which an
artificial supply of air for respiration is necessary. For this purpose I provide
a close covering for the mouth and nose, and also, in most cases, a water and
air, or, as the case may be, a fire-proof covering for the entire body. In con-
nection with this covering to the nose and mouth. there are two pipes, each
provided with a valve, one with an inlet valve for the supply of fresh air, 'the
other with an outlet valve. for the air after it has passed through the lungs. or
is exhaled. The pipe for inhaling fresh air may be in connection with a
suitable flexible or other reservoir adapted to hold air for a given time, or it
may be extended above the surface of the water in free communication with
the atmosphere when used in subaqueons operations, or to such other situation
as to receive supply. The pipe for the exhaled air is similarly provided for
the outlet of air. When using a reservoir for air under or upon the surface
of water, the various tools or other matters required for operations in or upon
the water may be supported by it. The respective pipes may be in communi-
cation with elastic bags, or other expanding and contracting chambers capable
of being operated upon, to facilitate the passage of air (for being inhaled in the
And such
one case and exhaled in the other case) through such pipes.
elastic bags or expanding and contracting chambers may also he employed as
a means of increasing or diminishing the buoyancy of bodies in water, for the
purpose of enabling them to rise or descend therein, as also of enabling them
to float on the surface of the water.

page_text: But that the nature of these improvements may be more fully understood,
I will proceed to describe the same, aided by the accompanying Drawing.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure represents a sectional view, and Figure 2 a front view, of the
outline of a covering for the head, which, when to be used for operations
under water, will be made of suitable waterproof material, and forms part of an
entire covering for the body. And when for operations where there is fire, of
material not readily destructible by fire. In connection with the nose and
mouth, there are two pipes a, b, each provided with a valve, the pipe a is pro-
vided with an inlet valve a¹, by which air may be permitted to flow inwards
for respiration, whilst the pipe b is provided with an outlet valve b¹, to admit
of the escape of exhaled air after it has passed through the lungs of the
operator. Figures 3 and 4 show other views of the pipes a, b, and parts
acting with them separately; Figure 5 represents a sectional view; Figure 6,
a-plan; and Figure 7, an, end view of a reservoir for holding, fresh air under
water; with pipes in connection with the pipes a, b, already referred to. It will
be seen by the sectional view, Figure 5, that the vessel shown by these Figures
is composed of an outer case c, which is divided horizontally into two parts by
the partition c, forming, thereby two chambers d and e, and then each of such
chambers.is again divided by a flexible diaphragm d, e, into two other com-
partments or. chambers. As shown by the Drawing, both diaphragms d' and e¹
are resting upon the lower portion of the chamber in which they are
respectively placed, and they are supposed to be in that position by reason of
the chambers above them being both filled with fresh air suitable for inha-
lation. The parts of the respective chambers d and e above the diaphragms
are in connection, by the pipes f, f, with the pipe a, to supply fresh air to the
operator. The pipes g, g', are in connection with the pipe b for receiving
exhaled air, as represented by the diagram, Figure 8, which represents on a
smaller scale these parts in operation. It will be seen that the branch pipe f
is provided with a cock or tap. so that it may be only used when required,
as I will now explain. As already stated, when commencing to use the
apparatus, the two chambers d, e, will be filled with fresh air, with their
respective flexible diaphragms resting on the bottoms of those chambers, and
the operator in inhaling, will draw air from above the diaphragm d in the
chamber d, whilst the air exhaled by him will, by the pipe g, be conveyed to
the under side of the diaphragm d¹, so as to fill that compartment with vitiated
air as the fresh air is exhausted from the other, and in this manner the

page_text: operator will proceed till he finds that he has withdrawn all the fresh air from
the chamber d, when the diaphragm d' will, by the pressure of vitiated air, be
resting on the under side of the partition c'. To prevent mischief from a sudden
stoppage of the supply of fresh air, and to provide a supply sufficient for the time
it takes him to ascend to the surface of the water, he will turn on the tap f,
and thereby receive fresh air from the chamber e, the exhaled air being at the
same time admitted into the chamber e under the diaphragm e¹ in that
chamber, as in the case of the chamber d. When using reservoirs of air of
the character referred to, ballast and the various tools employed by the
operator in his subaqueous operations may be suspended by hooks, or such
like means, from such reservoirs. The compartments of the chamber may
readily be filled with fresh air before use by means of a pump or bellows
through the pipe a². And in some cases flexible pipes from the passages a, b,
may be extended upwards in free communication with the atmosphere, or to a
vessel open at top and bottom, represented by plan and side view, Figures 9
and 10, made heavy at the base, and supported by a cork or other floating
media adapted to float on the surface of the water, when the upper parts of
the respective pipes a², 62, in connection with the passages a, b, will be in free
communication with the atmosphere, whilst the reticulate cover h³ will prevent
the waves or spray from entering those passages. Figure 11 is a diagram on
a smaller scale, showing these parts in operation; Figures 12 and 13 show
two views of a flexible bag, adapted to be carried on the back, and used as a
reservoir of air, especially for operations where there is fire. I have not
thought it necessary to show the internal construction of this, as it may be
similar to that already described, except that it will not be necessary for it
to be furnished with a reservoir for the exhaled air, and although I have
mentioned flexible bags, other suitable collapsible chambers may be employed;
and when using such bags, the pipe a will be furnished with a tap, in order
that when inflated the air may not escape from the bag till the operator
requires it for use. Figures 14 and 15 show two views of a chamber, to be
applied one under each arm of the operator, with one part of each affixed to
the arm, whilst the other is affixed to the body, and in communication by
the pipe i with the pipes a, b, when those pipes are in free communication
with the atmosphere, or by the pipe i itself being in free communication with the
atmosphere, and adapted to be employed as means of increasing or diminishing
the buoyancy of the wearer in water, for the purpose of enabling such to rise
or descend therein, as also to float on the surface of the water.
employing apparatus, according to my Invention, for freely inhaling or
When

page_text: exhaling where there is fire, the pipe for inhaling air may, in some cases,
simply extend to the outer atmosphere, or near the floor, where the air will be
less affected.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the. best means
I am acquainted with for carrying the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details referred to, as these
may be varied, but what I do claim is, the adaptation and combination of
means for the purposes set forth, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES,
73, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agent.
JOHN WHITE. (L.S.)