IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO WAREHOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN WHICH WELL-HOLES' ARE CONSTRUCTED 21 FOR THE PURPOSES OF LIGHT AND VENTILATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Rothwell, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO
WAREHOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN WHICH WELL-HOLES' ARE CONSTRUCTED
21
FOR THE PURPOSES OF LIGHT AND VENTILATION."
1
Sealed the 11th April 1860, and dated the 12th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said, Thomas Rothwell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th October 1859.
I, THOMAS ROTHWELL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Contractor,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE
TO WAREHOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN WHICH WELL-HOLES' ARE CONSTRUCTED
FOR THE PURPOSES OF LIGHT AND VENTILATION," to be as follows:-
These improvements are designed for the purpose of closing up the well-
hole at the floor of each separate compartment or room of warehouses or
buildings, and thus intercepting the communication or progress of fire from
one portion of a building to another where danger of communication exists of
fire extending by mean of the "well-holes" usually constructed about the
middle of large buildings for affording light and ventilation.
The Invention consists in the novel application, employment, and use
of metallic or metal lined doors, or other "fire-proof" doors, which may be
made to slide horizontally or transversely across the well-hole, or fold and open.

page_text: and shut so as to prevent fire which may be raging in the well-hole from
extending to other rooms, and these doors may be actuated by chains and
weights within the door casing, or if of large dimensions, be opened and closed
by a windlass or other mechanical equivalent, and either door may be worked
separately, or all the doors may be operated upon at once as may be arranged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Rothwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROTHWELL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Contractor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, 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 Thomas Rothwell, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Rothwell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Rothwell, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO WAREHOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN WHICH WELL-
HOLES' ARE CONSTRUCTED FOR THE PURPOSES OF LIGHT AND VENTILATION," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said Thomas Rothwell, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Thomas Rothwell, do hereby declare
the 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
These improvements are designed for the purpose of closing up the well-
hole at the floor of each separate compartment or room of warehouses or

page_text: buildings, and so intercepting the communication or progress of fire from one
portion of a building to another, where danger of communication exists of fire
extending by means of the "well-holes" usually constructed about the middle
of large buildings to afford light and ventilation.
The Invention consists in the novel application, employment, and use of
metallic or metal lined doors or other fire-proof doors which may be made to
slide horizontally or transversely across the well-hole, or fold and open and
shut so as to prevent fire which may be raging in the "well-hole" from
extending to other rooms, and these doors may be actuated by chains and
weights within the door casing, or if of large dimensions be opened and closed
by a windlass or other mechanical equivalent, and either door may be worked
separately, or all the doors may be operated upon at once as may be arranged.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto annexed Two Sheets of Drawings made upon a scale
of about half an inch to a foot, and having similar letters of reference marked
upon corresponding parts throughout.
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 represents a portion of a building shewing two floors in
section having well-holes in them, the well-hole of the upper floor being shewn
as closed by the fire-proof doors, and the lower one open, and the doors with-
drawn from the well-hole. In Sheet 2, Fig. 1 is a portion of a building
shewing two floors in section, to which a slight modification of the first part
of the Invention is shewn applied, and as employed when the door or moveable
portion of the floor is required to be level or flush with the solid portion
thereof, which is effected by means of the inclined planes upon the rails as
will be seen in Fig. 2, which is an enlarged diagram of a floor, the "trap
door" or "well-hole" being shewn open; Fig. 3 is an end view of the sliding
portion and the floor; and Fig, 4 is a plan view also shewing the hole un-
covered.
In Fig. 1, a, a, are the floors and joists supporting them; and b, b, the
ceilings beneath them separated by the space c, c, in which are placed in an
inclined position the rails or bars d, d, which extend along the sides of the
"well-hole." Upon these rails d, d, run the wheels or rollers e, e, which are
secured beneath the under surface of the fire-proof doors f,f; the chains g, g,
are attached to the doors, and pass over pulleys at each side of the building to
a winch or windlass or other equivalent, and the doors are then drawn up the
inclined rails, and descend by their own gravity and meet in the centre, (their
edges being provided with "a lap joint,") and so close the aperture.
In Sheet 2, Fig. 1, the rails d, d, are horizontal instead of inclined, and
are provided with inclined surfaces at the termination of the traverse of the

page_text: rollers or wheels e, e, which ascending the said inclines cause the door or
sliding portion of the floor f, f, to rise and fit into the aperture or
"well-hole,'
and flush or level with the floor which is bevilled as seen in Fig. 2, to allow
of the rise and fall of the door, and to effect a more uniform joint. In the
variation only one large door is shewn, which is opened by means of windlass
and chains from one side of the building and closed on the other, or the chains
and pulleys may be so arranged as to place the doors under control at one side
of the building. It will also be evident that the fire-proof doors are equally
applicable, to "staircases" or other similar situations in buildings..
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim closing up at the floor of each room, the apertures
formed in buildings for the purposes of light and ventilation, and known as
"well-holes" by means of moveable metallic, or otherwise "fire-proof" doors,
controlled or actuated by any well-known and suitable mechanical means, as
herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings
annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Rothwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THO. ROTHWELL. (L.S.)