CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PURIFYING SMOKE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH
Year: 1867

page_text: Son, of 4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD
OF PURIFYING SMOKE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH."-A com-
munication from abroad by Wolf Maurice, of Faubourg Poissonière,
Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 1st October 1867, and dated the 9th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lacey Davies at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th April 1867.
I, JOHN LACEY DAVIES, of the Firm of John Davies and Son, of 4, St. Ann's
Square, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Patent Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF PURIFYING SMOKE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," being
a communication to me from abroad by Wolf Maurice, of Faubourg Pois
sonière, Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of purifying smoke from soluble
noxious vapours, fuliginous matter, ashes, or other deleterious components held
in suspension therein, and for preventing such matter from passing on to and
mixing with the atmosphere.

page_text: The method of purification consists in subjecting the smoke in its passage
from the fire to the atmosphere to a distributed shower of water or other
suitable liquid, which is caused to pass through the smoke in the same direc-
tion as the smoke, but at an increased speed. The apparatus consists of a
chamber or shaft, which is in communication with the flue from the fire, and
up which shaft the smoke rises; it passes thence down another shaft connected
therewith, and as it descends the shower is caused to rain rapidly through it,
and the liquid becomes charged with sooty and soluble vapours, which are
separated from the smoke and carried down and precipitated in a tank below,
and the smoke thus purified passes onwards to the chimney. In chimnies
having only a low temperature the cooling of the smoke would interfere with
it rising up the chimney, therefore the chimney must be separately warmed by
the application of waste heat from the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lacey Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LACEY DAVIES, of the Firm of John Davies and Son, of 4, St. Ann's Square,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Lacey Davies, Her special licence that I, the said John Lacey Davies,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Lacey Davies, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF PURIFYING SMOKE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH," a communication to him from abroad by Wolf Maurice, of Faubourg
Poissonnière, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Lacey Davies, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, 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 Lacey Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:
The object of the Invention communicated to me is to prevent the expan-
sion of all noxious and detrimental sooty or ashy matters and soluble vapeurs
which commonly escape from fire-place or other chimneys into the open air.
This Invention consists in the purifying of the smoke by means of a shower
or divided liquid injection, the downward speed of which would be greater than
that of the smoke, and which is projected in the same direction, either vertically
or oblique.
The Invention may be applied to all sorts of fire-places by directing the
smoke downwards from the upper extremity of the apparatus inside of which
it descends and receives the liquid shower, and escapes afterwards by the lower
part into the chimney, as near as possible to which the apparatus is always set
up and made to communicate. The solid and soluble smoky matters in their
course through the chimney are carried along by the liquid shower and
deposited in the lower part of the apparatus, communicating with a recipient
from whence they may be easily extracted.
These improvements and the apparatus connected therewith are repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 of which is a side view in
elevation of the apparatus, applied to a chimney, and Fig. 2 a sectional view
in elevation of the same. The smoke-washing apparatus is composed of two
conduits A, B, having the shape of a syphon, of a section equal to the require-
ments of the fire-place or fire-places; these conduits are of a length varying
between 4 yards and 5 yards. On leaving the fire-place the smoke ascends
in the first conduit A and descends through the second B before reaching the
chimney. At the top of this second conduit B the perforated apparatus C
is fixed, and, as from the spout of a watering can, lets fall on the descending
smoke a shower of water or liquid which condenses and precipitates the solid,
liquid, and gaseous matters it may contain and which are carried along with it
in its fall. A reservoir R, placed below the second conduit, receives all
smoky matters of any real value, the light soot principally.
The working of such a smoke-purifying apparatus requires little care on
the part of the attendant; he has merely to turn on the water tap when he
lights the fire.
The draught of the chimney is in nowise obstructed.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be used or carried into
effect, I would have it to be clearly understood that I do not intend to restrict
myself to the details of the application above given and exemplified in the
Figures of the accompanying Drawings, but what I claim and wish to secure
by Letters Patent is, the rendering fire-places smoke-consuming; and the
saving of solid, soluble, and gaseous matters which the smoke contains by
treating this latter with a liquid divided so as to fall in a shower, by means
of any similar watering apparatus, and so disposed as that fully described in
the above Specification and substantially set forth in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lacey Davies, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN LACEY DAVIES. (L.S.)