IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING, OR CIRCULATING, COOLING, AND AIR.
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Betts Brown, of Edinburgh, in the County of
Mid-Lothian, North Britain, Engineer, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING, OR CIRCULATING, COOLING, AND
AIR.
DISTRIBUTING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION ft by the said Andrew Betts Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th June 1882.
"
ANDREW BETTS BROWN, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Engineer, IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING, OR CIRCU-
LATING, COOLING, AND DISTRIBUTING AIR."
This Invention has principally for its object to combine apparatus in an
improved manner, and so as to be compact and convenient; and the improved
apparatus is applicable in various cases where ventilation combined with cooling is
required.
In one modification of the improved apparatus there is a main rotating shaft
which may be placed in a horizontal, vertical, or other position, and which has on
it a fan working in a casing, the air from which passes through ducts or trunks to
the saloon, cabin, hold, chamber, hall, or other interior that is to be ventilated.
The fan shaft is driven directly by three or more single acting cylinders worked
by water under pressure or by steam, and of which the rams or piston rods net
through antifriction rollers on an eccentric on the shaft, whilst a single valve
having an eccentric non-angular motion relatively to the port face serves all the
cylinders. The fan shaft has also in connection with it other two similarly
arranged sets of cylinders each set being in a casing that is filled with oil or other
suitable liquid. One set of the cylinders draws in and compresses the air forcing
it through heat exchanging apparatus like a surface condenser for the purpose of
removing from it the heat due to compression. The compressed air after being
cooled acts in the other set of cylinders and expands whilst returning part of the
power used to compress it, and then having become extremely cold passes to the
fan either alone or mixed with more or less air not cooled by the machine, the

page_text: desired temperature being secured by regulating the speed at which the machine
works or by adjusting the proportions of cooled and uncooled air, or in both ways.
The oil or liquid in the compressing casing will be kept in circulation by the
moving parts or by blades fixed for the purpose on the moving parts, and will take
up part of the heat produced by the compression of the air; and in a similar way
the oil or liquid in the expansion casing will circulate therein and will prevent the
formation of obstructive quantities of ice or snow in the passages. The liquids in
the two casings may be cooled and heated, respectively, by being passed through
heat exchanging apparatus, the one cooled by sea or other water, and the other
heated by a portion of the air passing to the fan. The valves of the compressing
cylinders may be self-acting lift valves; or a positively worked valve like that of
the driving cylinders may be used; and in the latter case it is preferred to form
an inlet port or ports in such a position in each cylinder as to be just uncovered
by the piston or ram when at the outer end of its stroke, and thus insure the
complete filling of the cylinder with air at the commencement of the compressing
stroke. The water used for cooling the compressed air by injection or otherwise
may be passed through the apparatus by means of a small centrifugal pump on the
fan shaft.
The apparatus may be modified by having the compressing engine or set of
cylinders quite apart from the rest of the apparatus. Thus the compressing engine
may be in the engine room of a steam ship and be separately driven and the com-
pressed air may be led from it to any convenient situation and there be made to
act in the expansion engine not only for the purpose of becoming itself cooled but
also for driving the fan.
Where moderate reductions of temperature are required the fan or any suitable
blower may be used without separate compressing apparatus, it being combined
with a turbine which will be substituted for the expansion engine. The fan or
blower in putting the air in motion compresses it to a certain extent, and the heat
due to such compression is abstracted by water injected into the fan or blower or
by other convenient means operating before the air reaches the turbine, through
which it passes after being compressed. In driving the turbine the air returns
part of the power employed to drive the fan or blower, and becomes cooled itself
in doing so.
When the improved ventilating apparatus is to be used in place of punkahs or
when an action or effect more or less like that of punkahs is desired; the cooled
air is distributed by means of a main trunk or duct extending along the upper
part of the saloon or other chamber. A hollow cylinder is fitted to an opening in
the bottom of the trunk and is made to rotate or reciprocate by the action of the
air current itself on a small windmill or in any other convenient way. The hollow
cylinder has openings formed in it in such positions that there may always be an
opening on the part inside the trunk to admit air into the cylinder; and the air
issues from the openings in the cylinder which are outside of the trunk. These
openings give directions to the issuing air currents and as the cylinder moves the
directions of the currents change to some extent like those of the currents produced
by punkahs.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Andrew Betts Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th December 1882.
ANDREW BETTS BROWN, of Edinburgh in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING OR CIRCU-
LATING, COOLING, AND DISTRIBUTING AIR
"
My said Invention has principally for its object to combine apparatus in an
improved manner and so as to be compact and convenient; and my improved
apparatus is advantageously applicable in various cases where ventilation combined
with cooling is required.
In one modification of my improved apparatus there is a main rotating shaft
which may be placed in a horizontal, vertical or other position, and which has on
it a fan working in a casing the air from which passes through ducts or trunks to
the saloon, cabin, hold, chamber, hall or other interior that is to be ventilated.
The fan shaft is driven directly by means of water or steam; and has also in
connection with it two additional sets of cylinders, each set being in a casing that
is filled with oil or other suitable liquid. One set of cylinders drawns in and
compresses air, forcing it through heat exchanging apparatus for the purpose of
removing from it heat due to the compression. The compressed air after being
cooled acts in the other set of cylinders and expands whilst returning part of the
power used to compress it, and then, having become extremely cold passes to the
fan, either alone or mixed with more or less air not cooled by the machine, the
desired temperature being secured by regulating the speed at which the machine
works, or by adjusting the proportions of cooled and uncooled air or in both ways.
The valves of the compressing cylinders may be self-acting lift valves; or a
positively worked valve may be used, and in the latter case I prefer to form an
inlet port or ports in such a position in each cylinder as to be just uncovered
by the piston or ram at the outer end of its stroke, and thus insure the complete
filling of the cylinder with air at the commencement of the compressing stroke.
The apparatus may be modified by having the compressing engine or set of
cylinders quite apart from the rest of the apparatus. Thus the compressing engine
may be in the engine room of a steam ship and be separately driven, and the
compressed air may be led from it to any convenient situation, and there be made
to act in the expansion engine not only for the purpose of becoming itself cooled
but also for driving the fan.
Where moderate reductions of temperature are required the fan or any suitable
blower may be used without separate compressing apparatus, it being combined
with a turbine or motor which will be substituted for the expansion engine. The
fan or blower in putting the air in motion compresses it to a certain extent; and
the heat due to such compression is to be abstracted by water injected into the fan
or blower, or by other convenient means operating before the air reaches the turbine
or motor through which it passes after having been compressed. In driving the
turbine or motor the air returns part of the power employed to drive the fan or
blower and becomes cooled itself in doing so
When my improved ventilating apparatus is to be used in place of punkahs or
when an action or effect more or less like that of punkahs is desired, the cooled
air is distributed by means of apparatus which is hereinafter described and which
causes the air to issue in currents directed alternately from side to side to some
extent like the currents produced by punkahs.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same

page_text: may be properly understood I hereunto append four sheets of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and representing modifications of my improved
apparatus.
Figures 1 and 2 on sheet 1 of the accompanying drawings are vertical sections as
at right angles to each other of one modification of my improved apparatus.
Figure, 3, on sheet, 2, is a plan partly in section of a second modification, figures,
4 and 5 on sheet 3, being vertical sections corresponding to parts of figure, 3.
Figures 6 and 7, on sheet 4, are a plan and a vertical section of a third modifi-
cation of part of the apparatus; and figure, 8, is a sectional diagram explanatory
of the punkah-like distribution apparatus. In these drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In the apparatus shown in figures 1, and 2, there is a main horizontal shaft, 8,
which is driven by means of a small hydraulic motor, 9, applied at one end of it.
This motor is of a kind which I have successfully employed for various purposes
and comprises three or more single-ncting vibrating cylinders, 10, the rams of
which act through antifriction rollers upon an eccentric, 11, formed or fixed on
the shaft, 8, whilst a single valve having an eccentric non-angular motion relatively
to the port face serves all the cylinders. The fan, 12, for propelling the air through
suitable ducts or passages so as to cause the desired ventilation or circulation is
shown as being fixed on the shaft, 8, near the motor, 9, but it may be fixed on any
other convenient part of the shaft. Near the other end of the shaft, 8, there is a
set of compressing cylinders, 13, which are worked by an eccentric, 14, on the
shaft and between these compressing cylinders and the fan, 12, there is a set of
cylinders, 15, arranged so that the air compressed in the cylinders, 13, may operate
expansively and give back part of the power used in compressing the air, these
expansion cylinders, 15, acting on an eccentric, 16, on the shaft, 8. The compressing
-cylinders, 13, are enclosed in a casing, 17, which is filled with sea water (or other
suitable liquid) which takes up part of the heat rendered sensible by compression.
This water is made to circulate through the casing, 17, and through heat-exchanging
apparatus, 18, like a surface condenser by means of a centrifugal pump, 19, driven
from the shaft, 8, the water passing from the pump, 19, by a pipe, 20, to the
casing, 17, thence by a pipe, 21, indicated by dotted lines to the heat exchanger, 18.
In the heat exchanger, 18, the water passes alternately from side to side through
successive sets of transverse tubes, 22, and finally passes off by a pipe, 23. The air
compressed in the cylinders, 13, passes by a pipe, 24, into the heat exchanger, 18,
wherein it passes over the outsides of the tubes, 22, so as to be cooled by the water
passing through them; and the air when thus cooled proceeds by a pipe, 25, to the
valve casings of the expansion cylinders, 15. These expansion cylinders, 15, are
also enclosed in a casing, 26, in which there is contained a suitable liquid, and this
liquid which should be of a kind not freezing except at very low temperatures
prevents the formation of obstructive quantities of ice or snow in the passages.
The liquid is made to circulate in the casing partly by the moving rams and partly
by a set of fan blades, 27, on the shaft, 8, and the liquid is prevented from becoming
too cold whilst at the same time its coldness is utilised by causing it to circulate
through the casing, 26, and through a heat-exchanging casing, 28, through which
the air passes on its way to the fan, 12. The heat exchanger, 28, which is like a
tubular surface condenser is connected by two pipes, 29, 30, to the casing, 26, of
the expansion cylinders, one, 29, of these pipes entering the casing, 26, near the
centre of the fan blades, 27, so that these blades may tend to draw the liquid in by
the pipe, 29, and thus promote its circulation through the two casings, 26, and 28.
The reexpanded air passes from the expansion cylinders, 15, by pipes, 31, into the
eye or centre of the fun, 12, and there mingles with the main body of air acted on
by the fan and in consequence of the operations it has undergone greatly reduces
the temperature of the whole.
In the modification of my improved apparatus shown in figures, 3, 4, and 5, the
shaft, 8, worked by the hydraulic motor, 9, has fast on it the eccentric piston or
moving part, 32, of a well-known kind of pressure blower (which I prefer to use in

page_text: this modification instead of a fan) and the air to be circulated and cooled is led
into the casing, 33, of this blower (shown in section in figure, 5) and is forced from
it into an intermediate chamber or reservoir, 34. For cooling the air whilst being
compressed water is injected into the blower casing, 33, by means of a centrifugal
pump 35 and pipe, 36, and passes off from the reservoir through an inverted siphon
or trap valve, 37. The compressed and cooled air proceeds from the reservoir, 34,
to the inlet of a second casing, 38, having inside of it on the shaft, 8, an eccentric
piston, 39, the parts being constructed like the pressure blower, but being arranged
for the purposes of my Invention to be acted on like a motor by the compressed
air from the reservoir, 34. The admission of the compressed air to what may be
termed the motor casing, 38, shown in section in figure, 4) is rendered intermittent
by means of a cut-off valve, 40, worked by a cam or tappet on the shaft, 8, so that
the air may act expansively during a portion of each revolution of the motor-the
cut-off being adjusted so that the air may pass off from the motor with a suitable
pressure.
Figures, 6, and 7, on sheet, 4, represent a fan and motor combined, the axis of the
fun being vertical. This apparatus is intended to be driven by air which has been
compressed in other apparatus at any convenient distance, such compressed air after
having been cooled, being led to the motor cylinders, 45, 46. There are four motor
cylinders two, 45, of which are smaller than the other two, 46, and the compressed
air is first partly expanded in the smaller cylinders, 45, and then further expanded
in the larger cylinder, 46, from which last it exhausts into the fan and mingles with
the main body of air operated on by the fan. The compressed air thus not only
drives the fan but also cools the air in consequence of being itself reduced to a low
temperature through its expansive action in the motor cylinders. The motor
cylinders, 45, 46, being carried by the main horizontal plate or disk, 47, of the fan,
rotate with the fan and produce the motion by acting on a stationary eccentric, 48,
upon a fixed vertical shaft, 49, which is made tubular for the passage of the com-
pressed air to a central valve casing, 50, fitted upon the top of the shaft, 49. From
this valve casing the air passes to and from the cylinders, 45, 46, by pipes 51, and
exhausts through apertures, 52, below the valve casing.
Figure, 8, on sheet, 4, is a transverse vertical section of the apparatus which I
use for distributing cooled air in a saloon or other interior so as to produce inter-
nittent currents. The cooled air is distributed by means of a main trunk or
duct, 53, extending along the upper part of the saloon. A hollow cylinder, 54, is
fitted to an opening in the bottom of the trunk, 53, and is made to rotate or
reciprocate angularly by the action of the air current itself on a small windmill,.55,
or in any other convenient way. The hollow cylinder, 54, has openings, 56, formed
in it in such positions that there may always be an opening on the part inside the
trunk, 53, to admit air into the cylinder, 54, and the air issues from the opening
or openings, 56, in the cylinder which may be outside of the trunk. These
openings, 56, give directions to the issuing air currents and as the cylinder, 54,
moves the directions of the currents change to some extent like those of the
currents produced by punkahs.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The combination of parts of apparatus for ventilating or circulating and
cooling air hereinbefore described with reference to figures, 1, and 2, of the accom-
panying drawings.
2. The combination in connection with a single rotating shaft of a primary
motor, a set of air-compressing cylinders, a set of air-expanding cylinders and a
fan substantially as and for the purposes herein before described.
3. The arrangement of the air-compressing cylinders, and the air-expanding

page_text: cylinders in casings through which liquids are made to circulate substantially as
and for the purposes herein before described.
4. The arrangement whereby the liquid circulating in the casing of the air-
expanding cylinders also circulates through heat exchanging apparatus through
which the main body of the air passes substantially as hereinbefore described.
5. The combination of the parts of apparatus for circulating and cooling air
hereinbefore described with reference to figures 3, 4, 5, of the accompanying
drawings.
6. The arrangement wherein a ventilating fan is driven directly by a motor
worked by compressed and cooled air, the air exhausting from the motor mixing
with the body of air acted on by the fan substantially as hereinbefore described.
7. The apparatus for distributing air in intermittent currents herein before
described with reference to figure, 8, of the accompanying drawings.
In Witness whereof I, the said Andrew Betts Brown have hereunto set my
hand and seal this ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two
ANDREW BETTS BROWN. (L.S.)