CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN WARMING AND AIRING BUILDINGS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANZ
ANTON BERNHARDT, of Upper Montague Street, Montague Square, in the
Borough of Marylebone, and County of Middlesex, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of December, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Franz Anton Bernhardt, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Franz Anton Bernhardt, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Franz Anton Bernhardt, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WARMING AND AIRING BUILDINGS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Franz Anton Bernhardt, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Franz Anton Bernhardt, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists,―
Firstly, in warming and airing buildings in such manner that the air in the
different apartments and passages thereof shall be maintained in a constant
course of change and renovation, and kept thereby always fresh and whole-
some.
Secondly, in warming the whole of a building by means of one fire placed
in the basement or lowest story, and in providing means by which the tempe-
rature of the entire building, or of any one or more of the apartments thereof,
may be kept at any required degree of elevation, without the necessity of
opening or shutting doors or windows as usual.
Thirdly, in conveying the smoke from the fire through pipes or flues so
arranged that the column of smoke cannot be stayed or forced back by any
downward current of wind or air, and shall pass out into the atmosphere
in a highly purified state, and in providing means by which these pipes or
flues can be cleansed as often as requisite without the use of climbing boys or
putting out the fire during the operation.
Fourthly, in applying coal gas to the lighting of the interior of buildings
in such manner that none of it can escape into the apartments or pas-
sages lighted thereby, or in the slightest degree vitiate the air of the same.
And,
Fifthly, in providing means by which the exhalations from persons confined
in bed with infectious disorders, whether in private bedrooms or hospital
wards, may be carried up direct into the atmosphere without corrupting the
air of the room or ward in which they are confined, or rendering a close
approach to them dangerous.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Franz Anton
Bernhardt, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to
be performed, by the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the
following description thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 represents a sectional view from front to back of my house in
Montague Street aforesaid, where the whole of my above enumerated improve-
ments in warming and airing are to be seen exemplified in practice; and
Figure 2 a cross section of part of the same. A, denotes the kitchen, under
the floor of which is placed a reservoir B for the reception of cold air. C is
an orifice communicating with the external atmosphere covered with fine
wire gauze, through which the cold air streams into the reservoir B. D is a
flap or valve with a chain attached to it which passes over the roller d, by

page_text: means of which chain it can be raised or lowered at pleasure, and either
wholly or partially, and the quantity of cold air admitted through the orifice C
regulated according to the wants of the building; and in the centre of the
said roller (though not seen in the Drawings) there is fixed a centre piece
from which an index or hand projects to shew to the eye on a dial plate
how far the valve is raised or let down. From the reservoir B the cold air
is allowed to pass through the openings 'c, c, c, c, c, into an enclosed chamber
E, where it is warmed by two winding flues proceeding from the cooking
stove F.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the cooking stove F and chamber E.
From the chamber E a portion of the air passes in a warmed state by the
pipe G to the ground front room, and the rest is conveyed by the pipes H, H,
to the other rooms of the house. Beneath the fire door of the stove there is
a small opening left across its entire breadth to allow of the admission of
air, and also of a perforated plate or sieve e (separately represented in
Figure 4) being inserted between the burning fuel and the bottom bars
of the grate, and moved to and fro occasionally by means of the handle
attached to it, so as to accelerate the deposition of the ashes, and thereby
further promote the process of combustion. The passage of the warm air
from the main pipes G and H, H, into the different apartments is regulated
by valves, as represented at f, f, Figure 2, and separately in Figure 5, so that
it may be admitted in any quantities desired or excluded altogether. When
at any time it is desired to cut off entirely the supply of warm air to the
apartments, the main pipes G, and H, H, are closed by the stoppers g and
h, h, and the warm air allowed to make its escape along with the smoke from
the furnace. From the cold air reservoir B, and from the outside of the
building, there are also pipes I, I, passing up through the building in the
directions represented in Figure 1, for the purpose of supplying cold air
when wanted to the different apartments, and the communications between
these pipes and the different apartments are regulated by valves in the same
way as the admission of the warm air is regulated. Each apartinent has
farther one or more pipes or flues, as shewn at i, i, Figure 1, leading from
near the floor direct into the smoke flue for carrying off the air as it becomes
vitiated and impure. For the purpose of protecting the column of smoke
from the effects of any downward currents of wind or air, and depriving it
of its soot, the smoke flue K, K, first ascends vertically as far as the top of
the attic story, where it then makes several bends longitudinally before it
terminates in the chimney top. The cleansing of this flue without climbing
boys is effected in the manner following:--A roller is fastened across the

page_text: top of the vertical part of the flue K, K, and over the roller runs a line to
which a heavy brush is fastened of a size corresponding with that of the flue,
by moving which brush up and down for a short time the flue is freed from its
soot which is found deposited at the bottom, whence it is taken out through
the door L. The flue K, K, it will be observed, descends below the aperture
k, where it receives the smoke from the flues enclosed in the hot air cham-
ber E, so that there is no occasion for putting out the fire while this operation
of cleaning is going on. But to prevent the smoke from being diverted
downwards, there is a sliding stopper inserted immediately above the door L,
and this stopper must of course be removed before and during the process of
sweeping. The longitudinal bends, in which the smoke flue K, K, terminates
in the roof, are cleaned through doorways R, R, R, by means of a long hand
brush. The two flues which proceed from the cooking stove F, and wind
through the hot air chamber E, are also sweeped by means of a hand brush
through the doors S, S, S.
The arrangements for lighting with gas without allowing it to escape
into or vitiate the air of the rooms come next to be described. From a
gasometer stationed on the outside of the building, or from any gas main
in the adjoining vicinage, a pipe m is carried through the front wall to n,
whence one pipe o passes to the front room of the ground floor, and the pipes p
to the front room of the first floor, leading respectively to the centre of the
recesses or niches hitherto occupied as fireplaces. In the first floor front room
the recess or former fireplace has a facade of four pillars, the intercolumina-
tions of which, numbered 1, 2, and 3, are separated from each other by plates
of glass reaching from the front to the back of the recess, and the back of the
recess is covered with looking glass (for which a plate of any highly-polished
metal might, if deemed advisable, be substituted). Through the intercolu-
mination No. 1 flows the cold air, through No. 3 the warm air, and in the centre
of No. 2 there is a gas burner 7 (supplied by the pipe p). From the gas
pipe p, a little below the burner last mentioned, two pipes diverge, one to the
right, and the other towards the left, and terminate in burners within the
lanterns M and N, which surmount the pilasters raised on each side of the
recess, as represented in the Drawing, Figure 1. The intercolumination
No. 2, which contains the burner q, is closed in front by a glass slide, and the
lanterns M and N also cut off their respective burners entirely from any com-
munication with the room (except visually); but there are pipes r, s, and t,
which convey a stream of fresh atmospheric air to each of them, and likewise
the exit pipes 1, 1, 1, to carry off the vapours produced from the combustion of
the gas. For the better prevention of escapes of gas, I employ gas pipes, cach

page_text: consisting of two tubes, the one within the other, so that should any leakage
occur in the inner tube, the outer one will still prevent the escaped gas from
spreading through the house.
To keep the air untainted in rooms occupied by sick persons, I construct
bedsteads for the purpose, of the form shewn at O, Figure 2. The bedstead is
insulated on three sides by partitions, and a top cover, which are made air-tight,
or nearly so, and in the roof immediately above there is an exit pipe, through which
the noxious exhalations from the body of the patient pass into the atmosphere.
In Figures 6 and 7 I have given a plan and section of a portable fire stove
(shewn also in the front ground floor room, Figure 1), which may be used when
desired in place of the ordinary fire grate. The fire stove turns on an axis u,
and to this axis is fixed an arm of bar iron v, which on the grate being fumed,
rakes the fuel and causes the ashes to fall through into the ashpit. Over the fur-
nace there is a hood x (seen also in Figure 1) to prevent any wasteful dispersion
of the heat, and from the centre of this hood a pipe carries off the smoke into
the longitudinal smoke chambers in the roof of the building. As it may some-
times be desirable to have a portable warming and airing apparatus, possessing
advantages similar to the fixed apparatus herein-before described, and capable
of warming one or more apartments, I have, in Figures 8 and 9, given a plan
and elevation of such an apparatus. The stove A, a, consists of a framework
of iron bars enclosed in iron plates, and the cold air passes up from the bottom
between the said bars: From B, b, to C, c, the apparatus is open in front, and at
D, d, there is what I call a heat seperator reaching from front to back, which
forces the heated air and smoke to divide into two streams, one passing to the
curved pipe E, e, on the right, the other to the curved pipes F, f, on the left, which
two streams, after parting with their heat to the air intended to be employed for
the purpose of warming, unite together in the vertical smoke flue M, m. When
it is found necessary to clean these pipes of the soot which may have accu-
mulated in them, the heat separator must be first removed. Behind the
facade of four columns, a screen of wire gauze should be placed to prevent
sparks from the fire flying into the apartment where the apparatus may be
stationed, and the front bars G, g, can be withdrawn at any time, on which the
burning fuel will fall into the ash-box H, h, by removing which all danger of
fire during the night will be avoided. At I, i, there is an opening for a fire
stirrer or sieve, such as the one herein-before described, and particularly repre-
sented in Figure 3. The entire front of the apparatus may be covered with a
wire gauze door with a lock and key, so as to secure it still further from all
danger of doing mischief. The whole of this portable apparatus is enclosed in
an iron casing having apertures K, k, for the admission of cold air, which, after

page_text: passing around the oven and through the curved pipes, flows out in a heated
state through the orifices L, 7, at the top of the apparatus.
Figure 10 represents a fire stove particularly adapted to public offices,
churches, and other buildings not used for domestic purposes; and for the
clearer understanding of the Drawings herein-before described and referred to,
similar letters of reference are used to denote the same parts in the different
Figures. The course of the hot air is marked by red arrows, that of the cold
air by blue arrows, and that of the smoke from the furnace and gas burners by
black arrows.
And now having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not claim, as
parts of my said Invention, any particular description of fire stove, nor any
of the pipes, flues, valves, stoppers, or other of the mechanical contrivances
herein-before described which are old and well known; but I claim generally
as my Invention the method or process of warming and airing herein-before
described, by which the air in the different apartments and passages of
buildings is maintained in a constant course of change and renovation, and kept
thereby always fresh and wholesome, and by which also a much less number of
fireplaces is required in such buildings than heretofore. The column of smoke
is projected from the influence of any downward currents of wind or air,
and ejected into the atmosphere in a highly purified state, and the smoke
flues or chimneys are cleaned without climbing boys, and without putting out
the fire or fires during the operation, and by which, moreover, coal gas may be
applied to the lighting of the interior of buildings without vitiating the air
of the apartments or passages lighted thereby, and the rooms or wards of sick
persons may be rendered perfectly inoccuous to visitors. And I also declare,
that though in buildings of ordinary size, such as my house in Montague
Street aforesaid, one fire stove may suffice for warming the whole house, yet
that in buildings of larger dimensions, such as public offices, manufactories,
workhouses, and others of the like description, two or more fire stoves may be
required; and that I therefore claim the right, under my Patent, to use one,
two, or more fire stoves, according as the size of the buildings to which my
method of warming is applied may render one, two, or more necessary. And
I further declare, that though I have made mention of coal gas as the
means of illumination which I employ, yet I do not limit the application of
my method of lighting to cases where coal gas is employed, but that I claim
the right to apply the same with advantage wherever any other means or
material of lighting is made use of which emits, in the process of combustion,
ellluvia injurious to the surrounding atmosphere.

page_text: And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and I do verily believe that this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise,
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained; wherefore I claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Franz Anton Bernhardt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.