IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATORS FOR CHIMNEYS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Franklin Miller, of the City, County, and
State of New York, United States of America, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATORS FOR CHIMNEYS AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd July 1856, and dated the 1st February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Franklin Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st February 1856.
I, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MILLER, of the City, County, and State of New
York, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATORS FOR CHIMNEYS AND OTHER PUR-
POSES," to be as follows:-
Above the upper end of the pipe of sheet metal, or other suitable material, I
place a conical cap, connected to said pipe by bolts or struts; and I also form
a second cone below the cap, entering the upper end of the pipe, which pipe is
here formed conically or flaring; and around the upper end of the pipe and cones,
before mentioned, I place a truncated cone of sheet metal, open at top and
bottom, and sustained at the required distance from the cap and pipe by bolts
or struts, and outside this truncated cone I place flanches or plates, extending
in a vertical position towards the cap. By this construction, any wind or
current of air, which otherwise might blow down the chimney or flue, and cause
the same to smoke, is prevented from so doing, and compelled to accelerate the
draft upon the well-known principle of a passing current of air producing a

page_text: partial vacuum. This ventilator is to be used either in a horizontal or vertical
position, and provided with the necessary openings for passing out water and
preventing rain entering the chimney; and when used in a horizontal position
may be turned by the wind like a vane, so as to keep the apex of the conical
cap towards the wind. The shape of these ventilators may be either circular
or polygonal, and said ventilators may be made use of in any place where they
may be applicable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Franklin Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN MILLER, of the City, County, and State of New York, United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Franklin Miller, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin
Franklin Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Benjamin Franklin Miller, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATORS FOR CHIMNEYS AND OTHER PUR-
POSES," upon condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Franklin
Miller, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Benjamin Franklin Miller, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-

page_text: I construct my ventilator in such a manner that any current of air or wind
passing the flue or pipe to which said ventilator is applied, cannot blow into
said flue or pipe to obstruct the draft of air passing out therefrom, but said
passing current of air acts in all cases to accelerate said draft, irrespective of
the direction in which said current of air is moving. I am thus enabled to
prevent smokey chimneys in places subject to eddy winds, and also accelerate
the draft from any flue, pipe, or ventilators.
may
In the Drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 a plan, of my
improved ventilator, in a circular form; Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4
a plan, of the same ventilator in a square or polygonal form; and Fig. 5 shews
my improved ventilator, as mounted on a horizontal pipe, with a vane to keep
the apex of the ventilator always towards the wind. Similar marks of reference
denote corresponding parts in all the Figures. a is a pipe on the upper end of
a flue or other space to be ventilated, and around this a truncated inverted cone
6 of sheet metal is attached by rods or struts 1, 1, and on the upper end of this
inverted truncated cone 6 a rim g or short truncated cone is attached; d is a
metal cone attached to the cylinder c, and placed immediately over the pipe a,
and said cylinder c being slightly larger than the pipe a, passes all water that
fall on the cone d away outside the pipe a; and within the cylinder can
inverted cone e is placed, for the purpose of giving direction to the draft as it
passes out of the pipe a; but in ventilators for rooms or buildings wherein a con-
densation of vapor would take place, this cone e should be left out, in order that
said condensation may drop outside the pipe a from the edges of the cylinder c.
Around the cone d and rim g, I place the truncated cone f, forming a shield,
and support the same by suitable rods or struts 3, 3, similar to the struts or
rods 2, 2, that support the cylinder c and cone d. It will now be apparent,
on inspection of the Drawing, that a horizontal current of air passing this ven-
tilator will be deflected both upwards by the shield f and downwards by the
truncated cone b, acting on the well-known principles of pneumatics, and pro-
ducing a suction or partial vacuum in the pipe a. A vertical or diagonal
current of air striking the ventilator in either a downwards or upwards direction,
acts in the same manner, always aiding instead of retarding the draft in the
pipe a, and, if desired, vertical plates or deflectors may be attached around
either outside or inside the shield f, so as to give an upward tendency to the
air, the same being shewn by dotted lines at 4, 4, Fig. 2. In some localities
the action of my ventilator will be benefited by extending the rim g as a
truncated cone, as seen by dotted lines at h, Fig. 1.
The square or polygonal ventilators are to be constructed in the same
manner as those of a circular form, and the said ventilators may be made of

page_text: cast or sheet metal, or any suitable material, but I prefer and use galvanized
sheet iron. In Fig. 5 the ventilator (b, g,f.) is shewn as mounted on a hori-
zontal pipe a, fitted to turn with the vertical pipe i on a spindle from the
upper end of the pipe k by means of the vane l, that always keeps the apex of
the cone d towards the wind.
I do not claim a cone over the end of the pipe, nor a shield surrounding the
same, as these have before been used; but what I claim as my Invention is,
giving the cone d a cylindrical termination c to prevent an upward current
catching the edge of the cone, and also the truncated cone 6 and rim 9, when
combined with the shield f and cone d, for directing the passing current, sub-
stantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Franklin Miller, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
BENJAMIN F. MILLER. (L.S.)
289, Broadway, New York.
THOMAS G. HAROLD,
289, Broadway, New York.