IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AC FOR GIVING ALARM SIGNALS AND FOR EXTINGUzomare Femes
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Smith, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine
of Lancaster, Baker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
AC
FOR GIVING ALARM SIGNALS AND FOR EXTINGUzomare Femes."
1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smith. at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
October 1855.
I, JAMES SMITH, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Baker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR GIVING ALARM SIGNALS AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES" to be
as follows:-
My said improvements consist, first, of the application of gutta percha lines
or cords passed through chambers and other places to be protected against fire,
which, being weighted at one end, and connected by a catch to a suitable
alarum, the same will be put in action by the melting or burning of the
gutta percha.
And, secondly, of pipes wholly or partly formed of gutta percha, through

page_text: which water may be conveyed from any convenient reservoir by turning a stop-
cock, effected by the falling of a weight caused by the breaking of the gutta
percha cord or line.
The gutta percha cord may consist of one or more strands, or may be a cord
of any other material, having lengths thereof attached to lengths of gutta
percha in any suitable form easily affected by heat. The water tubes, if of
metal, may have perforations plugged with gutta percha, and circulate through
the places to be protected, the water being caused to flow thereto by the
descent of a weight or weights at whatever distance required or best affected
by the destruction of the gutta percha.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMITH, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Baker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Smith, Her. special licence that I, the said James Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Smith, 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
APPARATUS FOR GIVING ALARM SIGNALS AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Smith, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My said improvements consist, firstly, of the application of gutta percha
lines or cords passed through chambers and other places to be protected
against fire, which lines are weighted at one end to keep them extended, and
so arranged, that on the burning or melting of the gutta percha, the weight
being thereby liberated, shall fall, and in its descent strike a catch, which frees
and sets in action a suitable alarum. For atmospheres above the ordinary
temperature 1 employ fusible metal wires, chains, links, or other like forms,
singly, or with intervening lines of combustible materials, which may undergo
chemical preparations to increase their combustibility.
And, secondly, of perforated pipes, wholly or partly formed of gutta percha
or metal, through which water may be conveyed from any convenient reservoir
by turning a stop-cock, which may likewise be effected by the falling of the
said weight or weights, or by springs set in action, as before, by the breaking
of gutta percha cords or lines, or the melting of fusible metal connexions."
The gutta percha cord or cords may consist of one or more strands, or may
be a cord made wholly or partly of any other material, having lengths thereof
attached to lengths of gutta percha cord, or in any other required form easily
affected by beat. Where high temperature precludes the use of gutta percha,
I employ. fusible metal wires or chains, or links thereof may be attached to
hemp or other cords, rendered combustible by steeping them in solutions of
nitre, or using other chemical preparations.
:
The water tubes, if made of metal, may have their perforations plugged with
gutta percha, and tubes so constructed may circulate in any required direction
or situation through the chambers or places to be protected, the water being
caused to flow thereto by the descent of the weight or weights, before named,
which, liberating the weighted or spring handles of one or more water-cocks
simultaneously, immediately on the melting of the gutta percha or the fusible
metal, thus renders the arrangement a self-acting one to supply water and
stop the progress of fires. I recommend valves or stop-cocks to be placed on
the tubes, three or four yards apart, or thereabouts, each operated by a
weighted or spring handle, and held up to close the valve by a gutta percha
cord, the melting or burning of which will allow the lever to fall and open the
valve. Each valve is fixed to the tubes, so as not to interrupt the flow of water
to other valves; and instead of perforations, each valve may have a perforated
ball or rose distributor connected with it for spreading the water. The object

page_text: of the numerous valves.. distributed through the premises is to localise the
-application of the water to the parts in greatest danger.
2
Having, thus fully described the nature of my said 'Invention, and several
methods for carrying the same into practical operation, I would here observe,
the smaller or finer the lines or other forms used, the the more sensitive will
they be to the action of heat, and strength may be obtained by combining
several together... Blank spaces like courts, outer walls, and the like, may be
connected with interiors by wires or any suitable means. I propose that the
gutta percha' lines or the fusible metal links or wires shall circulate through
passages and apartments, as practised with bell wires, taking especial precaution
that the destruction of. any one line shall operate the corresponding alarum
and water pipes, both or either, as may be provided.
My said Invention being capable of numerous modifications, I do not limit
myself to any particular form of lines or cords, or of wires, chains, or links, or
to any precise mode of combining or arranging them; neither do I confine
myself to any peculiar alarums or construction of water, pipes, so long as the
principle of my improvements is maintained; and I do declare that what I
claim as my Invention is; namely, the novel. modes of obtaining self-acting
alarms and self-acting water supply in cases of fire, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
1856.
JAMES SMITH. (L.S.)