IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING APPARATUS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Copley Woodhead at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th February 1879.
WILLIAM COPLEY WOODHEAD, of Leeds, in the County of York, M.R.C.S.
(London). "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING APPARATUS."
The object of this Invention is to provide fresh air to confined spaces without
creating draught, and to withdraw vitiated air automatically therefrom in an efficient
manner.
In ventilating a dwelling house according to my Invention I provide below the
floor of each room an air supply pipe, which leads from the external atmosphere to
an air chamber, by preference sunk in and flush with the floor. The air pipes of
the supply end are tapered laterally to form a wide mouth, and this mouth is closed
with a grating. The discharge end of the pipe which enters the chamber I fit
with a trumpet shaped termination. The top of this chamber is closed by a grating,
which may have a sliding grid below it for adjusting the size of the apertures and
regulating the supply of air to the apartment. Each apartment will also be fitted
with one or more ascending pipes for drawing off the vitiated air. These pipes will
severally lead into a rarefied air chamber situate most conveniently in the roof,
where a group of such chambers may be packed together. It will be convenient so
to place these chambers that they may receive artificial heat from the fires in the
building, or from the sun's rays striking through a glazed portion of the roof.
Above each chamber I fit a cowl of peculiar construction, which will not only allow
of the escape of the vitiated or rarefied air, but will also induce a rapid discharge of
the same. The cowl may be described as a vertical tube closed at its upper end,
but having short annular air discharging channels overhanging the tube and pre-
senting to the atmosphere a contracted area. Above this portion of the cowl is
fitted a conical top, through the inclined sides of which is formed a ring of air tubes
which ring envelopes the discharging air channels before mentioned. These tubes
terminate at or about a level with the annular air channels, and they taper from
their upper to their lower end in order to produce a sharp downward draught; thus
the air striking against the conical cover will pass certain of these tubes, and thereby
increase the tendency of the rarefied air to escape from the cowl. This arrange-
ment of ventilating apparatus admits of modification to suit varying circumstances;
thus in ventilating a church, for example, a rarefied air chamber may be constructed
all along the roof below the apex, and cowls may be situated along the line of the
chamber. My improvements are also applicable to carriages, tunnels, mines, or
other confined spaces.

page_text: In some cases I propose to warm the air before admitting it to the air supply
chamber. To this end I construct within the wall at the back of the fire place a
heating chamber, which is supplied with air direct from the atmosphere, and is
brought into connection with the air chamber by a pipe or pipes leading from_one_
or both ends of the heating chamber. By this arrangement the heat absorbed by
the-wall and-diffused into the open air will be collected and utilized.