CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VENTILATION OF MINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hopkinson, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Colliery Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
VENTILATION OF MINES."
Sealed the 12th July 1867, and dated the 29th January 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hopkinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1867.
J, JOHN HOPKINSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Colliery Manager,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE VENTILATION OF MINES," to be as follows:-
up-
The Invention is designed to dispense with the direct use of fire in the
present system of ventilating mines, and consists in the use and application
of superheated or anhydrous steam to create and maintain the strong
cast "current of air necessary for ventilation. The steam may be superheated.
by any well-known method and apparatus and conveyed by pipes down the
shaft, and delivered by jets or otherwise at such places or parts of the

page_text: up-cast" shaft as may be required.
used to withdraw the foul air and to
produced by the upward rush of the superheated steam instead of by fire,
whereby the danger connected with the use of fire for such purpose is
avoided.
By this means the "
By this means the "up-cast" current
maintain circulation in the workings is
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hopkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOPKINSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Colliery Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred-and-sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Hopkinson, Her special license that I, the said John Hopkinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Hopkinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at auy
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might nake, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE VENTILATION OF MINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Hopkinson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Hopkinson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
The Invention is designed to dispense with the direct use of fire as in the
present system of ventilating mines, and consists in the use and application o

page_text: superheated or anhydrous steam, which is employed to create and maintain
the strong "up-cast" current of air necessary for ventilation. The steam may
be superheated by any well-known method and apparatus, and conveyed by
pipes down the shafts and delivered by jets or otherwise at such places or
parts of the "up-cast" shaft as may be required. By this means the up-cast
current used to withdraw the foul air and to maintain circulation in the
workings is produced by the upward rush of the superheated steam instead of
by fire, whereby the danger connected with the use of fire for such purpose
is avoided.
As several methods and arrangements of apparatus for injecting anhydrous
steam into the up-cast shaft for the purpose of ventilating may be employed,
according to the appliances, fittings, or peculiarities of each pit to which the
ventilator may be applied, I will describe as example two arrangements, the
first of which may be employed in all pits with an up-cast shaft, in which
steam power employed below the surface of the pit; and the second (which
we prefer) being arranged and constructed so as to generate the superheated
steam above the surface and force it down the shaft.
In the first arrangement mentioned the steam from the exhaust is passed
through any well-known superheater, after which it is conveyed in a super-
heated or anhydrous state into the up-cast shaft; or a separate jet of steam
from the boiler below may after being superheated pass in like manner into
the up-cast shaft.
The second arrangement consists in generating the steam above ground
and passing it through a superheator, after which it is forced by the pressure
in the boiler through conducting pipes down the shaft to any depth or depths
required, where it is injected in its anhydrous state through perforations or
openings in such pipe, thereby creating and maintaining the strong" up-cast"
current of air necessary for ventilation. In instances where the anhydrous
steam is carried to a great depth before being injected into the " up-cast'
shaft, pipes from the flue of the boiler may be arranged that will carry the
heat arrising from the products of combustion part way down the shaft to
keep the air dry for the purpose (if necessary) of maintaining the steam
whilst in the shaft in its anhydrous state until it has completely escaped and
passed from the shaft. The anhydrous steam may be caused to pass
intermittanly or continuously into the up-cast shaft.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the use and application of superheated or anhydrous

page_text: steam instead of the direct application of fire for causing and maintaining the
up-cast current employed in ventilating mines as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hopkinson, have hereunto set my
my hand and seal this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witnessed by
JOHN L. DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
JOHN HOPKINSON. (L.S.)