IMPROVED MEANS AND APParatus TO BE USED IN PURIFYING ATMOSPHERIC AIR PREVIOUS TO ADMISSION INTO DWELLING HOUSES, PUBLIC AND OTHER BUILDINGS, IN THE VENTILATION OF SUCH BUILDINGS, AND REGULATION OF THE TEMPERATURE THEREOP."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Welsh, David Hope, and James Cambell
Stevenson, of Liverpool and Southport, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS AND APParatus
TO BE USED IN PURIFYING ATMOSPHERIC AIR PREVIOUS TO ADMISSION INTO
DWELLING HOUSES, PUBLIC AND OTHER BUILDINGS, IN THE VENTILATION
OF SUCH BUILDINGS, AND REGULATION OF THE TEMPERATURE THEREOP."
5
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Welsh, David
Hope, and James Cambell Stevenson at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th October
1871.
We, JAMES WELSH, DAVID HOPE, and JAMES CAMBELL STEVENSON,
of Liverpool and Southport, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS AND
APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PURIFYING ATMOSPHERIC AIR PRÈVIOUS TO ADMISSION
INTO DWELLING HOUSES, PUBLIC AND OTHER BUILDINGS, IN THE VENTILATION OF

page_text: SUCH BUILDINGS, AND NEGULATION OF THE ARTEKATUBE LAGALUE, w
follows:-
The object of our Invention is to admit a regulated quantity of
external air broadcast through a purifying medium into the interior of
public and private buildings and dwelling houses, and by a series of
tubes or shafts to carry off the impure or vitiated atmosphere from such
interiors, and also to regulate the temperature by the admission of hot
or cold air through the action of mercury,
To attain this object we introduce into the external wall or walls of a
building a series of metal boxes or cases which can be used to form a
string course, equal or superior in supporting strength to a course of
brick or stone and extending the whole width (and depth where
necessary) of such exterior. These boxes or cases contain drawers
which are fitted internally with divisions or louvres alternately attached
to the top and bottom of the drawer, but leaving a sufficient space at
bottom and top of each division alternately to allow the external air to
pass under and over in its course to the interior of the building, and
thereby arrest impurities and prevent sudden gusts or draughts.
On the air reaching the innermost space between the divisions or
louvres it passes through curled hair (or equivalent), which acts as a
purifier, filter, or respirator, and arrests and collects all particles of
soot and other foreign substance which may pass with the air through
the first divisions or louvres. After passing through the purifying
1 medium, the atmosphere passes into the interior cornice or equivalent
which is hollow and perforated ornamentally, if desired the entire width
of the room or building. A broadcast stream of purified air is thus
admitted, which is attracted to a corresponding perforated cornice at
the opposite extremity of the room or building by means of an
indraught caused as after explained; the noxious air of a hall or
chamber which rises to the ceiling is thus constantly drawn off and
replaced by purified air without sudden or violent draughts. The
indraughts cornice or equivalent to which the impure air is attracted
faces a course of bricks of an improved construction, that is, having
perforations of sufficient diameter to receive the vitiated air, which
perforations turning at the base at right angles are continued to the top
of the division or back wall as the case may be, and the impure air is
carried off through a series of perforated ridge tiles above the roof

page_text: admission of rain.
We also obtain the same outlet by using metal tubes built in
ordinary brickwork instead of perforated bricks when desirable.
In order to regulate the temperature of a room or place of assemblage
a poised flap or lid closing with a spring or other means is hung on
the inner side of the ingress drawers or louvres, extending their entire
length. To open or close this flap or lid (which will admit or exclude
external air, and so lower or raise the temperature) we attach a cord,
chain, or wire to the lid or flap, the opposite end of which is attached to
a drum or cylinder with a toothed wheel turned by a toothed piston or
regulator which rises or falls according to the temperature of the room
or building by the aid of mercury.
We also regulate the temperature of buildings by hot and cold air
pipes, regulated by a cord or band communicating from the before-
described drum or cylinder to another drum attached to the stop-cocks or
governors of the pipes. This band and drum being thus acted on by
the rise and fall of the mercury, opens or closes the governors as the
temperature requires, and admits or shuts off a supply of hot or cold
air, the latter surrounded by an outer casing of cold water, and the
former provided either by a blast or fan and furnace for public buildings,.
or by suitable pipes leading from a metal box or chamber forming the
back of the kitchen stove or range, which box having a perforated
bottom supplied with air purified by the means before described, will
cause such air to become heated and ascend'through the pipes to the
upper rooms of a dwelling house.
We further regulate the admission of external air, and consequently
the temperature, by attaching cranks and wires between the entrance
doors and the lid or flap of the louvre boxes in such manner as
that the lid or flap closes or opens with the opening or closing of
the door.
The mercurial regulating apparatus is sunk in the wall, having a dial
showing degrees of existing temperature with an index' hand to regulate
it as desired. But in small houses where economy in building is an
object, the same regulating power is obtained without the mercurial self-

page_text: acting principle, by a handle communicating with the lid or flap of the
boxes, to be turned by an occupant of a room as a higher or lower
temperature is desired.
acting principle, by a handle communicating with the lid or flap of the
boxes, to be turned by an occupant of a room as a bigher or lower
temperature is desired.
The drawers of the boxes or cases before described will admit of their
being drawn out and cleansed when required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Welsh, David Hope, and James Cambell.
Stevenson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th April
1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES 1
WELSH, DAVID HOPE, and JAMES CAMBELL STEVENSON, of Liverpool
and Southport, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the 1
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Welsh, David Hope, and
James Cambell Stevenson, Her special licence that we, the said
James Welsh, David Hope, and James Cambell Stevenson, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said 2
James Welsh, David Hope, and James Cambell Stevenson, our
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 2
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PURIFYING ATMOSPHERIC
AIR PREVIOUS TO ADMISSION INTO DWELLING-HOUSES, PUBLIC, AND OTHER
BUILDINGS, IN THE VENTILATION OF SUCH BUILDINGS, AND REGULATING THE
TEMPERATURE THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, a
the said James Welsh, David Hope, and James Cambell Stevenson, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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

page_text: same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YẸ, that we, the said James Welsh, David Hope, and
James Cambell Stevenson, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:-
The object of this Invention is to purify the external air during.its
passage to the interior of buildings or other structures; to provide an
ample supply of purified air, not only for respiratory purposes, but also
for carrying away infectious, impure, or vitiated atmosphere from the
interior, by a broadcast system which dispenses with dangerous draughts,
and to regulate the temperature of the internal air to any required
degree. For this purpose we make use of the following means and
annamats

page_text: that the Drawings show a plan illustrative of applying this Invention to
buildings, but it will be understood that the same principle can be used
applying this Invention to mines, tunnels, ships, and any other structures
and closed in spaces.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, illustrates a section of a purifying ingress box,
showing perforated cornice.
Figure 2, Sheet 1, shows an elevation of a self-acting regulating
apparatus. Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a plan of the same.
Figure 4, Sheet 2, an elevation showing regulating valves.
Figure 5, Sheet 2, an clevation of regulating dial.
⚫ Figures 6 and 7, Sheet 2, show egress ridges.
Figure 8, Sheet 2, shows a perforated egress brick.
Figure 9,. Sheet 3, illustrates a section of a building ventilated on
our principle.
In carrying out the Invention a string course is formed in the front or
any available part of the building. The string course consists of boxes
similar to A, Figure 1, Sheet 1, with perforated fronts B'. These boxes
are fitted into cases B set in the wall, so that the boxes can be with-
drawn when necessary for cleansing. (The box is shown partly withdrawn
in Figure 1. The interior of the box is fitted with checks or louvres D'
to counteract violent draughts and arrest floating impurities, so that the
incoming atmosphere flows as indicated by the arrows and reaches C, a
purifier in a regulated stream. The purifier C consists of a perforated
box filled with curled horsehair or other suitable filtering medium,
which arrests all finer impurities from the air, filtering it in its passage.
E is a cornice through which the purified air passes, and from thence
through a perforated ornament D into the room or building, thus
spreading the admitted air into the room or building broadcast.
Having thus admitted pure atmosphere by the above-described boxes
or by hot and cold air pipes, through which we drive the ingressing air a
purified by water or other means, we cause the temperature to be self-
regulated to the degree required by the apparatus shown at Figures 2,
3, 4, and 5. Figure 4, Sheet 2, shows a section of a pipe F through
which hot or cold purified air is forced by means of fans, or otherwise
worked by steam or other power. This pipe is perforated to nearly the a

page_text: extent of its area to discharge the hot or cold air into the room or
building broadcast, or the pipe may lead into a hollow perforated
skirting and distribute filtered atmosphere therethrough, or the pipe
may lead into perforated cornices such as the before described. The
pipe is constructed of perforations to suit the building to which it is
applied, and we prefer to use the pipe so that air may be dispersed
uniformly throughout.
By preference we use a tapered pipe perforated throughout its entire
length, the perforations at the smaller end being greater in number and
arranged so that the total area from end to end is equal to about seven-
eighths the area of the pipe at the wide end. Surmounting this pipe is
a cylinder or cistern F¹ containing a number of vertical tubes through
which the hot or cold air passes from the pipe. Connected with the
cylinder or cistern is a tube F, in which works a piston F³. The
cylinder is filled with mercury, the mercury being round the tubes and
acting on the under surface of the piston in the tube F³, the mercury
expanding or contracting according as hot or cold air passes through
the tubes in-the cylinder, thus causing the rise or fall of the piston.
The piston is fitted with a piston rod 1, the upper end of which has a
toothed rack (Figure 2, Sheet 1). The piston works in the tube F",
Figure 2, Sheet 1. The toothed rack gives motion to a toothed wheel G.
This wheel gives motion to index fingers Hand I, Figures 3 and 5,
Sheet 2, which fingers indicate the degree of temperature required or
existing, as herein-after explained. The wheel G has a friction cup Ꭻ
attached to it by means of the catch K³. The consequence of this
arrangement is, that so long as the catch K' is in gear in any
tooth of the wheel G, the friction cup J is acted upon by the toothed
piston rod, the wheel G, and the catch K'. The pinion L receives
reverse motion from the wheel G, the wheel M being fixed on the
same axle as the pinion L. L' is its collet; L and M therefore convey
multiplied speed in proportion to their diameter to N. The object in
multiplying the speed is to secure the slightest variation possible in the
temperature, as indicated by the index finger H, Figure 5, Sheet 2.
The wheel N, drum N', and friction cup N, Figures 2 and 3, are
connected together and work loose on the axle, being retained in
position by a groove and screw N. Friction cup J is fitted similarly
with a groove and screw.

page_text: According to these Drawings motion is shown at the increase of speed
of fifteen to one, that is to say, the index finger moving the fifteenth
part of a degree by an excess of heat or cold, the wheel N gives
immediate motion to the friction cup N³, Figure 3, Sheet 2, which gives
motion by the friction pulley O to the pulleys O¹, O³, O', which we term
the valve gearing pulley. The pulley O' has an endless chain or cord
passing over it, which works the supply valve, and which opens or closes
the hot or cold pure air supply valves to the extent of one' degree, thus
counteracting the variation of rise or fall of the temperature one-
fifteenth of a degree, maintaining the required temperature.
Where requisito we can multiply the gear so as to give an equipoiso
to the variation of temperature to a more minute fraction of a degree
than one-fifteenth, as shown in our Drawings, or vice versa. The
pulley and chain move simultaneously, so as to prevent any deviation
of the finger H when once set, without the action of the mercury. 1
Upon reference to Figure 4 it will be seen that the endless chain at
its lower extremity passes over a pulley which is attached to a spindle,
actuating throttle valves fixed in the interior of the cold and hot air
supply pipes, the valves being set reverse, so that more liot or more cold
can be supplied as requisite, and as the mercury rises or falls. P,
Figure 2, is a clutch lever, which is actuated upon by the handle knob
P¹ being turned, and the cam P³ thus spreading the levers of the clutch
and so causing them to grip the pulley in the groove O'. The knob
being then pulled forward moves the action O, O', O³, into gear with the
friction cup J, that is, from the poised gear N³ to the falling gear J.
This action is necessary to obtain a higher or lower temperature by
means of the handles K, which are used only when the motion is in the
friction cup J. R is an upright plate having the levers P working on a
fulcrum near the top, as shown in Figure 2, and is fastened to the axle
of the knob P¹. R' is a flange fixed to retain the levers P in position.
N' is a drum upon which is fixed and coiled a cord of gut or other
material S passing over a pulley S', and having a weight S² at its
extremity, the object of this arrangement being to prevent the oscillation
or loose action of the wheels, and to assist the descent of the piston.
K, K, are lever handles, which when pressed together withdraw the
catch K' by means of the connexion K³, which works on fulcrums, as
shown at Figure 2. The catch K' being withdrawn, the handles K, K,

page_text: can be moved to a higher or lower position, carrying with them the
friction cup J, with the regulating gear (which has been previously
thrown into gear with J by the knob P¹), as well as the index finger I to
the degree required on the dial, thus admitting hot or cold air as desired,
for the purpose of causing the rise or fall, by means of the mercury, of
the index finger H to the degree corresponding with that at which the
finger I is placed by the handles K, K. F is the tube from the mercury
cistern, in which the piston rises or falls. In Figure 5, Sheet 2, H is
the index finger showing actual existing temperature. I is the index
finger which marks the temperature required.
The beforegoing being descriptive of the ingress of pure air, we will
now proceed to describe how the vitiated atmosphere is carried away.
For this purpose we use a perforated cornice corresponding with the
ingress cornice, but on the opposite side of the room or building. The
vitiated and impure air passes through the cornice and ascends to the
roof by means of a series of perforated bricks of a novel construction,
as shown at Figure 8, Sheet 2, and having longitudinal flanges to
insure the perforations being continuous; or we attain the same result
by tubes or by cavities in the wall. The vitiated and impure air is
thus conveyed to the top of the building or other suitable place, and
passes away through improved ridges as shown in Figures 6 and 7,
Sheet 2; cither of them may be used as circumstances may require.
a, Figure 6, ridge laps; b, frizes; c, saddle; d, air chamber; e, roof
to same; f, ridge roll; 'g, outlet or egress for impure air; h, outlets for
rain, alternately reversed on each side of the roll so as to permit the
impure air to be drawn out and carried away by the external air current
in whichever way the wind may blow.
Figure 7 is a modification of ridge outlet which may sometimes be
used.
Referring to Figure 9, Sheet 3, wo illustrate a section of building
ventilated according to our improved system. j, ingress boxes through
which the air is admitted broadcast; k, egress cornices through which
the foul or impure air is carried away through the pipes or perforated
bricks 2, as shown by the arrows, and away to the roof or other suitable
place, and through the ridge or otherwise, the currents being in the
direction of the arrows; m, regulators; n, apparatus for supplying hot

page_text: .
and cold air through the pipes p and o, the hot air being obtained from
a furnace or from any other suitable medium, and driven through the
pipes by fans or rising through its rarification. The pure filtered. liot
or cold air is driven through the pipes, and distributed from thence
broadcast into the rooms through either a perforated pipe, a perforated
skirting, or a perforated cornice or other suitable medium, so long as it
is distributed broadcast.
It may be remarked that it is not necessary to use the apparatus
herein-before described combined, as they may be used separately or
together as deemed expedient.
It may also be remarked that the system of ventilating before
described is open to various differences of arrangement to those shown
and described, but the before-going description is sufficient to enable
any practical builder to carry out the system of ventilating and regu-
lating the temperature of any building or other structure or covered in 1
space; and we do not in any way limit ourselves to the exact style as
shown in the Drawings, as the same may be very considerably varied
without deviating from our Invention; but what we claim as the
Invention secured to us by Letters Patent as aforesaid is,―
First. The construction and combination of the ingress box, shown at :
Figure 1, distributing pure filtered atmosphere broadcast, substantially
in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
Secondly. The regulating apparatus worked by mercury, shown and
described at Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, and distributing hot or cold pure
filtered atmosphere broadcast, and regulating the same therewith.
Thirdly. The egress of vitiated or impure air through a perforated
cornice, and thence through pipes or through perforated bricks, as shown
at Figure 8, substantially in the manner set forth.
Fourthly. The peculiar construction of ridge outlets for vitiated or
impure air, as shown and described at Figures 6 and 7, substantially in a
the manner and for the purposes set forth.
Fifthly. The system of admitting pure filtered atmosphere into
buildings and other structures, ships, mines, tunnels, and other closed in
places by a broadcast system; and dispersing the vitiated or impure air
substantially in the manner as herein-before set forth.
"

page_text: And, lastly. The system of admitting hot and cold pure filtered
atmosphere broadcast into buildings and other structures, ships, mines,
tunnels, and other closed in places; and dispersing the vitiated or
impure air substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cambell Stevenson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
-
JAMES CAMBELL (L.s.) STEVENSON.