IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATORS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hooper, of Moseley, in the County of
Worcester, Plumber and Glazier, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENTILATORS."
Sealed the 31st December 1867, and dated the 20th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hooper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th July 1867.
I, JAMES HOOPER, of Moseley, in the County of Worcester, Plumber and
Glazier, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN VENTILATORS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
combining or arranging the parts of ventilators whereby great simplicity in
construction and efficiency of action are secured.
In constructing a ventilator according to my Invention I make a box or
chamber some or all of the vertical sides of which are open; I hinge to the
top of each opening a flap or door, which said flaps or doors when they hang
vertically close the open sides of the chamber; when the said flaps or doors
are raised upon their hinges out of their vertical position they uncover more
or less the openings in the box or chamber and permit of the passage of air
through the open sides of the said box or chamber; to the lower and inner
side of each of the flaps or doors an arm is jointed, and the other end of each.

page_text: of the said arms is jointed to a central cross piece situated in the axis or
the box or chamber, and near the top of the box or chamber; by raising or
lowering the said cross piece the flaps or doors are simultaneously closed or
opened; the central cross piece described is connected to the top of the box
or chamber by a strong india-rubber or other spring, by which the cross piece
when it is at liberty to move is pulled upwards and the flaps or doors closed;
to the under side of the cross piece a cord, chain, or wire is affixed, and by
pulling down the said cord, chain, or wire the cross piece may be depressed
and the flaps or doors opened. The ventilator constructed as described is
fixed on the top of the building, carriage, or place to be ventilated, or on a
tube or shaft opening into the place to be ventilated. When the cord, chain,
or wire hangs loosely from the cross piece the flaps or doors are closed upon
the openings in the sides of the box or chamber, and there is no passage of
air through the ventilator; by pulling down and fastening in its depressed
position the cord, chain, or wire the central cross piece may be depressed to
the required extent, and the openings in the box or chamber unclosed to any
required degree. The hot and vitiated air from the building, place, or car-
riage on which the ventilator is fixed rises through the said openings and
escapes into the atmosphere. The box or chamber may have four or other
number of open sides provided with flaps or doors, and instead of making the
said sides vertical they may be inclined; and in place of the spring described
for raising the cross piece a cord passing over a pulley and provided with a
counterbalance weight may be substituted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Hooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HOOPER, of Moseley, in the County of Worcester, Plumber and Glazier, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Hooper, Her special licence that I, the said James Hooper,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Hooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Hooper, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Hooper, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
combining or arranging the parts of ventilators whereby great simplicity in
construction and efficiency of action are secured.
In constructing a ventilator according to my Invention I make a box or
chamber some or all of the vertical sides of which are open; I hinge to the
top of each opening flap or door, which the said flaps or doors when they hang
vertically close the open sides of the chamber; when the said flaps or doors
are raised upon their hinges out of their vertical position they uncover more
or less the openings in the box or chamber and permit of the passage of air
through the open sides of the said box or chamber; to the lower and inner
side of each of the flaps or doors an arm is jointed, and the other end of each
of the said arms is jointed to a central cross piece situated in the axis of the
box or chamber; by raising or lowering the said cross piece the flaps or doors
are simultaneously closed or opened; the central cross piece described is
connected to the top of the box or chamber by a strong india-rubber or other
spring, by which the cross piece when it is at liberty to move is pulled
upwards and the flaps or doors closed. To the under side of the cross piece
a cord, chain, or wire is affixed, and by pulling down the said cord, chain, or
wire the cross piece may be depressed and the flaps or doors opened. The
ventilator constructed as described is fixed on the top of the building, car-
riage, or place to be ventilated, or on a tube or shaft opening into the place
to be ventilated. When the cord, chain, or wire hangs loosely from the
cross piece the flaps or doors are closed upon the openings in the sides of the
box or chamber and there is no passage of air through the ventilator; by

page_text: pulling down and fastening in its depressed position the cord, chain, or wire
the central cross piece may be depressed to the required extent, and the
openings in the box or chamber unclosed to any required degree. The hot and
vitiated air from the building, place, or carriage on which the ventilator is
fixed rises through the said openings and escapes into the atmosphere. The
box or chamber may have four or other number of open sides provided with
flaps or doors; and instead of making the said sides vertical they may be
inclined; and in place of the spring described for raising the cross piece a
cord passing over a pulley and provided with a counterbalance weight may be
substituted.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in elevation, Figure 2 in vertical section, Figure 3 in
horizontal section, and Figure 4 in plan, a square or rectangular ventilator
constructed according to my Invention, the flaps or doors of the said ven-
tilator being closed; Figure 5 represents in vertical section and Figure 6
in plan the said ventilator with its flaps or doors raised or opened. The same
letters of reference are employed to indicate the same parts in each Figure of
the Drawing.
C
a is the rectangular box or chamber of the ventilator fixed on the top or
other convenient part of the building, carriage, or place to be ventilated, or
on a tube or shaft opening into the building, carriage, or place. The open
bottom of the said box or chamber is in communication with the said
building, carriage, or place either directly or through the tube or shaft
described. The box or chamber a fits on the opening in the building, place,
or carriage, or on the shaft or tube at its flange a². The vertical sides of the
said box or chamber a are open at 6,b, and to the top of each of the openings
a metal flap or door c is hinged at ². When the said flaps or doors c, c, are
in their normal position, as represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, they hang
vertically and close to the openings b, b, of the box or chamber a; when the
said flaps or doors c, c, are raised upon their hinges c² out of their vertical
position, as represented in Figures 5 and 6, they uncover more or less the
openings b, b, and permit of the passage of air through the open sides of the
Baid box or chamber. The said flaps or doors c, c, are raised or turned on
their hinges, and closed or shut down in the following manner:-To the lower
and inner side of each of the flaps or doors c, c, an arm d is jointed at d³, the
other or upper end of each of the said arms d,d, being jointed at d³ to the
ends of the arms of the cross piece e situated near the top and in the axis of

page_text: the box or chamber a; the shape of the cross piece e is best seen in Figure 3.
In the axis of the box or chamber a is a strong india-rubber spring f, its
upper end being hooked to the top of the box or chamber, and its lower end
being hooked to the said cross piece e in the manner represented in Figures 2
and 5.
Instead of an india-rubber spring a coiled metal spring or a bow
spring may be used. By the connection of the spring f to the cross piece e in
the manner represented the said cross piece when it is at liberty to move is
pulled upwards (see Figure 2) and the flaps or doors c, c, thereby closed; to
the under side of the cross piece e a cord g is affixed, or a chain or wire may
be used in place thereof; the said cord g passes under the pulley h, and is
connected with a cord holder or other convenient holding mechanisın; the
said cord g may be guided by pulleys in any required direction. When the
cord g is disengaged from its holder the spring fraises the cross piece e and
pulling inwards the arms d simultaneously closes the whole of the flaps or
doors c, c, upon the openings 6 in the sides of the box or chamber a, as illus-
trated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4; the passage of air through the ventilator
from the building, room, or carriage is thus prevented. When the building,
room, or carriage is required to be ventilated the cord g is pulled down and
fastened in its depressed position, the parts of the ventilator assuming the
positions represented in Figures 5 and 6, that is to say, the central cross
piece e is depressed, and the arms d are consequently pressed outwards so as
to open simultaneously the whole of the flaps or doors c, c, to the required
extent; the greater the depression of the cross piece e the greater the extent
to which the flaps or doors are opened. The hot and vitiated air from the
building, place, or carriage on which the ventilator is fixed rises through
the openings b, b, in the sides of the box or chamber a and escapes into the
atmosphere.
Instead of making the flaps or doors of the ventilator of plates of metal, as
described, they may be made of frames of metal containing panes of glass,
as illustrated in elevation in Figure 7, where the metal frames are marked c³,
and the panes of glass fixed therein are marked c. In this arrangement the
cord by which the cross piece e is pulled down works in a tube i, slots in the
said tube permitting of the rising and falling motion of the said cross piece;
the tube i is supported by the bracket which carries the pulley h; in other
respects the ventilator, Figure 7, is similar to that first described, and the
parts are marked with the same letters of reference.
Figure 8 represents in plan a ventilator of an octagonal figure made
according to my Invention. In the said Figure 8 the box or chamber of the
ventilator is marked a, and the flaps or doors in each of the sides of the said

page_text: box or chamber are marked c, c.
Instead of making the sides of the box or
may be
chamber vertical, as represented in the Drawing, the said sides
inclined. Where the ventilator is large the spring which supports the cross
piece e may be dispensed with, and a cord, wire, or chain passing over a
pulley above the cross piece e,and provided with a counterbalance weight, may
be used in place thereof. When more or less than four flaps or doors are
employed the cross piece e must have a corresponding number of arms to be
jointed to the arms of the respective flaps or doors. Each of the flaps.or
doors c, c, of the ventilator may if thought desirable be provided with side
and bottom pieces made of perforated metal or wire gauze, so that when the
said flaps or doors are open the current of air entering the ventilator shall be
broken by passing through the said perforated side and bottom pieces. A
flap or door provided with perforated side and bottom pieces is represented in
Figure 1.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvements in ventilators herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, constructing, and
arranging, or combining the parts of a ventilator, substantially in the manner
described and illustrated, whereby a series of flaps or doors covering a
corresponding number of openings in the body of the ventilator may be
simultaneously raised or simultaneously lowered so as to open or close to the
required degree the said openings in the ventilator.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hooper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JAMES HOOPER. (L.S.)