AN APPARATUS FOR DESTROYING THE INFLAMMABLE AIR (WHICH IS COMMONLY KNOWN BY THE NAME OF FIRE DAMP,) IN MINES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WOOD, of Summer Hill Grove, in the County of Northumberland, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King Georgo the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at'
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of April, in the seventh year of His reign,"
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the the said
William Wood, His especial licence that I, the said William Wood, my
exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Wood, my
exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed;
should and lawfully might make, use, exerciso and vend, within England;
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN APPARATUS
FOR DESTROYING THE INFLAMMABLE AIR (WHICH IS COMMONLY KNOWN BY THE NAME
OF FIRE DAMP,) IN MINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, tho said William Wood, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention doth
consist in causing an ignition of the gas commonly called fire damp in mines
to take place at any given time by means of clockwork attached to or con-
nected with an apparatus which is acted upon by the said clock movement,
and which causes a match to be lighted at the said given time. And in
further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said William Wood, do hereby
describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed by the
following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents my said apparatus as it would appear when set for
action, and the clock movement connected with it. A is an ordinary Dutch
striking clock; B is the weight attached to the striking movement of the said
clock; C is a small lever turning on an axis at a; and E is another lever,
acted upon by the lever C, and turning on an axis at F; this axis is supported
on bearings at the top of the upright or standard G. On the outer end of the
first lever C is a friction roller H, and on the inner end of the second lever E
is a balance weight I. At the outer end of the second lever E is a connecting
rod J, having a moveable joint K, L, at each end, the lower joint L is
connected to the sliding rod M, which slides up and down between guides e, c,
on the standard or upright N, N, which standard, as well as the standard G,
is fixed firmly to the foot board or base of the apparatus below it. O is a
match, made in the usual manner with oxymuriate of potash; and P is a
small phial of sulphuric acid under it, so placed that when the match is
depressed by the action of the levers it will dip into the acid and ignite. Qis
a bank of cotton, dipped in spirits of turpentine or other inflammable matter,
and so placed with respect to the match as to take fire when the match
ignites.
Fig. 2 represents the position of the levers and striking weight while the
match is dipped into the bottle, and the same letters are used to denote the
corresponding parts in each Figure.
Having now described the various parts of the apparatus, I will proceed to
explain the manner in which they act so as to produce the effect required.
Suppose the hands of the clock set at 12, and the striking weight B pulled up
as high as it will go, it will be 7 hours, according to the arrangement shown
in the Drawing, before the striking weight will have descended to the situation
marked R, and it will remain at that position for the next hour; but when

page_text: the clock strikes 8 the weight B will descend from R to S, and in its descent
will strike the end t of the lever C; this will cause the weight I at the inner
end of the second lever E to be raised, and this action will of course depress
the outer end K of the second lever, whereby the match will be caused to dip
into the bottle of acid, as shewn at Fig. 2; by this time the striking weight B
will have passed the end t of the lever C, and the match will rise out of the
acid and ignite, thereby setting fire to the hank of cotton or fussee Q. It
stands to reason, from the foregoing description, that by a proper adjustment of
the striking weight this ignition may be caused to take place at any hour, and
having ascertained that fact I will now proceed to describe the manner in
which it is to be applied to destroying the gas commonly called fire damp in
mines. Having previously determined on the best spot for the ignition to
commence, I place my apparatus there, and having calculated what time it will
take for the workmen and cattle, &c. to be cleared from the mine, or from the
dangerous part of it, I set the striking weight of the clock accordingly. If
8 hours should be required, I set the striking weight as herein-before directed;
I then dispose through all the workings and passages of the mine, where fire
damp is likely to be, a connected wire, either supporting festoons of cotton
yarn dipped in spirits of wine, or other the like inflammable matter, similar to
that before described; or otherwise, I sew over the wire thin brown paper so
saturated as aforesaid, allowing a fringe or lap of paper to hang downward;
this wire, and the burning medium upon it, whatever it may be, I connect with
the cotton fusee Q, and by this means I convey flame to every part of the
mine where I wish to destroy the fire damp. The mine or the dangerous
parts of it being previously cleared of the workmen and cattle, I cause the
ignition to take place at whatever hour I have previously determined upon by
the arrangement of the striking weight of the clock..
Now, whereas I do not claim as my Invention any part of the clock
movement herein-before mentioned, nor any particular kind of match or
inflammable matter for the purposes aforesaid; but I claim as my Invention
the application of clockwork to the apparatus herein-before described for
causing a match to ignite for the purpose of destroying the inflammable air
(which is commonly known by the name of fire damp) in mines at a given
time, as also the arrangement by which the said match is connected with
means for distributing the flame through the various parts of the mine; and
the same being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and
never before used within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification

page_text: of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification dotli
comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in
the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained, whereby I
hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wood, have, hereunto set my
band and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
Inrolled the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand 1
eight hundred and twenty-six.