IMPROVEMENTS IN VEN- TILATING ROOMS AND BUILDINGS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Alfred Barlow, of 6, St. Paul's Churchyard, London,
Patent Agent and Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VEN-
TILATING ROOMS AND BUILDINGS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
A com-
munication from abroad by William Lönholdt and Franz Lönholdt, Architects
and Engineers, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
aled the 12th July 1878, and dated the 15th January 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Alfred Barlow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th January 1878.
WALTER ALFRED BARLOW, of 6, St. Paul's Churchyard, London, Patent Agent
and Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING ROOMS AND BUILDINGS, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR." A communication from abroad by William Lönholdt
and Franz Lönholdt, Architects and Engineers, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
This Invention relates to improvements in ventilating rooms by means of an
apparatus, which, by action of heat produced in a heating chamber thereof, produces
a vehement stream of hot air, which is forced through conically reduced pipes. This
vehement jet of hot air is blown vertically upwards through the mouth of the pipe,
which latter being encircled by a vertical tube withdraws the air from the sur-
rounding tube, and causes the outer air to enter this tube through orifices just on
the level of the conical inner pipe. The effect of this arrangement is the same as
with an injector.
The hot jet of air pushing upward the air contained above and in the encircling
tube consequently causes the outer air to follow through orifices leading from the
room to be ventilated into the encircling tube. This outer tube leading vertically
through the several stories of a house or building has its suction openings on a level
with the ceiling (in the moulding) and in the wainscouting of each room.
Behind
each of these openings the upward streaming air in the tube is forced through a
conically reduced passage way, thereby increasing the velocity with which it blows
into the ventilating tube. According to the quantity of air entering from the

page_text: several openings into the tube the conically reduced passage ways at each opening
are made larger in section than the next opening under it.
The ventilating tube leads through the roof, or it is conducted into a chimney,
which is crowned with a chimney head to prevent the entering of the wind and for
the purpose of increasing the draught.
The hot air which serves as motor in our apparatus is generated in a peculiar
heating chamber either by argand burners, burners of petroleum lamps, or a fire
upon a fire-grate.
These burners or this fire-grate is surrounded by folded, or curved, or ribbed
metallic surfaces, which become heated by the radiation of the heat.
Air is supplied to the heating chamber by openings in the under part of it; this
air impinging upon the hot surfaces of metal as well as upon the hot chimneys of
glass is consequently heated and mixed with the gases of combustion in a conically-
shaped dome, from which they pass into the ventilating pipe through the above-
mentioned conical pipes. The supply of air into the heating chamber may be
regulated by means of a suitable damper, valve, or other contrivances.
According to the quantity of air which is exhausted by this apparatus out of a
room, fresh air must be supplied to replace the exhausted air; for this purpose is
employed a peculiar arrangement to supply fresh air, it consists of a tube or
channel leading from the open air through the wall in an oblique direction into the
room in the level of the socle; from here this tube or channel is continued upwards
upon the wall to the hight of about five feet.
The oblique channel is provided on the outer side with a funnel-shaped mouth of
sheet iron or zinc to facilitate the entry of the fresh air. At the point of conjunc-
tion of the oblique with the vertical channel a small vessel is applied, which
contains water or water with carbolic acid or other disinfectant substances, and the
oblique tube leads into the vessel just at the level of the liquid, the vertical branch
dipping therein. By this means the fresh air is mixed with the vapours of the
water or disinfectant, and consequently receives that modicum of moisture necessary
for respiration, or a certain quantity of disinfectant vapour sufficient to destroy the
morbid matters in a " sick room." The air thus charged with moisture rises within
the vertical channel or pipe and enters the room, passing at the mouth of the pipe
through a layer of antiseptic cotton.
At the mouth of the pipe the air does not distribute itself directly in the room,
but rises higher, like the jet of a fountain, about three feet, and then in consequence
of its greater density sinks down into and mixes with the air in the room.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Walter Alfred Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th July
1878.
WALTER ALFRED BARLOW, of 6, St. Paul's Churchyard, London, Patent Agent
and Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING ROOMS AND BUILDINGS, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR." A communication from abroad from William Lönholdt
and Franz Lönholdt, Aarchitects and Engineers, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
This Invention relates to improvements in ventilating rooms, buildings, and other
like places. By this system fresh and purified atmospheric air is introduced to the
localities which are to be ventilated without causing any draught or cold current of
air, whilst at the same time the vitiated air contained in the locality will constantly,
and in all seasons, and independently of the influence of temperature be exhausted
by means of outlets placed above the floor and under the ceiling, and abutting in
the apparatus, hence it is called "exhausting ventilator."
The extraction and introduction of air is based upon certain principles, the
outline of which will now be mentioned in order to the better understanding of the
following description:-If fresh air is to be introduced into a locality it should
previously be purified of all particles of dust and dirt, and to avoid any draught or
cold current an upward movement must be imparted to the same.
In this system
the air in being introduced into the localities which are to be ventilated by means
of vertical tubes or channels is conducted over a sheet of water and through layers
of antiseptic wadding or cotton. Such a tube is represented in Figs. 17 and 18 of
the annexed Drawings. These tubes are placed in the rooms over the socle of the
wainscoating of the room, and stands upright against the inside wall of the room;
the inlet for the fresh air being placed about four feet above the floor. The power
of the current entering through this tube is due to the pressure originated by the
difference in weight of masses of air of different density, and based on the difference
of temperature of the air within the room and without; this difference of tempera-
ture is greatest in the cold season, and therefore the inward current is greatest
when we live most in our rooms, when we most closely shut them up, in brief,
when we most need fresh air. The introduction or admission tubes consist of four
parts, see Fig. 17 of the Drawings. e is the induction tubo fixed obliquely in
the wall; e is a funnel-shaped wide ring inserted therein, which not only
presents a larger entering surface to the air, but being movable allows an adapta-
tion of the tube to walls of different thickness; e is the vertical conducting tube,
placed within the room, and imparts an upward direction to the air, so that on
leaving the inlet it does not immediately spread in a horizontal direction, and
thereby annoy the occupants by a cold draught, but rises and mixes with the warm
air in the upper part of the room before descending to be inhaled. On the lower
end of the conducting tube 82 a knee-piece is provided, which connects it with the
induction tube e; underneath this knee-piece, on the lower end of the conducting
tube, is placed a cup-shaped vessel es, containing water or disinfecting matter,
which can be removed or drawn off at the screw plug or cock e. The upper part
of the conducting tube e² is provided with a flap or cover eo, which contains a layer
of antiseptic wadding or cotton e, through which the air passes, and is thereby
filtered. The lids e on the cover serves as means for the entire closing of the
conducting tube. This arrangement presents the following advantages :-
1. That the air, by continually passing over an evaporating water surface, is, if
dry, provided with the necessary humidity for breathing.
2. That the entering air is forced to pass into the room through the antiseptic
wadding or cotton, and is thereby perfectly filtered before spreading in the room.
3. That if (as in hospitals or sick rooms) carbolic acid or any other suitable dis-
infectant is placed in the vessel e³, together with water, the evaporating acid or

page_text: disinfectant first mixes with the entering air, and is diffused with it in the atmos-
phere of the room without becoming so pungently appreciable to the nostrils as
when simply sprinkled in the room. By this means the disinfectant is most closely
intermixed with the entering fresh air, and spreads most equally throughout the
room.
Guided by the knowledge that without using power of some kind the masses of
air in a room cannot be removed for the purpose of ventilation, that is, drawing or
streaming movement of air will not originate by itself, air being a body and subject
as is any other to the laws of inertia, and not movable without appropriate force,
an air exhauster is constructed and employed to produce the drawing or streaming
effect.
This apparatus not only causes an exhaustion of the air in rooms at all seasons,
but is not dependent on the influence of temperature and means of heating the
rooms, but acts continually and independently. If placed in ventilating or smoke
chimnies of any kind it not only increases but also perfectly secures the draught
therein.
The power which is utilized to impart motion to the air masses is heat, which
is produced and sustained (according to the size of the apparatus) by one or more
lighted argand gas or petroleum burners, or by a grate fire to considerably heat the
sides of a heating chamber.
The peculiarities of the apparatus are the construction of this heating chamber,
and the absorbing apparatus by which the air is abstracted and conducted away
from the rooms which are to be ventilated.
The operation of the apparatus is based on known physical principles, the
construction however being designed and adapted for the special purpose, the
apparatus being modified in detail only according to conditions and locality.
I will now proceed to explain the construction and arrangement of apparatus as
represented in Figs. 14, 15, and 16.
The apparatus is constructed of sheet iron, and is easily fitted to any existing
locality for ventilation. Where merely utility is kept in view it is simply fixed
against the wall, or its exterior may be achitecturally ornamented, and so satisfies
the aesthetic sense also. A is a sheet-iron casing of half cylindric or other convenient
form with a door a fitted preferably with glass, tale, or similar transparent medium,
but which may nevertheless be semi-transparent or opague.
The interior contains one or more gas, argand, or petroleum, or similar oil
burners d; or for large shafts, a grate fire, placed over a cone-shaped ventil lid a³,
which latter can be raised or lowered by means of a rack or toothed bar and cog
wheels, by turning the button a¹, and the opening in which the ventil lid moves
can be opened or shut to regulate the admission of air for feeding the burners
or fire.
The air for feeding the said burners or fire, and the heated air which is to serve
as motor in the apparatus, is attracted and drawn into the apparatus partly by the
openings as in the bottom thereof, and thence through the ventil a³, and partly by
the openings a³. The air is then forced by the continually following cooler air
upwards against the metal surface a¹ circularly surrounding the flames, and is
continually heated by the radiation of heat produced by the said flames, and then
mixes with the hot gases produced by combustion in the conical helmet piece A¹,
and is forced finally to escape upwards through the conical graduating tube A².
As by the continuous combustion of the oil, gas, or fuel, an uniform quantity of air
is caused to enter the heating chamber, a proportionate quantity is consequently
forced continually upwards through the tube A2. By the graduating or narrowing
of this said tube its diameter is considerably lessened towards the upper end, and
thereby the current of air at the outflow attains considerable velocity. The air now
flows upwards in the wide tube C ih a stream, resembling the jet of an injector, and
this stream is at the same time conducted close against and parallel to the front
wall of the casement C, so that it passes flat and close to the grated or trellised

page_text: "
opening B, and so carries with it the air contained in the room uear the absorbing
opening B in a manner similar to that which makes water follow the blast of the
injector."
In the upper end C₁ of the tube C, the air is again compressed and flows with
increased velocity past the absorbing opening E in the tube D, and attracts the air
in front of the opening E, as before described at B. The opening E is provided with
a regulating and closing slide.
The column of air in the tube D, the width of which corresponds with the
quantity of air to be taken up, can again (once or several times, according to the
number of stories in the building) be compressed and conducted past absorbing
openings, or it may be directly led into the open air through a chimney head, which
is provided with an absorbing or suction cowl.
Having now described the principle and particulars of the apparatus, I shall pro-
ceed to explain its varied application and modifications.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the simplest form of the apparatus, constructed of sheet.
iron or zinc fixed on the wall, for the ventilation of two rooms, one above the
other.
A is the heating apparatus or chamber; B and F, the trellised outlets for the air;
E and G, two openings in the ventilating channel under the ceiling, and constructed
so as not only to cause the air to be somewhat compressed in this place, and so
increase the velocity of the stream and its absorbing power, but also to prevent an
effusion of the vitiated air into the room as well as to cause the two streams to
assume an almost parallel direction. These openings E and G are provided with
slides which allow of their being partially or entirely shut.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the apparatus fixed in brickwork channels within the wall.
The construction of the heating chamber is analogous to that of the others already
described. The outlets are made level with the wall and are covered either with
gratings B and F, or with covers in the form of Venetian blinds, capable of being
shut or opened.
All the openings are conducted into the channel at an angle of 45°, so as not to
interfere with the vertical stream produced therein.
In order to straighten the channel at G, and consequently increase the velocity of
the upward flow of the air (for the purpose of ensuring the absorbing power), a
sheet of iron or zine is placed on an incline inward and upward of the whole width
of the channel. The current of air, when passing the opening F, is so strong that
no doubt need be entertained that the vitiated air could enter the room. In this
application as in the former the ventilating shaft is provided with an absorbing cowl
of known construction, which, rather than prevent the air leaving it on a sudden
gust of wind, will facilitate the upward draught.
In Figs. 5, 6, and 7 is represented a modification of the apparatus, designed not
only to serve as a ventilator but also for illuminating cellars, underground floors,
stores, and so forth. In this instance, the outside of the heating chamber A is
fitted like a lantern with glass or other suitable transparent medium, behind which
is placed the corrugated heating surface, which may be provided with appropriate
reflectors for throwing the light onto the desired locality. If the apparatus is to be
used in wine or ice cellars, or other places where it is desirable to avoid unnecessary
heating, the glass or other side cover may be doubled.
The annexed Drawings shows the apparatus in so comprehensible a manner that
a further explanation will be unnecessary.
In some cases it may prove desirable to place the apparatus in the centre of the
building, and for this purpose it is made in the form of a column, as shown in Figs.
8, 9, and 10.
The heating apparatus is placed in the socle of the column. In the lower section
of the column, over the heating chamber, is placed the cone-shaped lower tube. To
compross the heat more closely to the sides of the column an inverted sheet iron or
zinc cone is placed in this tube. The hot air is thereby driven violently and closely
past the holes formed in the column, and absorbs or draws in the outer air. It now

page_text: rises in the interior of said column, and is again compressed in the upper
part of same, and caused to absorb the air of the room, either through an
opening in the side of the column, which can be shut by a slide, or by holes
provided around it, and which can be closed by a sliding tube, as shown in
Fig. 10.
Figs. 11, 12, and 13 represent the apparatus in its application for ventilating
large and lofty buildings. The heating chamber, containing a certain number of
burners, or a fire-grate, as previously explained, is, in this case, placed at the bottom
of a large ventilating shaft. This shaft extends vertically through all the floors of
the building. S is the basement; P, the ground floor; I, the first floor, and so on.
The air for the sustension of the flames or the fire, and also the air to be heated by
the heating surface, enters at the bottom of the shaft through the openings a". c is
a glass tube with valve communicating with the burners d; a is a door fitted with
glass, talc, or other suitable transparent medium; a' is the regulator for the cone-
shaped ventil a² for regulating the admission of air into the heating chamber.
Analogous to this last arrangement is the apparatus represented in Figs. 14, 15,
and 16, already described. A is the casement; A', the cone-shaped dome for mixing
and collecting the hot air and the gases produced by combustion which are driven
upwards with great velocity through the conical graduating tube A². In the brick-
work shaft are placed the iron, zinc, tin, or other tubes C and D, both graduating
to a conical shape at the top, and thereby forming suction or absorbing boxes.
These tubes serve to maintain the strong upward current produced in the heating
chamber, and to make it serviceable as a potent attractive power.
The air which is drawn into the shaft by this current is (partly within the said
tubes, partly without) continually driven upward by the air which is always being
drawn into the apparatus. The diameters of the said tubes and of their cone-shaped
graduations are modified according to the quantity of air to be absorbed.
The air of the basement is drawn in by the lateral channels B, that of the ground
floor by inclined channels which have trellised openings in the socle of the rooms.
Under the ceiling of the ground floor are provided openings E which can be shut, if
desirable; these communicate with the channel F; the latter abutts into the main
shaft at an angle of 45°. Similar channels E (analogous to B¹ before described, and
shown in Figs. 5 and 6) are provided on the first floor, through which the air con-
tained in these rooms is attracted. The Drawings show how these openings may
be arranged in the rooms of houses or other buildings, large or small, and how the
different channels for the extraction of air may be connected with the ventilating
shaft. By this arrangement the air contained rooms requires less power for
exhaustion as it is not necessary to conduct the air to the bottom, but it is as
directly as possible drawn into the ventilating shaft.
Fig. 13 is the plan of a modification of the heating chamber. In this case, the
heating apparatus enclosed in a round metal casement.
In stablings the apparatus can be turned to use, not only for lighting, but also
for warming by using only the air heated inside the apparatus as motor for the
same and allowing the heat radiating from its outside to warm the stable.
Figs. 17 and 18 have been already described and will be understood from the
Drawings.
Figs. 19 and 20 represent a still further modification wherein the apparatus is
placed in a pilaster fixed on the wall of a room. On referring to the Drawings,
the construction will be readily understood.
The advantages of the apparatus are,
Firstly. The continual absorption and removal of the vitiated air of our rooms,
independently of the influence of temperature.
Secondly. Easy application of the apparatus in rooms to be ventilated, as well as
in buildings in course of construction.
Thirdly. Continual action without special attention and in proportion to the
expense of working, great power, comparatively with apparatus worked by means
of mechanical power.

page_text: Fourthly. By developing the apparatus into means of lighting ice, wine, or other
cellars, basements, or stables, and so forth, may be illuminated, and the said localities
and rooms above may be thoroughly ventilated without heating the locality in
which the apparatus is used, this being of special importance in ice and various
other stores.
Claims:-
Firstly. The peculiar construction of the air induction tube with cup-shaped vessel,
which is to contain water or other disinfectant for evaporation, and the cover of the
same containing antiseptic wadding or cotton for filtering the air, with lid to shut
the same, as herein described and set forth.
Secondly. The construction of the heating chamber with the corrugated radiating
copper (or other metal) surface, which being heated by radiating, warms the air
passing it, as described.
Thirdly. The apparatus for regulating the admission of air to be heated or burnt,
namely, the cone-shaped ventil lid, the toothed bar or rack and cog wheels, as
applied to this Invention.
Fourthly. The construction of the exhausting channels or tubes with cone-shaped
narrowings or graduations at the outflow in proximity with the openings through
which the strong current of air, produced by the outflows, absorbs and carries away
the masses of air in the vicinity of these openings.
Fifthly. The inclined conducting or protecting sheets provided on the lower
part of the opening of the ceiling, preventing a reflux of air into the room.
Sixthly. The graduation of width in the tubes employed in this system for the
ventilation of large buildings, in ventilating shafts or steeples, as in Fig. 7, in which
the tubes are gradually made wider in the upper part, only slightening or graduating
at the outflows for increasing the velocity of the current of air, as described.
Seventhly. The whole arrangement of the apparatus and its mode of application
to new or old buildings of every kind, as the closest and dampest cellars may be
ventilated and the air of any room or locality, however foul, may be extracted by
this system.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Alfred Barlow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
WALTER A. BARLOW. (L.S.)