IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CHIMNEY FIRES, AND IN PREVENTING EXPLOSIONS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, of 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, Paris, Glove Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CHIMNEY FIRES, AND IN PREVENTING
EXPLOSIONS."
Sealed the 7th January 1864, and dated the 23rd July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Laurent Jacques
Fillion at the Offico of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd July 1863.
I, LOUIS LAURENT JACQUES FILLION, of 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris,
Glove Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CHIMNEY FIRES, AND IN
PREVENTING EXPLOSIONS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in using a metallic thread which melts at a low
temperature, or a string made of a vegetable and combustible material, attached
at one end to a register adapted to the flue of a chimney, and producing the
draught necessary for the fire. To the other end of the thread or string a
counterweight is attached serving to keep open the said register.
When the chimney is on fire the fusible or combustible thread is destroyed,
the counterweight falls, and the register closing the flue of the chimney
interrupts the draught necessary for the combustion, and the fire is neces-
sarily extinguished instantaneously. To prevent explosions in steam boilers

page_text: the thread is connected with a valve, and when the steam becomes too much
heated, the thread melts or is burnt, and the counterweight, by its falling,
opens the valve, and the danger is avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
LAURENT JACQUES FILLION, of 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, Glove Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, Her special licence that the
said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, my 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTIN-
GUISHING CHIMNEY FIRES, AND IN PREVENTING EXPLOSIONS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under 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 per-
formed, 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 Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :—
My Invention consists in the application of a metallic wire melting at a
low temperature, or of a string made of a vegetable and combustible substance,

page_text: attached at one of its ends by a hook to the under part of a register adapted
to the shape of the flue of a chimney, and producing when open the draught
necessary for the fire and for the escape of smoke. To the other end of the
thread or string a weight is adapted, serving to keep the register open. A
smaller counterweight can be attached on the other part of the register facing
the other weight.
When a fire takes place the fusible wire or combustible string being
destroyed the weight attached to one of its ends falls, and the register closing
the flue of the chimney interrupts the draught of air necessary for the com-
bustion, and the fire is instantaneously annihilated. The register is composed
of sheet iron prepared according to the shape of the flue to which it is to be
applied; it is supported at the two opposite extremities of the axis of its
diameter by small pivots working freely on journals set on each side of the
flue. The register is also placed in a sheet iron casing made according to the
shape of the chimney into which it is to be set.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a round or square flue of a chimney. A is the register;
B, a fusible thread or combustible string; C is the weight keeping the
register open as long as it is not destroyed by the chimney fire.
Figure 2 represents also a round or square flue of a chimney having two
registers A and A'; B is the fusible thread communicating with the two
registers; C, weight which hooks with the buckle K when the chimney fire
has destroyed the thread; C', counterweight attached to the second register A';
D, connecting pulley.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal pipe, either square or round, provided
with a register having a counterweight C, and fusible thread B, and a helical
spring K. When the fire destroys the wire the spring K allows the register
to return and shut the pipe, by which the passage of the air is intercepted,
and the fire extinguished instantaneously.
Figures 4 and 5 represent a weight having the shape of the vertical flue in
which the register is set. When the fire has destroyed the wire, the weight
by its falling, and being provided with the small rollers I, I, I, I, guiding its
descent, scrapes and sweeps thoroughly the sides of the flue. A valve in a
steam boiler can be provided with a fusible thread; the thread being destroyed
at a certain temperature will give a free egress to the steam, and thus prevent
an explosion; the valve will therefore become a real safety valve.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the best
means to put it into execution, I wish it to be understood that I do not

page_text: confine myself to the precise details herein-before described, as the same may
be varied without deviating from the principle of my Invention; but what I
claim, and wish to be protected by the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is, the employment of a fusible or combustible thread adapted
to an apparatus, causing the fire to be annihilated, and preventing explosion
in steam boilers, as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Laurent Jacques Fillion, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
HY. GILBEE,
10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris.
L. FILLION. (L.B.)