A NEW APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY REGULATING THE TEMPERATURE OF HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Whitaker and William Whitaker, both of
Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Warming Engineers, for the Invention
of "A NEW APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY REGULATING THE TEMPERATURE
OF HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS."
Soaled the 6th February 1877, and dated the 10th August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said Thomas Whitaker and
William Whitaker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th
August 1876.
THOMAS WHITAKER and WILLIAM WHITAKER, both of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Warming Engineers. "A NEW APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY REGU-
LATING THE TEMPERATURE OF HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS."
In heating and ventilating buildings by means of hot air it is essential that the
air should not be overheated or burnt, and that it should be free from admixture
of smoke and other impurities.
The intensity of the fire in the stove is usually regulated by a damper or valve
placed in the flue or chimney and adjusted by the attendant. The partial or
complete closing of dampers so placed very frequently causes the smoke to escape
through the fire and ash-pit doors into the stove room, whence it finds its way into
the air heating chamber, and finally into the building; thus keeping a heating
apparatus at a proper temperature depends entirely upon the care and attention of
the fireman, and in most cases the means placed in his hands for checking the fire
cause another evil from smoke, as above described. Now the object of our Inven-
tion is to regulate the temperature of hot air stoves by self-acting apparatus which
will dispense with the constant attendance of the fireman, and also with the use of
dampers in smoke flues or chimneys.
We construct a special tube or flue for the admission of air to the grate or hearth,
and provide the same with a valve, lid, or damper by which the passage can be
opened or closed. This regulating valve we work by the motion obtained from the
expansion and contraction of one or more metal rods placed in the air heating
chamber and acting upon a lever, or a series of levers, or their equivalent, and so
arranged as to gain a greater range of motion for the valve. The admission of air
to the grate through any other openings must be provented by closing the fire and
ash-pit doors.

page_text: We prefer to arrange the levers and rods in such a manner that the expansion
rods are always held in tension by the weight of the valve, valve rod, and connec-
tions, and sometimes we make the length of the rods and levers adjustable.
We set the apparatus so that when the highest admissable heat is reached the
rods are just expanded so much as to close the valve, thus shutting off the air supply
to the fire. As the temperature decreases the rods will contract and the valve will
open and admit air to the fire.
We propose to apply this self-acting apparatus also to other furnaces, and to hot
and cold air flues for ventilating.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Thomas Whitaker and William Whitaker in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1877.
THOMAS WHITAKER and WILLIAM WHITAKER, both of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Warming Engineers. "A NEW APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY REGU-
LATING THE TEMPERATURE OF HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS."
In heating and ventilating buildings by means of hot air it is essential that the
air should not be over heated or burnt, and that it should be free from admixture
of smoke and other impurities.
The intensity of the fire in the stove is usually regulated by a damper or valve
placed in the flue or chimney and adjusted by the attendant. The partial or
complete closing of dampers so placed very frequently causes the smoke to oscape
through the fire and ash-pit doors into the stove room, whence it finds its way into
the air heating chamber, and finally into the building, then keeping a heating
apparatus at a proper temperature depends entirely upon the care and attention of
the fireman, and in most cases the means placed in his hands for checking the fire
cause another evil from smoke, as above described. Now the object of our Inven-
tion is to regulate the temperature of hot-air stoves by self-acting apparatus which
will dispense with the constant attendance of the fireman, and also with the use of
dampers in smoke flues or chimneys.
We construct a special tube or flue for the admission of air to the grate or hearth,
and provide the same with a valve, lid, or damper by which the passage can be
opened or closed. This regulating valve we work by the motion obtained from the
expansion and contraction of one or more metal rods, bands, or chains placed in the
air heating chamber and acting upon a lever or a series of levers, or their equivalent,
and so arranged as to gain a greater range of motion for the valve. The admission
of air to the grate through any other openings must be prevented by closing the
fire end ash-pit doors.
We prefer to arrange the levers and rods in such a manner that the expansion
rods are always held in tension by the weight of the valve, valve rod, and con-
nections, and to make the length of the rods and levers adjustable, and to place
them as closely as possible to the heating surface of the stove in order that they
may be acted upon by actual contact or by the radiant heat as well as by the
heated air.
We set the apparatus'so that when the highest desirable heat is reached the rods
are just expanded so much as to close the valve, thus shutting off the air supply to
the firo. As the temperature decreases the rods will contract and the valve will
open and admit air to the fire.
We propose to apply this self-acting apparatus also to other furnaces, and to hot
and cold air flues for ventilating.
In order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will now proceed to describe the same, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon.

page_text: The Drawing represents an elevation, partly in section, of a stove S, S, S, placed
in its heating chamber and fitted with our automatic regulating apparatus. The
stove is mounted on the box A which forms the ash-pit; B is a tube or flue leading
from the front of the stove to the ash-pit for the admission of air to the grate, and
is fitted with a lid or valve V suspended by a rod or chain from the lever L; a
plate C is bolted to the front brickwork of the stove chamber, and to it are fixed
the two brackets D and E reaching into the chamber, and carrying the fulcrums
0, 0, 0, of the levers L, M, and N, and the bottom pin P of the rod P. The
weight of the valve and of its chain or rod, and of the lever L, keep the expansion
rods P, Q, R, in tension, and as the valve is shewn half open it is evident that as
the rods expand or contract, according to the rise or fall in the temperature, the
valve will close or open and regulate the fire accordingly.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which it
is to be carried into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit our-
selves to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may be
varied without departing from the nature of our Invention; but what we claim as
our Invention to be secured to us by herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
regulating the supply of air to the fire of air heating stoves and other furnaces, and
to flues of warming and ventilating apparatus, by automatic motion obtained from
the expansion and contraction of metallic rods or their equivalents, substantially as
herein-before described and shewn on Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Whitaker and William Whitaker,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.