IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING COAL OR OTHER MINES OR OTHER UNDERGROUND EXCAVATIONS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nixon, of Cardiff, County of Glamorganshire,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING COAL
OR OTHER MINES OR OTHER UNDERGROUND EXCAVATIONS."
Sealed the 2nd May 1862, and dated the 15th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nixon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
November 1861.
I, JOHN NIXON, of Cardiff, County of Glamorganshire, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTI-
LATING COAL OR OTHER MINES OR OTHER UNDERGROUND EXCAVATIONS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for ventilating
coal or other mines or other underground excavations, and consists in the
arrangement of rectilinear ventilating pistons in such a way that they can work
in corresponding formed air chambers in a horizontal manner. These pistons are
supported on rollers or wheels which travel on a railway, tramroad, or other
metallic surface. The pistons are attached to the motive power by piston and
connecting rods in the usual mode. The air chambers can be constructed of
wood, iron, or masonry, or of each or all of them combined or conjointly. The
pistons can be made air-tight by leather or other packing, or by being suffi-
ciently accurately fitted to the size of the air chambers as to render such

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Nixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
May 1862.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NIXON, of Cardiff, County of Glamorganshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Nixon, Her special licence that I, the said John Nixon,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Nixon, 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 VENTILATING COAL OR OTHER MINES OR OTHER UNDERGROUND
EXCAVATIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Nixon, 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 John Nixon, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for ventilating
coal or other mines, or other underground excavations, and consists in the
arrangement of rectilinear ventilating pistons in such a way that they can

page_text: work in correspondingly formed air chambers in a horizontal manner. These
pistons are supported on rollers or wheels, which travel on a railway, tram-
road, or other metallic surface. The pistons are attached to the motive
power
by piston and connecting rods in the usual mode. The air chambers can be
constructed of wood, iron, or masonry, or of each or all of them combined or
conjointly. The pistons can be made air-tight by leather or other packing, or
by being sufficiently accurately fitted to the size of the air chambers as to
render such packing unnecessary. These air chambers are fitted with intake
and outstroke valves.
My Invention can be used either for inducing a current of air by compres-
sion or exhaustion. The piston can be made of wrought iron, cast iron, and
wood combined, or of the two former only.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily applied, I have annexed to this my Specification Drawings of a con-
venient arrangement for carrying the same into effect.
The Drawings shew an elevation, a plan, and an end view of the arrange-
ment, all the Figures being partly in section. The air chambers or
"cylinders," as shewn, are rectangular, and are enclosed by timber and
planking in the spaces between three walls or piers of masonry, which
also support the roof which protects the cylinders from the weather. The
piston or pistons are constructed of a wrought-iron framework with a cast-
iron centre piece, and have a rim or edge of wood all round their peripheries;
they are thus made to a size to fit loosely the cylinders, and slips of leather
attached to the sides of the pistons render them sufficiently tight. At the
bottom of the pistons wrought or cast iron frames are fixed, which carry small
wheels, sheaves, or rollers which run on rails and support the piston, so that
they move with great freedom. The valves of the cylinders act similar to those
commonly employed in blowing engines. The piston rods of the cylinders
above mentioned are connected with the crank shaft of the engine in the
manner shewn. The passages which connect the mine or excavation to be
ventilated with the cylinders are clearly shewn in the Drawing, the arrange-
ment being such that air may be drawn from two pits at the same time, or
from one only, as may be desired. The air when forced out of the cylinders
escapes into the atmosphere.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details described; but what I claim is, the arranging apparatus for
ventilating coal or other mines, or other underground excavations with a piston
or pistons, and air chamber or air chambers, or "cylinder" or "cylinders" of

page_text: a rectilinear form placed in a horizontal position, and with the pistons sup-
ported on rollers or wheels running on a suitable metallic surface, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nixon, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One a
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.