IMPROVED MEANS FOR VENTILATING COAL AND OTHER MINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Michell Paule, of Alston, Cumberland,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS FOR VENTILATING COAL
AND OTHER MINES."
Sealed the 24th November 1857, and dated the 11th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Michell Paule
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th June 1857.
I, JOSEPH MICHELL PAULE, of Alston, Cumberland, Gentleman, do hereby
3 declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR VENTILATING
COAL AND OTHER MINES," to be as follows:-
the upcast shaft ;
The air from the
This Invention has for its object improving the ventilation of coal and other
mines. For this purpose at the lower part of an upcast shaft, a closed furnace
is constructed, and above the furnace is constructed an enclosed. chamber,
from the upper part of which a suitable chimney rises up
through the enclosed chamber are fixed numerous pipes:
mine is conducted to the enclosed space, into which the ends of all the pipes
come; hence; as the pipes become heated by the fire in the furnace, the air in
the pipes becomes heated, and flows quickly through the pipes, and thence up
the upcast shaft; further quantities of air passing from the mine to the pipes as
the heated air passes off. The fire in the furnace is supplied with air by
means of separate air, conduits or passages from those which conduct the air of
the mine to the system of heated pipes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Michell Paule in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MICHELL PAULE, of Alston, Cumberland, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph. Michell Paule, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Michell Paule, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Michell Paule, 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 "IMPROVED MEANS FOR VENTILATING COAL AND OTHER MINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Michell Paule,
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 Joseph Michell Paule, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improved means for ventilating coal and
other mines. For this purpose at the lower part of an upcast shaft, a closed
furnace is constructed, and above the furnace is constructed an enclosed
chamber, from the upper part of which a suitable chimney rises up the upcast
shaft; through the enclosed chamber are fixed numerous pipes. The air from
the mine is conducted to the enclosed space, into which the ends of all the
pipes come; hence, as the pipes become heated by the fire in the furnace, the
air in the pipes becomes heated and flows quickly through the pipes, and
thence up the upcast shaft, further quantities of air passing from the mine to
the pipes as the heated air passes off. The fire in the furnace is supplied with

page_text: Figure 1 represents the apparatus as applied vertically. A, body of the
furnace; B, tube chamber, made of any required size or shape; C, chimney,
made of any required size or shape; D, air course, brought from any desired
point; E, E, air course for conducting air necessary for the combustion of
the fuel; F, receiver for the ashes, &c. ; 6, 6, tubes.
Figure 2 represents a plan of the apparatus applied horizontally. G, the
upcast shaft; H, flues, made of any required dimensions; I, fire grate; K, air
courses, brought from any desired point; L, furnace drift from any desired
point; 6, 6, tubes.
Figure 3, elevation. M, tubular wall or breast work.
I will now shew the action of the apparatus :-When the fire is lighted on
the grate, the gases, &c. generated in the combustion, pass amongst the tubes,
and impart to them a great part of the heat evolved. The air in the tubes
being thus rarified rushes out at the end nearest the heated column com-
municating with the surface, causing a vacuum, which is immediately refilled
with impure air collected in the workings, and conducted to the apparatus by
the courses D, D (Figure 1), or K (Figure 2).
From the fact that air expands considerably on the application of heat,
I should advise that the diameters of the tubes be increased towards the ends
nearest the ascending colum, and to be of an average of not more than nine
or less than six inches in diameter, though I do not confine myself to these
dimensions. The length of the tubes depends on width of the furnace, but it
is desirable that not less than six feet be exposed to the action of the fire; a
wall or breastwork M is constructed of small tubes, dividing and, subdividing
the apertures by which the air necessary for the combustion of the fuel is
introduced into the furnace in the same state of division as that of the safety
lamp. The tubes of which the wall is constructed I should advise never to be
more than two inches in diameter, one end of each to be-covered with a bag of
wire gauze, so calculated that the interstices in the gauze be equal to the
aperture of the tube. The advantages to be gained by this mode of rarifying
will be understood from the facts that all the air, whether pure or otherwise,
will be brought into actual contact with the rarifying agent, thereby causing

page_text: its perfect dessemination through the mass. The means whereby the heating
surface may be made or increased to any extent. The safety with which even
explosive gases can be brought under the influence of the fire without being
liable to explosion. Means by which gases incapable of supporting combustion
may be heated and removed with a facility equal to those capable, and the
direct action of the heat generated, consequently its use to the best advantage.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Michell Paule, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JOSEPH DICKINSON,
Sol, Alston.
JOSEPH MICHELL PAULE. (L.S.).