CERTAIN METHODS, BY MEANS OF MACHINERY NEVER BEFORE APPLIED FOR THAT PURPOSE, OF CHASING AWAY FLIES AND VENOMOUS INSECTS, CALCULATED TO PROMOTE THE FREE CIRCULATION OF AIR' IN ROOMS, AND TO DISPERSE THE OFFENSIVE EFFLUVIA AND STEAM ARISING FROM MEAT, VIANDS &c.
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DOBSON, of the Strand, in the Parish of Saint Clement Danes and County of
Middlesex, Hardwareman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
November, in the forty-third year of His reign, give and grant 'unto me, the
said William Dobson, His especial licence that I, the said William Dobson,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN METHODS, BY MEANS OF MACHINERY
NEVER BEFORE APPLIED FOR THAT PURPOSE, OF CHASING AWAY FLIES AND VENOMOUS
INSECTS, CALCULATED TO PROMOTE THE FREE CIRCULATION OF AIR' IN ROOMS, AND TO
DISPERSE THE OFFENSIVE EFFLUVIA AND STEAM ARISING FROM MEAT, VIANDS, &c.;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me,' the said
William Dobson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner' the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery' within three calendar months after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto hád)
may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Dobson, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention (which I denominate the Zephyr), as follows; that is to say:―
In describing the form of this machine, I shall endeavour to avoid, as much
as possible, the introduction of technical terms, using only such as are most
universally understood. The Zephyr consists of the following parts, viz, the
pillar marked a, a, a, at the top of which is a globe, vase, urn, or flat circular
box, marked b, for containing the movements, which are wound up by a key
at the hole. The arms on which the sails are drawn d, d, d, the whole of
which is supported by a moveable pedestal e. The pillar consists of cylin-
drical tubes, of different diameters, the smaller of which are inserted and slide
into the larger, like those of a telescope, by which means the sails may be so
altered as to act either above the heads or before the faces of the company, as
may be most agreeable, so that the pillar is fixt or draws out, or screws out,
or winds up, of one piece or many, plain or ornamented. The urn or box at
the top of the pillar contains the power. which gives motion to the machine.
It consists of the strongest and simplest clock, jack, and watch-work that can
be used. There are various kinds of these machines, which variety necessarily
demands that the powers of them should differ according to the effect
*required of them, and agreeably to the nature of their situations. The arms
on which the sails are drawn consist of tubes, similar to those which form the
-pillar, fixt to a certain length or not. They are made to move horizontally; or
any other way. The arm is jointed at the end, that the sails may be lifted up
out of the way, or to increase the velocity of the machine. The larger
machines have a screw on each of the arms to place them at any elevation,
and spring receivers to keep them up securely when not wanted down. The
sails are made of almost every material and almost every shape. Among
those which answer best are silks, lawns, Persians, crapes, gauzes, and nettings,
to which might be added a variety of ornamental fringes, which would not only
add to the beauty of their appearance, but in many instances to their useful-
ness. Nettings are perhaps the most appropriate to chase away winged insects
in general.
Having thus described the machine, it may be requisite to point out briefly
the mode of it's operation. The machine being wound up, and placed in it's
intended situation, it's sails move in a horizontal direction (unless otherwise
required), and propel the air in a circular current, commensurate (in the first
instance) to its own size. As the sails revolve, the air first circulated stimulates
and even forces the circumjacent air, to partake of it's motion, which, likewise
operating in a similar manner, in a few seconds circulates all the air in the