IMPROVEMENTS IN FACE SHIELDS FOR RESPIRING IN NOXIOUS ATMOSPHERES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Sinclair, of the City of Manchester,
Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FACE SHIELDS FOR
RESPIRING IN NOXIOUS ATMOSPHERES."
Sealed the 13th August 1875, and dated the 18th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Sinclair at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1875.
I, JAMES SINCLAIR, of the City of Manchester, Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FACE
" to be as follows:
SHIELDS FOR RESPIRING IN NOXIOUS ATMOSPHERES,
This Invention relates to improvements in the face shields or coverings
which are constructed to enable the wearer to enter and remain in the
presence of noxious gases, smoke, or other unwholesome vapours in
which it would be otherwise impossible to exist, and the improvements
especially refer to that class of apparatus to which a filtering apparatus
is applied filled with layers of cotton, wool, charcoal, quicklime, and

page_text: other absorbents of carbonic acid, portions of the cotton, wool, or other
fibrous material being saturated with glycerine.
In carrying out my Invention I dispense with the metallic face piece,
and the tubular water pads hitherto used in connection with the same,
and I connect the filter and nose and mouth-piece to a face piece formed
of vulcanised sheet india-rubber, which is so shaped and is sufficiently
elastic to adapt itself in a perfectly air-tight manner to the face of the
wearer. In the upper part of this elastic face piece I mount the glass
eye pieces or goggles, and secure such face piece upon the face of
the wearer by straps or elastic bands passing round the back of the
head.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Sinclair in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JAMES
SINCLAIR, of the City of Manchester, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Sinclair, Her special
licence that I, the said James Sinclair, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Sinclair, 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 FACE SHIELDS FOR RESPIRING IN NOXIOUS ATMOSPHERES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said James Sinclair, 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

page_text: Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Sinclair, 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 :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the face shields or coverings
which are constructed to enable the wearer to enter and remain in the
presence of noxious gases, smoke, or other unwholesome vapours in
which it would be otherwise impossible to exist, and the improvements
especially refer to that class of apparatus to which a filtering apparatus
is applied filled with layers of cotton, wool, charcoal, quicklime, and
other absorbents of carbonic acid, portions of the cotton, wool, or other
fibrous material being saturated with glycerine.
In carrying out my Invention I dispense with the metallic face piece
and the tubular water pads hitherto used in connection with the same,
and I connect the filter and nose and mouth-piece to a face piece formed
of vulcanised sheet india-rubber, which is so shaped and is sufficiently
elastic to adapt itself in a perfectly air-tight manner to the face of the
wearer. In the upper part of this elastic face piece I mount the glass
eye pieces or goggles, and secure such face piece upon the face of the
wearer by straps or elastic bands passing round the back of the head.
And in order that this my said Invention may be the more readily
understood and carried into practical effect, I have hereunto annexed a
Drawing of my Invention, similar letters marked on the several views
being used to indicate similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a front view; Fig. 2, a side view, and Fig. 3, a plan of a
face shield arranged in accordance with my Invention.
In all the views A. is the filtering apparatus, which is of similar con-
struction, and contains the same carbonic acid absorbent materials as in
the filtering apparatus described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to Samuel Barton, on the Tenth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two, and numbered 2393. This filtering
apparatus is however in this case connected to a face piece B consisting
of vulcanized sheet india-rubber, which is so shaped as to leave a cavity
C for the nose of the wearer, which cavity also communicates with a

page_text: india-rubber face piece is sufficiently elastic to adapt itself in a per-
fectly air-tight manner to the face of the wearer. In the upper part of
this elastic face piece I mount the glass cye pieces or goggles D, and
secure such face piece upon the face of the wearer by the straps E
(shewn broken off in Fig. 1), and buckles F, or by elastic bands passing
round the back of the head.
It will be readily apparent that for situations where the eyes would
not be affected this apparatus may be used without the eye pieces or
goggles.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I claim, attaching the filtering apparatus herein-before
described to a face piece of vulcanised sheet india-rubber, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Sinclair, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.