AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, HOUSES, BUILDINGS, STEAM
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Flexen, of 46, Skinner Street, Snow Hill,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR VENTILATING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, HOUSES, BUILDINGS, STEAM
Sealed the 19th February 1864, and dated the 15th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Flexen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
October 1863.
I, STEPHEN FLEXEN, of 46, Skinner Street, Snow Hill, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, HOUSES, BUILDINGS,
STEAM AND SAILING VESSELS OF ALL KINDS, MOVEABLE OR OTHERWISE," to be as
follows:-
It is a combination of lines, rollers, pulleys, and folding louvre ventilators.
The folding louvre ventilator is placed at the top of the sash frame, and is
drawn up or folded, or let down or unfolded by the moving of the sash.
My new combination consists of a flexible cord, gut, tape, strap, or chain,
one end of which is fixed to each side of the bottom of the ventilator, and the
other end passing over pulleys or wheels, is fixed towards the centre of a roller
placed immediately above the ventilator and sash, so that when the roller is
turned round for the purpose of raising or lowering the ventilator the cords
attached to the sides of the bottom of the ventilator wind round the role

page_text: worm-like or spirally so as not to entangle, which I claim to be new in com-
bination with the other parts. To turn the roller I use a similar cord, gut,
tape, strap, or chain, which is coiled round either or both ends of the roller,
similar to a common shop blind; or the louvre ventilator can be fixed at the
top of the sash frame, and made to open or shut with the sash or not moveable.
It can also be applied for stopping or regulating draughts of air, dust, vapours,
or gases of any kind into or out of any house, vessel, or carriage, moveable or
otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stephen Flexen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
FLEXEN, of 46, Skinner Street, Snow Hill, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Stephen Flexen, Her special licence that I, the said
Stephen Flexen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Stephen Flexen, 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 "AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, HOUSES,
BUILDINGS, STEAM AND SAILING VESSELS OF ALL KINDS, MOVEABLE OR OTHERWISE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Flexen, 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 Stephen Flexen, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus in which a roller and pulleys or wheels
and lines, cords, gut, tapes, straps, or chains are combined as follows with a
folding louvre ventilator placed at the upper part of a sash frame, window
frame, or other similar frame, that is to say, I fix a flexible line, cord, gut,
tape, strap, or chain (by one end) to each side of the bottom of the ventilator,
and I
pass the other end of each such line, cord, gut, tape, strap, or
chain over a pulley or wheel, or pulleys or wheels, and I fix it to a roller
towards the centre of the roller, such roller being placed immediately above
the ventilator, so that when the roller is turned round for the purpose of
raising the ventilator the said lines, cords, gut, tapes, straps, or chains attached.
to the bottom of the ventilator shall wind round the roller worm-like or
spirally without entangling. I work or turn the roller by a cord, gut, tape,
strap, line, or chain coiled round one end of the roller.
My Invention may be employed for excluding dust, and for stopping or
regulating the passage of drafts of air, vapours, or gases into and out of
houses, vessels, or carriages.
The accompanying Drawings exemplify in what manner my Invention may
be carried into effect.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of the inner side of a railway
carriage door, the window frame of which is fitted with my improved ventilating
apparatus. W is an ordinary sash or window sliding in a grooved frame F.
a, a, is a folding louvre ventilator composed of wire gauze or perforated
metal plates set in a folding metal frame. This ventilator is suspended by
cords C, C, from a roller B lying in bearings in the frame F, and extending
across a recess R at the upper part of such frame F. The cords C, C, are
attached at their lower ends to the bottom frame bar of the ventilator, and
they are carried over guide pulleys E, supported in the frame F to the roller B,
to which their upper ends are fastened towards the centre of the roller. D is
a cord fastened to and dependant from the roller B at one end thereof, round
which it is coiled or wound several turns; it is carried over a pulley placed at
the upper end of the frame F, a little below the roller. The cord D at its
lower end terminates in or is furnished with a loop or ring t. When the
cord D is pulled in a downward direction it turns the roller B so that the
cords C wind spirally round it and draw the ventilator a, a, upward into the
recess R, the ventilator folding as it rises. To hold it in such raised and
folded position the loop or ring t at the lower end of the cord D is slipped

page_text: over and held by a pin or stud d fixed to the window frame. When the
ventilator is to be drawn down the cord D is released from the pin d, thereby
releasing the ventilator a, a, which will descend by its own gravity, the
cord D rising and the roller B turning in a reverse direction to that in which
it turned previously, whereupon the upper ends of the cords C will unwind on
the roller, and the ventilator will unfold as it descends; when it has descended
it should rest on the upper edge of the sash. The bottom frame bar of the
ventilator to which the cords C are attached projects a little and travels in the
upper part of the groove in the frame F, and for further guiding the ventilator
in its travel pins fixed on the sides of the ventilator a, a, that is to say, at
alternate joints of the ventilator frame, slide in grooves formed in brackets
fixed to the frame F.
The Invention may be applied in a similar manner to window frames of
common road carriages, apartments in houses or other buildings, and cabins of
vessels. It may be applied in like manner to frames or openings closed by
sliding shutters or doors, or to frames or openings where no sashes, windows,
or shutters are used, but which are exclusively opened and closed by louvre
ventilators.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the ventilating
apparatus in which a folding louvre ventilator is combined with a roller and
with cords, gut, tapes, straps, lines, or chains and pulleys or wheels substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Flexen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
84, Fleet Street,
London.
STEPHEN FLEXEN. (L.S.)