O BACK SMOKE IN CHIMNEYS
Year: 1854

page_text: O BACK SMOKE IN CHIMNEYS."
Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 2nd December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Strong at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on-the 2nd December
1854
I HENRY STRONG, of, Ramsgate, in the County of Kent, Timber Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN 'THE
PREVENTION OF BACK SMOKE IN CHIMNEYS to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain apparatus applied to chimney tops, whereby
the aperture or apertures of such chimneys may be opened or closed at
pleasure from the interior of the house or other building containing such
chimney.
The improvements consist in the application of an adjustable valve or cover
of any convenient form to the tops of chimneys, or to any convenient portion
of tlie interior of the chimney between all or any fire grates in the building
and the top of the chimney.. This valve is connected to a wire, chain, or
other suitable contrivance passed down the chimney internally, whereby the
same may be opened, closed, or partially closed, as occasion may require, and

page_text: thus made subservient to persons in-doors. By this arrangement, either air
may be admitted to the apartments, or smoke excluded, by simply adjusting
the valve. In cases where the chimney is internally defective, it is proposed
to adopt tubes similar to those used for drainage, which will be found
particularly applicable to new chimneys.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Strong in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th May 1855..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
STRONG, of Ramsgate, in the County of Kent, Timber Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Strong, Her special license that I, the said Henry Strong, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Strong, my
executors, administrators, or 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 THE PREVENTION OF BACK SMOKE
IN CHIMNEYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Strong, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Henry Strong, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain apparatus applied to chimney tops,
whereby the aperture_or_apertures-of-such-chimneys may be opened or closed
at pleasure from the interior of the house or other building containing such
chimney.

page_text: The improvements consist in the application of an adjustable valve or
cover of any convenient form to the tops of chimneys. This valve is
connected to a wire, chain, or other suitable contrivance passed down the
chimney internally, whereby the same may be opened, closed, or partially
closed, as occasion may require,' and thus made subservient to persons in-
doors. By this arrangement, either air may be admitted to the apartments,
or smoke excluded, by simply adjusting the valve accordingly. In cases where
the chimney is internally defective, it is proposed to adopt tubes similar to
those used for drainage, which will be found particularly applicable 'to new
chimneys.
And in order that my said Invention may be more properly understood, I
shall now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 represents the valve. attached to a plate, and adapted to an
ordinary brick chimney; and Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the same;
Figure 3.is, a sectional elevation of the upper portion of a chimney with my
valves attached to a metal or other pot placed thereon, partly open; and
Figure: 4 is a plan of the same, corresponding; Figure 5; represents an
ordinary. chimney, pot, with a metal or other cap placed thereon, having
another form of my valve attached, which is represented as half open; and
Figure 6 is a plan of the same. A is the adjustable valve or cover, which
may be made of any convenient form, according to the form and construc-
tion of the chimney top to which it may be applied. The valves are com-
posed of one or two pieces, placed across the mouth of the chimney B, and
swinging easily on pivots working in standards affixed to the chimney pot,
in such a manner that the single valve when opened-will swing" "with" a
portion in and a portion out of the pot, as shewn at Figures 5 and 6,
while each half of the double valves will swing upwards and outwards, by,
means of a lever arm C, (as shewn in the rest of the Figures,) attached to
it, whereby it may be opened or closed at pleasure. When a single valve
is used, it will require to be weighted on one side at C¹, to cause it to shut
down when required. The opening or closing of the valve or valves is
effected by the chain or wire D, which may be made double at the upper
portion, to be attached to the extremities of each of the arms C. When double
valves are used, a flat metal plate E may be used to carry the standards E',
in which the pivots of the valves work, when applied directly on to the brick-
work of a chimney, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2; but in cases where a cap or
Cowl is to be fitted with these valves, the pivot of the valves may be passed
through similar standards affixed to the sides of the cap or cowl, as shewn in

page_text: Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. The chain or 'wire D is passed down the interior of the
chimney to a suitable fastening near the fire-place, whereby the valves' máy
be made subservient to persons in-doors. By this arrangement, the valves
may be closed to prevent the "back smoke" from other chimneys from passing
"into and down the chimney on which the valve is placed, or the valve may be
opened or partially opened to allow of proper ventilation and the free passage
of smoke from the fire.
"
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to," as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
The application and use of a valve or valves, door or doors, 'placed on the
top of a chimney, and made subservient to persons in-doors by means of a
wire or chain attached to such valves or doors, and passing down the interior
of the chimney to a convenient fastening near the fire-pláce, for the prevention
of back or down smoke.
In witness whereof, I, 'the said Henry Strong, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
HENRY STRONG. (L.S.).