CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR INSTRU- THE FUMIGATION OF PLANTS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID-
STEPHENS BROWN, of the Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said David Stephens Brown, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
David-Stephens Brown, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said David Stephens Brown, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR INSTRU-
THE FUMIGATION OF PLANTS;" in which said Letters. Patent is.
contained a proviso that I, the said David Stephens Brown, should cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the, same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Stephens Brown, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is an external elevation, Figure 2 a
sectional elevation, and Figure 3 a cross section on the line a, b, of a portable
instrument suitable for fumigating plants. A is a magazine similar to the
bowl of a smoking pipe, made double cased, with air holes at top, and has a
lid or cover B, to open and shut. In this magazine is placed the tray or
diaphragm C, made of perforated metal or woven wire to hold the tobacco
or other substance intended to be used for fumigation. The magazine A is
placed on the cylindrical chamber D, with which chamber it has a communi-
cation by means of the pipe or tube E. The chamber D is traversed by the
shaft or spindle F, which has its bearings in the sides of the chamber D, and
which is made to revolve by having affixed to one end of it the pinion G,
which pinion receives motion from the wheel H revolving on a separate axle,
and to, which wheel a handle I is attached, in order that it may be turned by
hand. On the spindle F is placed a fan or wind wheel G', having its vanes
or leaves straight or of any suitable curve, or set at any angle, which, when
rotating, will cause a draught, or draw the smoke of the tobacco, when ignited,
in at one part of the chamber D and drive it out at another.
That part
of the chamber D where the smoke can be best drawn in is near to and on
a level with the centre of the fan G'; and therefore the pipe E, leading from
the bottom of the magazine A, is made to terminate at that part, while on
the contrary the part of the chamber D, where the smoke can be best driven
out, is near and on a level with the circumference of the leaves of the fan G'.
Accordingly the pipe or nozzle L, through which the smoke issues, is placed
in the circumference of the chamber D. M is a curved pipe which fits into
the pipe L and may be turned upwards, downwards, or sideways, according
to the direction that it is desirable the smoke should issue. The curved pipe
may be removed when required. The fan is also intended to draw in cold
air to mix with the smoke, which it will do through the valve N.
O is a
handle by which to hold the machine whilst operating, and P, P, are feet
for the instrument to rest upon when not in immediate use. R is a recess
in the bottom of the chamber D, for the reception of the oil and dust
from the tobacco, and which is fitted with a moveable cap, which may be

page_text: removed in order that it may be cleaned out when required. The smoke
being thus first drawn into the chamber D, and afterwards driven out
therefrom, it is cooled by coming in contact with the cold sides of the machine
and mixed with the air, and thereby it is thus rendered harmless to the
plant.
Figure 4 is another instrument, and is self-acting, made in the shape of
a stove, consisting of two vertical cylinders S, S, the outer one has a perforated
bottom or one made of woven wire, on which is to be placed the tobacco
or other substance intended to be used for fumigation. The inner cylinder is
moveable and its top terminates in the chimney T, the use of which chimney
is to cause a draught, and both the inner cylinder and chimney may be
removed when it is necessary to put tobacco into the apparatus. To the
bottom of the outer cylinder is affixed three or more legs U, U, U, for the
instrument to stand upon, and V is an ash pan to receive the oil and dust from
the tobacco. This instrument is intended chiefly for fumigating plants in
greenhouses.
Figure 5 is an instrument for fumigating when a liquid substance is
employed; it consists of a cistern W, under which is suspended, by means
of gimbals or otherwise, a candle or lamp X, the use of which is to heat the
liquid contained in the vessel, thereby generating a vapour which will
issue out of the vessel by its elastic force through the curved pipe Y, in any
direction in which it may be turned. Z is an orifice at top of the vessel,
by means of which the fluid is poured into it and is afterwards closed by a
stopper or cork.
Figure 6 is an instrument made in the shape of a retort, from which I
obtain gas from tobacco for fumigating purposes in precisely the same manner
as it is obtained from coal, a process too well known to need any further
description. In lieu of a fan a wheel may be substituted, having a hollow axle
with tubes radiating from it like the spokes of a coach wheel, which tubes are
open at one of their ends and the others terminate in the said hollow axle.
When this wheel is made to revolve, the air will be discharged from it into
the chamber D by centrifugal action, and if the said hollow axle is made to
communicate with the magazine A, a constant draught will be maintained.
The smoke may be thus raised to a high pressure in the chamber D, and
will consequently issue out of it at any part that may be required. The
spaces between the radiating tubes may be filled up with any solid substance,
in order to diminish the resistance to the motion of the wheel.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not restrict myself to

page_text: the exact positions assigned to the parts of the said apparatus or instruments in
the Drawings hereunto annexed, nor to the precise forms and dimensions
there given to them, but that the improvements which I claim as constituting
the said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the combination in apparatus or instruments for fumigating
'purposes, of a magazine containing the fumigating substance with a cylinder
and exhausting fan or wheel, whereby the smoke is drawn in at one part of the
cylinder and driven out at another, and whereby also the atmospheric air
necessary for the combustion of the fumigating substance is drawn into it by
the said fan or wheel, both as before described..
Second, I claim the employment in such apparatus or instruments as afore-
said of the curved pipe, for giving the required direction to the smoke as before
described.
Third, I claim the fumigating stove before described in the general
arrangement and combination of parts of which the same consists. And,
Fourth, I claim the apparatus for fumigating, by means of the vapor of
liquid substances in the general arrangement and combination of parts of which
the same consists.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Stephens Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty