AN ARTIFICIAL METHOD OF SWEEPING CHINNIES, AND OF CONSTRUCTING THEM IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO LESSEN THE DANGER AND INCONVENIENCE FROM FIRE AND SMOKE
Year: 1803

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, ELIZABETH
BELL, of Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, Spinster, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty, in and by His certain Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of May, in the forty-third year
of His reign, did, of His especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me; the said
Elizabeth Bell, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Elizabeth Bell, my
oxors, adñiors, or assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such other as I, the
said Elizabeth Bell, my exors, adiiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend my Invention of "AN ARTIFICIAL METHOD OF SWEEPING
CHINNIES, AND OF CONSTRUCTING THEM IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO LESSEN THE
DANGER AND INCONVENIENCE FROM FIRE AND SMOKE," within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me,
the said Elizabeth Bell, my exors, admors, and assigns, or any of them, should

page_text: in my or their discretion seem meet, and that I, the said Elizabeth Bell, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the
whole profit, bencfit, commodity, and advantage, from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the term of years therein mentioned; to have, hold, exercise and enjoy the
said licence, powers, priviledges and advantages therein-before granted or
mentioned to be granted unto me, the said Elizabeth Bell, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, for and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years
from the date of the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and
fully to be complete and ended, according to the Statute in that case made and
provided; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the
said Elizabeth Bell, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the
High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages thereby granted, should utterly ceasc,
determine, and become void.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Elizabeth Bell, in pursuance of the
said proviso in the said Letters Patent, do hereby describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
in manner following (that is to say) :-
My artificial method of sweeping chimneys is carried into effect by means of
certain apparatus fixed, applied, or used at the top and the bottom of the flue
of any chimney, by means of which a chain or rope can be drawn up and
down, and is made to carry certain other apparatus consisting of brushes or
sweepers, or other fit instruments for cleaning the chimney; and I do construct
and make all the said apparatus, instruments, and things so intended to be
used of various forms and various relative positions, as are herein-after more
particularly set forth (that is to say:-
1st. First, I fix on the top of the chimney, or stack of chimnies, a frame
consisting of rods of iron or other fit metal or materials, united at top either
by cross bars or otherwise, or meeting in a point, which said frame is intended
to form a support for one or more pullies or rollers, for the purpose of leading
or conducting a metalic chain or rope from the bottom of the chimney to the
top, and thence downwards to support and work the sweepers. Should any
apprehension be entertained that the point of the above bars should attract
lightning, the usual conductor may be easily attached to it.
2d. Apparatus. One of the sweeping apparatuses consists of a block

page_text: body, or main piece of wood, or other proper material, in the form of a square
prism, or of such other form, and of such length as may be found convenient
with regard to the chimnics intended to be swept, and a pipe or tube is
passed thro' the middle of the said block, body, or main piece, and fixed
therein, usually in the direction of the greatest dimension or length of the
same. One extremity of the chain before described is fixed to the upper
part of the said block, body, or main piece, and serves to raise or lower
the sweeping apparatus or sweeper when introduced into the chimney, and
the other part of the said chain, after passing over the pully or rollers at the.
top of the chimney, is returned and conveyed down to the bottom thro' tho
said tube, which defends and prevents it from touching or injuring the other
parts of the said sweeping apparatus. It must, therefore, be understood that the
position of the said block body, or main piece when in the chimney must usually
be such that the said tube will be in an upright position. To the sides of the
said block, body, or main piece, are affixed certain levers or bars, each moving
severally on its own joint, in planes of direction towards or from the central
tube aforesaid, but nevertheless so loosely as to the said joint that the said
levers shall be also capable of moving to the right and left of the said several
planes of motion. The point in each of the said levers is usually at some point
nearer the upper than the lower extremity thereof, and the said lower extre-
mities are fitted up or armed with brushes or brooms of hair, wire, or other
fit material, or scrapers of wood or metal, for the purpose of sweeping and
cleansing the chimney. When the sweeping apparatus shall be drawn up
and down by means of the chain from each of the said lovers, I pass a cord or
rope over a pulley duly placed in the block, body, or main piece aforesaid,
wherein the same is fastened to a weight lodged within a cell in the said
block, body, or main piece, and the said weights serve by their reaction to
urge the lower extremities of the levers outwards against the sides of the
chimney with a due pressure, and the levers on each side are provided with
strings and a weight as aforesaid; or otherwise I produce the same outward
pressure by means of springs of the kind called Cur's springs, or of any other
of the well-known forms proper to answer that purpose. And further, I cause
other ropes or cords to pass from the lower branches of the said levers thro'
a ring or eye, and over a friction roller or rollers. near the extremity of the
middle tube before described, in such a manner that all the said ropes shall
unite in one and pass downwards, so as to give the workman or operator the
power of drawing the lower branches together when any occaision may render
the same necessary. The tube or pipe must be long enough above the tops
of the levers to pass up the pot at the top of the chimney, and must be armed

page_text: or. fitted with a proper brush to sweep and cleanse the upper part of the
chimney above the space where the sweeper is allowed to ascend, and the
ascent of the said sweeper must be limited by means of a stop, of any fit
figure, to apply against the framing at top, when the sweeper is at its intended
limit.
3rd. Instead of the sweeper herein-before described, I sometimes construct
and use another middle or intermediate apparatus, consisting of a structure of
the form of an egg, or nearly so, made of wood and leather, or other flexible
material, and covered with brushes of hair, or wire, or scrapers, as may be
requisite. I call this my elastic sweeper, and I construct the same of three,
four, or more pieces of wood, connected together longitudinally or otherwise
in the direction intended to coincide with that of the flue of the chimney;
and as it is my intention that the said pieces of wood should possess a power
of elastic expansion or relative motion outwards, and also yield inwards when
compressed by the narrowness of the flue, or by any other force. I connect and
join the same by means of leather or cloth in the manner of bellows, or by
cords, or jointed rods, or otherwise, so as to admit of the said expansion or
relative motion, and I give and produce the requisite elasticity by springs
duly placed in them, and these said springs may be straight, or helical, or of
any other figure, provided only that the same be so made and placed as to
cause the said pieces of wood duly to recede from each other whenever the
absence of external pressure, or the state of the leathering, or flexible connect-
ing materials shall permit the said effect. The elastic sweeper here described
being drawn up and down the flue of any chimney will sweep and cleanse the
same, and will in some cases be preferrable to the sweeper first described.
4th. 4th, the apparatus at the bottom of the chimney consists of a frame
of wood or other material, so made as entirely to cover the front or opening
of the chimney into the room, and to defend the hearth, the grate, and
appartment from the soot. The use and application of this frame affords a
sufficient instruction to a workman to construct the same. Upon the frame
within the chimney I.place two or more rollers for the purpose of working the
chain by means of handles attached to the axes, which pass through the
wooden frame into the appartment, so that with one roller to raise and another
to draw down the sweeper, the whole operation becomes perfectly manageable
and easy, and I usually form an opening in the frame, closed by a flap or
door, through which the working can be occaisionally examined, and the cords,
chains, or strings for regulating the levers may be accessible, and every other
necessary attention paid to the process.
5th.-5th, I likewise carry my said artificial method into effect, in other cases

page_text: by an apparatus consisting of rods of iron fixed at the top of the chimney as
before, but terminating in one common place of junction, from which a spindle
or vertical bar descends into the chimney, and serves as the support for a
frame, either square or nearly answering to the figure of the chimney within
which it is thus supported on a level without touching the walls, and serves to
support, sustain, or bear out a chain near the walls or inner surface of the
chimney, and the said chain carries a brush or proper implements or instru-
ments for sweeping and cleansing the chimney when drawn up and down
therein. Another frame, nearly similar, is to be placed at the bottom of the
chimney, and the brush will sweep the different parts or sides of the chimney
accordingly as the same shall be drawn up and down against the different
sides of the said frames; and in this construction or apparatus for carrying.my
said artificial method into effect .I pass the chain over a pully at the top :as
before, but moveable by a swivel; and I also occasionally, or for the most part,
fix the axes of my lower rollers for the chain.in a swivel piece, by which .the
same can be adapted to the different situations; and instead of .handles as
aforesaid I work the said .rollers by a crank or by any other obvious or well-
known method or means. In some cases, also, I place a wheel of metal.or
wood on the said spindle or virtical bar to regulate the situations of the chain
as to the different sides of the chimney, and I use the said wheel either with
or without the frame within the chimney, and .l regulate the said possitions
or situations by a rotatory motion in the said wheel at the top, or by a corre-
spondent and similar wheel at the bottom at pleasure; and in all these and
similar operations described under the title No.-5 I occasionally groove or fluto
the face of my working rollers, in order that the chain may move or be led
in any one of the same at pleasure, or otherwise I cause the chain to pass
through the notches of the rack for the same purpose.
6th. In some chimnies, instead of the elastic sweeper I simply use a
cylinder faced with brushes of hair, or wire, or scrapers, which is worked as
first shewn and explained.
7th. I sometimes produce a rotatory motion by a wheel filled with a
sufficient quantity of cord, which is put upon the chain and drawn up and
down the chimney; and generally, in case the chimney required to be swept
or cleansed should be actually on fire, I then attach to the chain of any
of the apparatuses herein-before described a vessell of tin or other material not
liable to be broken and filled with water, which vessel is provided with a
valve, or sheet, or slider at its lower part, which may be opened by pulling a
line or small chain, and will thereby permit the water to flow out through a
simple aperture or spreading nozel; and I, by the means aforesaid, convey the

page_text: said vessel to the place where the fire is burning, or to a higher situation, and
then extinguish the same by letting out the water from the vessel.
Lastly, my said method of constructing chimnies consists in forming
certain blocks or masses of brick or pottery, or other sufficiently cheap,
durable, and incombustible material, having a perforation of the dimensions of
the intended flue, and serving to form a part or portion of the sides or walls
thereof, as to the whole circumference or dimensions of the same, taken
horizontally or in a section across the said flue. And I build the chimney by
placing the said blocks, bricks, or masses, upon or beside each other, so that
the cavities therein shall form one flue. And for the more perfect application
and joining of the same I fashion the same blocks or masses with projecting
fittings, which enter and close within each other, as is seen in some snuff-
boxes, or with other fittings or overlappings suitable and proper for the
purpose; and I make good the joinings with mortar, or plaster, or luting, or
loam, or iron cramps, with lead or metallic hooping, or in any other good and
workman-like manner, so as to exclude the possibility of any communication of
fire to the beams or other part of the house; and in order to form the angles,
deflections, and curvatures of chimnies, I fashion or make some of my said
blocks or masses with the faces of application inclined to each other, and not
parallel, as for the most part I make them; and I make the internal cavity
and external surfaces of such dimensions and figure as may best suit the
intended purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elizabeth Bell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and three.
Sealed and delivered by the within-
named Elizabeth Bell (being first
stampt), in the presence of
ELIZTH (L.s.) BELL.
W
WELLS,
Clk to Mr. Foulkes,
Southampton Street.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1808, the aforesaid Elizabeth Bell came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and three.