AN IMPROVED CARRIAGE VENTILATOR
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CARRIAGE VENTILATOR."-A
communication from abroad by Asa Hopgood, of Worcester, in the
State of Massachusetts Linited States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th June 1860.
J, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CARRIAGE VENTILATOR," to
be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a simple and effective ventilator
for introducing fresh air into railroad and other carriages, and for separating
the dust from the air before its admission. The roof of the carriage is fitted
with a fixed or moveable box, over which is placed a hood or cover with a
flaring mouth to catch the wind. This hood is temporarily attached to its
box by hooks, or otherwise, to allow of its being turned end to end (when the
box is a fixture) to adjust it to the direction of progress of the carriage.
[Price Sd.]

page_text: Mounted in the ventilator box, and projecting into the air passage formed by
the hood, and into a water box below, is a wheel with radial spokes or vanes,
which, as they rotate, by reason of the current of air to which they are exposed,
dip into the water in the box or trough, and as they risc therefrom present a
wet surface to the incoming current of air. The dust in the air will be thus
arrested and deposited in the water trough.
enter the flaring mouth, pass by the wheel round the water box, and out
through a hole in the bottom of the outer case to the carriage to be ventilated.
The course of the air will be to
A modification of this arrangement is to place vanes outside the ventilator
on the opposite ends of the wheel axle, and to envelope one-half of the vanes
in a case, so as to allow the wind to act upon the exposed half, and thereby
rotate the wheel within the ventilator box. This is useful to ensure the
rotation of the wheel when a side wind strikes the ventilator. Instead of a
removeable hood or cover, the hood may have two open ends or flaring mouths,
which are covered by a hinged shutter or valve operated by pendent rods,
by which means the draft may be admitted at either end of the hood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Paient, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patenis, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord
1860, in the twenty-third year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
Her special license that 1, said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, or such, others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 of "AN IMPROVED CARRIAGE
VENTILATOR," a communication to him from abroad by Asa Hapgood, of
Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America, upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Leiters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newion, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the ventilator; Fig. 2 a longitudinal vertical
section through the same enlarged; Fig. 3 a view of a railroad car with the
ventilator attached; Fig. 4 a longitudinal section showing a modification of
the Invention.
The object of the present Invention is to produce a simple and effecient
"ventilator" for introducing fresh air into railroad cars, and for separating the
dust from the air before the air is admitted to the car. I am aware that various
devices have been employed for this purpose, amongst others. a current of air
has been driven by a fan (operated by the running gear of the car), through
or over a wheel which revolved in water, contained in a suitable box, the dust
being thus deposited on the wheel as the air passed through or over it. The
air has also been driven through a screen, which was kept wet by being
revolved in or passed through water. These devices have been objectionable
from their complication, necessitated by their connection with the running
gear, and in order to make this connection more simple, they have been placed
at the bottom of the car, where they, received a larger proportion of dust, than
they would if placed at the top of the car. These objections have been over-
come by the present Invention, which consists in the employment of a light
wheel composed of a shaft, in which is inserted a large number of rods or
spokes placed close. together, the wheel being so arranged in a suitable casing
or box, that it will be revolved by the current of air passing through the box,
and impinging on the spokes of the wheel, which are exposed to the current,
whilst the spokes as the wheel revolves are kept wet by being dipped into
water to purify the air.
That others skilled in the art, may understand and use this Invention, I
will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried out the same."
In the said Drawings, A is a wooden box, which is placed on top of

page_text: the car (as shown in Fig. 3), and communicates with the interior of the car
by a circular opening on top of this box is placed a hood B, having an
open funnel-shaped mouth by which is fixed to point in the direction in which
the cars are going, so that the current of air caused by the motion of the cars
will enter this mouth, and passing around and through the box as indicated
by the arrows in Fig. 2, will enter the car through the opening a. The
hood B is attached to the box A by hook c, and is made removable, that its
position on the box may be reversed, that is, with its mouth b pointing in the
opposite direction when the car is to be run with its other end foremost. I
may here mention that. I prefer to make the box A stationary, and the hood B
reversible, instead of making the box to revolve on the pipe or connection at a.
as the attendant when he changes the hood will always notice if the water
box (which will be presently described), is supplied with water. A water
box C of sheet tin, or other suitable material, occupies the middle of the
box A, in which it is supported by cleats d attached to each side of the
box A. A lip e projects a short distance inward at each end of the box C
to prevent the water from being splashed over its edges.
A wheel D has its bearing on each side of the box A, and revolves in the
box C, which is partially filled with water, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the
spokes of the wheel as it revolves are constantly wetted, this wheel consists of
a. stout wooden hub of as great a length as the width of the box will allow,
which is filled with spokes g. placed close together in rows, the spokes in one.
row being opposite the spaces of the adjoining one, and the diameter of the
wheel being as great as can be conveniently admitted by the depth of the box C,
and the height of the hood B, so that the current of air which enters the
mouth must pass through and in contact with the wet spokes before it
reaches the outlet a, by which means its force is employed to revolve the
wheel, at the same time that the air is divested of the dust which it usually
contains before it is passed into the car. The position of the box C in the
box A, forms air passages h, ' at each end, and i at the bottom, but as one of
the passages h or h¹ is always covered by the bottom of the mouthpiece b, the
air will be forced through the box in the direction indicated by the arrows
Fig. 2, through the passage h, when the hood is in the position shown, and
when the hood is reversed it will pass through the space ' to the outlet a.
As the currents of air which enter the mouth-piece b, and operate the
wheel D are varied by the normal direction of the wind and in the turns in
the road they will sometimes strike laterally on the "ventilator" and will not
To
enter the mouth-piece with sufficient force to operate the wheel D.

page_text: provide for this and io render the action of the ventilator" more certain, I
have attached to each side of it a fan E of sheet metal, which is connected
with the wheel D in the following manner:-From each end of the hub f
projects a metal rod or spindle r, which rests in suitable boxes or bearings
placed on the edge of the box A. This spindle extends beyond the side of the
box A and carries the fan E. Fig. 1. (which is a disc 1 of sheet metal with
blades m.) which revolves freely with the wheel D. it has its lower half pro-
tected by a metal box attached to the side of the box A. whilst its upper
half is exposed to the action of the currents of air. With the above described
self-acting ventilator" I am enabled to admit a sufficient supply of fresh
air to the car whilst the dust is excluded, the operation of the ventilator being
independent of the running gear of the car, is less complicated and less liable
to derangement than others so connected, and as each ventilator" is intended
to replace the comparatively useless metal pipe ventilator, which now
projects from the top of most of the cars in use, the car itself will require no
material alteration in adapting the improved ventilator to it. Instead of the
wheel D being composed of series of spokes G. as above described, it may he
made of a series of light frames covered with wire cloth or other suitable
material, but the first plan is that which I prefer. The resistance which the
water in the box C offers to the spokes g prevents the wheel D from being
revolved too rapidly: I would recommend, in connection with the use of
ventilators for the admission of fresh air into the car. such an arrangement of
the windows or other openings at the sides and ends of the car that there may
always be sufficient exit space for the foul air, such openings being placed out
of the control of the passengers.
In Fig. 4, which is a longitudinal section, is shown a modification of this
Invention, in which the hood B is made with a flaring month-piece b. at each
end, the opening being commanded by a valve or shutter K, pivoted at r to
the end of the box A and operated by a rod s, pivoted at 5 to a short arm t,
projecting from the inner side of the shutter. The rods s pass through the top
of the car.
When either shutter K is drawn down, as shown at the left-hand
side of the Figure, it rests on the edge of the box C and closes the air passage
on that side of the box in the same manner as the bottom side of the mouth-
piece did in Fig. 2, the opposite shuiter being up, as in Fig. 4, the current
of air will take the course indicated by the arrows: but when the cars are to
be run in the opposite direction, or it is desired to exhaust the air from the
car at any of the several ventilators, it is only necessary to pull down one rod s
and push up the other.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of this Invention and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above recited Letters Patent I claim the above described ventilator,
consisting of the box A, hood B, wheel D, and water box C arranged and
operating in the manner described for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT.
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)