An Apparatus for Moistening and Cooling the Air in Buildings, Ships, and the like.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1888
Specification Accepted, 16th Nov., 1888
بادتار
An Apparatus for Moistening and Cooling the Air in Buildings,
Ships, and the like.
I, EMILE MERTZ, of Bâle, in the Republic of Switzerland, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to the construction of an apparatus for moistening and
cooling the air in spinning factories, breweries, ships, theatres, private houses, &c.
The improved apparatus is arranged to be used with water under pressure which
in escaping in the form of a wheat-sheaf jet of minute streams through ajutages of
special construction is projected against stepped discs and assumes the form of finely
divided spray which a current of air, drawn into the hall or room by a fan, trans-
forms into a kind of cloud of cold vapour or of water vapour in a vesicular state
which it throws back and distributes at the upper part of the hall or room over the
whole circumference of the apparatus.
Each of the ajutages is constructed with a conical jacket or sheath in which is
placed a plug or stem the periphery of which is provided with grooves of the shape
of a truncated cone which terminate in minute holes formed by means of a saw
notch or the stroke of a chisel and of a fineness such as could not be obtained by
boring. The plugs or stems having the truncated-conical grooves and the minute
holes can be removed from their jacket or sheath which allows of their being easily
cleansed from the impurities of the water.
My apparatus is arranged to be suspended from the ceiling of the hall or room,
the air of which it is desired to moisten and cool and its fan will preferably be
mounted on the vertical axis of a turbine actuated by water under pressure, the

page_text: dividing ajutages and the pulverising dises being placed between the fan and the
turbine and below the first named in order that the turbine may not prevent the
contact of the air drawn in by the fan and the water spray produced by the dividing
ajutages and the pulverizing discs. This arrangement further has the advantage of
allowing of drops of water which have not been sufficiently finely divided or pul-
verized to fall into an annular vessel placed in the lower part of the apparatus
without being drawn away by the fan or coming in contact with its wings. The
drops of water which fall into the lower vessel carry with them all the dust and
impurities in suspension in the air and consequently purify the air of the hall or
room in which the apparatus is placed. The distance apart of the pulverising discs
and the dividing ajutages can be varied as may be desired which allows of varying
the period of time during which the water spray and the air drawn in through the
apparatus are in contact whereby air in a more or less humid state can be obtained.
A beater placed immediately beneath the fan and having the same movement of
rotation throws back laterally the drops of water which may rise above the pul-
verising discs thus facilitating the collection of these drops in the vessel in the
lower part of the apparatus.
A truncated cone suspended from the lower vessel collects the drops of water which
become condensed immediately they issue from the apparatus and conducts them into
the annular lower vessel, in the centre of which is placed the turbine, the water
which collects in this vessel as well as that which has operated the turbine runs off
through the lower part of the apparatus.
In order to prevent the introduction of impurities into the dividing ajutages and
into the turbine the supply pipe of the water under pressure is provided with a filter
formed of a tube or washers or collars of felt placed on a perforated metallic tube.
This filter can be easily taken to pieces for the purpose of cleansing the felt which
arrests the impurities.
In order to enable the invention to be fully understood, I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing in which
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus.
Figure 2 is a plan partly in section.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a dividing ajutage drawn to a larger scale, and
Figure 4 is a plan of the same.
Figure 5 is an elevation of the central plug of an ajutage having the truncated
conical grooves and minute orifices.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the same.
As shown in figures 1 and 2, the improved apparatus consists of a cylindrical
jacket or casing A in the centre of which is placed a vertical axis B carrying at
its upper end a fan C, below which is a beater or crossbar C and at about the
middle of its length is a vortex wheel D or any other suitable turbine. To ensure
the regular lubrication of the shaft. B its pivot turns in a cup E filled with oil.
The water under pressure enters through a pipe F provided with a stop cock G and
after traversing the filter of felt H, it passes through conduits 1, J to the dividing
ajutages K, K and to the vortex wheel D. When the water under pressure reaches
the wheel D, it strikes the floats of the wheel tangentially and consequently effects
the rotation of the fan C and beater C¹:
The filter H is formed of a perforated metallic tube m, and washers or collars a, a
of felt held between a fixed flange and a moveable flange . The tube m which
carries the filtering felt is screwed to a tube w. This filter can be easily cleaned by
simply raising the screw cap c, which allows of the felt washers being withdrawn for
cleansing purposes by unscrewing the perforated tube m³, from the inner tube n. The
latter tube prevents the impurities which accumulate at the lower part of the filter
from passing into the apparatus when the filter is taken to pieces. Instead of super-
posed washers of felt I sometimes employ one or more tubes of felt or in some
cases the filter may be formed of superposed washers and one or more tubes of
felt combined.

page_text: As shown in figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, each ajutage K is formed with a conical
jacket or casing d in which is placed a stem or plug e provided with peripheral
grooves ff. These grooves have the form of truncated cones and each one ter-
minates in a minute hole" formed by a saw cut or by the stroke of a chisel. The
water under pressure on arriving at the ajutages K, K escapes with force through
the minute holes f', in the form of a finely divided wheatsheaf jet.
The thin streams of the jet of water strike against stepped discs R R and are
thereby pulverized into finely divided spray and the heated air which the fan C
draws into the hall or room over the lower circumference of the jacket A meets this
finely divided spray and transforms it into a kind of cold vapour or water vapour in a
vesicular state and the fan C forces through the annular opening h, over the whole
of the circumference of the upper part of the casing a mixture of cooled air and cold
vapour.
The drops of water which are too heavy to be drawn up by the fan C as well as those
which have been returned laterally by the beater C₁ fall from the interior of the
casing A into an annular receptacle M and to collect any which might form ou
issuing from the opening h, 1 place above the receptacle M a cone N on which
fall all the water drops which might be produced by the condensation of vapour at the
outlet of the apparatus.
The water thus collected in the receptacle M contains all the dust in the air which
has traversed the apparatus and it flows away together with the water from the vortex
wheel I through the passage into a discharge pipe O. The upper part of the
casing A is covered by an inverted cone P by which the apparatus is suspended from
the ceiling.
The number of ajutages K K can be varied at will according to the dimensions of
the apparatus and the pulverizing discs R R are arranged on a common support m¹
which can be raised and lowered as may be desired by a screw S to vary the distance
of the discs R R from the ajutages K K so as to regulate the degree of moisture and
coolness to be given to the air.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1.) An apparatus for moistening and cooling the air in spinning factories,
breweries, ships, theatres, and the like consisting of a suitable number of ajutages fed
by water under pressure and from which the water is discharged in the form of wheat-
sheaf jets which, in passing upwards, strike against pulverising discs and assume the
form of finely divided spray which the air taken from the apartment or the like
and drawn from the lower part of the apparatus by a fan mounted above the pul-
verizing dises on the axis of a hydraulic turbine transforms into a kind of cloud of
cold vapour or water vapour in a vesiculated state which escapes at the upper part of
the casing containing the fan and the pulverizing dises, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing.
(2.) The improved ajutage arranged to be easily cleaned and constructed of a
conical casing in which is a stem or plug provided on its periphery with grooves of
the form of a truncated cone terminated by minute holes formed by a saw cut or the
stroke of a chisel, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in figures 3, 4, 5,
and 6 of the accompanying drawing.
(3.) The use in combination with my apparatus for moistening and cooling air, of a
filter formed with an internal tube to the lower part of which is screwed a perforated
tube provided with washers or tubes of felt held between two flanges one fixed and
the other moveable, for the purpose of purifying the water for feeding the ajutages
and the turbine actuating the fan, substantially as hereinbefore described.
(4.) In an apparatus for moistening and cooling air such as that claimed in claim 1,
the use of pulverizing discs mounted on a common support capable of being withdrawn
from or moved towards the ajutages as may be desired for the purpose of varying the

page_text: degree of moisture and coolness to be given to the air in the apartment in which the
apparatus is placed, substantially as herein before described.
(5.) The application to my apparatus for moistening and cooling air of a beater
mounted on the axis of the hydraulic turbine and of the fan, between the fan and the
pulverizing discs for the purpose of throwing back laterally against the casing of the
apparatus any drops of water which may rise above the pulverising discs thereby
preventing their being carried away by the fan.
Dated the 21st day of September 1888.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicant.