IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION, HEATING, AND VENTILATING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS,
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ancell Ball, of Spalding, in the County of
Lincoln, Physician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION, HEATING, AND VENTILATING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS,”

page_text: the admission of cold and moistened air, which being heated by the fire
in the grate passes off through suitablo flues in the backwork into the
various rooms to be heated. In this grate also, which is made double
for building into the party wall between two rooms, a vertical slide may
be provided midway between the two grates, which can be raised or
lowered at pleasure, and communication thereby afforded between the
two grates.
Secondly. In forming to each room, either in the breast or inner wall
of the ordinary chimney, or in any other part of a wall where there is
no chimney, a separate flue or chimney through oval or otherwise shaped
holes so made in the bricks, blocks of stone, or other building material
used, that when the latter are laid one upon the other in the ordinary
manner the said holes will form a continuous fluc or passage through
which all the impurities contained in the air of the room are withdrawn.
The said flue or passage commencing in each case just beneath the
ceiling of the room and terminating at the side or top of the ordinary
chimney, or elsewhere, if no smoke fluo be present. The commence-
ment or entrance through which the impure air from the room passes to
the separate flue or chimney is effected by an additional opening
extending back to the latter from the face of the first brick, the said
opening being arched so as to admit a small portable lamp with a
reflector for the double purpose of giving light and increasing the
current of the impure air up the said flue or chimney. Or the current
may be increased by the application of a horizontal wheel at the top of
the said flue or chimney, or by the use of a small window with hinges or
slide over the door of each room.
Thirdly. In the additional ventilation of sick rooms or hospitals by
an arrangement of small openings in the lower panels of the door, over
slides a door or slide made of finely perforated zinc, an intervening
space being left for a fold or two of muslin, which is saturated by means
of a wick passing through an india-rubber tube with a self-acting supply
of somo disinfectant solution of chloride of lime or carbolic acid from
a bottle or other vessel secured above the panel of the door. Another
bottle or other vessel may also be substituted for the generation of
ozone, so that either vapours or gases or fumigations can here be diffused
by the entering current throughout the sick apartment, whilst at the
same time the impure or infected air can be carried off night and day

page_text: as fast as it is generated, thus preventing accumulation whilst insuring
dilution of the poison.
These improvements may be economically applied in the construction
of cottages or dwellings for the poor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ancell Ball in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANCELL
BALL, of Spalding, in the County of Lincoln, Physician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ancell Ball, Her special license
that I, the said Ancell Ball, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Ancell Ball, 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 Ohannel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION,
HEATING, AND VENTILATING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Ancell Ball, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 Ancell Bell; do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be. particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My Invention relates to the construction of houses and other
buildings and to the heating and ventilating or disinfecting of the
rooms or apartments and other portions of the same, and it consists,—
Firstly. Of peculiarly constructed fire-grates, the sides of which are
formed with flues or chambers opening at the bottom into the room or
apartment for the admission of cold air, which being heated by the firo
in the grate and moistened by any convenient means passes off through
suitable flucs built or formed in the brickwork or wall into the various
rooms or apartments or other portions of the building to be heated.
These grates may be made either single or double, or with single or
double faces; and when a double grate or double-faced grato is
employed the grate is built into the party wall between two rooms, and a
vertical slide capable of being raised and lowered midway between the:
two grates or faces may be provided for the purpose of forming and
interrupting the communication between the same, or other equivalent
arrangements may be adopted in order to cut off the communication of
either of the two apartments with the double-faced grate at pleasure.
Secondly. In forming, either in the breast or inner wall of the
ordinary chimney, or in any other part of a wall where there is no
chimney, a separate flue or chimney communicating with the different
rooms or apartments, or two or more of such flues or chimneys, cach
communicating with a set of rooms or apartments for the purpose of
drawing off the impure air from the same. These flues or chimneys
may be formed in any convenient manner, but it is preferred to
construct them of concrete, or of bricks or blocks having an aperture or
apertures formed therein of an oval or other convenient shape, and so
arranged that when such bricks or blocks are laid one upon the other
the said apertures will form a continuous flue or passage terminating at
the side or top of the ordinary chimney, or elsewhere, if no smoko flue
bo present. The entrance to the ventilating flue or chimney through
which the impure air passes from any room or apartment is arranged by
preference immediately beneath the ceiling, the opening provided for
that purpose in the wall extending back to such flue or chimney from
the face of the first brick. This opening may be arched or otherwise
shaped, so as to admit of a small portable lamp or a gas burner being

page_text: placed therein with a reflector for the double purpose of giving light
into the room and increasing the current of the impure air up the said
flue or chimney. Or the current may be increased by the application
of a horizontal wheel at the top of the said flue or chimney, or by the
use of a small binged window or a perforated slide over the door of each
room, or by any similar contrivance. The bricks or blocks with
openings of an oval or other suitable shape may also if desired be
employed in constructing the hot-air flues herein-before mentioned.
Thirdly. In effecting the additional ventilation or disinfection of sick
rooms or hospitals by an arrangement of small openings formed in the
door of the room or apartment (say, for example, in one of the lower
panels thereof), over which openings there is fitted a slide, made by
preference of finely perforated zinc, an intervening space being left for
a fold or two of muslin, which is saturated by means of a wick passing
through a flexible tube with a self-acting supply of some disinfectant
solution, say, for example, a solution of chloride of lime or carbolic acid
from a bottle or other vessel situate above. Or a bottle or other vessel
for the generation of ozone may be employed either in substitution for,
or in conjunction with the disinfectant herein-before mentioned, so as
to enable vapors, gases, or fumigations to be diffused by the entering
current throughout the sick apartment, the impure or infected air
being at the same time carried off, night and day, as fast as it is
generated, whereby any accumulation is prevented and the dilution of
the poison is ensured. This arrangement may also be employed at other
parts of houses or buildings, if found desirable.

page_text: For this purpose I shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed
Sheets of Drawings, the same letters of reference on which indicate
corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, of my Drawings represents a horizontal section of
the lower portion of a cottage or dwelling-house constructed and
arranged in accordance with my Invention. The house is so constructed
as to admit of two rooms being heated by the use of one fire and onc
chimney. In order to effect this object, I form or leave in the partition
wall A an aperture for the inscrtion of a double grate or a double faced
grate B, as herein-after described, and I also construct flues C in the
walls A, A³, of the house for the conveyance of moistened heated air
into any or all of the rooms or other portions of the house, In
Figure 1 I have shown the hot-air flue C as passing from the sides of
the grate a (whenco it draws its supply of moistened heated air in the
manner herein-after described), in the interior of the wall of the
kitchen D in one direction to the lobby E, where it terminates in an
aperture 6, and in the other direction to the sitting-room F and the
lobby G, where it terminates in apertures c and d respectively.
In Figure 2 (which represents a sectional clovation of a cottage) I
have shewn a hot-air flue C¹ (two of which may be employed, videlicet,
one on each side of the fire-place), extending vertically to bed rooms H, I,
(two of which are shewn in my Drawing, but three or any other
suitable number may be employed), in the walls of which apertures e, f,
respectively are provided for the admission of the moistened heated air
into the apartment. In this view the horizontal flue C is indicated by
dotted lines. The flues C, C', are provided with valves or stoppers
arranged in such a manner as to admit of the moistened heated air
being shut off from the bed-rooms during the day, whilst the sitting-
rooms and lobbies are maintained in a warm condition, and of such air
being conducted to the bed-rooms at night when the sitting-rooms and
lobbies are no longer required to be used, the communication with the
latter being then cut off, by which means a single fire may be utilized
for heating say five rooms.
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (Sheet 1), illustrate various views of
different sized bricks or blocks of the description which I prefer to
: employ in constructing the hot air flues. Karc the bricks or blocks,
which are formed with grooves or channels g, so arranged that when

page_text: the bricks or blocks are placed one above the other, as shewn in Figures
3 and 6, and side by side or end to end, continuous passages will be
obtained in a single brick partition wall; the grooves or channels are
in Figures 3 and 4 shown as arranged transversely, and in Figure 5 in
the longitudinal direction of the brick or block, whilst in Figures 6, 7,
and 8 the bricks or blocks are made of a square shape, and "two sets of
grooves or channels 9 are formed therein, crossing each other ȧt right
angles; apertures g¹ are also shewn in the brick or block K, Figure 8,
extending through the thickness of the same for the convenience of
forming additional flues or passages in the perpendicular direction. I
prefer to form these bricks or blocks with stops or projections /, Figures
7 and 8, which may be retained when one line of passages only is
required, but may be broken away or removed if both the cross passages
are to be utilized. The shape and size of the various bricks or blocks
3 employed is necessarily regulated by the position and arrangement of
the flues or passages. In constructing vertical hot air flues bricks or
blocks having openings of an oval shape, as herein-after described, may
be adopted. In most cases I prefer to apply galvanized wirework, either
in a cylindrical, or flat, or other suitable form, in the interior of the hot
O air flues, such wirework extending throughout the length of the latter,
for the purpose of obtaining increased conducting power.
Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, and 14, Sheet 2, illustrate examples of singlo
and double faced fire-grates, formed with hot air flues or chambers, in
accordance with Invention.
ענם
3 Figure 9 is a sectional clevation and Figure 10 a vertical section
shewing a double grate. L, L', are the grates, so arranged to be
capable of conjointly heating two apartments simultaneously, whilst
admitting of their being separated at pleasure by the act of lowering the
sliding partition i. The ordinary chimney breastwork is dispensed with;
O the grates being flush with the walls of the apartment. In this example
the grates are represented as fitted so as to be capable of rotating for
the purpose of consuming the smoke, but in lieu thereof this object may
be effected in the manner hercin-aftor described. M are the stove hot
air flues or chambers, into which the cold air to be heated enters through
。 apertures k, such flues or chambers communicating with the horizontable
hot air flue C and the vertical hot air flue C¹, from which latter branch
horizontal flues C² (one of which is shewn in Figures 9 and 10). Thọ
bearing 1 is made tubular for the purpose of forming a communication

page_text: between the two hot air flucs or chambers M, situato ono on cach side
of the grate; but in non-rotating grates the fire-bars may be made
hollow for the same object.
Figure 11 is a longitudinal section of a kitchen range having a grate
(which I designate a "Janus" grate), provided with double faces L, L',
(shewn, on a small scale in plan in Figure 1), and capable of heating
simultaneously the kitchen D and tho sitting room F, Figure 1. In this
arrangement hinged doors i, , Figure 1, aro substituted for the sliding
partition by opening either, and closing the other, of which either the
kitchen or sitting room, as the case may be, will be cut off from the
grate, and the direct heat from the fire conducted exclusively into
the other apartment. The two doors may be of different sizes and made
movable so as to admit of their being fitted to cither face for the
purpose of affording increased facilities for regulating tho size of fire
which is to be exposed.
The hot-air chambers M are provided with gills or baffle plates 1,
as shown, for the purpose of causing the cold air which is admitted
thercinto through the openings to follow a zig-zag or circuitous
course, whereby it is exposed for a longer time to the action of the
fire. The air thus heated and moistened, as herein-after described, then
passes through the apertures a communicating with the flue C to the
different rooms or apartments, a portion of it escaping through
apertures k³ into the room in which the grate is situate.
Underneath the grate there is arranged an oven m around which the
products of combustion are caused to circulate (as shewn by the red
arrows) on their way to the chimney 22, whilst above the stove is pro-
vided a hot plate o having three apertures, one at the centro and
the other two at the sides, the former being intended to receive a kettlo
and the latter one for heating a pot containing linen, or for a portable
boiler, and the other for cooking purposes. A copper N may also be
arranged on one side of the grate so as to be heated by radiation, as
shown in Figure 1.
I prefer to fit these grates with a sliding drawer p bencath, into which
the fuel (which may be of any cheap description, such for example as
"nuts,") is introduced, the smoke from the same passing up through
the incandescent fuel abovo (which may be coke) whereby the smoke is
effectually consumed as fast as it is generated, and an additional blaze

page_text: of light is emitted into the apartment. A sliding plate 7 or a hinged
door may be employed for the convenience of passing a kettle or other
article from one apartment to the other. The chimney n may be of iron
and let into the brick or concrete wall, but exposed, to the height of the
ceiling.
Figure 12 is a vertical section of a "Janus" or double faced fire-
grate, constructed with hot-air flues or chambers, as herein-before
described, and suitable for heating directly a drawing and dining room
by the use of a single fire, and for supplying moistened hot air to
the hall passages, lobbies, offices, bedrooms, and other portions of the
house.
Figure 13 is a vertical section of a grate of similar construction but
provided with a single face and for use in existing houses, Figure 14
representing an elevation of both the preceding views.
These grates are so arranged as to project into the rooms and they are
provided with gills for the purpose of radiating the heat. The sides
are covered in with brickwork or other material so as to form the lateral
boundaries of the hot-air flues or chambers, the front and back of the
flues or chambers being formed by the plates r, one of which (say for
example the dining room face) should be arranged so as to admit of its
removal at intervals for facilitating access to the flues for the purpose of
cleaning the same. The hot-air flues C, C¹, are intended to be built up
to the flues or chambers M, in the manner herein-before described.
The dotted lines & and red lines s¹ indicate the course of the products of
combustion in the two grates, Figures 12 and 13, respectively. In the
case of the grate, Figure 13, the flame after passing over the upper
border of the back part of the grate immediately descends to its
lower border, whence it passes into right and left flues which follow a
circuitous course until they moet in a central flue or chimney which
is provided with a valve or damper t for regulating the draught as
shewn.
8
The openings & for the admission of cold air, as also the openings k¹
for the outlet into the apartment of the moistened warm air may in
either case be covered with wire gauze if desired. In order to moisten
the heated air supplied to the different apartments, lobbies, or other
portions of the house, various means may be adopted. In some cases I
conduct steam into the hot-air flues or chambers M from the boiler

page_text: (when one is employed) or from any other source, or I enlarge one or
more of the apertures & and fit in them short tubes u (Figure 14) for the
reception of warm water, which is conducted into evaporating vessels
situate within the hot-air flue or chamber M whereby a grateful
moisture is imparted to the air. By the addition to the water of
volatile scents or disinfectants the same may be diffused throughout
the whole of the rooms or apartments which are in communication with
the flues. The portions of the plate behind which the evaporating
vessel is disposed are made moveable upon hinges or otherwise so as
to afford access to the hot-air flues or chambers M.
In lieu of the preceding arrangements any other suitable means of
obtaining the required aqueous moisture may be employed.
Figure 2, Sheet 1, and Figures 15 to 23, Sheet 3, illustrato my
improved system of ventilating or disinfecting the rooms or apartments
of dwelling-houses, hospitals, and other buildings.
It is desirable that means should be provided for regulating the admis-
sion of the outer air into the house, for which purpose I employ
the arrangement shown in front elevation and transverse section in
Figure 15 and 16 (Sheet 3). O is a window working upon pivots vand
disposed, say for example, over the front door so as to communicate
with the front lobby, passage, or hall, a similar arrangement being also
adopted at the back of the house. The window O is contained within
an open case P let into the wall, to the inner end of which case there is
hinged a frame Q fitted, by preference, with perforated zinc or other
suitable reticulated material covered with one or more layers of muslin
or other similar fabric, so as to cause the outer air in cold weather to be
filtered and finely divided by passing first through the perforations of
the zinc, and then through the fine meshes of the muslin. The window
is fitted with a regulating valve R for the purpose of admitting a
necessary amount of air at all times.
It is obvious that as moist warm air is conducted into the lobbies E, G,
through the hot-air flues C, the warm air and the cold air will thero
become intermixed, and thus the draught which is experienced by the
influx of cold air on opening the door in the act of entering an apart-
ment will be obviated.
I propose to fit over the door of each bedroom a similar arrangement
for regulating the admission of the air to that shown in Figures 15

page_text: and 16, the window remaining open in the summer season, but being
closed in the winter, when a sufficient quantity of air may be admitted
through the valve R, whence it is divided and filtered through the inter-
stices of the zinc and muslin, as herein-before described.
Figure 2 (Sheet 1) shews the application to a cottage of a ventilating
flue constructed and arranged in accordance with my Invention.
S is the flue which I construct, by preference, near the ordinary
chimney, when one is present, as the heat then increases the upward
current, but which may be arranged at any other suitable part of the
wall; T are apertures situate near the ceiling and communicating with
the flue S for the passage thereinto of the impure air from the several
rooms or apartments, which escapes into the atmosphere after passing
beneath the hood or cap S', fitted at the top of the flue S, as shewn in
Figures 2 and 19.
In some cases a separate flue may be employed for cach apartment in
lieu of a single flue communicating with the series of apartments.
These flues I prefer to construct of bricks or blocks U (Figures 17 and
18, Sheet 3) provided with oval or other shaped holes to, and so arranged
that when placed one upon the other a continuous flue or passagė is
formed. The openings T, herein-before mentioned, are formed in bricks
or blocks U¹ (Figure 18), which are so shaped as to admit of a lamp V
or a gas burner (surmounted or not with a wire gauze cap) being placed
therein for the purpose of increasing the upward current of the impure
air; a reflector may be added in order to direct the light into the
apartment.
A similar result to that produced by the lamp or gas burner may
also be obtained by the employment of the horizontal wheel W (shewn
'on an enlarged scale in Figure 19) mounted on a pivot x which turns in
a glass footstep bearing z¹, carried by the hood or cap S¹, and is pro-
vided with concave vanes or caps ✗, as shewn. Or the window O
(herein-before mentioned) fitted over the door of each room will answer
the purpose, or similar means may be provided in addition to or in sub-
stitution for either of the preceding arrangements.
In some cases the hood or cap S' may be modified in form and pro-
vided with an annular pendant projection y (as shewn in the diagram,
Figure 20), for the purpose of further guarding against the outer air

page_text: impinging directly upon the upper end of the flue S, and thus impeding
the ascent of tho impure air.
I may also employ one or more additional open tubes Y, Y, (as shown
in the diagram, Figure 21) at the exterior of the house, such tubes being
arranged so as to converge towards and enter the flue S near its upper E
end and conduct the external air which enters at s into such flue, so
as to prevent the external air from entering beneath the hood or
cap S¹.
The ventilating flue S may also be provided with one or moro syphons,
not shown in my Drawings, one leg entering the same, and the other
depending therefrom outside.
Figure 22 (Sheet 3) is a front elevation, and Figure 23 is a vertical
section of a door having my improved arrangement for effecting the
additional ventilation or disinfection of sick rooms (the wards of
hospitals and other places, the door Z of the room or apartment has 1
formed in it, by preference in the lower panels, either small perforations
2 or an opening fitted with louvre boards 3, or both, which are covered
by a sliding frame 4 fitted with perforated zinc or any other suitable
reticulated material, ono or more layers 5 of muslin or of some similar
absorbent and filtering material being interposed between the perfora- a
tions 2 and louvre boards 3 and the frame 4. 6 is a bottle supported
above the frame 4 and containing any suitable disinfectant solution into
which dips a capillary wick 7, such wick being enclosed in a bent
flexible tube 8, one end 9 of which passes down between the frame 4
and tho muslin 5 so as to saturate the latter, whilst the other end
10 extends down at the exterior of the frame 4, by which means the
entering current becomes impregnated with the disinfectant solution,
tho salutary effects of which are thus diffused throughout the apart-
ment. A trough 12 is provided for the reception of any surplus
disinfecting fluid which may drip from the muslin should the latter a
become over saturated.
A bottlo 11, disposed at the bottom of the door for the generation of
ozone, may be added if found desirable, or employed in substitution for
the bottle 6 herein-before referred to.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or

page_text: carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that 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,―
First. The application and use to and in the heating of dwelling.
houses and other buildings of fire grates having chambers in their sides
for the admission of air to be heated by the fire in the grate, and
moistened, such air so heated and moistened being conveyed from the
chambers by means of passages or flues into the several rooms or apart-
ments or other portions of the building to be heated, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second. The combination with the before-mentioned fire-grates
having hot-air chambers of passagos or flues formed in the brickwork
or wall, and communicating with the several rooms or apartments or
other portions of the building to be heated, substantially as and for
the purposes herein-before described, and as illustrated by my
Drawings.
Third. The application and use of double fire-grates or fire-grates
having double faces for simultaneously heating two adjacent apartments
in combination or not with means for dividing the grate or cutting off
or separating the same from either apartment as required, substantially
as and for the purposes herein-before described, and as illustrated by my
Drawings.
Fourth. The application and use to and in the ventilating of dwelling-
houses and other buildings of passages or flues communicating with the
several rooms or apartments whence impure air is to be withdrawn, and
terminating at the exterior of the building, in combination or not with
auxiliary means for promoting the draught or accelerating the upward
current of such impure air, substantially as herein-before described, and
illustrated by my Drawings.
Fifth. Constructing the before-mentioned passages or flues of bricks
or blocks having openings so arranged as to form when such bricks or
blocks are combined together continuous conduits for the air traversing
the same, and also a communication with the several rooms or
apartments or other portions of the building, substantially as and
for the purposes herein-before described, and as illustrated by my
Drawings.

page_text: Sixth. Effecting the ventilation or disinfection of sick rooms,
hospitals, and other places or buildings by admitting air thereinto
through reticulated and absorbent or filtering materials, so fitted and
arranged as to cause the entering current to become saturated or
impregnated with disinfecting or deodorizing liquids, or with gases, 5
vapours, or fumigations, for the purpose of diffusing the same throughout
the apartment or building, substantially as herein-before described and
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ancell Ball, have to this my
Specification, set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of 10
January, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.