IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING, PRINCIPALLY INTENDED TO BE USED FOR VENTILATING ROOMS OR APARTMENTS IN HOUSES OR OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Fitz-Gerald Wintour
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th July 1868.
I, THOMAS FITZ-GERALD WINTOUR, of Gillies Street, Carlton Road,
in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING,
PRINCIPALLY INTENDED TO BE USED FOR VENTILATING ROOMS OR APARTMENTS IN
HOUSES OR OTHER BUILDINGS," follows:-
This Invention applies chiefly to the ventilation of rooms or apart-
ments in houses or other buildings, and the apparatus may be fixed.
in the window, door, wall, or other convenient part.
The apparatus consists principally of a rectangular box or frame
fitted with a wire gauze screen and a sliding glass shutter. The wire
gauze screen is folded backwards and forwards horizontally in a zig-zag
or serpentine form, and the glass shutter slides vertically in contact
with the inner edges of these horizontal folds which are all in the same
vertical line, so that as the sliding shutter is lowered it opens up each
fold successively, and by these means the amount of ventilation may

page_text: be regulated with the greatest nicety. The glass shutter slides in
grooves at the sides, and is raised by means of cords passing over
pulleys at the top of the frame, sliding down by its own weight when
the cords are slackened or released. The cords may be provided with
knots at points corresponding with each fold of the wire screen, which
may be slipped over a peg or hook attached to the frame, or they may
be secured in any other convenient manner. By the use of this
arrangement any amount of ventilation required in an apartment may
be obtained, at the same time that the entrance of rain, dust, "blacks,"
or insects is effectually prevented.
Another form of the apparatus consists of a frame enclosing a vertical
screen of wire gauze and having an inner flange by means of which
it may be inserted in an opening. made through a wall (such opening
being by preference the size and form of a brick). Two of these
frames are applied to the opening, one inside the apartment and
the other outside the building or wall, both being flush with the wall,
so that they may be applied with equal facility to walls of any thickness.
The inner one is provided with a hinged shutter or door to regulate
the amount of ventilation through the screen, the door being. opened
or closed by means of a curved wire connected to the door and passing
inwards through the screen. I would here observe that in both these
cases perforated metal might be employed for the screens instead of
wire gauze, but for many reasons I prefer the latter. In cases where the
ventilator is applied to sash windows I prefer to nail or otherwise attach
a strip of india-rubber or other suitable substance to the lower edge
of the upper sash in such a manner that the said strip overlaps the
joint between the two sashes, and thus prevents the admission of any
draught or air except such as passes through the wire gauze.