Improved Apparatus for Generating and Forcing Smoke or the like into Spaces requiring Purification or through Pipes or Drains for Testing and similar purposes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Generating and Forcing Smoke or the like
into Spaces requiring Purification or through Pipes or Drains
for Testing and similar purposes.
I, JOHN GEORGE KIRTLEY, of 9 St. Thomas' Street, Bishopwearmouth,
Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Sanitary Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improved apparatus for generating and forcing smoke
or the like into spaces requiring purification or through pipes or drains for testing
and similar purposes and has for its object a simplification of the parts so as to
combine efficiency with perfection of action.
وو
In testing drains and the like, it is necessary to ascertain whether all the joints
or seals are quite tight or whether any of them may be deficient in their action,
and for this purpose it has become customary to apply what is known as the
smoke test to the drains and it is the special combination or arrangement of
parts for effecting this and analogous purposes that constitutes the subject matter
of this invention, which I will now proceed to explain with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 shows a vertical sectional elevation and
Figure 2 a plan of apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention and
throughout the following description like marks of reference designate like
parts.
Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that I employ two concentric vessels,
an outer vessel A and an inner vessel A¹.
The latter is secured to the former at its base, and thus a space is left between
the two vessels.
The latter may be circular or oval or square or oblong in form: the exact shape
is not of importance.
A little distance above the bottom of the inner vessel A', I place a grate A'
which may be secured on brackets or on a continuous ledge running round the
vessel and attached to its side.
I further employ another vessel A3 which is arranged to work in water within
the space formed between the two vessels aforesaid.
This vessel has at its upper end a close cover in the centre of which a handle A'
may be secured for working it up and down, piston-fashion, in the water or other
liquid.
In the cover I place in the manner shown a short curved pipe 7, the upper
extremity of which is closed by a cover piece 8 screwed onto the projecting end of
the pipe.
This cover piece is furnished with perforations P, either oblong slits or holes of
an equivalent nature, and at the lower or opposite end of the pipe I place a light
flap or equivalent valve 9 designed to work automatically as hereinafter described.
At the base of the apparatus below the level of the grate A2 I place a pipe 10
so as to give communication between the grate space S and the outside of the outer
vessel A.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows: when it is desired to force smoke
from the inside of the inner vessel A', a certain quantity of combustible material
such as cotton waste, brown or tobacco-paper, sulphur or like material may be
placed on the surface of the grate A2 and ignited. The dome-shaped cover A³ is
then put in position and worked up and down in the water by means of its
handle

page_text: At each upstroke, owing to the partial vacuum formed within the inner vessel A'
by this action, a certain quantity of atmospheric air will pass through the
perforations P and valve 9 which will open automatically to admit this air-entry
into the smoke chamber.
This air supplies the necessary oxygen to support combustion of the matter
burning on the grate and at each downstroke of the dome-shaped cover A³ the
valve 9 will automatically remain closed and the smoke or fumes formed in the
chamber will be forced downwards through the grate perforations and through
the pipe 10.
The latter may be connected by flexible or other piping to any other pipe or
opening leading to the pipe or drain or equivalent space requiring testing or
purification.
Thus the apparatus might be employed for fumigating greenhouses for the
purpose of destroying insects in which case tobacco-paper or sulphur might be
usefully employed as the smoke- or fume-generating agent.
In this manner a certain smoke pressure may be provided within the drain or
piping and in such case any defective jointing or other mal-construction may be
ascertained by the fact of the issue of smoke from any such weak point.
Should the drain or pipe happen to have such an obstruction therein as to
prevent the free passage of the smoke along it, then this will be shown by the
back-pressure caused by the pumping of smoke into the drain, exerting its force
on the surface of the water between the shell of vessel A¹ and the shell of the
dome-shaped vessel A³, so as to cause the water between A³ and the outer vessel
to rise and overflow its edges.
The apparatus may be conveniently constructed of thin copper or equivalent metal
plates throughout.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The improved combination or arrangement of parts constituting apparatus
for generating and forcing smoke or the like into spaces requiring purification or
through pipes or drains consisting in the provision of an inner and an outer vessel
with a water space between the two in which a dome shaped vessel fitted at its
upper end with an atmospheric valve works so that at each upstroke thereof air
may be supplied to feed the burning material on the surface of the grate within
the inner vessel aforesaid and at cach downstroke thereof, the smoke formed
within the inner vessel may be forced downwards through the grate and through a
pipe leading to the outside of the apparatus the several parts being arranged and
designed to operate substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
Dated this 27th day of September 1892.
A. CRAWHALL CHAPMAN,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Patent Agent.