IMPROVE- MENTS IN VENTILATING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GILMORE, Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Seventh day of January, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Gilmore, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power and authority, that I, the said John Gilmore, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Gilmore, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VENTILATING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said John Gilmore, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Gilmore, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention and
improvement, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and

page_text: carried out, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following Speci-
fication and description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention and improvement relate to the more perfect ventilation of the
interior of ships and other vessels, by causing descending and ascending
currents of air to circulate through the cabins or holds of the vessel. It is
well known that even in fine weather, when the hatches can be removed from
the hatchways, the interior parts, especially those parts most distant from the
hatchways, are but very imperfectly ventilated and supplied with fresh air.
But in bad or foul weather, when it becomes necessary to close the hatchways,
even this imperfect supply of atmospheric air is stopped to a very great and
injurious extent. The closing of the hatches and the consequent suspension of
the hitherto imperfect ventilation proves in ships or vessels carrying a con-
siderable number of persons, as troop ships, emigrant ships, and others
employed for like purposes of transport, not only injurious and detrimental to
the general health and comfort of those on board such vessels, but frequently
produces fatal effects when the necessity exists of keeping the hatches closed
for a considerable length of time. My said Invention and improvement have
for their object the removal of this evil, and to effectually ventilate the whole
(if necessary) or any particular part of the interior of ships and vessels, par-
ticularly at that time when the state of the weather is such that it is necessary
to close the hatches. The whole or any part of the interior of the vessel being
then fully and sufficiently ventilated by my apparatus during the period of fine
weather, when the hatches can be removed from off the hatchways, my
apparatus can be used as auxiliary, if required, to ordinary ventilation by means
of the open hatchways, or may, if found more desirable, be then dispensed with
altogether. In order to effect this most important desideratum of providing
ample ventilation to the interior of a ship or vessel under all and any states of
weather, I employ an apparatus, which I shall hereafter describe, by which a
current of fresh atmospheric air is blown or conducted downwards into the
interior of the vessel, or to any desired part or parts thereof, while at the same
time an upward current of the vitiated air is conducted outwards, thus
ensuring a free circulation of air through the interior of the vessel, and
consequently giving greater perfection of ventilation.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section of a sufficient portion of a
ship or vessel to enable me to describe my said Invention and improvement;
Figure 2. a transverse vertical section; Figure 3, a plan, showing one of the
ventilating hoods removed; Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 represent the upper portion
of the ventilating tube and hood drawn to an enlarged scale, Figure 4 being a

page_text: horizontal section of the hood through the line a, b; Figure 5, a plan of the
hood; Figure 6, a vertical section through the line c, d; and Figure 7, a front
elevation. The same letters of reference refer to the same parts in all the
Figures.
A, the hold of the ship or vessel; B, B, the decks; C, the fore hatchway;
D, the main or after hatchway. The ventilating tubes F, F, are placed in
a vertical position, one in one of the after corners of the fore hatchway C, and
the other in the opposite after corner of the main or after hatchway D.
These ventilating tubes are formed square in those parts F1 which passi
through the hatchway, and they are fastened to the combings of the hatchways
by bolting. The lower parts of the ventilating tubes are made to terminate
immediately through the deck, if that portion of the interior of the ship or
vessel is to be ventilated, or they may be carried to any other part required to
be ventilated, thereby conducting an inward current of fresh air by one of the
ventilating tubes to, and an outward current of foul air by the other ventilating
tube from, that part of the interior of the ship or vessel; the upper part of the
ventilating tubes above the deck are cylindrical, and extend some few feet
above the deck. At a distance above the deck are affixed to the outside of
the ventilating tubes F the eyes I, to which are affixed ropes, for the purpose
of securing in stormy weather, when necessary, the ventilating tubes to the
deck. The hoods G, G, which fit over the tops of the ventilating tubes F, F,
are capable of being moved round, so that the mouths of the hoods may
point in any required direction. The hoods are supported upon the tops of the
ventilating tubes by means of rings of metal G, G, fastened to the interior of
the hoods immediately below the mouths or openings. The hoods are also
prevented from rising from off the ventilating tubes by the force of the wind
or from any other cause, by fastening with ropes attached to the ends of the
levers H, H, to the ventilating tubes. These levers H, H, also serve for
moving round to any required position the hoods G, G, which is performed by
unfastening the ropes attached to the ends of the levers, drawing the levers
H, H, up into a horizontal position, as shewn in Figure 5, and then moving
the hoods round to the required position by the aid of the levers H, H. E, E,
the hatches; the after hatches of both the fore and the main or after hatchways,
are formed as half hatches, as shewn at E', E'. The mode to be adopted for
using my Invention and improvement for the purpose of ventilating the
interior of ships or vessels is to direct the mouth or opening of the hood of one
of the ventilating tubes towards the wind, so that the wind in meeting the
hood shall cause a current of air to descend the ventilating tube, which will be
distributed to the interior of the vessel for the purpose of drawing off from the

page_text: interior of the vessel the vitiated or foul air. The hood of the other ventilating
tube is placed so that the mouth or opening of the hood will be directed from
the wind, so that the wind will draw a continued current of air through the
ventilating tube from the interior of the vessel.
Having now described the nature and object of my Invention and improve-
ment, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details of my Invention,
as herein-before described; but what I do claim is the mode of ventilating the
interior of ships and other vessels by means of two or more tubes or pipes,
composed of zinc or other metal, or other materials, passing through the
hatchways or the deck of such vessels, provided with movable and adjustable
hoods, and producing inward and outward currents of air, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gillmore, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
interior of the vessel the vitiated or foul air. The hood of the other ventilating
tube is placed so that the mouth or opening of the hood will be directed from
the wind, so that the wind will draw a continued current of air through the
ventilating tube from the interior of the vessel.
Having now described the nature and object of my Invention and improve-
ment, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details of my Invention,
as herein-before described; but what I do claim is the mode of ventilating the
interior of ships and other vessels by means of two or more tubes or pipes,
composed of zinc or other metal, or other materials, passing through the
hatchways or the deck of such vessels, provided with movable and adjustable
hoods, and producing inward and outward currents of air, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gillmore, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
JOHN (L.s.) GILMORE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid John Gilmore came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
Jing to the taxon of the Statuto mado for that purpose