IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND PURIFYING SEWERS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Parker, of Bow, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND
PURIFYING SEWERS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED
PURPOSES."
FOR THOSE
Sealed the 9th June 1876, and dated the 17th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Parker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1875.
I, ROBERT PARKER, of Bow, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTI-
LATING AND PURIFYING SEWERS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THOSE
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved mode of and combination of
apparatus for ventilating and purifying sewers, and consists in the
employment over a shaft or pipe communicating with the sewer of a
cowl constructed in such a manner as that the opening or orifice of the
same shall be made to be in a more or less direct line with the prevailing
:

page_text: atmospheric current or wind, such cowl being capable of being actuated
by the atmospheric current by means of a resisting and guiding vane or
wind board placed posteriorly instead of being placed anteriorly to the
orifice of the cowl, whereby the current of air which is caused to impinge
against its concave surface or orifice will be conducted into such shaft
or pipe for the purpose of mixing with the gases, and thus purifying
and diluting the same, the gases so purified and diluted being allowed
to escape from the sewer through ventilating gratings or outlets situate
in the centre of the roadway or elsewhere, as is well understood. In
combination with this arrangement I apply to the interior or other
convenient part of the ordinary or other ventilating grating a trap or
flap hinged or pivotted centrally or in a position intermediate between
its two ends in such a manner as that one end of the trap shall be
caused to preponderate (either by being weighted or by suitably propor-
tioning the distance between the two ends and the fulcrum or otherwise)
and maintain the opposite end in contact with a suitable stop or pro-
jection whereby the emission of vapours or gases is prevented.
When it is required to opened the ventilating trap or flap it is simply
necessary to turn the same upon its pivot by the insertion of a rod or
"other convenient instrument between the bars of the grating, when the
trap or flap will assume a a vertical or inclined position, in which it it
will be maintained until it is replaced in its normal position by hand or
otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Parker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PARKER, of Bow, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Parker, Her special license
that I, the said Robert Parker, my executors, administrators, and
'assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Parker, my executors,

page_text: .
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
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VENTILATING AND PURIFYING SEWERS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED For.
THOSE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Parker, my executors or administrators, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Parker, 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 following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say-
My said Invention relates to an improved mode of and combination of
apparatus for ventilating and purifying sewers, and it consists in the
employment over a shaft, drain, flue, or pipe communicating with the
sewer of a cowl constructed in such a manner that the conducting
surface or orifice of the same shall be in a more or less direct line with
the prevailing atmospheric current or wind, whereby the current of
air which is thus caused to impinge against such conducting surface
or orifice will be directed into the said shaft, drain, flue, or pipe for the
purpose of mixing with the gases, and thereby purifying and diluting
the same, the gases so purified and diluted being allowed to escape from
the sewer through ventilating gratings or outlets situate in the centre of
the roadway or elsewhere, as found practicable. In combination with
this arrangement, I also employ ventilating gratings, each fitted at its
interior or any other convenient part with a strap or flap, which is
hinged or pivotted centrally or in a position intermediate between its two
ends in such a manner that one end of the trap shall be caused to pre-
ponderate, either by being weighted or by suitably proportioning the
distances between the two ends and the fulcrum, and maintain the

page_text: opposite end normally in contact with a suitable stop or projection.
whereby the emission of vapors or gases will be prevented.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a vertical section of a cowl
employed. in carrying out my Invention; and Figure 2 is a corresponding
plan of the same.
Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views drawn to a reduced scale illus-
trating two modifications of the application to a sewer of a cowl
constructed in the manner shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 5 represents a longitudinal section of the improved ventilating
grating.
Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7 a transverse section of the same, both
corresponding to Figure 5.
Figure 8 is a vertical section drawn to a reduced scale, illustrating
the application over the shaft of a sewer of the grating shewn in Figures
5, 6, and 7.
The details of the cowl may be greatly varied whilst still retaining
the principle of causing its conducting surface or orifice to be in a more
or less direct line with the prevailing atmospheric current or wind, but
the arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 has been found. conve-
nient in practice. a is the shaft or body of the cowl provided with a's
footstep bearing b, and with a guide c for the reception of a spindle d,
which carries at its upper end the concave rotating plate e for receiving
the current of air, and conducting it into the shaft a.
.
The concave surface of the plate e is maintained normally in a line
with the prevailing atmospheric current or wind by means of a resisting
and grinding vane or windboard ƒ placed posteriorly to the concave
surface of the plate e, as shewn, in lieu of anteriorly to the same, and
actuated by the atmospheric current or wind. A cowl constructed in
this manner is placed over a shaft, drain, flue, or pipe g, Figures 3 and 4,
communicating with a sewer h, either directly, as in the arrangement,
Figure 3, or by the intervention of a connecting drain, flue, or pipe i, as

page_text: in the modification, Figure 4. The current of air admitted, as before
mentioned, is conducted into the sewer h, and becomes mixed with the
gases therein, thereby purifying and diluting such gases, the gases so puri-
fied and diluted being allowed to escape from the sewer by a drain, flue,
pipe, or shaft, Figure 8, situate beneath the centre of the roadway or
elsewhere, as desired, through ventilating gratings or outlets, which may
be either of the ordinary description, or as preferred, and shewn at ɩ, in
Figure 8, of my improved construction, illustrated by Figures 5, 6, and
7 of my Drawings, and next berein-after described. This grating
consists of a frame or body 1, provided with the usual cross bars P,
forming the grating proper, below which I arrange a trap or flap m,
which is hinged or pivotted at n, and weighted at its end o, so as to
cause that end to preponderate and maintain the opposite end p in
contact with a stop or projection q, thereby preventing the emission of
vapors or gases.
When it is required to open the trap m it is simply necessary to turn
the same upon its pivot or fulcrum n, by the insertion of a rod or other
convenient instrument between the bars of the grating, when the trap
will assume an inclined position, resting against a stop ", as indicated
by the dotted lines in Figures 5 and 8, in which position it will be
maintained by means of the stop and the preponderance of the end o,
until it is replaced in its normal position by hand or otherwise.
If desired the fulcrum n may be arranged centrally or placed in a
position intermediate between the centre and the end p of the trap in
lieu of in a position intermediate between the centre and the end o of
the trap, as indicated in the Drawings, in order to admit of the weight
at the end o being either diminished or wholly dispensed with, but the
arrangement illustrated in the Drawings is preferred, the smaller radius
of the arc described by the trap enabling the depth of the body below
the bars to be reduced, whereby economy in space and in the weight
of the grating is effected.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention and in what manner the same is or may be used
or 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, ventilating
and purifying sewers by the employment over a shaft, drain, flue, or pipe

page_text: communicating with the sewer of a cowl constructed in such a manner
that the conducting surface or orifice of the same shall be in a line with
the prevailing atmospheric current or wind, in combination or not with
ventilating gratings or outlets fitted with hinged or pivotted traps or
flaps, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Parker, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of June.
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.