Improvements in the Construction of Houses and other like Buildings.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Jan., 1891'
Complete Specification Left, 10th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 19th Dec., 1891
PROVISIONAL DI DUITIVATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Houses and other like
Buildings.
I, EDMOND ALFRED GOUPIL, of 14, Rue de Rivoli, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for object the construction of houses in such a manner that
the interior thereof shall be warmed and ventilated under certain conditions of
economy and hygiene which have not hitherto been realised.
These results are obtained by the improvements hereinafter described which
relate to the arrangement of the heating apparatus and to the nature of the
materials employed in the construction of the walls.
The heating apparatuses employed with my system are so arranged as to utilize
the heat lost by the ordinary grates and chimneys to warm the apartments in which
the grates and chimneys are placed.
I preferably employ a cooking stove or grate of the most elementary description
comprising a fire-place for the coal and an oven. The fire-place and the smoke
pipe are enclosed in a casing of sheet metal forming a heating chamber reaching
from the ground almost to the ceiling and divided into two compartments by a
vertical partition provided with a door which can be opened and closed as desired.
This chamber which can be single or double according as it is desired to heat or
ventilate opens at the bottom into channels communicating with the lower part of
the adjoining rooms to be heated and a pipe passing outside through the thickness
of the flooring which terminates in air-passages over the side of the uprights of the
window.
From above this chamber lead other channels communicating with adjoining
rooms to be heated and a passage extending outside through pipes running along
the cornices of the ceiling.
With this arrangement all the rooms of an apartment can be warmed or the air
therein can be replaced by air already warmed.
In fact with a single draught register or ventilator provided with a knob or
handle all the openings and closings can be effected simultaneously. If the
channels leading outside be kept closed and the door of the central partition be
opened, the air from the bottom of the adjoining room will be drawn through the
lower opening of the heating chamber, will become heated, will rise and be ejected
through the upper opening of the said chamber at the top of the adjoining room to
be warned.
If, on the other hand, the partition be closed and the four other orifices be
opened, their arrangement is such that all the vitiated air from the adjoining room
is drawn into one of the two juxtaposed heating chambers through the lower orifice
and delivered outside through the upper orifice either by means of special flues or
by being directly discharged into the chimney at the side of the smoke-pipe. At
the same time the channels opening into the lower pipe of the other chamber
conduct fresh air drawn from the outside and which in turn becomes warmed, rises
and is projected into the adjoining room where it replaces the vitiated air, and thus
effects the ventilation.
In the passage of the fresh air drawn in from outside I interpose in a suitable
part of the heating chamber an air filter, consisting of a box provided with a
central hole over the edges of which is stretched a piece of fabric impregnated with
water containing an antiseptic. Owing to this arrangement of air filter provided with

page_text: microbe destroying substance the air becomes filtered and moistened and purified
from all injurious miasmatic elements, deleterious gases etc.
But it is not sufficient to make use of heating apparatuses in such a manner as to
furnish ample warmth and regular ventilation. To maintain this condition and an
uniform distribution of warmth it is indispensable that the walls and partitions of
the house should be made so that they will not allow the passage through them of
air and heat. Such is the object of that part of my improvements which more
particularly concern the materials of construction.
These materials, according to my invention, are
1. Plaster slabs covered with cement.
2. Wooden panels covered with cement or with beton and cement.
3. Panels of cement and iron or of beton, cement and iron.
4. Panels of plaster and iron with or without the addition of cement.
5. Panels of these various kinds rendered antiseptic, incorruptible and incom-
bustible.
These panels may be of various shapes provided they are in all cases
impermeable.
I prefer to make them principally by moulding them with inner or outer
tubular channels or interstices when they are intended for the construction of
thick walls.
For partitions I employ wooden panels covered with cement and composed of
strips or boards in which nails are partially driven so as to form a series of hooks
for holding the layer of beton, applied after the last coating of impermeable
cement.
The wooden panels may be made double, the two parts being held apart in such
a manner as to leave an air space for the circulation of the air and of the heat
from the heating and ventilating apparatus herein before described.
Dated the 12th day of January 1891.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Houses and other like
Buildings.
1, EDMOND ALFRED GOUPIL, of 14 Rue de Rivoli, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
n and by the following statement:―
My invention relates to the construction of houses and other like buildings, to
the materials employed therefor, to the heating and to the ventilation with hot and
cold air of such buildings, and to the filtration and medicamental saturation of the
air supplied to such buildings.
The result of these improvements is an economical and hygienic house.
I will describe the various arrangements in succession.
Construction. In the construction of the economic house I form the angles and
the cross beams of angle irons; the door and window posts or side frames are of
wood but. extend from the floor to the ceiling to support the cross-beams and on
these frames are applied smaller angle irons the interior or concavity of the angle
of which is turned towards the house.
It is in these concavities and around the exterior of the angle irons that the
building materials are applied.
Materials and Construction.-The iron or iron and wood skeleton or carcase can
be filled in with impermeable slabs or blocks of plaster similar to ordinary plaster
tiles or slabs except that when they are setting in the mould, nails a Figure 1 with
turned up ends are embedded in the plaster Ä at a distance of about 25% apart.

page_text: Or other similar fixing devices may be employed having half their length held in
the plaster and leaving a certain number of iron projections on the tiles.
When the slabs have been placed in position a layer of cement B, Figure 2, is
applied, which being held by the projections will not become detached from
the slabs.
To ensure protection from cold these impermeable fillings can be lined inside
either with ordinary plaster slabs or tiles C, Figure 3, forming a lining-partition
and leaving an intervening space D, or with a wainscoting of strips of parquetry
also leaving a space to form a cushion of air.
I may employ solely strips of parquetry and secure cement thereto by means of
turned up nails or of lattice-work applied against the said strips.
Heating. The heating throughout of a dwelling-house can be effected by
utilizing the waste heat from the cooking-stove F placed in the house as shewn in
Figure 4 and shewn in separate views in Figures 5 and 6. For this purpose I
arrange in the dining room a distributing apparatus E constructed in such a
manner that by a simple movement of the lever b air from the apartment can be
caused to enter its lower part through the opening c or air from outside can be
caused to enter the said part through the pipe d as required.
The air passes through the pipe e around the parts of the fire-place which are
not utilized for heating the ovens.
Thence it returns into the upper part of the distributor E through the pipe f
and is discharged into the apartment through a mouth at the upper part of the
said distributor.
Heating apparatus for rooms can be constructed so as to present all the arrange-
ments of the distributor which has just been described and the use of which will
be presently described under the heading "Ventilation."
In these apparatuses the fire place consists of a hermetically closed box in which
the firing instead of being effected at the bottom takes place entirely at the top
of the said fire place, which top is provided with wings. This fire place has its
inlet for the air which supports combustion opening into the pipe bringing air from
the outside, and its combustion pipe passes through the heating chamber to the
chimney.
The fire place is, in fact, arranged in a sheet iron casing constituting the heating
chamber, which is provided with all the hereinbefore described parts for effecting
the distribution. This allows the heating apparatus as well as the distributor to
be used for heating, for ventilating with hot or cold air, for filtering the air and
for saturating the same with a medicament as hereinafter described.
Ventilation. The ventilation with hot or cold air is insured for the cooking stove
by means of the distributor E which by simply operating its small flaps or registers
closes the passage of the air from the apartment to the stove and opens the passage
for the outside air. By the same movement of the mechanism the air near the
floor of the apartment can, at this moment, not only be directed towards the stove
to be returned into the apartment, but it can be conducted towards the smoke pipe
to be discharged outside thus giving the air a thermo-syphon movement, the cold
and impure air near the floor of the apartment being discharged outside by the
chimney and the pure and warmed air from the outside being projected towards the
ceiling through the mouth at the top of the apparatus.
Filtration of the Air.-Over the said mouth are placed the air filter and the
saturator, which may constitute particular apparatuses, the draught of which is
produced by a simple lamp for sick-rooms.
The air filter shewn detached in Figure 7 consists of a small box covering the
mouth from which the warm air egresses and adapted to suit any kind of mouth
whether vertical or horizontal. This box is provided with a grated bottom / and
is closed by a hinged grated cover i.
In this box is placed wool (antiseptic or not) divided into small flocks loosely
superposed.
The column of hot air, whether coming from without or within passes through

page_text: this thick bed of wool, which, however, is loose enough to avoid stopping the
draught and which intercepts all the solid and liquid particles with which the air
is impregnated, and with them the microbes of which these particles are the
vehicles.
It is only necessary to remove the bed of wool and throw it in the fire in order
to completely destroy it, and it can be replaced by another.
Saturation of the Air.-The saturator shewn detached in Figure 8 consists of a
trough k having a hole through its centre and adapted to fit over the mouth
(provided with its filter) through which the warm air egresses from the distributor
as shewn in Figure 9; in this trough is placed a small metallic frame m over which
is placed a perforated covering n of spongy fabric. The antiseptic liquid is poured
into the trough and is imbibed by the covering n so that the air in passing through
the covering becomes impregnated with the liquid.
All these arrangements, that is to say, the ventilating, filtering and saturating
apparatuses are applied to heating apparatuses for rooms.
The ventilation with cold air is effected by the distributor and the heating
apparatus by placing in the heating chamber of the latter or in a compartment in
the former a small niche adapted to receive a lamp which being located in the
path traversed by the air going from the lower part of the room to the chimney,
causes a sufficient draught to carry off this impure air, which is replaced by pure
air drawn from outside, and delivered into the room through the mouth or orifice
at the top of the distributor or of the heating apparatus.
The sides may be composed simply of impermeable tiles and I would recommend
that the wall of impermeable tiles should be lined with strips of parquetry or with
ordinary plaster slabs leaving an intermediate space forming a cushion of air.
In this case the heating and the ventilation would be effected through the walls,
simply by making a hole in the top of one room opening into the space in the
wall and another hole at the top of the wall of the room above forming a
passage for the heated air from the said space into the atmosphere and making an
air hole at the bottom of and opening from the wall space into the latter room
and a hole at the bottom of the wall of the room beneath forming a passage
for the fresh cold air from outside into the wall space.
Double walls may thus separate the rooms on the same floor and openings made
above and below give passage to the air from one room into the other.
For houses having single walls a double caisson or coffer of wood provided
with four orifices arranged so as to insure the circulation of the warm and cold
air can be employed in order to effect the heating and ventilation of the upper
floors.
Air holes which are insonorous, that is to say, which are provided with concave
reflectors to throw back sound are employed therein, as in the single walls of
houses in which it is desired to pass air for heating and ventilation from one room
to another and at the same time to intercept sound.
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 :-
The herein before described improvements in the construction of economic houses,
such improvements including the materials employed in combination with the
system of heating, of ventilating with warm and cold air as well as the filtration
and medicamental saturation of the air.
Dad 10L 1
1001
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.