CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTIN- GUISHING FIRE, AND IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WEARE, of Angel Court, Throgmorton Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Clock and Watch Manufacturer, 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 Nineteenth day of June, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Weare, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Robert Weare, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Robert Weare, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at
any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTIN-
GUISHING FIRE, AND IN GALVANIC BATTERIES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Robert Weare, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Weare, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the present instrument in writing, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My improvements in the means and apparatus of extinguishing fire have
for their object,-
First, a mode of obtaining and applying carbonic acid gas, to be applied in
a manner hereafter to be described, for extinguishing fires in ships and other
vessels.
Secondly, the application of the products of the materials employed in the
manufacture of such gas to the construction and working of galvanic or
calcium batteries. And,
Thirdly, my improvements relate to the mode of constructing dry pile
batterics.
And in order that the same may be understood, and readily carried into
effect, I will proceed, in the first place, to describe the manner in which I
propose to extinguish fires in ships and other vessels, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which similar letters denote corresponding
parts in the several Figures relating thereto.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of my apparatus for
producing carbonic acid gas for extinguishing fires, and also chloride of
calcium for the construction and working of galvanic or calcium batteries.
a, a, Figure 1, represents a rectangular or oblong box made of wood or other
suitable material, and lined with a solution of india rubber or other material
capable of resisting the action of acids, or the same may be made of iron
enamelled on the top or in any other convenient and suitable place. Adjoining
the vessel a there is a vessel b, which is made to communicate with the vessel
a by means of a pipe and stopcock c. d is a vertical spindle provided at the
upper end with a handle or winch, and at the lower end with one or more
projecting arms composed of ribs or perforated plates, so as to form an
adjitator for the mixture contained in the upper vessel b. The vessel a is
divided into two compartments, as shown at e. The upper part of the com-
partment e is perforated with a number of holes, as shewn at Figures 1 and 2,
which latter represents a transverse section of the apparatus taken through
the line p, p, of Figure 1, Figure 3 being a plan of Figure 1. From the
compartment e there is a pipe g, which may be made to proceed along the

page_text: under side of the decks and into the holds of the ship. The pipe g is also to be
provided in various places with short branch pipes or outlets with stop valves,
the rods and levers of which may be made to proceed to any convenient part of
the ship, so as to be readily got at in case of a fire breaking out. I would
remark, that in place of the pipe 9 being made to proceed along the under
sides of the deck, as described, a leather or gutta percha hose may be
attached to the aforesaid pipe 9, in the same manner as such pipes are now
attached to fire engines. The mode of working and action of the apparatus
is simply as follows:-A quantity of muriatic acid is placed in the bottom of
the vessel a, and in the vessel b there is placed a solution of whiting, chalk,
lime, marble, or other suitable carbonaceous matter of about the consistency
of cream. I would remark that as the apparatus above described may be
placed, for instance, below the after part of the deck, or in any other part of
the ship where it might be exposed to cold, that I prefer the solution in the
vessel to be made with a saturated solution of chloride of calcium, which
will not be so liable to freeze as if made with water. The calcium and acid
may either be kept in carboys, or placed in the apparatus just described, in
which case every thing would be ready for action. Presuming a fire to break
out, and its locality ascertained, the first thing to be done would be to close
or partially close the hatchways and other openings leading to that compart-
ment of the ship in which the fire had taken place, open the stop valvo
leading to such compartment, and then turn round the agitator d; after which
the stopcock c may be opened, and the solution of whiting let into the vessel a
containing the muriatic acid. The result of the amalgamation would be a
rapid and instantaneous generation of carbonic acid gas, which in a short time
would fill the hold of the ship, and force its way between the packages
forming the cargo. Since carbonic acid gas is considerably heavier than
atmospheric air, the latter would be forced out through the partially closed
hatchway, and the gas would supply its place, and effectually extinguish a fire
to which it would be next to impossible to convey water. I would remark
that pumps, wind sails, or other suitable apparatus may be attached to the
ship for removing the gas, if necessary, after it had been ascertained that the
fire was extinguished. I also propose, in cases where the cargo is of a very
combustible nature, to charge those parts of the ship containing it, and also
the
if deemed necessary, with carbonic acid gas previous to leaving port.
cargo,
The magazines of ships may also be charged in the same manner when not in
usc, but more especially when symtoms of fire in the ship have been discovered.
Note. On the under side of the main pipe g there is a perforated plate h,
the object of which, and also the perforations in the side of the compartment

page_text: e is to exclude as much as possible the aqueous or liquid portions of the
gas from passing through the pipe g. f. f, are tubes of gutta percha or
other material capable of resisting the action of the acid, and are intended
to convey the liquid portion of the gas as it falls down in the compartment e
back again to the compartment a, as will be understood. As a further
preventative to the acid being carried along the pipe g, such pipe may be
perforated for a certain distance, and made to pass through another pipe g¹,
as shewn at Figure 4, in which case the acid would pass through the per-
forations into the larger pipe g', from which it could be conveyed by a small
pipe g back again to the vessel a. The residue or solution formed in the
vessel a by the mixture of whiting and muriatic acid, being chloride of calcium,
may be removed by opening the stopcock i, and stowed away in the empty
carboys, and afterwards purified by crystallization, when it will be ready for
use, and may be applied for making any constant battery, which forms the
second part of my Invention, and is as follows; that is to say:-
In constructing a large battery I prepare a wood box trough k of the
required dimensions, and line it with calico well saturated with a solution of
india rubber. The positive and negative plates of the battery are then
arranged in pairs, as shewn at Figures 5, 6, and 7, Figure 5 being a longi-
tudinal sectional elevation; Figure 6, a transverse section; and Figure 7, a
plan, in which Figures it will be seen that the edges of the plates are made to
rest upon two wood blocks 4, 7, of about half an inch thick more or less. The
space m between the lower edges of the plates and the bottom of the box or
trough is then filled up with crystallized calcium, and the spaces between the
plates are filled with a mixture of sand and sponge cuttings, of cork, felt, or
other suitable porous substance (which I prefer to be previously well washed
in distilled water) mixed with crystallized calcium, or the same may be
saturated with chloride of calcium. The action of this battery, therefore,
depends upon the presence of calcium, which, having such a strong affinity
for aqueous vapour, absorbs that portion of the atmosphere to an extent which
I find to be sufficient to keep up a constant battery. I would remark that I
prefer the copper plates of the battery to be electrotyped previous to being
used, the object being to produce a granulated surface; which gives off
electricity more freely than a smooth one. Such plates may be produced by
depositing copper upon cardboard or strong sheets of paper or other suitable
material.
My improvements in batteries also relate to the construction of dry pile
batteries, a description of which will be found in the Specification of a Patent
granted to me on the Third July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-

page_text: seven, wherein it will be seen that I employ glass tubes for containing the
battery pile. I propose, however, to employ tubes of gutta percha in the
following manner: -I take sheets of paper, and render one side or surface
thereof metalic by rubbing such surface with plumbago, as described in my
former Patent. I also take any metalic paper, such as the platinum, gold,
silver, or other suitable metal, observing that the surfaces are well burnished.
In making the battery I take, for instance, one of the sheets of plumbagoed
paper and lay it with its metalic surface upon the metalic surface of one of
the sheets prepared with copper or other metals. I then lay two sheets of
thin paper on the top and back of the plumbagoed paper, and then two more
metalic sheets as before; that is to say, the sheets of metalic paper are laid
face to face in pairs, and piled one pair upon another, with two or more
sheets of paper between each pair. The sheets so prepared and piled one
upon another are then placed in a suitable punching machine, and punched
out in the form of discs, and at the same time forced into a gutta percha
tube. The tubes so prepared are arranged as shown at Figure 8, which
represents three such tubes filled in the manner herein-before described, and
connected together at the ends by screw caps, which may afterwards be
covered with a solution of gutta percha, or the batteries may be made in one
continuous length. I would remark that any of the metals suitable for and
capable of exciting a galvanic current may be employed in the same manner.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details herein-before described as long as the peculiar character
of either part of my Invention be retained. I would also have it understood
that I do not claim as my Invention the application of carbonic acid gas
for extinguishing fires generally, as its properties as a fire annihilator are well
known and understood. But what I claim is,-
First, the mode of extinguishing fires in ships and other vessels, together
with the apparatus, as berein-before described.
Secondly, I claim the application of an apparatus, as herein-before
or analogous to that herein-before described, to warehouses, public buildings,
or dwelling houses, which may be in most cases employed for putting out a
fire when first discovered.
Thirdly, I claim the construction of calcium and dry pile batteries as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Weare, have hereunto set my
One thousand eight
hand and seal, this
clay of
hundred and fifty
ROBERT (L.s.) WEARE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Robert Weare came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.