IMPROVEMENTS IN CHIMNEY CAPS OR TERMINALS AND WIND GUARDS."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Reeves Cox, of No. 19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHIMNEY CAPS OR TERMINALS AND WIND GUARDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Reeves Cox
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.
on the 2nd April 1874.
I, RICHARD REEVES Cox, of No. 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, London,
5 Merchant, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CHIMNEY CAPS OR TERMINALS AND WIND GUARDS," to be as
follows:-
I construct chimney caps or terminals and wind guards and such like
contrivances for facilitating the egress of smoke and preventing down-
drafts in the following manner :-On the top of the tube or shaft, which
may be of metal, terra cotta, earthenware, or other suitable material, I
mount and fix two or more conical rings (when the shape of the tube or
$
:

page_text: shaft is round), one higher than the other, having a space between them
forming louvres for the escape of the smoke, and I surmount the whole
with a cap or inverted basin-like cover, having a truncated conc-like or
conical centre body rising thereform, and which I prefer to surround by
a ring or flange. This cap is fitted on a central supporting and guiding
tube, and it may also have several other guides suitably arranged around
the rim or flange, so as to be free to move up and down easily. Within
the central guiding tube may be placed a spiral spring of only sufficient
strength, when extended, to support its weight, and which, when the
wind blows with considerable force, by reason of the resolution of the
force of the wind, whether blowing horizontally or more or less down-
ward, it will drive the cap down near to the top conical ring (or
whatever its shape on the plan may be if it is not circular), and deflect
the wind, and prevent a downdraft or a current entering the chimney.
For the purpose of guiding the cap in its vertical movement there
may be, say, three studs or tubes projecting upwards from the upper
conical ring surmounting the tube or shaft, and these may enter and
work in corresponding tubes soldered or secured at their lower end to
the flange of the conical cap or cover pcice, the upper end of cach tube
being closed.. Fine spiral springs may be introduced, within, them, and
friction rollers may be attached to cach, so that any friction that would
be produced by any side force would be reduced or removed..
Also for the purpose of bringing the cap close down upon the top
conical ring with rapidity, when the wind is squally or is blowing with
considerable force in gusts, I prefer to employ an articulated or hinged
vane capable of revolving so as to keep its face continually to the wind,
and it may be mounted upon or be attached to the top of the vertically
moving cap or cover; or, by preference, it may be fixed to upright rods
or standards, and by means of a connecting rod and arms attached
thereto and carried downward, the deflection or yielding of the vane will
by the corresponding action, through the rod and lever arms,, draw down
or force down the cover or cap against the resistance of the spring or

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Reeves Cox in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 1st October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD.
REEVES Cox, of No.. 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, London, Merchant,,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-seventlı
year of Her reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Richard Reeves Cox, Her special licence that;
I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and 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
CHIMNEY CAPS OR TERMINALS AND WIND GUARDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, my executors or adminis-
trators; by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, 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, and the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings:-
I construct chimney caps or terminals and wind guards and such like
contrivances for facilitating the egress of smoke and preventing down-
drafts in the following manner :-On the top of the tube or shaft, which
may be of metal, terra cotta, earthenware, or other suitable material, I
mount and fix two or more conical rings (when the shape of the tube.or
shaft is round), one higher than the other, having a space between them

page_text: forming louvres for the escape of the smoke, and I surmount the whole
with a cap or inverted basin-like cover, having a truncated conc-like or
conical centre body rising therefrom, and which I prefer to surround by
a ring or flange. This cap is fitted on a central supporting and guiding
tube, and it may also have several other guides suitably arranged around
the rim or flange, so as to be free to move up and down casily. Within
the central guiding tube may be placed a spiral spring of only sufficient,
strength, when extended, to support its weight, and which, when the
wind blows with considerable force, by reason of the resolution of the
force of tlie wind, whether blowing horizontally or more or less down-
ward, it will drive the cap down near to the top conical ring (or whatever
its shape on the plan may be if it is not circular), and deflect the wind,
and prevent a down draft or a current entering the chimney.
For the purpose of guiding the cap in its vertical movement thero
may be, say, three studs or tubes projecting upwards from the upper.
conical ring surmounting the tube or shaft, and these may enter and
work in corresponding tubes soldered or secured at their lower end to
the flange of the conical cap or cover piece, the upper end of each tube-
being closed. Fine spiral springs may be introduced within them, and
friction rollers may be attached to cach, so that any friction that would
be produced by any side force would be reduced or removed.
Also for the purpose of bringing the cap close down upon the top
conical ring with rapidity, when the wind is squally or is blowing with
considerable force in gusts, I prefer to employ an articulated or hinged
vane capable of revolving, so as to keep its face constantly to the wind,
and it may be mounted upon or be attached to the top of the vertically
moving cap or cover; or, by preference, it may be fixed to upright rods
or standards, and by means of a connecting rod and arms attached
thereto and carried downward, the deflection or yielding of the vane will
by the corresponding action through the rod and lever arms draw down.
or force down the cover or cap against the resistance of the spring or
springs. Thus I combine a series of several conical rings or louvres.
with a vertically moving cap or cover, which may be. of a conical or any
other suitable shape surmounting the whole, which latter is suitably.
guided and suspended, or maintained open or raised by a spring or
springs, as described, and capable of being depressed or forced down.
upon the otherwise open upper end of the shaft or chimney pot, and the
conical or other shaped louvres fitted thercon or surmounting it...

page_text: An articulated or hinged vane or other form of wind director or
actuator may be mounted either upon the cap or cover piece or úpon à
frame, connected with the fixed portions of the apparatus or surmounting
it; or the vertically moving cap or cover with the vane or wind director
may be connected together, and the whole be framed together and
mounted upon a bottom ring plate, and may be supported by and free to
revolve upon an annular guide or a ring flanch projecting around the
bottom louvre, and this revolving portion together with a semicircular
screen or guard plate projecting downwards and fitted or fixed to and
depending from the inside of the cap or cover is carried round or revolves
with the change of direction of the wind, and revolving within the shaft
and the annular bevilled or conical rings forming the louvres will direct
the force of the wind in aid of the production of an upward current and
check any down draught.
:
In some cases an inclined and shovel-like vane mounted upon the .top
of the apparatus upon a hinged joint, allowing a vertical motion, and
having at its back and lower end a short tail piece or lever, which in
turn is connected to a jointed rod, or the one end of a fixed chain acts
upon the cap or cover therethrough, and will draw it down by reason of
the increased force of the wind causing the shovel-like vane piece to rise
from the nearly horizontal angle to an approximately vertical position,
and this arrangement may also be combined with the free rotating
arrangement of the circular movement of the cap or cover and its
supporting frame.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings I have shown some of the
modes in which I prefer to put my Invention into practical use; but
there are other variations and modifications in the shape and configuration
of the various parts of the apparatus, as also as to the mode of combining
and working the parts together; and although I prefer in most cases
and for many of the forms or shapes and the arrangements of the parts.
of the apparatus to use and employ sheet zinc, or galvanized iron, or
other suitable metal for the purpose, other materials may be substituted,
more especially when they are required to be employed in aid of the
production of architectural effects, more particularly for the shafts or
tubular bodies of fluc or chimney terminals. I have therefore in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings confined myself to the illustration of
my present Invention to such forms and arrangements of parts as can
be more readily combined together for producing the apparatus

page_text: 1
accordance with the principies and moues or construction crein-Dcioro
described.
Figure 1 is an elevational view of a zinc or galvanized circular
chimney top or shaft, with a cap or cover mounted upon three upright rods
as guides, and with a central guide tube of larger diameter containing a
spiral spring protected from the weather and from the deposit of soot,
and Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view
of Figures 1 and 2, Figures 4. being a plan of Figure 3, showing the
base.
Figure 5 is an elevation partly in section of a chimney top or terminal of
octagonal form, having three correspondingly shaped fixed conical rings.
The surmounting cap or cover is modified in shape, and mounted upon
and carried by three uprights or guides, cach having a spiral spring
surrounding it contained within a tubular case to protect the spiral
spring within it, and having a means of protecting and adjusting. The
octagonal shaft may be of terra cotta or other suitable material. Figure 6
is the sectional plan view of Figure 5.
Figure 7 is an elevation partly in section of a similar arrangement, as
far as the general mechanical arrangement is concerned, except that
tliere arc three C springs substituted for the spiral springs shown in the
previous views; Figure 8 is a plan of Figure 7.
Figure 9 is a vertical elevational view partly in section of an octagonal
shaft having four louvres, the cap piece being surmounted by a vane or
wind director, an internal half-round screen rotating freely with the
louvres upon the shaft, and protecting the windward side thereof;
Figure 10 is a plan view of Figure 9.
Figure 11 is a modification of Figure 9, showing the weather vane,
rotating the tubular screen, working a ball joint while the louvres are
stationary, and Figure 12 is a plan of Figure 11.
Figure 13, 14, &c., are modifications of previously illustrated views of
the Invention, which will be readily understood on reference thereto.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be carried into effect, and having illustrated in
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings some of the most convenient
modes or methods in which the same may be employed and the apparatus
constructed and used, I wish it to be understood that I am aware that

page_text: there is nothing new in the use or employment of fixed conical rings or
louvres, whether of round, square, or other form on chimney tops,.pots,
or terminals, and I do not intend hereby to make any claim for such
when used or employed alone, or when employed in conjunction with
any other contrivance or apparatus than the vertically movable (or
rotating and vertically moving) cap or cover piece, as herein described;
or the cap or cover piece and the wind screen fitted and working freely
within the shaft (or tube) and the louvres, or within the louvres alone,
as herein set forth; but what I claim is,―
First. The improvements in chimney caps or terminals and wind
guards, as herein described.
Secondly. The mode or method of constructing chimney caps or
chimney pots or terminals for chimneys, and wind guards for the same,
as herein set forth and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
°
Thirdly. The combination of the movable cap or cover with the
revolving wind screen working freely within the fixed louvres, or when
such screen is fitted within and forms a part of the revolving cap and
louvres (when they are thus combined), and rotate freely together on
the top of the shaft or chimney tube (on which they are mounted), as
herein described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Reeves Cox, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord 1871.
RICHARD REEVES COX. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. H. M. SMITH,
Assistant to Mr. W. Smith, C.E.,
(Consulting Engineer),
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, W.C.