IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS FOR AND MODE OF WARMING AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," No. 100, Fleet Street, in the City of London, American Bar-
rister-at-Law, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS FOR
AND MODE OF WARMING AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS."-A communication
from abroad by Edward Young Robbins, of Cincinnati, Ohio, United
States.
Sealed the 28th November 1862, and dated the 1st October 1862.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tion, on the 1st October 1862, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 100, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, American Barrister-at-Law, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS FOR AND MODE OF WARKING AND VENTILATING BUILDINGS," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that it is a communication to me from abroad by Edward Young
Robbins, of Cincinati, Ohio, United States.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Haseltine, do hereby declare that
the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully describes
and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
(that is to say):-
The nature of my Invention consists, mainly, in an arrangement for
warming to a moderate and pleasant degree the floor and lower part of
the walls when necessary, in connection with an arrangement for the
admission and general diffusion at or near the floor of air, warmed only to
the temperature at which it is wanted for respiration (say fifty or fifty-five
degrees, more or less) by being made to pass in contact with a very large
non-metallic warming surface, kept at a moderate temperature, a tempe-
rature not higher than that to which nature warms the earth's surface in
summer. This fresh air being admitted at a temperature a little lower than
the general temperature of the air in the room, will remain in the lower
part of the room where it is wanted for respiration, and not ascend at once
to the ceiling (where it can neither be breathed nor serve for warming)
as is the case with the highly heated air from steam pipes and hot water
pipes, as well as from furnaces and stoves, thus wasting the heat upon the
ceiling and upper parts of the room, and forcing the foul air (which should
be the lightest air in the room and rise uppermost) downward to be re-
inhaled.
To effect this, I place, what for brevity I call the hot-air chamber (or
reservoir of heat) immediately beneath the floor, extending under the entire
floor or a greater part of it, and also when necessary extending upward
around the lower part of the walls twelve or eighteen inches from the floor
or as high as may be required, depending upon the nature and use of the
room, and the amount of heat and ventilation required. This hot air
chamber, which may be two or three inches in depth, more or less, and
as long and wide usually as the room itself is bounded above by the floor,
and below by a surface of lath and plaster, or of tiles, or other non-metallic
material.
When the hot air chamber or reservoir of heat is continued upward into or
against the walls of the room, it may be made either one continuous chamber
with that beneath the floor, or it may be separate from it. Thus the heat is
distributed beneath the entire floor or the greater part of it, and also around
the walls and the surfaces of the floor and lower part of the walls become the
warming surfaces of the room. The hot-air chamber is heated either by hot-

page_text: water pipes or by steam pipes placed within it, and running from side to side
at a distance of two or three feet from each other, more or less (depending
upon the size of the pipes, and the degree of heat required). Or, instead of
the hot air chamber being heated by hot air pipes or steam pipes placed within
it, it may be heated by hot air from a furnace or from coils of steam pipes or
hot water pipes in the basement or any lower room, being thrown into it
through pipes or flues commonly used for the conduction of such air.
The air in the hot-air chamber has no communication with the air in the
room, as it is not intended for breathing. But as the heat from the hot air
chamber is not only conducted or transmitted upward and inward warming the
floor and inner surface of the walls, but also downward and outward (which
latter would be in a great degree lost) I construct immediately below, and
around this hot air chamber, another chamber, which for convenience may be
called the fresh air chamber, two or three inches in depth, more or less, into
which fresh air from without is introduced through air ducts. This fresh air
circulating against the lower and outer boundary of the hot air chamber becomes
moderately warmed, and rising enters the room through a perforated skirting
board in a slit extending around the lower part of the room so as to diffuso the
fresh air on its entrance as much as possible through the room.
In churches and school-houses, and other crowded rooms, the fresh air
should also be made to enter under seats and at other convenient places.
Openings should be made communicating with channels from the ceiling or
upper part of the room, for conducting off the foul air.
When more rapid ventilation is required, a fan or air pump driven by steam,
wind, or water may be used in force in the fresh air, and expel the foul air.
The following is a description of my apparatus as illustrated by the accom-
panying Drawing.
A, Fig. 1, represents a vertical section of a room H, being the skirting or
baseboard around the lower part of the walls, the floor being represented by
the double line between B and H. Immediately beneath the floor is the hot-
air chamber (or reservoir of heat) B, traversed by hot-water pipes or steam
pipes (or other heating pipes), which are represented in Fig. 1 as being cut at
right angles. A horizontal view of these pipes is given in Fig. 2. Instead of
these pipes being placed within it, this hot air chamber may be heated by hot
ir being thrown into from a furnace, or from coils of hot water or steam pipes
n the cellar or other lower room carried up through ordinary hot air ducts.
In case hot air from a furnace is thrown into the hot air chamber, the floor as
well as the lower boundary of the hot air chamber should of course be made of
acombustible materials. The air in the hot air chamber does not enter the

page_text: room, and has no communication with it, as it is not intended for respiration
but only as a medium for distributing the heat. The lower boundary of this
hot-air chamber, which may be made of lath and plaster or of earthen material,
should be three-quarters of an inch or an inch thick, more or less. Imme-
diately below the hot air chamber is another space C, Fig. 1,) of about the
same depth and horizontal extent, designated as the fresh air chamber. The
fresh air from without is introduced through the air duct E, Fig. 1, and flows
in the direction of the arrows against the warm non-metallic surface of the
lower boundary of the hot air chamber, becomes moderately warmed (say,
to fifty or fifty-five degrees), and rising around the border of the room enters
the room through the perforations in the skirting board D, Fig. 1, or through
a slit oxtending round the room near the floor, as represented at F, Fig. 3; a
portion of the perforated skirting board is represented at K, Fig. 1, and these
perforations may be continued all around the room, or only in two sides
thereof. The space through which the fresh air rises behind the skirting board
to enter the room may be made either by a recess or offset in the wall, as
represented in the Drawing, or by setting the skirting board an inch more or
less in from the wall, or simply by leaving off the plaster behind it, a space of
an inch all around the room being sufficient. The hot air chamber and the
fresh air chamber may be placed entirely above the joists, with supports at
proper distances, which any builder of ordinary judgment can construct, or
they may be placed between the joists, the lath and plaster, or tile boundary
which separates them (represented by the line between B and C), being built
in between the joists midway between the floor and the ceiling of the room
below.
In cases where it is desirable to warm the lower part of the walls as
well as the floor, the hot-air chamber may be continued up within or against
the walls, as represented in Fig. 8. The pipes next to the walls should be
made larger than those under the middle parts of the floor, so as to afford
sufficient warmth to keep up the temperature of the walls, or there may be one
or two turns of pipes carried around the walls in that part of the hot air
chamber which extends above the floor. These pipes and the space which
they are designed to heat, represented between F and L, Fig. 8, should be
entirely enclosed behind the wainscoating, or by tiles, or lath and plaster, so
that no air which has been in contact with the hot iron pipes, shall enter the
room or mingle with the air to be breathed, as such air is unquestionably unfit
to be taken into the lungs. Instead of the hot air chamber being bounded
above by the floor itself, it may be bounded above as well as below by a
surface of lath and plaster, or terra cotta, or other earthy material, and an

page_text: inch or two above this, resting upon proper supports, may be placed a floor or
walks of open latticework, made in sections, moving upon hinges, so as to be
capable of being raised for the purpose of sweeping below. This would be
well suited for churches, school houses, and public halls.
I do not wish to confine myself to the exact arrangements herein-before
described, but claim the privilege of varying them to any reasonable and lawful
extent that may be desirable. Three points should, however, be invariably
observed, vizt., 1st, that the warming surface to which the air for respiration
is exposed should be non-metallic; 2nd, that it should be at a temperature not
higher than that of the earth's surface on a summer day; 3rd, that the fresh
air as it enters the room from the warming surface should not be at a tem-
perature higher than that of the external air in a pleasant spring or summer
day, and that at any rate it should be at a temperature as low as or a little
lower than that of the air in the room.
Now, having particularly described and ascertained the nature and object of
my improvements, what I claim as my Invention is, the arrangement of tho
hot-air chamber for warming the floor and lower part of the walls in connection
with the fresh air chamber, but having no communication with it, so that the
air which has been in contact with the metallic surfaces of hot water pipes, or
of steam pipes, or of other metal heaters, or with the surface of any other
highly-heated substance, shall not enter the room or mingle with the air for
respiration; and I claim the use of the lower and outer boundary of the hot air
chamber as a large non-metallic warming surface of a low temperature
for the purpose of warming to a moderate degree the fresh air for respiration
before it enters the room.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.