IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING APPARATUS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Copley Woodhead at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th July 1879.
WILLIAM COPLEY WOODHEAD, of Leeds, in the County of York, M.R.C.S.
(London). "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING APPARATUS."
The object of this Invention is to provide fresh air to confined spaces without
creating a draught, and to withdraw vitiated air automatically therefrom in an
efficient manner.
In ventilating a dwelling house according to my Invention I provide below the
floor of each room an air supply pipe which leads from the external atmosphere to
an air chamber by preference sunk in and flush with the floor. The air pipes of
the supply end are tapered laterally to form a wide mouth, and this mouth is closed
with a grating. The discharge end of the pipe which enters the air chamber I fit
with a trumpet shaped termination, and on the posterior wall of the said air chamber
I fit a lip or curtain which forms a deflector and serves the purpose of dividing or
breaking up any air coming with great velocity out of the supply pipe.
The top of this chamber is closed by a grating which may have a sliding grid
below it for adjusting the size of the apertures and regulating the supply of air to
the apartment. Each aparatment will also be fitted with one or more ascending
pipes for drawing off the vitiated air; the pipes will severally lead to a rarefied air
chamber situated most conveniently in the roof, where a group of such chambers
may be packed together.
It will be convenient that these chambers receive artificial heat froin the fires or
hot water pipes in the building, or from the sun's rays striking through a glazed
portion of the roof.
Above each chamber I fit a cowl of peculiar construction which will not only allow
of the escape of the vitiated or rarefied air, but will also induce a continuous and
rapid discharge of the same.
The cowl may be described as a vertical tube surmounted by a cap, the said tube.
being closed at its upper end and having conical tubes branching in and from it at
the highest part of the said vertical tube. These tubes are placed horizontally to
the said vertical tube with an inclination downwards, the largest area being
towards and being a continuation of the said vertical tube; the contracted area or
pointed end of the conical tube will communicate with other conical tubes to be
presently described. Above this said described portion of the cowl is fitted a conical

page_text: top or cap through the inclined sides of which are openings to conical tubes, which
tubes are placed vertically to the before mentioned horizontal conical tubes, the
larger area being at the sides of the inclined cap, the smaller-tapering-ends-being.
situated on a greater portion of the before mentioned horizontal conical tubes,
joining before presenting to the atmosphere one continuous and contracted area.
The cowl is so constructed that the cold external atmosphere will pass downwards
through the perforations or openings in the inclined sides of the cap of the cowl,
-then-through-the-conical-vertical_tubes, and will thus by its heavier weight and
velocity draw up the heated or vitiated air through the uptake or vertical tube of
the cowl via the horizontal conical tubes, the effect being similar to a Giffard's
injector. The cowl may be modified to suit circumstances, as for instance in
any room or apartment one external conical tube may be placed in the wall of
the brickwork on its external aspect and the horizontal conical tubes in the inner
side of the wall of the brickwork and the two tubes may be made to combine
and form one continuous contracted area on the external aspect of the brickwork
below the opening of the vertical conical tubes. The action of this arrangement
will be similar to the above mentioned cowl.
The improved cowl may be adapted to sink, soil, and other pipes, or to any
confined space requiring ventilation.
The first described arrangements of ventilating apparatus also admit of modifica-
tion to suit varying circumstances. Thus when ventilating a church for example
a rarefied air chamber may be constructed all along the roof below the apex and
made to communicate with the body of the church by openings at its base. The
air in the said air chamber being rarefied artificially by sun light or gas jets (or
other artificial heat) cowls may be situate along the line of the said air chamber.
In some cases I propose to warm the air before admitting it to the air supply
chamber to this end I construct within the wall at the back of the fire place a
heating chamber which is supplied with air direct from the atmosphere and is
brought into connection with the air chamber by a pipe or pipes leading from one
or both ends of the heating chamber. By this arrangement the heat absorbed by
the wall and diffused into the open air will be collected and utilized.