A NEW AND IMPROVED COMBINATION, APPLICATION, AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING SIGNALS OR OTHERWISE INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF FIRE OR ANY UNDUE INCREASE OR VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE IN APARTMENTS, BUILDINGS VESSELS, MINES, OR OTHER PLACES
Year: 1868

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to John Garrett Tongue, of the Firm of Tongue
and Birkbeck, Patent Agents and Engineers, of 34, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,' for the
Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED COMBINATION, APPLICATION, AND
ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING SIGNALS OR OTHERWISE
INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF FIRE OR ANY UNDUE INCREASE OR VARIATION OF
TEMPERATURE IN APARTMENTS, BUILDINGS VESSELS, MINES, OR OTHER
PLACES." A communication from abroad by Jules Leblau, Spinner,
at present residing in Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 9th April 1869, and dated the 28th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Garrett Tongue
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th October 1868.
I, JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck,
Patent Agents and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature or the
Said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED COMBINATION! APPLICATION
Price 81.1

page_text: ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING SIGNALS OR OTHERWISE
INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF FIRE OR ANY UNDUE INCREASE OR VARIATION OF
TEMPERATURE IN APARTMENTS, BUILDINGS, VESSELS, MINES, OR OTHER PLACES''
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to combine, apply, and arrange
apparatus as to give an immediate warning by an alarum or other
suitable signal or otherwise to indicate promptly the presence of fire or
any dangerous or undue increase or variation of temperature in apart-
ments, buildings, vessels, mines, or other places, and to give such warning
signal or indication with promptitude whatever may be the degree of
temperature within. a predetermined limit of the place in which the
apparatus is placed prior to such sudden increase or variation of tem-
perature, and further to give a prompt, continuous, and certain signal,
alarum, or indication when the temperature of the place in which the
apparatus is placed has risen beyond a certain predetermined limit.
The invention consists in the combination of two thermometers,
having an unequal sensitiveness, and so arranged as to permit the
warning or signal apparatus to accommodate itself in an automatic
manuer to the normal variations of the temperature in which the appa-
ratus is placed without such signal or warning apparatus being brought
into action, the thermometers being so arranged that a warning signal or
indication will always be given with promptitude, and consequently in
an efficacious manner every time the temperature changes suddenly from
an accidental or other cause, such warning signal or indication being
continuously maintained when the temperature of the place in which
the apparatus is placed has risen above a certain predetermined limit.
The two thermometers employed, either or both of which may be liquid
or metallic, are according to this Invention so arranged that the one is
very sensitive and indicates almost instantaneously the degree of
temperature of the situation in which the apparatus is placed, the other
thermometer taking a longer time to indicate a corresponding tempera-
ture, and so establish an equilibrium between the two thermometers,
which by preference are so constructed as to travel over the same
distance for each degree of heat indicated. The two thermometers are
placed in connection with the two poles of an electric or galvanic pile
or battery, the two thermometers being so arranged that during ordinary
variations of temperature the electric circuit is incomplete, but should
any sudden increase of temperature occur the sensitive thermometer

page_text: operating more rapidly that the less sensitive one acts by means of suitably
arranged contrivances to place the two thermometers in electric com-
munication, and so complete the electric circuit, which will then by any
of the well-known means set in motion warning signals, alarums, or
other indicators, by which attention will at once be drawn to the suddeu
increase of temperature, and if desired to the part of any building,
vessel, mine, or other place in which such sudden increase may occur.
The two thermometers are also so combined and arranged that after the
temperature of the place in which the apparatus may be placed has risen
to or above a certain predetermined limit an electric communication
between the two thermometers or otherwise between the two poles of
an electric or galvanic pile or battery is established and continuously
maintained, and by this means a continuous warning signal or other
indication given so long as the temperature remains above the predeter-
mined limit. -
In carrying this Invention into practice the construction and arrange-
ment of the apparatus employed may be very greatly varied, but it will
be readily understoo: by the three following examples :-1st, liquid
thermometers; 2nd, metallic thermometers; 3rd, liquid and metallic
thermometers, the nature of which will be readily understood by the
following description, reference being made to the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shows two liquid thermometers arranged.
and combined so as to act in accordance with this Invention. A is a
very sensitive mercurial thermometer; the mercury of this thermometer
is put in communication by means of the wire J with the stud G, which
is connected with one of the poles of an electric pile. B is another
mercurial or alcoholic and mercurial thermometer less sensitive than
the former one, but having the same length of traverse for each degree;
with the combined employment of alcohol and mercury it is easy to
regulate this thermometer so as to make it agree perfectly with the
thermometer A. The reservoir of the thermometer B should be large
enough to allow of giving the open branch a sufficiently large diameter
for the introduction and play of the float D which supports the bent
rod F, E, formed of iron or platinum, the two ends of which form two
parallel branches; one of these descends into the capillary tube A, whilst
the other is united with the float D, entering with the latter into the
open 'tube of the thermometer B. The branch E is so regulated that its

page_text: extremity may be distant from the thermometer less than one degree or
several degrees according to the sensitiveness it is desired to give to the
apparatus. It is well to observe that if the material employed in making
the float is not a conductor of electricity it would be indispensible to
pass the rod F through it, which should pass a short distance below the
float to place it in contact with the mercury in the thermometer. The
stud G communicates by the wire J with the mercury in the ther-
mometer A, the other stud H by the wire K with the mercury in the
thermometer B, and they are severally connected to the two poles of an
electric pile. The stop or bracket M moveable at will permits the
thermometer B to rise to a maximum degree without the power of
passing it. The object of this arrangement is to compel the apparatus to
give the alarm when this maximum (which may be modified according to
requirement) is attained.
Figure 2 shows two metallic thermometers combined and arranged so
as to act in accordance with this Invention. A and B are ordinary
metallic thermometers acting by the unequal expansion of two or several
metals soldered or otherwise connected together. The thermometer A is
very sensitive, whilst the other thermometer B is less sensitive in a
determined proportion. Although these two thermometers may be very
different in their sensitiveness, they should nevertheless be constructed in
such a manner that the distance travelled for each degree is exactly the
same for the two thermometers. These thermometers A and B have
their points of movement at the axes and supports G and H, which serve
at the same time as studs to place the apparatus in communication with
the two poles of an electric pile. The screw E serves to regulate the
distance to be travelled by the sensitive thermometer A to place itself in
contact with the thermometer B. As in the preceding example the stop
or bracket M permits the thermometer B to indicate a maximum degree
without passing it, as has been explained in relation to the same organ-
in the preceding apparatus.
Figure 3 shows liquid and metallic thermometers combined so as to
act in accordance with this Invention. In this third combination the
sensitive thermometer is liquid and is shown at A, the other B is
metallic and carries the rod E which descends into the capillary tube of
the thermometer A. This rod E is regulated and fixed at the desired
degree by means of the nipping screw F. The metallic thermometer B
is fixed on the axis H, which also answers as a stud to receive the wire

page_text: the two thermometers may be reversed, that is to say, that the metallic
thermometer may as well be employed as the sensitive thermometer, and
that the general construction and arrangement of the apparatus may
be otherwise greatly varied without departing from the nature of this
Invention.
Action of the Apparatus.-Supposing that the apparatus be placed in
a room or a workshop, or other place of which the temperature may be
very variable, let it be for the moment 60 degrees Fahrenheit, suppose
also that the lower extremity of the rod For E, Figures 1 and 3, and the
screw E, Figure 2, be regulated to one degree higher than that marked
by the sensitive thermometer, say at 61 degrees, in these conditions if
by an accidental cause the temperature of the room rises suddenly
several degrees the sensitive thermometer A by placing itself in equi-
librium much more quickly than the one marked B will soon have
passed the in'erval which may have been left between them, and by
consequence the communication by contact with the rod For E,
Figures 1 and 3, or by the screw E, Figure 2, being established the
circuit will be completed, and the electric current will put in action the
signal apparatus. This result would not take place if the temperature
of the room only suffered the normal variations of the atmosphere, which
are never greater than, say, one, two, three, or four degrees in the hour,
in which case the thermometer B having always time to place itself in
equilibrium will maintain the interval between the two thermometers
and prevent the contact. In other respects the sensitiveness of the
thermometer B (in the three Figures) should always be proportioned
to the variability of the temperature where the apparatus is intended to
act, that is to say, that if, for example, besides the atmospheric influence
other sources of heat produce normal variations of a certain number of
degrees in the temperature of the room the sensitiveness of the.
thermometer B should be proportionately augmented. On the other
side, if the accidental cause of the augmentation of heat be so weak as
not to give a sufficient advance to the thermometer A over that one
marked B, and permit the completion of the circuit, the stop M would

page_text: always give the alarm when the temperature would have attained the
inaximum limit, which should never be passed under ordinary con-
ditions. This case rarely occurs.
In place of the apparatus previously described bands, rods, or metallic
wires, combined or arranged on the principle of unequal sensitiveness,
may be employed to obtain results identical with those given by ordinary
thermometers arranged as previously described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Garrett Tongue in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, Patent Agents
and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Garrett Tongue, Her special
licence that I, the said John Garrett Tongue, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Garrett Tongue,
my executors, 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 "A NEW AND
IMPROVED COMBINATION, APPLICATION, AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR
GIVING WARNING SIGNALS OR OTHERWISE INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF FIRE OR
ANY UNDUE INCREASE OR VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE IN APARTMENTS, BUILDINGS,
VESSELS, MINES, OR OTHER PLACES," a communication to me from abroad by
Jules Leblan, Spinner, at present residing in Paris, in the Empire of
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Garrett Tongue, executors or administrators, 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

page_text: 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 mouths
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Garrett Tongue, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof. that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is so to combine, apply, and arrange
apparatus as to give an immediate warning by an alarum or other
suitable signal or otherwise to indicate promptly the presence of fire
or any dangerous or undue increase or variation of temperature in
apartments, buildings, vessels, mines, or other places, and to give such
warning signal or indication with promptitude whatever may be the
degree of temperature within a predetermined limit of the place in
which the apparatus is placed prior to such sudden increase or variation
of temperature, and further to give a prompt, continuous, and certain
signal alarum or indication when the temperature of the place in which
the apparatus is placed has risen beyond a certain predetermined limit.
The Invention consists in the combination of two thermometers
having an unequal sensitiveness, and so arranged as to permit the
warning or signal apparatus to accommodate itself in an automatic
manner to the normal variations of the temperature in which the appa-
ratus is placed without such signal or warning apparatus being brought
into action, the thermometers being so arranged that a warning signal
or indication will always be given with promptitude, and consequently in
an efficacious manner, every time the temperature changes suddenly from
an accidental or other cause, such warning signal or indication being con-
tinuously maintained when the temperature of the place in which the
apparatus is placed has risen above a certain predetermined limit. The
two thermometers employed, either or both of which may be liquid or
metallic, are according to this Invention so arranged that the one is
very sensitive and indicates almost instantaneously the degree of tem-
perature of the situation in which the apparatus is placed, the other
thermometer taking a longer time to indicate a corresponding tem-
perature, and so establish an equilibrium between the two thermometers,
which by preference are so constructed as to travel over the same
distance for each degree of heat indicated. The two thermometers are
placed in connection with the two poles of an electric or galvanic pile

page_text: or battery, the two thermometers being so arranged that during ordinary
variations of temperature the electric circuit is incomplete, but should
any sudden increase of temperature occur the sensitive thermometer
operating more rapidly than the less sensitive one acts by means of
suitably arranged contrivances to place the two thermometers in electric
communication and so complete the electric circuit, which will then
by any of the well-known means set in motion warning signals, alarums,
or other indicators by which attention will at once be drawn to the
sudden increase of temperature and if desired to the part of any
building, vessel, mine, or other place in which such sudden increase may
occur. The two thermometers are also so combined and arranged that
after the temperature of the place in which the apparatus may be
placed has risen to or above a certain predetermined limit an electric
communication between the two thermometers or otherwise between
the two poles of an electric or galvanic pile or battery is established
and continuously maintained, and by this means a continuous warning
signal or other indication given so long as the temperature remains
above the predetermined limit. Self-acting fire alarums as hitherto
made only give a signal when the temperature in which they are placed
has attained a maximum limit previously determined, such extreme
limit being only capable of variation by the help of the human hand
or of mechanism foreign to the apparatus, consequently where a fire
occurs the temperature of the apartment in which the fire alarum
apparatus. as hitherto constructed is placed having to rise to a pre-
determined point, the signal is given inore or less tardily according to
the temperature of the apartment or place before the commencement
of the fire. The temperature in apartments being variable from one
season to another, or even from one day to another, renders the employ-
ment of fire signals or alarums as hitherto constructed inefficacious
in most cases. By a fire signal or alarum constructed according to
this Invention the signal is given with promptitude whatever may be
the degree of temperature of the apartment or place at the time of
the accident.
In carrying this Invention into practice the construction and arrange-
ment of the apparatus employed [may be very greatly varied, but it will
be readily understood by the three following examples -1st, liquid
thermometers; 2nd, metallic thermometers; 3rd, liquid and metallic
thermometers, the nature of which will be readily understood by the

page_text: annexod.
Figures 1 and 4 of the Drawings shew two liquid thermometers
arranged and combined so as to act in accordance with this Invention.
In Figure 1, A is a very sensitive mercurial thermometer. The mercury
of this thermometer is put in communication by means of the wire J
with the stud G which is connected with one of the poles of an electric
pile;
B is another mercurial or alcoholic and mercurial thermometer
less sensitive than the former one, but having the same length of traverse
for each degree. With the combined employment of alcohol and
mercury it is easy to regulate this thermometer so as to make it agree
perfectly with the thermometer A. The reservoir of the thermometer B
should be large enough to allow of giving the open branch a sufficiently
large diameter for the introduction and play of the float D which
supports the bent rod E, F, formed of iron or platinum, the two ends
of which form two parallel branches, one of these descends into the
capillary tube A, whilst the other is united with the float D entering
with the latter into the open tube of the thermometer B. The branch E
is so regulated that its lower extremity may be distant from the mercury
less than one degree or several degrees, according to the sensitiveness
it is desired to give to the thermometers. It is well to observe that
if the material employed in making the float is not a conductor of
electricity it would be indispensible to pass the rod F through it, which
should pass a short distance below the float to place it contact with
the mercury in the thermometer. The stud G communicates by the
wire J with the mercury in the thermometer A, the other stud H by
the wire K with the mercury in the thermometer B, and they are
severally connected to the two poles of an electric pile. The stop or
bracket M moveable at will permits the thermometer B to rise to a
maximum degree without the power of passing it, the object of this
arrangement is to compel the apparatus to give the alarm when this
maximum (which may be modified according to requirement) is attained.
Figure 4. In this example I arrange the thermometer A so that the
interior diameter of the indicating tube is sufficiently large for the intro-
duction of a float; a bent form may be given to it like that of the
thermometer 1. N is the float which supports a small glass tube O.
At the lower part of this tube is inserted a platinum wire P which passes
through the float N and a short distance into the mercury in the ther-
B

page_text: mometer A. At the bottom of the tube O there is a small quantity of
mercury which is in contact with the platinum wire P. This supply of
mercury being small in quantity the displacement of the liquid produced
by the rod E will be almost imperceptible when such rod is supported at
the bottom of the tube O. The metallic rod E passes into the interior
of the small tube O, and is regulated at a suitable height.
Figure 2 shews two metallic thermometers combined and arranged so as
to act in accordance with this Invention. A and B are ordinary metallic
thermometers acting by the unequal expansion of two or several metals
soldered or otherwise connected together. The thermometer A is very
sensitive, whilst the other thermometer B is less sensitive in a determined
proportion: Although these two thermometers may be very different in
their sensitiveness, they should nevertheless be constructed in such a
manner that the distance travelled for each degree is exactly the same
for the two thermometers. These thermometers A and B have their
points of movement at the axis and supports G and H, which serve at
the same time as studs to place the apparatus in communication with the
two poles of an electric pile. The screw E serves to regulate the distance
to be travelled by the sensitive therinometer A to place itself in contact
with the thermometer B. As in the preceding example the stop or
bracket M permits the thermometer B to indicate a maximum degree
without passing it, as has been explained in relation to the same organ
in the preceding apparatus.
:
Figure 3 shows liquid and metallic thermometers combined so as to act
in accordance with this Invention. In this third combination the sensitive
thermometer is liquid and is shown at A, the other B is metallic and carries
the rod E which descends into the capillary tube of the thermometer A.
This rod E is regulated and fixed at the desired degree by means of the
nipping screw F. The metallic thermometer B is fixed on the axis H,
which also answers as a stud to receive the wire attached to one of the.
poles of the electric pile; the other pole communicates with the mercury
of the thermometer A by means of the stud G and the wire J.. M is
the stop or bracket which serves as in the two other combinations to
give the continuous aların when the maximum degree is attained. It
should be well understood that the part performed by the two thermo-
meters may be reversed, that is to say, that the metallic thermometer may
as well be employed as the sensitive thermometer, and that the general

page_text: construction and arrangement of the apparatus may be otherwise greatly
varied without departing from the nature of, this Invention.
Action of the Apparatus.-Supposing that the apparatus be placed in
a room or a workshop, or other place of which the temperature may be
very variable, let it be for the moment 60 degrees Fahrenheit, we will
suppose that the lower extremity of the rod For E, Figures 1 and 3, and
the screw E, Figure 2. be regulated to one degree higher than that
marked by the sensitive thermometer, say at 61 degrees, in these con-
ditious if by an accidental cause the temperature of the room rises
suddenly several degrees the sensitive thermometer A, by placing itself
in equilibrium much more quickly than the one marked B, will soon
have passed the interval which may have been left between them, and
by consequence the communication by contact with the rod For E,
Figures 1 and 3, or by the screw E, Figure 2, being established the
circuit will be completed and the electric current will put in action the
signal apparatus. This result would not take place if the temperature of
the room only suffers the normal variations of the atmosphere, which are
never greater than, say, one, two, three, or four degrees in the hour, in
which case the thermometer B, having always time to place itself in
equilibrium, will maintain the interval between the two thermometers
and prevent the contact. In other respects the sensitiveness of the
thermometer B (in the four Figures) should always be proportioned to
the variability of the temperature where the apparatus is intend to act,
that is to say, that if, for example, besides the atmospheric influence
other source of heat produce normal variations of a certain number of
degrees in the temperature of the room the sensitiveness of the thermo-
meter B should be proportionately augmented. On the other side, if the
accidental cause of the augmentation of heat be so weak as not to give a
sufficient advance to the thermometer A over that one marked B, and
permit the completion of the circuit, the stop M would always give the
alarm when the temperature would have attained the maximum limit,
which should never be passed under ordinary conditions. This case
rarely occurs.
In place of the apparatus previously described bands, rods, or metallic
wires combined or arranged on the principle of unequal sensitiveness
may be employed to obtain results identical with those given by ordinary
thermometers arranged as previously described; and the arrangement
and construction of the apparatus may be otherwise greatly varied
without departing from the nature of this Invention, which consists in

page_text: he combination of two thermometers of unequal sensitiveness with
pparatus for giving warning of fire or any sudden change of tempe-
ature, the apparatus being so arranged as to adjust itself to then ormal
ariations of temperature where the apparatus is placed, and in such
manner as to give a signal promptly whenever the temperature changes
suddenly from an accidental or other cause.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Garrett Tongue, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN GARRETT TONGUE. (L.S.)