IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND GIVING ALARM IN CASES OF FIRE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Woodley and Henry Herbert Swinford, both
of Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, Coopers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND GIVING ALARM IN
CASES OF FIRE."
Sealed the 31st August 1855, and dated the 3rd March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Woodley and Henry
Herbert Swinford, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd March 1855.
We, JOHN WOODLEY and HENRY HERBERT SWINFORD, both of Limehouse,
in the County of Middlesex, Coopers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND GIVING
ALARM IN CASES OF FIRE" to be as follows:-
Our said Invention refers to a peculiar application of gutta percha tubing
or similar tubing charged with compressed air or gas, and communicating with
the several parts of ships, dwelling-houses, or other places to be protected
thereby, and which tubes, being connected with a suitable alarum, and dial or
index, they thereby indicate the locality of accidental fire.
The indicator apparatus comprises a case of sufficient capacity to contain à

page_text: bell or alarum, and a vertical tube, closed at bottom, and having at the top
a disc or a hollow ball of vulcanized india-rubber. On each side of the vertical
tube there may be shorter tubes opening into it, according to the number of
apartments or places to be supplied, each with a separate gutta percha safety
tube. Within each of the short horizontal tubes there must be a valve opening
outwards from the main or vertical tube, and the junction of each horizontal
tube with its gutta percha tube we make with a short intervening vulcanized
india-rubber tube. Alongside the vertical tube and connected therewith is a
small pneumatic force pump, and also a lever connected with a hammer to
strike the alarum.
In applying our said Invention to the several rooms of a house, one method
we should adopt would be to connect a gutta percha tube with each short
metal tube as described, to the number required, each gutta percha tube being
hermetically sealed at its farthest end. The gutta percha tubes would therefore
vary in length to suit the remoteness or nearness to each place or apartment;
they would circulate along passages, mouldings, cornices, beams, floors, ceilings,
or in any other convenient manner.
Thus arranged, the apparatus is to be prepared for operation by working
the force pump until the vulcanized india-rubber connecting tubes and the
disc or ball are inflated, and has thereby caused the setting of the alarum
hammer ready for action. When, therefore, any one of the gutta percha tubes
is damaged by heat, the air escaping disengages the alarum, while also the
short vulcanized india-rubber tube collapsing, indicates the tube and the place
subject to the action of the fire.
The novelty of our said Invention consists in this peculiar adaptation of
gutta percha or or other like suitable tubing to indicate the locality of a fire
in any ship or building, and at the same time give an alarm of such
occurrence.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Woodley and Henry Herbert Swinford in the Great 3
Seal Patent Office on the 1st September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoпN
WOODLEY and HENRY HERBERT SWINFORD, both of Limehouse, in the County
of Middlesex, Coopers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Woodley and Henry Herbert Swinford, Her special licence that we, the
said John Woodley and Henry Herbert Swinford, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Woodley and
Henry Herbert Swinford, our 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND GIVING ALARM IN CASES OF FIRE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Woodley and
Henry Herbert Swinford, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 we, the said John Woodley and Henry Herbert
Swinford, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
Our said Invention refers to a peculiar application of gutta percha tubing
or similar tubing charged with atmospheric air or gas, and communicating
with the several parts of ships, dwelling-houses, or other places to be protected
thereby; and which tubes, being connected with a suitable alarum, and dial or
index, are arranged to indicate the locality of accidental fire.
And for the better understanding of our said improvements, we will now
proceed to describe the particulars thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, in which the same letters refer to like parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of one form of our apparatus adapted for six
rooms or compartments; Figure 2 is a central vertical section of the same;
and Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the lower end of the main
air tube C.
A, A, is an outer wood case, glazed in front, but boxed up at the bottom A',
enclosing an alarum, the sound escaping through a Venetian front screen, or
other like contrivance; B, an air force pump, for compressing air through the
pipe a up the main vertical tube C, and thence through the connexions b, b, b,

page_text: and '; D is a disc of vulcanized india-rubber, firmly secured in the frame c,
attached air-tight to the circular metal box d, which has no outlet except at
its junction with the tube C; E, E, E, are vulcanized india-rubber bulbs, with
two apertures each, one screwed to each of the connexions e, e, e; F, F, F,
gutta percha-tubes, the bore of which may vary from the sixteenth of an inch
or upwards, more or less, as desired, their farthest ends f, ff, wherever ter-
minating, being hermetically sealed; G, one end of a bell-crank lever, hinged
at g, and its other arm g' bolted to a rod g", the action of which is regulated
by the spiral spring 9, so that the rod's descent, detaching the trigger h,
sounds the alarm bell H. At I, I, are brackets, to fasten the tube C to the
outer case; and J is a connecting air tube between the pump B and tube C.
The lower end of C, as shown enlarged in Figure 3, has at K a valve, above
which is a vertical vulcanized india-rubber tube L, L, open at i, where it is
wired to a short metal tube; but it is closed at j, and has a slit in one side
at k. M is a metal pipe, closed at top except where the short open pipe N is
inserted, and at bottom is screwed into C; water may then be introduced for
preventing unnecessary escape of air. Within each bulb E is a tubular valve,
similar to L, consisting of a shorter vulcanized india-rubber tube, closed at
one end and a slit cut in one side; its other end being open, is wired on to the
tubular opening of the connexion b.
It will thus be seen that the indicator apparatus comprises a case or box of
sufficient capacity to contain a bell or alarum, having near it a vertical tube,
closed by a valve at the bottom end, and furnished at the top end with a disc
or a hollow ball of vulcanized india-rubber. On cach side of the vertical tube
there may be any required number of shorter tubes at 6 opening into it,
according to the number of apartments or other places to be supplied, each
communicating with a separate gutta percha safety tube. Within or upon
each of the short horizontal tubes at 6 there must be a valve opening outwards
from the main or vertical tube; and the junction of each horizontal inetal tube
e, b, with its gutta percha tube F, we make with a short intervening tube or
bulb E of vulcanized india-rubber. Alongside the vertical tube, and connected
therewith at a, J, is a small pneumatic force pump, and also a lever G, con-
nected by a rod with a spring and a hanmer to strike the alarum.
We would observe, that in applying our said Invention to the several rooms
of a building, one method we should adopt would be to connect a gutta percha
tube with each short metal tube e, as described, one for each room, each tube
being hermetically sealed at its end situated farthest from the pneumatic
apparatus and index. The gutta percha tubes therefore vary in length to
suit the remoteness or nearness of each place or compartment; they would

page_text: circulate along passages, mouldings, cornices, beams, floors, ceilings, above or
below ground, in any convenient manner. Thus arranged, the apparatus is to
be prepared for operation by working the force pump until the vulcanized
india-rubber tubes or bulbs E and the disc or ball D are inflated, causing the
lever G to rise, and thereby setting the alarum hammer ready for action.
When any one of the gutta percha tubes is ruptured by heat, the air escaping
disengages the alarum by the consequent collapsing of the vulcanized disc or
ball D, while the short tube or bulb E, also collapsing, indicates the precise
gutta percha tube, and the room or other place subjected to the action of fire,
as the valves in the remaining bulbs E would retain the air in each.
Having thus fully described our said improvements, and one method of
carrying the same into practical operation, we desire it to be understood that
we do not limit ourselves in respect to the nature of the air valves, or to the
precise form, dimensions, number, or placement of the several parts, so long as
the desired object is attained; and we do declare that what we claim as the
novelty of our said Invention is, namely, the peculiar adaptation of gutta
percha or other like suitable tubing charged with air or gas to indicate the
locality of fire in any ship, building, or other place, and at the same time
give an alarm of such occurrence, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Woodley and Henry Herbert
Swinford, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth
day of August, in the year of our Lord 1855.