Year: 1885

page_text: :
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from
John Wheeler Elliott of Toronto, Canada Surgeon Dentist), and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The object of the invention is to design a light fire armour or protecting dress
more especially adapted for firemen and others compelled by their occupation to
enter buildings filled with smoke and it consists essentially, of a light armour or
dress preferably made of asbestos, or other fireproof material, and preferably
arranged to encase the entire body and head; suitable bellows or pumps being
provided in connection with the dress so that the wearer of it is enabled to pump
a constant stream of air through a filterer into the helmet portion of the dress, by
which arrangement the wearer is enabled to enter a house filled with smoke, and
at the same time supply himself with fresh air without the assistance of any other
party.
Figure 1 represents the figure of a firemen encased in this improved smoke-
armour.
.
Figure 2 represents a view of a bellows to be placed below the arms of the
wearer, and a pocket containing the filterer.
Figure 3 is a section, showing the bellows located in the bottom of the sock to
be worn by the wearer of the armour.
Although this invention is specially designed for the use of firemen, and others
compelled by their occupation to enter buildings full of smoke or obnoxious gases,
I wish to state before describing in detail the exact construction and operation of
this apparatus, that it will also be found serviceable for medical treatment by
inhalation, as the party to be treated may have his head protected by the helmet,
and by the use of the bellows, as hereinafter described force through a filter
saturated with the medical compound the air to be inhaled.
•
In the figure represented in the drawing the bellows A is shown placed below
both arms, and beneath both feet being preferably placed upon the foot of the
stocking which is intended to form a portion of the armour or protecting dress.
Pine Cl

page_text: Nothing peculiar is claimed in the form of bellows used, but instead of placing
the valve in the body of the bellows a valve a is placed in the tube B, which tube
is intended to connect the bellows to the filterer formed by the pocket, C.
The tube B, and the valve, a are the same in character whether employed for
connecting the bellows A to the pocket C, placed in the body of the garment, or
whether they are employed to connect the bellows A situated in the bottom of the
foot and leading to the pocket C on the side or tail of the garment. This pocket O
is filled with some spongy substance, preferably saturated with water and charcoal
for the purpose of purifying the air in passing through the filterer before it reaches
the helmet D through the tube E.
The helmet D has a mica face formed in it, which not only forms a window
through which the wearer can readily see, but it also holds the material of the
protecting helmet away from the face of the wearer, so that a good supply of air
shall always be ready for use.
A valve b, is placed in the helmet for the escape of the air, and as the air is
supplied to the helmet by a bellows pressure, a constant stream of pure air will be
forced through the helmet, escaping through the valve, as stated.
As the drawings indicate, each pair of bellows is provided with a separate tube B
which tube is provided with a separate valve a, so that each pair of bellows may
be worked independent of the others, and the tube E, which connects the pocket Ć,
situated at the tail of the garment, is independent of the tube E which connects
the pocket in the body of the garment to the helmet D.
While it is believed that a spongy substance saturated with charcoal and water
will be found the best purifier of the air to be supplied to the wearer of this dress
this invention is not confined to any particular disinfectant; the only object being
to ensure that the air supplied to the wearer shall be pure.
As stated in the commencement of this specification this system of forcing air
through a filterer by means of bellows may be used for the purpose of treatment
by inhalation. In such case the filterer will be saturated with the particular
medicants required to impregnate the air intended to be inhaled, and as the helmet
protects the head from the outer atmosphere, a consumptive or other patient
requiring air of a higher temperature than the outer atmosphere will be supplied
with the medicated air required at a higher temperature than the outside
atmosphere.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
An improved dress consisting of a helmet D, connected by a tube or tubes to one
or more pockets C, containing a spongy filterer, in combination with one or more
pairs of bellows so arranged that the wearer of the garment can force a supply of
the outer air through the filter into his helmet, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
•