IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTI- LATING SHIPS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Burns, now of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancashire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTI-
LATING SHIPS."
Sealed the 26th January 1855, and dated the 8th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Burns at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th September
1854.
I, JAMES BURNS, now of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
cashire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VENTILATING SHIPS" to be as follows:-
The principle of my Invention is to use the rising and falling of the waves
to force fresh air from the outside to the lower parts of the interior of ships.
A form of apparatus for this purpose is shown in vertical section at Fig. 1.
A, L, and B, C, either cylindrical or rectangular pipes; T, a valve; call it the
top valve, opening upwards; S, a side valve, opening inwards; D. a pipe leading
to the external fresh air; G, G, G', G', air trunk. The horizontal part of it,
G', G', (lower air trunk) is laid along the middle of the ship's bottom from
stem to stern; it may rest on the limbers or beneath them. K, K, K, any
required number of small branch pipes from the lower air trunk G', G', to be
carried to inclosed or confined places, as rooms, &c.

page_text: The under sides of the lower air trunk and of the branch pipes are perfo
rated with minute holes, to give exit to the air forced into them. F, F
flanches on the pipe B, C, by which it is to be secured water-tight to the
inside of the ship's bottom; F, C, the lower end of B, C, which opens into
the water after passing through the ship's bottom. O, a float valve.
Let us now trace the action of this apparatus. First, suppose the pipe
B, C, fixed in. some convenient place, say, near the ship's bows, and that the
pipes A, L, G, G, G¹, G', and D, are attached, as shown: when a wave is
passing the open mouth C of the pipe B, C, the water will be pressed up into
it nearly as high as the crest of the wave outside. The rising water will
press the air above it against the side valve S, & will shut it, and at the same
time the air passing round the float valve O will lift the top valve T, and pass
into the air trunk G, G, G, G, and the small branch pipes K, K, K, and
from these it will be discharged in imperceptible currents through the small
perforations on their under sides into the hold and other places to which the
branch pipes may be carried.. When the wave falls, in passing the mouth of
the pipe at C, the water in the pipe will also fall, and by its tendency to
produce a vacuum in B, C, whilst it is falling, the top valve will be shut
down by the pressure of the air in the air trunk, and at the same time the
external fresh air will rush through the side valve S, and will fill the pipe B
down to where the water has fallen. Each succeeding wave will repeat
these actions so long as the height to which they rise is sufficient to raise
the light top valve T. When the waves run very high, water might be
forced through the top valve, if not prevented. I prevent it thus: two or
three inches below the under side of the top valve plate I suspend a float
valve O; this float valve is lifted by the water, when this rises too high,
and is thus pressed as a valve to the smooth under surface of the top va
valve
plate, covering the opening there, and effectually excluding the water from it.
As an additional security against the passage of water through the top valve,
an iron plate P, hinged as a valve-plate, is kept upright when not required, but
can be laid down over the top valve, & will effectualy prevent its being moved,
This iron security. can only be lifted by hand. It is plain that any required
number of such pieces of apparatus can be placed in a ship.
I claim, first, the application of the rising and falling of the waves to force
fresh air into the lower parts of the interior of ships for the purpose of venti- 3
lating them.
Second, I claim the arrangement of apparatus to effect this purpose, as
described herein.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Burns in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BURNS, now of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancashire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Burns, Her special licence that I, the said James Burns, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Burns, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING
SHIPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Burns, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 I, the said James Burns, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The principle of my Invention is to apply the rising and falling of the
waves to force fresh air from the outside to the lower and other parts of the
interior of ships.
A form of apparatus for this purpose is partly shewn in vertical section at
Figure 1, where C, C, and A, A, A, B, are pipes, of cylindrical, rectangular, or
other suitable shapes. In this section they are supposed to be rectangular.
These pipes may be made of copper, zinc, cast iron, or other suitable material.
Copper would be very suitable for the pipe A, A, A, B, which I call the supply
pipe; and also for the pipe C, C, which for distinction I call the top covering
pipe, as it covers the top valve and the securing plate.. G is the lid, and H

page_text: the seat, of the top valve, which opens upwards to permit fresh air to pass
into the discharge pipe D, D. S is the top valve seat plate (the upper side
seen in plan at Figure 3), bolted to the flanches a, b, of the top covering pipe
and supply pipe, as shewn; the usual preparation of pasteboard and white
lead, or other suitable materials, for making such joints air-tight and water-
tight, to be interposed between the flanches and seat plate, and also between
the flanch and the brass seat plate R of the side valve. I is a circular brass
plate, called the securing plate, of the same diameter as the lid G of the top
valve. This securing plate I is hinged in the same way as a valve lid, where
X is its axis, and d one of the hinge studs, attached to the seat plate S. The
use of this securing plate will be shown further on. P¹ is a brass tail piece
on the hinge of the lid G; see also P¹ in the plan of the upper side of the
top valve seat plate, Figure 3. The use of this tail piece P' is to prevent the
lid G from being opened too far by any sudden impulse; this the tail piece
accomplishes by coming in contact with the hinge studs e, (e, e, in plan
Figure 3.) K is a float ball, resting on a brass ring W when not in action.
This float ball and its use will be described presently. H', the float valve seat
on the under side of the brass seat plate S. This seat H' has an opening of
the same size and corresponding with the opening in the top valve seat H.
O, O, two of the four float guides (seen in plan at 0, 0, 0, 0, Figure 2). U,
a brass round polished rod, attached by a cup of gutta percha K' to the float
ball K. U, the tapered head of the rod U, imbedded in the thick part of
the gutta percha cup K'. V, a brass cross (seen in plan at V, in Figure 2.) To
this cross are rivetted the float guides 0, 0; (there are four of them, as seen in
plan at 0, 0, 0, 0, Figure 2.) These are four brass rods, each about three-
eighths of an inch in diameter; their use will be explained when describing
the float ball. f, a flanch joint on the supply pipe A, A, A, B; and g, a flanch
joint on the discharge pipe D. By means of these joints the valves and their
pipes can be removed from the other parts of the apparatus for repairs, &c.
M the lid, and L the seat, of the side valve. This side valve lid opens upwards
or inwards, so as when open to permit fresh air to pass from the outside
through it, and through the induction pipe 21, 21, into the supply pipe. This
side valve, therefore, must be so placed that the fresh air alone from the outside
of the ship shall have access to it. If this apparatus is entirely placed inside
of a ship, a pipe may be attached by a flanch joint to the under side of the s
seat plate R, and carried to the outside of the ship, to convey the fresh air
by. D, D, is the discharge pipe, which terminates in a chamber E, E, E, E,
of any suitable form or size. From this chamber proceed distributing pipes
F, F, F, F, of any required number, shape, size, or length. The supply pipe

page_text: A, A, A, B, carrying the working parts indicated above, may be placed either
inside of a ship or on the outside. At present we will suppose the apparatus
is to be placed inside of the ship.
The lower end of the supply pipe at B being open, is to be passed from the
inside to the outside through the side or bottom of the ship, at about seven to
nine feet below the water line, where the size of the ship will admit the mouth
of the pipe to be so low down; where the ship is small, let the mouth of the
pipe be placed as low as possible. The lower and open end of the supply pipe,
having been passed through the sido or bottom of the ship, as above pointed
out, is to be secured there water tight in the ordinary way to the ship, both
inside and outside, by flanches, as N, N, N, N, or other suitable and efficient
means. Thus, the end of the supply pipe at B will open into the water, and
it should be so adapted as to be flush with the outside of the ship, so as to offer
no impediment to her motion; the rest of the supply pipe to be fixed securely
upright to the inside of the ship, say, somewhere near the bows. But the
apparatus may be placed in any convenient efficient part of the ship.
Note. The top covering pipe C, C, and the side covering pipe Q, Q, are each
closed at the top. Suppose, then, all the parts indicated to be completed as
stated, it will be useful before proceeding farther to trace the action of this
apparatus, to which I give the name of the wave bellows.
When a wave begins to pass the open mouth of the supply pipe at B, as the
wave rises higher on the outside of the ship, the water will be forced up
higher and higher into the supply pipe; and when the crest of the wave outside
is vertically over the mouth of the pipe at B, the water in the supply pipe will
then be nearly as high as the crest of the wave outside. When the water is
rising in the supply pipe, it will lift the air above it, and, pressing the air against
the lid M of the side valve, will shut the lid; and at the same time the air,
passing round the float ball K, will force up the lid G of the top valve, and
proceeding through the discharge pipe D, D, will enter the chamber E, E, E, E,
and from this will be discharged through the distributing pipes F, F, F, F, as
indicated by the arrows. When the wave falls, in passing the mouth of the
supply pipe at B, the water in the supply pipe will also fall, and by its tendency
to produce a vacuum in the supply pipe whilst it is falling, the top valve lid G
will be shut down by its own weight, and by the pressure of the air through the
discharge pipe D, and at the same time the external fresh air will force open
the lid M of the side valve, and will rush through the induction pipe 21, 2¹,
into the supply pipe, which it will fill down to where the water has fallen.
Each succeeding wave will repeat these actions continually, day and night, so

page_text: .long as the height to which the waves rise is sufficient to lift the light lid G of
the top valve.
It will be seen at once that if the distributing pipes F, F, F, F, be continued
to the lower and other parts of the ship, and if branch pipes be taken from
them to enclosed or confined places, as rooms, sleeping berths, interstices
between the cargo, &c.; and if thèse distributing pipes be closed at their
farthest extremities, and the branch pipes also, when pretty large; and if they
have small and numerous perforations along their under sides (to escape
dust, &c.), the air driven into these pipes from the chamber will be discharged
from the perforations in almost imperceptible currents to any part that may be
.desired.
For the branch pipes, when small, gutta percha pipes are well adapted. It is
perhaps unnecessary to point out, that as the fresh air enters from the pipes to
any part of the interior of a ship, it will displace the foul air, which will be
forced out of the hatchways.
To keep up the ventilation when the hatchways are closed in bad weather,
two or more pipes may be fixed to the deck by screws on their lower extremities,
to be screwed into female screws sunk in and flush with the deck. These
pipes should open into the interior, just under the deck, and they should rise
eight or ten feet above the deck, to avoid the spray getting into them at their
tops, which are open. These pipes will give exit to the foul air when the
hatches are closed, and in good weather they can be unshipped, and flat
wooden plugs inserted into the female screws in the deck. These pipes will be
large enough if the sum of all their transverse sectional areas be about equal
to the area of the opening in the top valve. It will be obvious that the
distributing pipes and the branch pipes from them admit of being arranged
in a vast variety of ways, to suit convenience and the exigencies of the
ventilation.
Note. If the sum of all the areas of the discharging perforations, &c. be, say,
about three times greater than the horizontal sectional area of the supply pipe,
the air will issue from the perforations so softly as to be probably quite
mperceptible to a hand held near them. When the waves run very high,
water might be forced through the top valve, if not prevented. I prevent it
thus: Four or five inches below the under side of the top valve seat
plate S, Figure 1, I suspend a float ball K; this ball is a hollow sphere, made
of india-rubber, about half an inch in thickness, and resembles in shape
what are called self-inflating rubber balls, used as toys by children; but with
this difference, that it has no opening into it, but is completely and securely

page_text: made air and water tight. This ball has a round polished brass rod U, about
five-eighths of an inch in diameter and six or eight inches long, attached to it.
Call this the ballast rod. This ballast rod may be attached to the float ball
thus A circular piece of gutta percha, about four or five inches in diameter
and an inch and quarter thick round its centre, is gradually thinned off to the
edge till this latter is about a sixteenth of an inch thick; it is then hollowed or
cupped on one side to fit the curvature of the ball. The ballast rod U has a
tapered head U on one end, and the other end is passed through the centre
of the hollow side of the gutta percha cup, till the head reaches the gutta
percha, into the thick part of which it is to be firmly imbedded, as shewn.
The gutta percha cup thus carrying the ballast rod U is to be securely fixed
to the float ball by india-rubber cement or other suitable means. The
ballast rod thus firmly fixed to the float ball passes through a hole in the
centre of the brass cross V; see also Figure 2 in plan, V, the cross; U, the
ballast rod.
The hole in the centre of the cross through which the ballast rod passes is
a quarter of an inch more in diameter than the rod, to allow freedom of motion.
When the float ball K, Figure 1, is acting, it rises and falls between the float
guides 0, 0, (see plan 0, 0, 0, 0, Figure 2.) W, Figure 1, is the brass
ring or float rest, in which the float ball K rests when not in action. This
ring is seen in plan at Figure 4. As it is less in diameter than the distance
between the float guides (0, 0, 0, 0, Figure 2), it has four projections
on it, (as shewn in Figure 4,) which are rivetted to the float guides. H',
Figure 1, is the float valve seat. When the water rises too high in the
supply pipe A, A, A, B, it floats up the float ball K, and pressing it
against the seat E', effectually excludes the water from getting through the
top valve seat H. When the water falls in the supply pipe, the float ball
falls also till it rests on the ring or float rest W. Y, Y, are screw nuts, to
see also Y, Y, Y, Y, the
secure the float guides 0, 0, to the seat plate S;
screw nuts, in plan, Figure 2; M, L, Figure 1, the side valve; and R, its seat
plate. Figure 5 is a plan of the upper or inner side of the side valve seat
plate R, carrying M, the valve lid, when shut. P, the tail piece to the hinge p.
This tail piece limits the extent to which the lid can open, by coming in
contact with the hinge studs q, q, as explained already respecting the top valve
lid. h, the axis passing through the studs. 1, 1, 1, &c., bolt holes in the flanches.
All the valve seat plates should be of brass, with the valve seats and hinge
studs cast on them. The upper edges of the seats are turned true, rounded
and polished. The faces of the valve lids G and M, Figure 1, may be formed

page_text: of soft thick leather, made truly flat and free from imperfections, and they
should be coated with pure hogslard or other suitable material, to aid in
making the lid faces apply air-tight to the edges of the valve seats.
Figure 2 is a plan of the under side of the top valve seat plate S, carrying
K, the float ball; W, the ring or float rest. K', the gutta percha cup, carrying
the ballast rod U, which passes through the hole in the cross V, to which cross
are rivetted the float guides at 0, 0, 0, 0.
Figure 3 is a plan of the upper side of the top valve seat plate S. G, the
valve lid shut; P', the tail piece of the hinge r; t, t, the axis passing through
the hinge studs e, e; Y, Y, Y, Y, the screw nuts, for securing the float guides
0, 0, 0, 0, to the seat plate S.
Note. The four float guides are each shouldered just under the seat plate S,
to prevent the nuts from drawing them through the plate. I is the securing
plate; X, its axis, carrying the securing lever and chain Z. This axis passes
out through a slit in the top covering pipe when the apparatus is fitted up,
see Figure 8, which is an elevation of one side of the top covering pipe; g'is
the slit in this pipe, and X, the axis of the securing plate, passed through the
slit and carrying the securing lever and chain Z. 2, a belaying pin, projecting
from the side of the top covering pipe C, C. The way by which the axis X is
made to work air-tight in the slit g' will be understood by Figures 6 and 7.
Figure 7 is an elevation of the same side of the pipe as that shewn at Figure 8.
A piece of india-rubber, about five inches by four inches, and about a quarter
of an inch thick, has a hole in it, about half the diameter of the axis X.
When this hole is pressed on to the axis, the elasticity of the rubber permits
the hole to be enlarged, to admit the axis to pass through it, the axis being
then tightly embraced by the rubber. This latter is then pressed forward on
the axis till it applies to the side of the pipe C, C, and covers the slit. A
plate of flat smooth brass, same size as the rubber, having a hole in it to
admit the axis, is put on to the axis, and is pressed forward to the rubber,
which it covers. This brass plate 4 is then secured to the side of the pipe by
small screws, which pass through the brass plate and through the rubber, and
are screwed into the side of the pipe C, C, till the rubber be made air-tight to
the pipe. The axis X, being closely embraced in the hole by the rubber, is
enabled to turn air-tight, as in a kind of stuffing box. 4 is the brass plate
screwed to the side of the pipe, and having the rubber between it and the pipe.
X is the axis of the securing plate, passed through the slit in the pipe and
through the rubber and brass plate; Z, the securing lever attached to the axis;
2, the belaying pin, round which is wound the chain to fasten down (by means

page_text: of the lever Z) the securing plate upon the top valve lid G, when this is shut,
and thereby effectually to prevent water from getting through the top valve
should any accident occur to the float valve. Figure 6 is an elevation of the
side of the top covering pipe opposite to the discharge pipe D. 3 is the rubber;
4, the brass plate covering the rubber; X, the axis of the securing plate, passed
through the slit in the pipe and through the rubber and brass plate; Z, the
securing lever and chain; 2, the belaying pin. Should the working valves
G, H, and M, L, Figure 1, be placed outside of the ship, the discharge
pipe D, D, must be inserted through the deck in some suitable place.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim, the
application of the rising and falling of the waves to force fresh air from the
outside to the lower and other parts of the interior of ships, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Burns, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
EUCLID BURNS,
27, Cecil St., Greenheys,
Manchester.
JAMES BURNS. (L.S.)