IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF AIR IN CONFINED SPACES, AND IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF AIR IN CONFINED SPACES, AND
IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN." -A com-
munication from abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos Reynoso, of
Paris, France, Chemist.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd October 1874.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of Scrlc Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF AIR IN CONFINED SPACES,
AND IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos Reynoso, of
Paris, France, Chemist,) to be as follows:-
:—
This Invention relates to the means of purifying the air in confined

page_text: -sphere. By fixing the germs and placing them in media suitable to
their development it is clear that the same means may also be employed
for purifying the air under all possible circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence,
that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 THE PURIFICATION OF AIR IN CONFINED SPACES, AND IN THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," (a communication to me from
abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos Reynoso, of Paris, France, Chemist,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt,
my 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 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.
THAW
75
"
DIIt do honoby doolexa

page_text: t
-
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
- following statement in writing, that is to say :-
I. This Invention relates to the means of completely purifying
confined air where men or animals breathe by depriving it of all sorts
of emanations, mineral or organic dusts, and also of the products
engendered by the natural breathing of men and animals, and of those
which are produced by secretions or excretions. According to cir-
cumstances simply mechanical means (filtering through different media),
or chemical means with the assistance of absorbents appropriate to the
occasion, are employed to effect this purification. The apparatus for
⚫ this purpose consists in principle essentially in systems which may be
varied, but which will all force the air through purifying media. The
powers of the apparatus and the prime mover employed will depend on
the volumes of air that are to be purified within a certain time. To
this purifying apparatus are added others intended to keep the com-
position of the air constant by employing apparatus which furnishes
purified air or oxygen in order to give back to the air that has been
breathed the parts taken away by respiration. This purified air and the
oxygen are held compressed in special or suitable apparatus, and escape
regularly in sufficient quantities, according to the space enclosed, and
the number of men or animals breathing therein.
The same apparatus which contains oxygen or purified air compressed
is also employed to create what is called a "forced ventilation," created
in one place and transmitted elsewhere.
The compressed gases (purified air and oxygen) on issuing from the
apparatus pass through media containing medicamental matters in order
to diffuse them in the atmospheres where people breathe. Finally, large
purifying centres of air may be created, and this purified air may be
distributed in the same manner as lighting gas; the oxygen can also be
distributed thus. These means are therefore applicable in all cases
where men and animals are in impure atmospheres, whatever may be
the foreign matters which may render them impure and injurious to.
health.
II. The means of purifying consist essentially in filtering the air by
making it pass through substances capable of retaining mechanically
organic bodies and all sorts of dust held in suspension in the air. Also
in the employment of certain chemical productions appropriate to the

page_text: instead of having recourse to the microscope, solutions are employed
capable of developing the germs held in suspension in the air. Thus
everywhere and at all times every one may verify the purity of the air
by fixing the germs and by placing them in the media suitable to their
development. It is clear that these same means may be employed to
purify the air under all possible circumstances. For this purpose the
apparatus should be so arranged that the surface which is to catch the
germs may be always renewed, and be placed at a great number of points
in contact with the air which is required to be purified.

page_text: Third. Matters which catch them, and are capable of forming with
the organic bodies combinations which whilst they alter them render
them also incapable of vital revolution, and even of putrifaction.
All these means furnish a pure air, which is no longer apt to ferment
or putrify. Hence they become so many means of preserving the
organic animal and vegetable matters.
After having purified the air by filtering it through suitable matters,
when it comes out it may be subjected to a second purification by
making it pass through other media of the same or different natures. It
is also easy to impregnate the air which issues with certain medica-
mental or balsamic. principles, in operation singularly favoured by the
movement which impels the fluid. It is evident that the mechanical
means which are employed to purify the air by creating a current of air
may also be used previous to the purification to introduce into the air
medicamental or balsamic principles. The purifying means will be
employed not only in order to keep up the hygienic conditions of a
man's life, but also of that of animals. Even in the open air, in very
limited foci of infection (such as in cemeteries, sewers, cesspools, and so
forth) means should be established to purify the air so as to prevent
productions that are injurious to the health from spreading.
Water containing various bodies in solution or suspension may also
serve as a medium for purifying in certain cases.
Into this water may
also be introduced medicamental or balsamic principles in order to
complete the variations required in the composition of the air which will
pass through it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of
aun Low Own thousand nicht hunddood and encantor firen