AN IMPROVED INCUBATOR OR APPARATUS FOR HATCHING EGGS AND REARING CHICKENS to be as
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, JAMES MAYES, of the Game Farm, Eleveden, Thetford, in the County of
Suffolk, Head Gamekeeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention
for "AN IMPROVED INCUBATOR OR APPARATUS FOR HATCHING EGGS AND REARING
CHICKENS to be as follows :-
"
My improved apparatus for hatching eggs and rearing chickens by artificial
means consists of a box or chamber open at the top, except for a loose pervious
covering, and divided into two compartments by a flannel or other curtain.
Beneath one of the compartments is a water-chamber surrounding a space into
which a drawer slides. The water contained in this chamber is heated preferen-
tially by means of a lamp suspended beneath the apparatus. The front of the
drawer is provided with a ventilator or ventilators, whilst the back thereof is fitted
with a trough or troughs charged with water and protected by a perforated
covering. In this drawer the eggs are placed for incubation and maintained, by
means of the warming apparatus, at a temperature of about 103° Fahr. The con-
tents of the incubating drawer acquire the requisite degree of humidity from the
water contained in the troughs with which the said drawer is fitted; and this
water is under the influence of the heat radiating from the contiguous warm water
chamber previously referred to. The evaporation from the troughs passes off by
the ventilators, and the atmosphere in the drawer is thus maintained in a sweet
and healthy condition.
The chickens, upon being hatched, are placed in the compartment directly above
the incubating drawer; this compartment, besides being lined with flannel,
deriving a certain degree of warmth from the warm water chamber immediately
beneath. The compartment on the opposite side of the curtain above alluded to
remains, however, comparatively cool. The young birds are fed in the cool com-
partment, but are free to retire past the curtain into the warmer compartment,
according to their inclinations or the dictates of nature.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: I, JAMES MAYES, of the Game Farm, Elveden, Thetford, in the County of Suffolk,
Head Gamekeeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"AN IMPROVED INCUBATOR OR APPARATUS FOR HATCHING EGGS AND REARING
CHICKENS and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being
had to the accompanying drawings :—
My Improved apparatus for hatching eggs and rearing chickens by artificial
means consists of a box or chamber, which may be open at the top and which is
provided midway or thereabouts with a flannel or other curtain, part of the latter
being pendant and part resting on a portion of the floor of the said chamber.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved apparatus and Figure 2 a longitudinal
vertical section thereof. A. is the curtain, the pendant portion of which divides the
box or chamber into two compartments, B and C; whilst the skirt of the said
curtain rests on the floor of the compartment B. Beneath this is a water chamber D
surrounding a space into which a drawer E slides. The water contained in the
chamber D is heated, preferably by means of a lamp P suspended beneath the
apparatus. The front of the drawer F is provided with a ventilator or venti-
lators f, f, whilst the back thereof is fitted with a trough fl, or troughs, charged
with water and protected by a perforated covering. In the drawer F, the eggs for
incubation are placed and maintained, by means of the warming apparatus, at a
temperature of about 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The contents of the incubating
drawer F acquire the requisite degree of humidity from the water contained in the
troughsf with which the said drawer is fitted; and this water is under the influ-
ence of the heat radiating from the contiguous warm water chamber previously
referred to. The evaporation from the troughs passes off by the ventilators ff, and
the atmosphere within the drawer is thus maintained in a sweet and healthy
condition.
The chickens upon being hatched are removed from the drawer F and placed
in the compartment B, directly above the said drawer and its warm water envelope,
but beneath the recumbent portion of the curtain A. The compartment B derives
a certain amount of warmth from the warm water chamber immediately beneath
it; whilst the compartment C, on the opposite side of the hanging portion of the
curtain A, remains comparatively cool.
The young birds are free to pass from beneath the skirt of the curtain resting
on the floor of the warm compartment B into the cool compartment C; and, having
been here fed, they are at liberty to retire again to the warm compartment,
according to their inclinations or the dictates of nature.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
First The improved combined apparatus for hatching eggs and rearing chickens,
substantially as herein described,

page_text: Secondly:-The ventilated incubating drawer provided with water troughs and
surrounded with hot water envelope; the last named serving at the same time to
heat the curtained compartment or muffle of the rearing pen, substantially as herein
described.
Dated this 28th day of November 1884