An Improved Incubator or Artificial Hatching Machine.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 20th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 25th Jan., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Incubator or Artificial Hatching Machine.
I, CHARLES MALTBY-NEWTON of Holly Lodge, Windmill Road, Croydon, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
AN IMPROVED INCUBATOR OR ARTIFICIAL HATCHING MACHINE to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to a simple and cheap machine for the artificial hatching
of birds eggs, the principal feature of which is the manner in which air heated by a
lamp or other source of heat is allowed to enter into the hatching chamber or
chambers while the products of combustion from the said source of heat and which are
deleterious to the successful hatching of eggs is prevented by simple means from so
entering the hatching chamber or chambers.
Into a suitably constructed box with the bottom perforated and with lids or doors
covering the top also perforated I fit trays to take the eggs and in the centre or sides
I place vertically a tube or tubes of metal entering at the bottom and passing quite
through the box, this tube is open at both ends and has holes bored in the part
which is inside the box between the top and the bottom, inside this tube is fixed by
suitable means an inner tube or hollow cone, also of metal which is wider at the
bottom than the top and is also perforated in proper proportion to the perforated
outer tube, the tops of this inner hollow cone and outer tube are level and the size of
the inner cone is properly proportioned in its relation to the outer tube and the lamp
or source of heat so as to carry off the deleterious products of combustion from the
lamp or source of heat with the loss of as little of the heat generated as possible; the
whole is arranged so that when the top of the tubes are covered with a metal cover of
convenient shape having an aperture immediately over the top of the centre tube or
hollow cone, the heat from a lighted lamp or gas flame with the chimney entering
the bottom of the inner tube or hollow cone will cause a current of heated pure air to
pass into the box while the products of combustion will pass through the centre
aperture but when the cover on the top of the tubes is removed the greater portion of
the heated air will pass through, without entering the box, together with the products
of combustion.
The metal cover I attach to a lever support properly constructed and connected to a
balanced rod inside the box or hatching chamber and which is so arranged that the rod
and lever carrying the cover when connected together can be balanced upon an axis
by a movable weight or other means and arranged so that a slight movement of the
end of the rod up or down will cause the cover to be raised or lowered, this
movement I cause to take place by sealing a small quantity of volatile liquid, boiling
at a low temperature, in a flexible receptacle and arranging it under or over the end
of the rod by such suitable means as to lift the cover off when the temperature in the
box or hatching chamber rises above the required heat, and to lower it down upon
the top of the tubes when the heat falls below the required heat. I may also
accomplish this regulation by electrical means or by the movement of mercury in a
tube by the expansion of a volatile liquid, or by any thermostatic motor capable of
altering the balance of the rod & thus causing the metal cover to rise and fall with the
rise and fall of the temperature in the box or receptacle for the eggs.
As the heat required for hatching birds eggs must not be dry heat but moist heat,
I pass a small metal tube, filed in half or perforated along the upper side so as to be
open at the top where it passes through the box, (or other form of metal gutter)
horizontally but with a slight incline from one side of the egg receptacle or box to the
other and passing through or round the heating tube or tubes, through this partially
open tube cause water to drip when hatching which being heated or boile! in its
passage through the box and through or round the heating tube vaporises and so

page_text: moistens the heated air upon its entrance into the egg chambers or receptacles, and
if necessary I also fit metal trays underneath the egg trays to hold dampened earth or
wet flannel small pieces of sponge soaked in water or other means of keeping the air
moist in the egg chambers by evaporation.
Between the heating tubes and receptacle for the eggs inside the box I place
perforated metal or other suitable screens or divisions vertically so as to equalise the
strata of air and cause an evenly heated current to always pass over the top surface of
the eggs.
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COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Incubator or Artificial Hatching Machine.
I CHARLES MALTBY-NEWTON formerly of 40 Windmill Road Croydon in the county
of Surrey but now of "Breakshells" Farm South Holmwood in the aforesaid county,
Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon :-
The object of my invention has reference to the simplification in construction of
Artificial hatching Machines, and more especially to the manner in which the beated
air is maintained pure in the egg chambers, while by simple and natural means the
products of combustion from the lamp, or other source of heat, are allowed to escape
without entering the hatching chamber.
From the nature of this invention the necessary regulation of the heated air in the
egg chamber, must be controlled at the outlet of the heating tube, and not, as is
sometimes done, at the inlet, and this principle can be carried into effect in various
ways.
I
The accompanying drawings, although not descriptive of every modification which
may find necessary, will explain my invention clearly, the like letters representing
the same parts in both figures, Fig. 1 being a cross section, and Fig. 2 a plan.
B is a tube or cylinder of brass, copper, or iron, passing right through the machine
vertically, and supported at the bottom by a flange, it is perforated with holes within
the heat chamber P, and covered on the top and outside the machine with a damper
or disc of metal O.
A, is an inner tube or cone of metal, with the top or point cut off flush, so as to
leave an aperture of about one inch in diameter, if the tube B is three inches in
diameter, or one third the diameter of any other sized tube that may be used; the
cone A is perforated with holes about one half the diameter of the holes in the outer
or heat tube B, and it is made to fit tight at the bottom inside the heat tube B, and
supported by an inner ledge or projection as shewn in Fig. 1.
The metal damper, or disc O, being also perforated with holes in the centre, so that,
when in place over the top of heat tube, the apertures equal about one half the aperture
of the top of the cone A. The chimney of the lamp enters the heat tube immediately
under the centre of the cone, leaving a clear space between the lamp chimney and
the heat tube B, when the lamp is alight; the direction of the arrows show that, even
when the damper or metal disc is down on the top of the heat tube, all, or nearly all,
the products of combustion from the lamp must escape naturally through the cone,
and into the outer air, and must entirely do so when the damper or disc is raised a
little, while pure air is drawn in between the outside of the lamp chimney, and the
inside of the heat tube B, and into the heating chamber of the machine P, from whence
it passes into the egg chamber G, through the holes L.
Fig. 2 in conjunction with Fig. 1 shows that outside the heat tube B there is a
screen of metal, clay, or wood (, reaching from the bottom of the machine to within
an inch or so of the top, to direct the heated pure air or vapour over the top surface

page_text: of the eggs; from the egg chamber G it escapes at the apertures H in the case of the
machine at the top of the extreme ends and middle; the necessary ventilation of the
egg drawer or tray I secure by several holes bored in the bottom of the machine,
which are covered inside by a zinc screen R, perforated at the edge all round, as shewn
at K, from whence the fresh air is drawn into the egg chamber by the heated air as it
passes out of the escape holes H, the zinc screen R preventing the cold air directly
passing among the eggs, before it is more or less warmed, while the tray E, which in
working is filled with water, or pieces of sponge, flannel, canvas, earth, or sand,
well soaked with water, insures the air being moistened sufficiently for the purpose
of batching.
I furthermore as shown at D place two long narrow trays of metal inside the heat
chamber P, and on each side of the heat screen C, which I also keep full of water
while working, so as to moisten the hot air as it enters the egg chambers G through
the holes L.
Instead of the water trays D for moistening the heated air in its passage to the
egg chambers G, I may pass a small metal tube, filed in half or perforated so as to
be open at the top, through the heat chamber P, and round the heat tube B, at a slight
inclination from one end to the other, and by causing water to drip into the higher
end of this partially open metal tube or gutter, it is heated or boiled in its passage
through the heat chamber P, and round the heating tube B, and vaporises, so moistening
the air in the heating chamber P.
Any suitable thermostatic motor can be used to regulate the heat in the egg
chambers, which can be so arranged inside the egg chamber or chambers G, and con-
nected to a lever in suitable bearings on the outside of the machine, to the other end
of which can be attached the cover or metal disc on top of the heat tube B, and which
it slightly raises when the temperature becomes too high, and lowers again, as the
temperature decreases.
One form is shown in Fig. 2, in which a capsule or envelope of flexible metal N
with a small quantity of Ether sealed inside which, when it expands with the heat,
raises the rod over it, and that rod, having bearings at M, pulls down the other end,
and so raises the lever on the top of the machine to which is attached the metal cover
or disc; a reverse of this motion taking place when the capsule N becomes cooler
and consequently less inflated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
believe to be new and therefore desire to claim and secure by Letters patent is,
1. Constructing Incubators or Artificial hatching machines in which the flame of
a lamp or other source of heat is used to heat the air or vapour, in such manner as
to prevent the products of combustion from entering the egg chamber or chambers,
while allowing heated pure air or vapour to enter, and to maintain an even or nearly
even temperature within the egg or hatching chamber or chambers.
2. The arrangement of metal cone, regulating cover, and heat tube, by which I
supply the egg chamber or chambers of Incubators or Artificial Hatching Machines
with heated pure air or vapour, automatically controlled according to the temperature
of the said egg chamber or chambers, substantially as herein described.
Dated this 20th day of December 1889
C. MALTBY-NEWTON.