AN IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Richards Freeman, of the City of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, and Abraham Grundy,
of Rusholme, near Manchester, aforesaid, Engineer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Richards Freeman
and Abraham Grundy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th February 1865.
We, SAMUEL RICHARDS FREEMAN, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Gentleman, and ABRAHAM GRUNDY, of Rusholme, near Man-
chester, aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved method of mounting fans and fan-
blasts in a framework, and having the gearing or mechanism for producing
the motion and required speed in the said framework, thus forming a complete
blowing apparatus in a portable form very suitable for iron ship builders,
boiler makers, iron bridge builders, and smiths' hearths in general, and for
all other purposes where a continuous blast is required; and consists of a
suitable framework having two cast-iron sides bolted together in convenient
any

page_text: manner; to the bottom inner surface of one of the said sides the fan is affixed
by bolts or set screws, and the shaft to which the vanes of the fan are attached
works in bearings in each side of the framework; an intermediate shaft also
working in bearings in the sides of the framework has a spur wheel keyed
upon it, which gears into a small pinion wheel upon the fan shaft; and
another shaft, called the driving shaft, also working in bearings in the frame-
work imparts motion to the intermediate shaft by means of a spur wheel
gearing into a pinion upon the said intermediate shaft. The driving shaft
projects beyond the outside of one of the sides of the framework in order to
have a crank attached, and motion is communicated to the said driving shaft
by a lever working upon a fixed stud on the outside of the framework, which
lever is connected by means of a connecting link or rod to the crank upon the
driving shaft. In order to prevent the crank from stopping just over the
centre, and to serve the purpose of a fly wheel, it is preferred to weight one
side of the driving spur wheel, which may be accomplished by a block of metal
being constructed to fit between two or more of the arms of the said spur
wheel, and to be attached thereto by means of screws or rivets. It will be
readily understood that instead of using spur wheels and pinions the motion
might be imparted to the fan by pulleys and bands, so we do not absolutely
confine ourselves to the use of spur gearing; and in some cases it may be
advisable to connect a smith's hearth to the blowing apparatus, and this is
readily done by having studs cast upon the framework for the purpose of
bolting the smith's hearth thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Richards Freeman and Abraham Grundy in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
RICHARDS FREEMAN, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Gentleman, and ABRAHAM GRUNDY, of Rusholme, near Manchester, aforesaid,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Samuel Richards Freeman and Abraham Grundy, Her special license that
we, the said Samuel Richards Freeman and Abraham Grundy, our executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Richards
Freeman and Abraham Grundy, our 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 "AN
IMPROVED BLOWING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Samuel Richards Freeman and Abraham Grundy, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Richards Freeman and
Abraham Grundy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings
(that is to say). -
This Invention relates to an improved method of mounting fans and. fan
blasts in a framework, and having the gearing or mechanism for producing the
motion and required speed in the said framework, thus forming a complete
blowing apparatus in a portable form, very suitable for iron ship. builders,
boiler makers, iron bridge builders, and smith's hearths in general, and for all
other purposes where a continuous blast is required; and consists of a suitable
framework having two iron sides bolted together in any convenient manner to
the inner surface of one of the said sides; the fan is affixed by bolts or set
screws, and the shaft to which the vanes of the fan are attached works in
bearings in each side of the framework; an intermediate shaft also working
in the bearings in the sides of the framework has a spur wheel keyed upon it
which gears into a small pinion. wheel upon the fan shaft; and another shaft
called the driving shaft, also working in bearings in the framework imparts
motion to the intermediate shaft by means of a spur wheel. gearing into a
pinion upon the said intermediate shaft. The driving shaft projects beyond
the outside of one of the sides of the framework in order to have a crank
attached, and motion is communicated to the said driving shaft by a lever
working upon a fixed stud on the outside of the framework, which lever is
connected by means of a connecting link or rod to the crank upon the driving
shaft. In order to prevent the crank from stopping just over the centre, and

page_text: to serve the purpose of a fly wheel, it is preferred to weight one side of the
driving spur wheel, which may be accomplished by a block of metal being
constructed to fit between two or more of the arms of the said spur wheel, and
to be attached thereto by means of screws or rivets. It will be readily under-
stood that instead of using spur wheels and pinions, the motion might be
imparted to the fan by pulleys and bands, so we do not absolutely confine our-
selves to the use of spur gearing; and, in some cases, it may be advisable
to connect a smith's hearth to the blowing apparatus, and this is readily done
by having studs upon the framework for the purpose of bolting the smith's
hearth thereto.
This Invention constitutes an efficient substitute for the ordinary bellows
used in smithies (or smith's shops) for blowing smiths' fires or forges, and
when combined with a smith's hearth, such combined blowing apparatus and
hearth forms a complete portable forge, suitable for iron ship and bridge
builders, boiler makers, contractors, builders, and smiths in general.
That this our said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood,
we have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of several modi-
fications of our Invention, drawn to a scale of one inch and a half to a foot,
similar letters marked thereon being used to denote similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a side elevational view; Fig. 2 is an end elevational view; and Fig. 8
is a plan of one modification of our apparatus for producing a continuous blast;
Fig. 4 illustrates a side elevational view; and Fig. 5 an end elevational view
of part of the same machine (as illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, and 3), shewing a
smith's hearth connected thereto; Fig. 6 is a side view; and Fig. 7 is a plan
of the smith's hearth detached from the machine, illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5.
Fig. 8 represents an end elevational view; Fig. 9 a side elevational view;
and Fig. 10 a plan of another modification of our apparatus or machine in
connection with a smith's hearth, forming together a complete portable forge.
Fig. 11 is a side, and Fig. 12 an end elevational view, of another modification
of our apparatus for producing a continuous blow.
In Figs. 1, 2, 3, A represents the sides of the framework formed of cast
iron, the said sides being bolted together by the bolts or stays B. The fan
casing C, which is of the ordinary construction, is attached and secured firmly
to the inner side of the framework by bolts or set screws, and the connection
between the delivery opening of the fan (shewn in Fig. 2) and the metallic
nozzle D may be constructed of leather or other pliable material E, and thus
enable the nozzle D (not shewn in Fig. 2) to be turned in any required
direction. Upon the fixed stud F bolted to the standard G which forms
part of one side of the framework, the actuating lever H (shewn broken in the

page_text: Drawing for want of space to illustrate it in its entirety) works, which lever.
is connected by means of the connecting link I to the crank J, keyed to and
revolving with the driving shaft K, which driving shaft revolves in the adjust-
able bearings L. The driving spur wheel M, which is also keyed to the
driving shaft K, gears into the spur pinion N upon the intermediate shaft O,
and the friction wheel P, keyed to the same shaft O, is in frictional contact
with a small friction wheel Q upon the fan shaft R, to which fan shaft the
vanes or feathers of the fan are fixed. S represents the adjustable bearings
at each side of the framework in which the intermediate shaft O and the fan
shaft R revolve or work, which bearings, together with the one marked L, are
bolted to the sides of the framework, and are made adjustable by the holes for
the bolts to pass through being slotted or elongated. T is a block of metal
either cast upon, or bolted, or screwed between two arms of the driving spur
wheel M to prevent the crank J from stopping just "over the centre" or in a
vertical "position, and so necessitating the said spur wheel M to be turned
partially round by hand before starting the machine, whilst, at the same time;
the said block T also serves the purpose of a fly wheel. It will be readily
apparent that if the block T is properly fixed its gravity will cause the driving
spur wheel M to stop in such a position that the actuating lever H will always
be ready to commence its work. The small friction wheel Q we prefer to form
of layers of leather bolted all altogether between two metallic plates (as illus-
trated), and then turned up perfectly true. The machine is set in motion by
depressing or raising the handle of the actuating lever H, when, by means of
the connecting link I, the crank J is caused to rotate, and so motion is imparted
to the driving spur wheel M, which, by being geared into the spur pinion N;
communicates a revolving motion to the friction wheel P, which, in its turn,
by being in frictional contact with the small friction wheel Q, causes the fan
shaft to revolve at an accelerated speed owing to the difference in the sizes of
the wheels, and thus a continuous blast is produced, which, by means of pipes
either attached to the nozzle D or direct to the delivery opening of the fan,
may be carried in any required direction.
In Figs. 4 and 5, R¹ represents a detachable smith's hearth, which is
secured to the machine by the arm S₁ being passed through the lugs T"
attached to the sides of the framework, which hearth is supported at the other
end by the leg U, and is represented as detached from the machine by Fig. 6
and Fig. 7, illustrating a side view and plan respectively.
:
In Figs. 8, 9, and 10, a represents the sides of the framework, formed, by
preference, of angle or wrought iron, and bolted together by bolts b, upon. the
top of which framework the smith's hearth c is affixed, formed either of sheet

page_text: iron rivetted together, or it may be constructed all in one casting. The fan
casing d, which is of the ordinary construction, is bolted to the outer side of
the framework (or it may be situated within the framework), and com-
municates with the hearth through the delivery pipe e and nozzle f (shewn in
Fig. 6). The vanes or feathers of the fan are affixed to the fan shaft 9, which
works in fixed bearings on each side of the framework a, upon which fan shaft
is situated the spur pinion h gearing into the large spur wheel i upon the inter-
mediate shaft j revolving in fixed bearings in each side of the framework;
another spur pinion keyed upon the shaft j gears into the large spur wheel k
upon the driving shaft 7, also working. in fixed bearings on each side of the
framework, which driving shaft projects beyond the outside of the framework
in.order to have the driving wheel m affixed thereto. The radial arm n and
the lever o, situated on either side of the driving wheel m, work loosely upon
the driving shaft l, and are connected together at their upper ends by the
actuating lever p being placed between them, and all three jointed together by
the pin q.
The weight r attached at the lower end of the lever o is for the
purpose of counterbalancing the weight of the lever p, and to cause the said
lever when released to always take a vertical position.
In working this machine it is only necessary to take hold of the handle of
the actuating lever p, and to pull it in the direction indicated by the dotted
lines, when the short arm of the lever p will abut tightly up against the driving
wheel m, and cause it to commence to revolve; the lever handle may then be
allowed to return to its former position, which it will do by itself if held loosely
in the hand owing to the action of the weight r, and then another grip upon
the driving wheel m may be obtained, and so a continuous motion imparted
to the driving shaft l, which, by means of the large spur wheel k gearing into
the pinion wheel upon the intermediate shaft j communicates motion to the
large spur wheel i, which, in its turn, by being geared into the pinion wheel h
will impart a rapid revolving motion to the fan shaft g, and so a continuous
blast is sent through the delivery pipe e and nozzle f.
In Figs. 11 and 12, V represents the sides of the framework, which are
formed of angle or wrought iron, the other working parts being similar and
equivalent to the working parts shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, are lettered the
same, so that the description given of Figs. 1, 2, and 3 will suffice to
explain the construction and action of the machine illustrated by Figs. 11
and 12.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this our
said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are acquainted
for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly under-

page_text: stood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details, relative proportions,
or dimensions herein-before described and set forth, as the same may be
considerably varied without departing from the Invention; but what we
claim is mounting a fan in a framework, and having the gearing or mechanism
for producing the motion and required speed of the fan in the said framework,
thus forming a complete blowing apparatus in a portable form, suitable for
blowing smiths' fires, and for other purposes where a continuous blast is
required, and combining a smith's hearth with such blowing apparatus to form
a complete portable forge, as herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Richards Freeman and Abraham
Grundy, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five.
SAMUEL RICHARDS FREEMAN. (L.S.)
ABRAHAM GRUNDY.
(L.S.)
Witnessed by
JOHN G. WILSON,
Practical Mechanical Engineer
and Patent Agent,
24, Market Place,
Manchester.