Improvements in Car Ventilators.
Year: 1888

page_text: Complete Specification Left, 11th July, 1888-Accepted, 11th July, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Car Ventilators.
I, WASHINGTON WRIGHT residing at Clayton, in the County of Gloucester and
State of New Jersey, United States of America 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 :-
This Invention relates to car-ventilators.
The object is to produce a car-ventilator which will be simple and ready in con-
struction, absolutely excluding dust and cinders, and inexpensive of production.
I am aware that ventilators have heretofore been made having an outer air-passage
located upon the outside of the car and other passage or passages communicating
therewith, through which it is intended the air within the car shall be drawn by the
draft through the outer assage. I am especially familiar with the construction of a
car-ventilator in which is employed a series of vanes pivotted in an outer passage,
connected together by means of a wire or rod and actuated by the draft there being
openings between said vanes communicating with the interior of the car for the exit
of the impure air therefrom. In this device, however, the vanes are pivotted entirely
within the outer passage, and there being a great number of these vanes the draft is
retarded and caused to eddy between them and through the openings, carry smoke,
dust, and cinders within the car.
Another form of ventilator has an outer passage having converging walls which
tend toward each other at the centre, and between which is pivotted a vane, also
actuated by the draft; but in this instance sufficient space is left upon either side of
the vane to allow the draft to be carried directly within the car.
Still another form of ventilator, also having an outer passage with flaring ends and
a passage leading therefrom to the interior of the car, contains a vane centrally
located and almost wholly within the outer passage, also actuated by the draft to
close one side of the opening and open the other; but here, also, the entire vane
being exposed and the width of the passage being so reduced thereby the draft eddies
around the vane, and is carried backward through the inner opening to the interior
of the car.
This is evidenced by the presence of a screen covering the interior
passage for the purpose of excluding dust and cinders.
The present invention comprises an outer passage with flaring ends and sides
inclined or curved at or near the centre in a direction opposite the opening leading
from inner passages, said inner passages leading from opposite directions to the outer
passage through a common opening and a vane pivotted at the juncture of said inner
passages, its opposite end extending slightly beyond into the outer passage and so
arranged that when operated by the draft one passage is closed and the opposite
one open.
In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate corre-
sponding parts in all the figures, I have illustrated my invention as applied to a
railway-car in which drawings
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the ventilator applied to a car, the view being
taken from the interior the car being shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a

page_text: horizontal section of the ventilator detached, and Fig. 3 represents a vertical longi-
tudinal sectional view of the device taken through the outer passage.
In the drawings, A represents the ventilator, which, as shown in Fig. 1, is
applied near the top of. a railway-car extending partly within and partly without
the same.
A¹ designates a casing which extends beyond the side of the car and which forms
a passase or draft-opening when the car is in motion. Extending within the car is
another casing B, the interior of which forms a passage or rather two passages b b¹,
converging toward each other and terminating in a common opening & communicating
with the outer or draft passage at or near its centre. At this point the inner sides of
the draft opening are curved or inclined outward or away from the opening as shown
at a a¹ to cause the draft to be deflected at that point, and to cause an outward draft
through the inner openings from the interior of the car. The opposite side of the
outer passage has also an outward curve or swell a³ to compensate for the space taken
up by the inner curves a a¹ and thus give the passage even width throughout its
length in order to prevent eddying or backward pressure of the draft at the point of
the central inner opening. The ends of the outer passage are preferably flared out.
ward to form enlarged entrances. A vane C is located at the juncture of the inner
passages pivoted at a point c and extending outward, its extreme end protruding into
the outer passage to enable it to be operated or thrown in one direction or the other
by the draft the situation of the vane being such that when actuated by the draft when
the car is moving in either direction, it will at once close oue of the inner passages bbl
while the other is immediately opened to its full extent. Thus it will be seen that
the passage thrown open by the vane is always the one inclining toward the direction
of the draft, and since there is but small, if any, obstruction to the draft through the
outer passage, there can be no eddying or rearward tendency of the draft, but on
the contrary an outward draft is caused from the interior of the car and thus the
vitiated or impure air is drawn therefrom. In order to prevent entrance of rain or
snow within the car through the ventilator, the bottoms of the passages are inclined
toward their outer ends forming a water shed as shown at a², Fig. 3. The inner
passages may also be effectually closed or the draft regulated by means of doors 63 63
located at their inner ends each of said doors formed as an arc of a circle conforming
to the sides of the frame of the ventilator and sliding in guides or ways thereon.
Racks 64 64 are also provided upon these doors and are each engaged by a pinion 66
upon the upper end of a rod 6 the lower end of which extends downward a convenient
distance, and is provided at its lower end with a handle, wheel or similar device, by
which it may be easily turned and the doors operated at will.
It will at once be seen that since the draft from the interior of the car is always
outward and that at no time is the outer atmosphere permitted to enter through the
ventilator the entrance of cinders, dust and smoke is entirely prevented and rendered
impossible.
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
claim is :-
1. In a car ventilator the combination of a casing to be placed on the outside of
a car and forming a continuously extending passage the casing having an outward
swell or expansion in its exterior face to be opposite an opening in the car when the
casing is in position, a casing to be placed on the inside of a car and forming a con-
tinuously extending passage, this casing having an inward projecting angle in its
interior face to be opposite the opening in the car when this casing is in position, and
opposite the expansion in the outer casing when both casings are in position, and
a vane pivotted at or near the angle and protruding through the opening in the car
into the outer casing substantially as described.
2. In a car ventilator the combination of a casing to be placed on the outside of
a car and forming a continuously extending passage the casing having an outward
swell or expansion in its exterior face to be opposite an opening in the car when the

page_text: casing is in position a casing to be placed on the inside of a car and forming a
continuously extending passage this casing having an inward projecting angle in its
interior face to be opposite the opening in the car when this casing is in position and
opposite the expansion in the outer casing when both casings are in position and being
provided with valves or dampers to regulate the draft and a vane pivotted at or near
the angle and protruding through the opening in the car into the outer casing sub-
stantially as described.
D
T 1
1000
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
. Agents.