AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING AND PURIFYING ROOMS OR APARTMENTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING AND PURIFYING ROOMS OR
APARTMENTS." A communication from abroad by Sylvester Harnden,
of Reading, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 2nd November 1869, and dated the 16th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th June 1869.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING AND PURIFYING
ROOMS OR APARTMENTS," (a communication to me from abroad by Sylvester
Harnden, of Reading, Massachusetts, United States of America,) to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a convenient and efficient

page_text: means for ventilating and purifying rooms or apartments (and especially
those occupied by the sick), to remove all impurities from the air
therein, and at the same time secure a healthy circulation of air and a
dry and bracing atmosphere (without the danger of cold currents), which
cannot be done by chemical disinfectants.
The Invention consists in so constructing an apparatus containing ice
and placing the same in such a position and manner in a room or
apartment as to secure a proper circulation of air therein, the ice
receiving the deposits of the impure particles contained in the moist or
warm air of a room, at the same time drying and cooling the moist
or warm air passing over it, thereby rendering the air in the room cool
and refreshing, and making it much more beneficial for the health of the
occupants. By the use of this means a room may be kept as sweet
and healthy as if all the doors and windows were open, while the danger
from draughts of air is avoided. The improved apparatus may be con-
structed or not to resemble a piece of furniture (such as a "secretary," a
book case, or a chest of drawers).
For example, supposing the apparatus be made to resemble at the
upper part a book case and at the lower part a chest of drawers in
outward appearance. Inside the lower part is an ice receptacle
constructed on the principle of a refrigerator; a passage leads from the
top of this to the top of the book case, there communicating with the
air. Near the bottom of the lower part is a similar passage, also leading
from the refrigerator and communicating with the air. Below the ice
receptacle is a space for the reception of a tub or tank to receive the
water passing from the ice through a hole in the bottom of the ice
receptacle. The lower part or imitation chest of drawers is furnished
with lids, one or more for placing ice in the receptacle, and one closing
the space or box in which the tub or tank is placed. The upper part
may be furnished with shelves and doors, so as to resemble and be
used if desired as a book case.
The operation and effect of this apparatus is as follows:-The cold air
from the ice receptacle falls through the passage leading from the lower
part of the refrigerator into the room, thus creating a partial vacuum
within the ice receptacle and the passage leading to the top of the book
case, through which passage the warm, moist, and impure air rushes to

page_text: supply the vacuum; this current carries all the impurities of the air with
it. The warm, moist, and impure air on entering the ice receptacle by
the upper passage becomes cool and dry on contact with ice, leaving
all impurities therewith, and issuing from the lower passage in a
purified, cooled, dried, and curative state; the ice thus converting
the warm, moist, and impure air into a fresh, healthy, and bracing
atmosphere, without the danger of draughts from open doors or
windows.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, 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 Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second 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 executors; 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 "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING AND PURIFYING ROOMS OR APARTMENTS," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Sylvester Harnden, of Reading,
Massachusetts, in the United States of America), upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: 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 I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:
The object of this Invention is to produce a convenient and efficient
means for ventilating and purifying rooms or apartments, and (especially
those occupied by the sick) to remove all impurities from the air therein,
and at the same time secure a healthy circulation of air and a dry and
bracing atmosphere (without the danger of cold currents), which cannot
be done by chemical disinfectants.
The Invention consists in so constructing an apparatus containing ice
and placing the same in such a position and manner in a room or apart.
ment as to secure a proper circulation of air therein, the ice receiving the
deposits of the impure particles contained in the moist or warm air of the
room, at the same time drying and cooling the moist or warm air passing
over it, thereby rendering the air in the room cool and refreshing, and
making it much more beneficial for the health of the occupants.
By the use of this means a room may be kept as sweet and healthy
as if all the doors and windows were open, while the danger from draughts
of air is avoided.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for. "An
Improved Apparatus for Ventilating and Purifying Rooms or Apartments,"
I will now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which, the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect; and
in order that the same may be distinctly understood I have annexed
hereunto a Sheet of Drawing illustrative thereof, and have marked the
same with Figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in
the following explanation thereof; that is to say :-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 represents a
perspective view of the improved apparatus; Figure 2, a front vertical
section and Figure 8, a transverse vertical section of the same.
&

page_text: The improved apparatus may be constructed or not to resemble a piece
of furniture such as a "secretary," a book case, or a chest of drawers.
For example, supposing the apparatus be made to resemble at the upper
part a book case a, and at the lower part a chest of drawers 6 in outward
appearance, as represented in Figure 1. Inside the part b is an ice
receptacle c, constructed on the principle of a refrigerator; a passage d
leads from the top of this to the top of the book case a, there com-
municating with the air. Near the bottom of the lower part 6 is a similar
passage e, also leading from the refrigerator and communicating with the
Below the ice receptacle o is a space f for the reception of a tub
or tank g to receive the water passing from the block of ice through a
hole i in the bottom of the ice receptacle c. The lower part or imitation
chest of drawers b is furnished with lida, one or more for placing ice in
the receptacle, and one k closing the space fin which the tub or tank g
is placed. The upper part may be furnished with shelves and doors, as
illustrated at Figure 1, so as to resemble and be used if desired as a
book case,
air.
The operation and effect of this apparatus is as follows:-The cold air
from the ice receptacle e falls through the passage e into the room, thus
creating a partial vacuum within the ice receptacle and the passage d,
through which passage the warm, moist, and impure air rushes to supply
the vacuum, this current carrying all the impurities of the air with it.
The warm, moist, and impure air on entering the ice receptacle c by the
passage d becomes cool and dry on contact with the ice h, and leaving all
b impurities therewith and issuing from the passage e in a purified, cool,
dry, and curative state, the ice thus converting the warm, moist, and
impure air into a fresh, healthy, and bracing atmosphere, without the
danger of draughts from open doors or windows,
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
0 "An Improved Apparatus for Ventilating and Purifying Rooms or
Apartments," together with the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in
conclusion, that I claim, as the Invention communicated to me by the
above-named Sylvester Harnden, the general construction and arrange-
ǎ ment of an apparatus with ice placed therein by which to secure an
artificial current of air within a room or apartment, thereby ventilating
and disinfecting the same of all impurities in the air, substantially as

page_text: herein-before described and as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
BRISTOW HUNT. (L.S.)