AN IMPROVED VENTILATOR FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Nightingale Palmer, of Dalston, London,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
VENTILATOR FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES."-A communication from abroad
by Robert Hitchcock, of Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Nightingale
Palmer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th March 1878.
I, THOMAS NIGHTINGALE PALMER, of Dalston, London, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"AN IMPROVED VENTILATOR FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," a communication, to
be as follows :—
This Invention consists of a ventilator which has an indirect passage
for the air, and a deflector for dirt, and so arranged upon the carriage that
two essential offices for ventilation, the exhausting of the inner atmos-

page_text: phere and supplying fresh air from the outside are performed by the
same construction of ventilator in different relative positions.
My improved ventilator consists of a case of any suitable form having
a deflector fixed opposite to the main opening and slanting downward
to the opposite end of the case, at the lower part of which is a small
opening through which any dirt or refuse is expelled. This deflector
does not reach the top of the ventilator, but a space is left above its
upper edge. A second deflector reaches from the front top edge of the
case to about a third of the distance between it and the lower side,
slanting also in about the same angle as the other deflector. This brings
the lower edge of the front deflector on a lower plane than the top edge
of the other deflector and thus produces a lap which may be varied at
discretion. In the side of the case which is placed next to the carriage
and opposite to the vent in the same is an opening to allow the air to
pass in or out of the carriage. A lip is attached to or forms part of of the
lower edge of the back deflector and projects to the rear of the ventilator
this lip, when the device is operating as an exhaust, prevents the air from
passing in at the hole from whence the dirt is expelled, and the said lip
may be extended until it is long enough to produce a suction at the end
of the ventilator. The said lip may however be varied in angle and
length to suit the requirements of the occasion.
To produce the exhaust and supply of air, the ventilators are arranged
alternately with their main openings facing each other, the rest of the
ventilator being correspondingly reversed in construction.

page_text: of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, Her special licence that
I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, 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
VENTILATOR FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, 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 per-
formed, 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 I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawing forming a part of this Specification.
This Invention consists of a ventilator which has an indirect passage
for the air, and a deflector for dirt, and so arranged upon the carriage that
two essential offices for ventilation, the exhausting of the inner atmos-
phero and supplying fresh air from the outside, are performed by the
.same construction of ventilator in different relative positions.

page_text: is a small opening through which any dirt or refuse is expelled. This
deflector A does not reach the top of the ventilator but a space is left
above its upper edge at F. A front deflector D reaches from the front
top edge of the case to about one third of the distance between it and the
lower side, slanting also in about the same angle as the deflector A. 1
This brings the lower edge of the front deflector D on a lower plane
than the top edge of the deflector A, and thus produces a lap which may
bc varied at discretion. In the side E of the case which is placed next to
the carriage, and opposite to the vent in the same, is an opening F to
allow the air to pass into or out of the carriage. A lip K is attached to
or forms part of the lower edge of the deflector A. and projects to the
rear of the ventilator; this lip when the device is operating as an
exhaust prevents the air from passing in at the hole H, and the said
lip may be extended as shown in Figure 3 until it is long enough to
produce a suction at the end of the ventilator. The said lip may 1
howover be varied in angle and length to suit the requirement of the
occasion.
The manner of applying the ventilator to the carriage so as to produce
the supply and exhaust of air is as follows:-The ventilators are
arranged alternately with their main openings facing each other, the rest ?
of the ventilator being correspondingly reversed. Now when the carriage
travels in the direction shown by the arrow marked ō the ventilator
indicated by the number I catches the air and forces it into the carriage
through the vent hole F, the dirt and refuse being deflected by the
deflector A and passing through the hole H. The other ventilator 2
marked II is now acting as an exhaust, and by means of the suction
produced by its rapidly moving against the air it draws the air from the
carriage. When the carriage travels in the direction of the arrow
marked d the action of the ventilators is reversed, I becoming the
exhaust and II, the supply, the principle holding good whether two or 8
any multiple of them are used.
The case of the ventilator may be made of any convenient form,
though in practice I have made them as shown in outline Figure 2.
The advantages of this ventilator are that by proper arrangement it
performs two offices. It is not liable to get out of order, having no valve 8
to work in it, and it makes no noise.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
i

page_text: me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,—
First. In a carriage ventilator the combination of the deflector A,
deflector D, vent F, and passage H, arranged in an outside case,
substantially as shown and described.
Second. The arrangement of alternately reversed ventilators I and
II, producing alternately exhaust and supply, or the reverse, according
to the direction in which the carriage moves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.