VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES FOR PREVENTING OR CHECKING FIRES, AND PRESERVING PERSONS AND PROPERTY THEREFROM, BY MEANS OF DIVERS IMPROVEMENTS IN ALARMS, CHIMNIES, CISTERNS,. FIRE SCREENS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1806

page_text: CAREY'S
SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CAREY, Doctor of Laws, of Camden Street, in the Parish of Saint Mary,
Islington, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of August,
in the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said John
Carey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence that I,
the said John Carey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES FOR PREVENTING OR CHECKING FIRES, AND
PRESERVING PERSONS AND PROPERTY THEREFROM, BY MEANS OF DIVERS IMPROVEMENTS
IN ALARMS, CHIMNIES, CISTERNS,. FIRE SCREENS, AND OTHER ARTICLES;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John
Carey, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Carey, do hereby declare that my said Invention and improvements are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the description thereof
hereunto annexed.
In witness wheroof, I, the said John Carey, have hereunto set my hand 5
and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seven.
and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seven.
JOHN CAREY. (L.S.)
1. A shower bath for apartments, warehouses, &c.-Let a cistern be placed
in the upper part of a building to receive the rain water, or be filled by a
pump from below, or otherwise; from this cistern let a pipe of metal or other fit
substance be conducted into any room, and terminate in a cock near the ceiling,
or wherever most convenient. Let the plug of this cock be furnished with a
cross bar projecting on each side nine or ten inches, or more; let one end of
the bar be furnished with a-weight sufficient to turn the plug and keep the
cock open when no force at the other end of the bar prevents the fall of the
weight, the cock for that purpose being placed sidewise as the ball-cock of a
common cistern, and the weight acting as the ball in its descent. To the other
end of the bar let a cord be attached, which, being drawn tight and made fast
below, shall keep the weight raised and the cock shut. Let this cord reach
the floor, and there be fastened to a ring or other fastening, or run through
several rings, &c., so as to pass over different parts of the floor, and be fastened
only to the last ring, that if the fire burn any part of it the weight may imme-
diately fall and set the cock running. Instead of rings fastened to the floor,
common ring weights (such as butchers' weights) may be used, which may be
moved out of the way in the day time, and placed at night in the most advan-
tageous situations. To prevent inconvenience from the cord in the day time, it
may be in two lengths, the one reaching from the bar above to within six or seven
feet from the floor, and terminating in a loop, ring, or hook, to which the other
length may be fastened at night, and conducted along the floor, as above
described. To keep the cock shut when the night cord is taken away, let a
second cord or chain depend from the light end of the bar to within six or
seven feet from the floor, and terminato in a loop, ring, or hook, to fasten it to
the wall, or elsewhere, as most convenient. This second or day cord is to be
secured to its fastening before the night cord is removed, and is to be loosed
after the night cord is placed and secured. From one pipe several branches
and cocks may be conducted to different parts of the room, so that whenever
the fire breaks out it may burn a cord and set a cock running. To scatter the

page_text: water, each cock may terminate in a large rose, like that of a watering pot..
Instead of several roses, one large shallow pan of metal, or other fit substance,
may be used, nearly equal in size to the entire ceiling, with a slight descent
toward the centre, and full of holes, which pan shall receive the water from all
the cocks. The weight fastened to the bar of the cock may be connected with
an alarm by a chain or cord, and one or more cranks and wires, so that the fall.
of the weight shall set off the alarm and give notice of the fire. To prevent
the entire contents of the cistern from being unnecessarily discharged, it may be
divided into as many compartments as there are cocks, each cock emptying only
one compartiment, for which purpose there must be a separate pipe from each
compartment to one cock, and there must be a hole or notch in the upper edge®
of each partition in the cistern, that in filling it the water may overflow from
one compartment into another. Instead of a rose, the cock may be furnished
with a hose or tube of leather, or other fit substance, with a pipe or nozzle at
the end, so that a person may direct the stream of water where he pleases, and
in this case the cock, hose, and nozzle may be concealed in a closet.
2. A chimney shower bath.-A cistern being placed in the upper part of the
house, let a cock communicate from it to the chimney, the cock to have a cross
bar and weight as in the preceding case, except that here the operation of the
weight is reversed, and the weight, when left at liberty, keeps the cock shut,
and must be pulled up to set it running. From the light end of the cross bar
let a wire or string be conducted down to the apartment where the chimney
opens; when the chimney is on fire, let the wire be pulled, and either held in
the hand or hitched on a hook or other fastening, and so kept fast until a
sufficient quantity of water has poured down the chimney. Then the wire being
let go, the weight will fall and stop the cock. The communication from the
cock to the chimney is as follows:-To the outer extremity of the cock let'
there be fastened a hose or tube of leather, or other fit and flexible substance,
one or two feet in length, or more, if required. Let the outer end of the hose
be fastened to a pipe of metal or other fit substance, of sufficient length to reach
from the outside of the brickwork to the center of the chimney funnel or there-
abouts, and of bore sufficient to give passage to as large a stream of water as
the cock can discharge.. Let that end of this pipe which stands in the centre
of the funnel, terminate in a hollow globe of larger diameter, or a half globe,
of which the flat side is to be placed horizontal, the globe or half globe to be
full of small holes to scatter the water in every direction. This pipe is not to be
immoveably fixed in the brickwork, but removable at pleasure, for the purpose
of cleaning or making way for a chimney sweeper or sweeping machine. It
may either be let through a hole in the brickwork, which may be stopped round

page_text: it with clay, loam, or any other fit substance, or a second pipe of metal, stone,
or other fit substance, and sufficiently wido to admit the former tube, may be
immoveably fixed in the brickwork, and the former tube being thrust through it
into the chimney, the vacancy may be filled up with clay, &c., as above. The
cistern may have as many cocks as there are chimney funnels, one cock with its
apparatus for each funnel. The samo cistern which supplies the shower bath
for apartments may also serve for the chimneys. To save the trouble of fre-
quently taking out the pipe to clean it from soot, the holes in the globe or half
globe may be stopped with whiting, or any other substance which will quickly
dissolve, and leave a passago for the water, and the globe or half globe may
have a opening at the top to admit the finger, or any instrument used in
plastering the holes inside, and this opening may be closed with a cock, metal,
or other stopper.
3. A chimney stopper, consisting of a frame of wood, or metal, or both,
covered with a metallic plate or plates, and of sufficient dimensions to close the
opening of the chimney or fire-place to which it is to be applied when the
chimney is on fire. This stopper may be in a single piece, or made to fuld into
two or more leaves, like a fire screen. It may also be made with a part of cach
leaf to slide up and down, after the manner of fire screens, and may be painted,
japanned, or otherwise ornamented, to serve the purpose of a fire screen or a
chimney board.
4. A damper gridiron, with round, semi-circular, triangular, square, or
rhombic bars, placed in contact with each other, or very nearly so, the semi-
circular bars having the flat side down, the triangular resting on the base of
the triangle with the apex upwards, the rhombic having the acute angles above
and below, and the square being placed either side to sido or anglo to angle.
The bars may either be loose or rivetted, screwed or welded to a frame. The
frame may either be a simple iron bar formed into a square, or it may have a
raised edge or margin like that of a frying-pan. In the latter case, suppose a
square or oblated frying-pan, with either a sloping or perpendicular margin,
having the handle and front margin cut away, and also the entire bottom,
except about a quarter of an inch on each side, and (for the fixed bars) about
half an inch at the back, and the same in front, or (for the loose bars) about
half an inch at the back only. Then, to have fixed bars, let them be rivetted,
or screwed, or welded on the half inch bottom in front and rear, and let a
handle, with a cross piece in the shape of a T be fitted into the front, with the
two ends of tho cross piece turned up to be rivetted, or screwed, or welded to
the outer ends of the side margins, or the front rivets or screws may pass
through both the cross pieco and the bottom. For the loose bars, let a cross

page_text: bar be fixed underneath the supposed cut frying-pan, at or near the front, and
let a T handle be fastened (as above described) to the outer ends of the side
margins, then let the parallel bars be turned up about half an inch at the inner
end; so that when the outer ends are thrust between the front cross bar and the
T handle, the turned-up ends shall lio against the rear margin, while the
straight ends rest in front on the cross bar underneath. To secure the bars in
this position; let a hole be made in each side margin, about a quarter of an
inch from the rear margin (more or less, according to the thickness of the
bars,) to receive another cross bar, which shall confine the parallel bars in their
station. This cross bar may have, at one end, a head or shoulder, and at the
other a screw, to receive a put or an eye, to receive a key or bolt to prevent it
from dropping out; or the cross bar, without passing through the side margins,
may be turned up at both ends, and each end fastened to the side margin with
a screw pin, or turn buckle, leaving it removable at pleasure. Or, instead of
turning up the inner ends of the bars, they may be left straight, and a notch
be made in each to receive the cross bar which is to confine them. In any
case the gridiron may have feet riveted, or scrowed, or welded underneath, or
to the outside of the margin, and be furnished with a pan in front to receive
the fat, in the same form as the pan attached to hollow or concave barred
gridirons, or any other shape that may be convenient; and for this purpose it is
proper that the gridiron stand sloping with a descent forward.
5. A lock lantern for stables, nurseries, &c.-The lantern may be of any
shape or size, mada of or covered with close woven wire; and that children or
servants may not so readily open this without discovery as a common lantern,
it may be fastened with an ordinary padlock, or with one of the following kind :—
Suppose one of tho common small square spring padlocks, of which the inner work
consists of a spring, and the small piece which may be called the bolt. Instead
of one key hole, let two holes be made in front, the one to allow room for the
motion of a little knob or button, by which the bolt is to be drawn back, as in
the lock of a pocket-book, the other to admit the shank of the key. The key
is to be in the shape of a T, the perpendicular picco or shank being round, and
the transverse piece or handle round, square, triangular, or flat, at pleasure;*
near the bottom of the shank is to be a circular groove, sufficient to admit the
side of the bolt, which may be made thinner in that part for the purpose; or,
without making any difference in the thickness of the bolt, a hole may be made
in the back of the lock corresponding with the key-hole in front, so that the
end of the key below the groove shall sink into the back piece. The bolt, when
at rest, is to cover about one-third of the hole, and the shank of the key to be
tapered to a point below the groove, that when thrust in it may make its way
and push back the bolt, which will again be driven forward by the spring, and

page_text: will catch in the groove as soon as the key has penetrated to its proper place.
Over the front of the lock let there be a door or shutter, turning on a hinge or
pivot, as is common in small square portmanteau locks. It may (like them),
or it may not, have a spring underneath to throw it open. In this door let there
be a holo exactly corresponding, with the one or two holes for the key already
mentioned, and an enlargement of that hole by a slit on each side barely suf-
ficient to let the handle of the key pass through. To apply this lock two opera-
tions are necessary, viz³, to fasten or lock it to the ring or loop from which it
is to hang, and to gag or close it, but it is indifferent which of the two opera-
tions is performed first. It is fastened or locked by pushing down the curved
arm or bow at the top, as practised in common spring padlocks. It is gagged or
closed as follows:-Let the shank of the koy (first passing thro' a shield, here-
after to be described,) be thrust through the hole in the door and the hole or
holes underneath, until the bolt has caught the groove in the shank of the key,
the handle of the key being turned in a different direction from the slit in the
door. The key and shield are then to remain attached to the lock in that
position. The shield above mentioned is a bit of card, or paper, or parchment,
about the size of a sixpence (more or less), so marked as to be easily
recognized, and having a hole in the middle to admit the shank of the key.
This shield, being confined by the handle of the key, renders it difficult (if not
impossible) to open the lock without tearing the shield, unless the slit in the
door be too wide. To unfasten this lock, tear off the shield, turn the handle of
the key exactly over the slit in the door, so that it may pass through and leave
the door at liberty to open, whether it be pushed up by a spring underneath or
pulled open with the finger. The door being opened, draw back the bolt, by
means of the little button or knob before described, as in the instance of a pocket-
book lock, and you at once liberate the key and the curved arm or bow at the
top. To cover the shield and the handle of the key, a second door may be added,
turning on a hinge or pivot, and to be fastened and unfastened, either by means
of a concealed spring and catch, as is common in the square portmanteau locks
before mentioned, or by means of a spring and button, as in watch cases or
pocket-book locks. This second or outer door may be fixed either to the outer
edge of the inner door, to open in the contrary direction, or toward the opposite
edge, to open in the same direction with it, or the outer door may be attached
to the lock by a rivet or pivot in one side or corner, and made to move in a line
parallel to the face of the lock; or, instead of this second or outer door, a
sliding piece may be used, moving up and down, as the slide used to cover tho
Aperture in some kinds of padlocks and key-hole scutcheons, the inner door
having three of its sides turned up, and so formed as to present a groove or
dove-tail cavity to receive the slide,

page_text: 6. A fire cloak or gown, which may be of any convenient shape or size, to
protect the wearer from external fire, or extinguish fire in the wearer's other
cloaths. It may be made of leather, silk, poplin, callimanco, or other stuff or
substance little liable to catch fire, lined with any stuff or substance of like
description, and quilted with a stuffing between of hair, wool, or other substance
not very inflammable. It may have a hood or cowl to cover the head, which
hood or cowl may be joined to it or separate.
7. A soot trap for chimneys, thus:-Let the chimney fitted a few inches
abovo the opening of the fire-place with a horizontal or sloping stone slab or.
metal plate, or with brickwork or masonry, leaving in each case a round, square,
or other shaped hole toward the back of the chimney for the smoke to ascend;
the size of the hole to be proportioned to the quantity of smoke that is to pass,
with allowance for the impediments hereafter to be described. To this hole let
a metal tube or box be fitted so that it can easily be put in and taken out; the
length of the tube or box may be from five or six inches to twelve or more;
its upper end is to be open, the lower grated with thin bars from an eighth of
an inch asunder to half an inch or more, or the bottom may be a metal plate
perforated with numerous holes. In this box let there be lodged a quantity
of coarse gravel, or small pebbles, or stone-cutters' rubbish, or metal chain, or
any other uninflammable thing or things which will leave a passage for the
smoke, the quantity to depend on the draught of the chimney, and to be deter-
mined in each case by actual experiment. Let the box thus prepared as a
strainer be thrust up into the opening above mentioned until its bottom be
level with the inferior surface of the slab or plate, &c., and let it be supported in
that position by one or more hooks; bolts, turn buckles, or springs, which may
be adapted in various ways not needing description. The smoke passing through
this strainer, and depositing part of its soot, the strainer must occasionally be
taken down and cleared from the soot, the gravel, &c., being cither washed
clean for further use, or thrown away and replaced by new.
In the same"
strainer, gravel, &c., of two or more sizes, may be used at once, the coarser
being placed lowermost, with a wire grating or perforated plate laid upon it to
prevent the finer from passing down.
8. A soot trap, stove, or stove top, thus:-Suppose a register stove of any
shape made smoke-tight in the top and back, excepting a hole for a strainer
as before decribed, then let a strainer be adapted to it, as above, or let the
hole be in the back close to the top, and calculated to admit a strainer in the.
shape of a drawer, the front of the drawer to be either a perforated plate or'a
grating, as above described. The drawer may be partly covered in at top
toward the front, so that the smoke shall pass out only toward the rear, or it

page_text: may be entirely covered in at top, and the back part be (like the front) a grat-
ing or perforated plate, so that tho smoke shall only pass out at the back. In
the latter case the back is to be loose, to be put in and taken out at pleasure,
and may be fastened with one or more hooks, pins, turn buckles, or springs,
or it may be made to move on a hinge or hinges, to open and shut as a door.
The drawer is to be furnished with gravel, &c., as the upright strainer, and
may, like it, contain different sizes of gravel, &c. Instead of the drawer shape,
the strainer may be made round, square, triangular, or in various other shapes,
at pleasure. A register top (i. c., all that part of a register stove which stands
above the level of the hobs) may also be fitted with a strainer, either perpen-
dicular or horizontal, and adapted to a common stove or range by being fixed
on the hobs, and made closely to fit the opening of the chimnoy. The soot
trap stove may be made after another fashion, thus :-Supposo a stove of that
kind (now sufficiently known) in which the smoke, after ascending from tho
fire, descends between the back plate and another plate behind it, and passing
under the latter, rises behind it into the chimney. Let an opening be made at
the bottom of the outside or visible back plate to receive a drawer, which is
to be put in and drawn out through the ash-hole on the level of the hearth.
The sides of this drawer are to touch the bottom of the second or invisible back
plate, beyond which its back part is to stand two, three, or more inches further
into the chimney. The drawer is to be furnished with gravel, &c., as above,
to serve as a strainer; and that the smoke may at once take its direction to the
strainer, let either the visible back plate or the invisible ons behind it, or both,
be furnished with ledges to narrow the passage between the two plates into a
funnel, sloping from the ends of the opening above (where the smoke first
begins to descend) down to the upper corners of the opening which admits the
drawer; this funnel is to be made smoke-tight; the drawer being lodged in
its place, its outside edges may be plastered with loam or any other fit substance
to prevent the escape of smoke in front below.
9. A chimney water trough, thus:-A few inches above the opening of the
fire-place let a metal plate or stone slab (either horizontal or sloping upward
towards the back) closely stop the chimney in front and on each side,
leaving an opening of two, three, or more inches at the back; from the
back edge of the plate or slab let a ledge (either perpendicular or sloping
downward towards the back of the chimney) descend a few inches, but not so
low as the opening of the fire plates, under this ledge lot a metal trough be
placed, of such dimensions as to fit the breadth of the chimney, and to present
an opening of two or moro inches in front and rear of the descending ledge;
its depth may be varied at pleasure, and it may either be placed above the.

page_text: level of the coals in the fire-place (resting on the back plate or upon brick
work), or (with increased depth) made to form a back to the fire-place. Let
the lower edge of the lodge be exactly horizontal, to form a parallel lino with
the water in the trough, and let it descend so low that if the trough were filled
or nearly filled with water, the liquid would entirely stop the passage. The
trough may be supplied with water from a reservior in an adjoining closet or
other convenient place, through a pipe,. terminating in a ball-cock within the
trough, so that as the water in the trough is diminished by evaporation, the
cock may, of itself, supply the loss; the cock to be so adjusted as to keep the
water at that precise height which will only just pormit the draught of the
chimney to carry off the smoke, which height is to be ascertained by actual
experiment in each particular caso. Instead of the common spherical buoy or
ball to the cock, a cylindrical or oblong square buoy may be used, particularly
where the trough is narrow. To empty the trough of the water, with whatever
sediment of soot, &c., is collected in it, let its bottom be slightly sloped from one
side of the chimney to the other, and from the lower side let a pipe and cock
be conducted into an adjoining closet, or other convenient place for drawing off
its contents.
10. A chimney damper, consisting of a double piece of hair or woollen cloth,
of such dimensions as to cover and close the opening of the chimney.-It is to
be quilted and stuffed between with hair, wool, or sponge. When the chimney
is on fire this damper is to be well wetted with water, or any other un-
inflammable liquid, hanged against the chimney opening, to stop or diminish
the dranght of air, and kept wet until the fire is extinguished.
11. A water candlestick and candle, thus:-Let a pan or basin of glass,
metal, earthenware, or any other substance fit to hold water, either round,
square, or any other shape at pleasure, and six or more inches deep, be furnished
with a socket (either fixed or movable), whose top shall stand at least half an
inch lower than the margin of the pan, and the diameter of its bore be pro-
portioned to the size of the candle intended to be used. The socket to have
one or more holes near the bottom to let water pass freely. The movable
socket may be of a different substance from the pan, and must have a broad
heavy bottom to support it upright. Let water be poured into the pan until it
rise about an eighth or quarter of an inch above the top of the socket. The
candle may be placed in the socket either before or after the water is poured
in. It may be slightly tapered like common mould candles, or perfectly cylin-
drical, but, in either case, much thicker in proportion to the wick, which may
be of thread, cotton, or rush, waxed or unwaxed; its length is to be proportioned
to the time it is intended to continue burning.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of February,
in the forty-seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third,
the said John Carey came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument:
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the forty-
fourth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seven.