CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF VENTILATING MINES, SHIPS, AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BUCKINGHAM, of Miner's Hall, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of November, in the first year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Buckingham, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said James Buckingham, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said James Buckingham, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF VENTILATING MINES, SHIPS, AND OTHER PLACES,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said James Buckingham, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Buckingham, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention of improvements in ventilating mines, ships' holds, and
other confined places, consists of three improved arrangements, constructions,
and adaptations of apparatus for exhausting or extracting the foul air and
deleterious and inflammable vapours therefrom, thereby allowing fresh atmo-
spheric air to descend and supply the partial vacuum thus formed; the first of
which consists in the adaptation of a rotary fan or blower contained in a closo
casing, which fan as it revolves draws or exhausts the air by means of an
exhausting pipe, one end of which is open at that part of the mine which is
required to be ventilated, or the foul air removed, and the other end is open
to the apparatus only. The second arrangement, construction, and adaptation
of apparatus is a double-acting bellows for gaining a continuous draught.
The third improved construction and arrangement of apparatus is a rotary
fan wheel or blower having its fans placed in an oblique direction to its axis,
which fan wheel is enclosed in a box or case at the top or the end, or any
other convenient part of the draught pipe, such oblique fans exhausting and
forcing the foul air. And in order that my Invention may be more clearly
understood, I have represented in the accompanying Drawings the apparatus
which may be adapted to a mine, and which will serve to illustrate other appli-
cations of my Invention. Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of the first of
my improved arrangements, shewing the rotary fan a, with the suction or supply
or draft pipe b, which may be conducted to any part of the mine required,
while the apparatus or machine itself is placed in the engine room or any
other convenient situation; c is the exit pipe for the foul air, which may be
situated at any other part of the periphery of the casing; d is an aperture
made in the inner casing to admit the foul air into the inner chamber in which
the fan wheel a is mounted; this aperture is shewn by dots in Fig. 1. The
fan wheel is constructed in such a manner that the edges of the fans come as
nearly as possible into contact with the sides of the chamber or casing in
which the wheel is mounted, in order to create a more perfect vacuum and
greater draft. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view shewing more clearly the situation

page_text: of the inner chamber and the method of supplying the fan wheel with the foul
air; e, e, is the close chamber which is supplied with foul air by the pipe b,
the air being drawn by the fan through the aperture d and propelled out at
the exit pire c. It will be seen by reference to the Drawing that the supply.
pipe is considerably smaller than the exit pipe; the apparatus is arranged in
this manner so that little or no resistance may be made to the exit of the
foul air. I have al o sometimes adapted the supply pipe directly to the
fan, thus superseding the necessity of having both an inner and an outer
chamber; but I prefer having the apparatus constructed with the two chambers,
as above described and set forth, as it is more compact. Figure 3 represents
another modification of this part of my Invention. In this Figure the air is
supplied to the fan wheel round its axle by the branch pipes f. f, which have
plates 9, 9. attached to their ends to give the fan wheel greater power, the
foul air being in this instance thrown off or propelled from all parts of the
periphery of the fan, and thus distributed to the atmosphere. This arrange-
ment of the apparatus is moro particularly applicable to open situations,
where it is of little consequence that the foul air should be propelled to a
distance, the former apparatus being better adapted for ships and such other
places where it would be necessary to expel the foul air entirely and propel
it a considerable distance therefrom. The second modification of my Invention
(viz'), the double-action bellows, is represented at Fig. 4, which is a sectional
plan of the apparatus, shewing the situation and relative position of the
entrance and exit valves; Fig. 5 is a representation of this apparatus with
a crank motion adapted thereto for the purpose of working it. In this view
one of the air chambers is drafting the foul air from the draft or supply pipe,
while the other chamber is expressing the foul air which was drawn in by the
previous stroke of the bellows, which motion is continually reciprocating by
the action of the crank. The two air chambers a, b, are prevented from
communicating with each other by means of a partition c, which is placed
between them. At the bottom of this partition are placed two or more supply
valves d and e, opening inwards, which communicate with the two cham-
bers a, b; fand 9 are exit valves opening outwards. It will now be seen
that as the apparatus is set in motion the foul air will be drawn into the
chamber a or 6 by the entrance valve d or e; and when the action by means
of the crank is reversed the foul air will be expelled from the chamber a or b
by the valves for g, as the case may be. The third modification or arrange-
ment of my Invention (viz'), the adaptation of a wheel with fans placed in an
oblique direction to its axis, is shewn at Fig. 6, which represents a section

page_text: taken through the shaft or supply pipe, and the box or case in which the fan
is mounted horizontally. This apparatus may be made to act as a blast or
draft by reversing the motion, and I apply it to situations in which no great
amount of power is required, owing to the convenience of its adaptation and
its economy.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Buckingham, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
JAMES (L.B.) BUCKINGHAM.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of May, in the
first year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said James
Buckingham came before onr said Lady the Queen in Her 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
fifty-fifth year of the reign of Elis late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight.