CERTAIN IMPROVS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING BUILDINGS AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Sutcliffe Smith, of Bacup, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
17
Sealed the 12th May 1868, and dated the 27th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Sutcliffe Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th November 1867.
I, JAMES SUTCLIFFE SMITH, of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING BUILDINGS AND OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to that class of apparatus for ventilating
purposes, well known as the "two and four-point" ventilators, consisting of
a vertical hollow shaft subdivided into two or four sections with vertical mid-
feathers, such ventilators being provided with shutters or doors at the bottom
to admit or exclude air, and to similar ventilators having a vertical hollow
shaft or duct.
My improvements consist in the novel adaptation, application, and use of a
moveable and adjustable cover, top, or cap at the upper extremity of such
hollow air shaft or duct, so that by shutting down the cover not only may
air be excluded, but also when required rain, soot, dirt, snow, and other
extraneous matters are prevented from entering, which generally accumulate

page_text: in the shaft when the doors now employed at the bottom are closed, and
which fall into the building or room when next the doors are opened. The
opening and closing of the top may be effected by an arrangement of rods,
levers, racks and pinions, worm and worm wheel, or other equivalent ordinary
mechanism, which is applied to the midfeather and actuated from within the
building if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Sutcliffe Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SUTCLIFFE SMITH, of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Sutcliffe Smith, Her special license that I, the said James Sutcliffe
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Sutcliffe Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR VENTILATING BUILDINGS AND OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Sutcliffe Smith, 'my executors or administrators, 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 cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Sutcliffe Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
The Invention relates principally to that class of ventilating purposes
well known as the two and four-point ventilators, consisting of a vertical

page_text: hollow shaft, subdivided into two or four sections with vertical midfeathers,
such ventilators being provided with shutters or doors at the bottom to admit
or exclude air, and to similar ventilators having a vertical hollow shaft or
duct.
My improvements consist in the novel adaptation, application, and use of a
moveable and adjustable cover, top, or cap at the extremity of such hollow
air shaft or duct, so that by shutting down the cover, not only may air be
excluded when required, but also rain, soot, dust, dirt, snow, and other
extraneous matters are prevented from entering, which generally accumulate
in the shaft when the doors now employed at the bottom are closed, and
which fall into the building or room when next the doors are opened. The
opening and closing of the top may be effected by an arrangement of cords,
rods, levers, racks and pinions, worm and worm wheels, or other equivalent
ordinary mechanism, which is applied to the midfeather and actuated from
within the building if desired.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made about quarter the
full size of one of the sizes of ventilators.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of an adjustable cover or top applied to
what is called a "four-point" ventilator, here shewn as an example, as it is
equally applicable to "two-points," or other ventilators, having no internal
partitions; in this Figure the ventilator is shewn open, the cover being
raised. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, the cover being removed; Fig. 3
exhibits a vertical section of a two-point ventilator, the cover being lowered,
as in the position when the shaft of the ventilator is closed; Fig. 4 is a plan
view of the same, and in the Figures 1, 2, the arrows indicate the direction of
the passage of the air, which is well known in this description and means of
ventilation.
In Figs. 1 and 2 a, a, represents the roof of a building, in which the shaft 6
of the ventilator is secured, the upper edge of which is provided with an india-
rubber, felt, cloth, or other yielding surface x, upon which the cover c bears
and rests when lowered, and which effects an air and dust-tight joint; the
balance weight d is attached to one end of the cords e, which pass over pulleys,
the other ends being attached to the rod or midfeather f
or other support of
the cover c, and these may be arranged in several ways, or ordinary rods and
levers and worm and worm wheel gearing may be used, so as to open and
close a number of ventilators simultaneously, or they may be separately fitted
with such ordinary apparatus. To open the ventilator the cord depending
from the counterbalance weight is to be pulled, which lifts or raises the cover,

page_text: and to close the same the cord hanging from the lower end of the midfeather
or cover support f is to be pulled, which draws down the cover on to the soft
edge of the air shaft 6 and lifts the counterbalance weight.
I would remark that I do not confine myself to the form of the cap, or
cover, or means for closing the upper end of hollow shaft ventilators for
the exclusion of dust and extraneous matters, as the midfeather itself may
be arranged to slide and part of it to cover the said aperture.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the use and application of a moveable cap, cover,
plate, or equivalent for opening and closing the upper end of air shafts used
as ventilators for the purpose of excluding dust, dirt, and extraneous matters
irrespective of the form thereof or of the mechanical means employed to effect
their rise or fall.
And, secondly, I claim the general construction, arrangement, and com-
bination of the apparatus for the purpose, as herein-before described, set forth,
and fully illustrated in the Drawings attache:l.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Sutcliffe Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JAS. S. SMITH. (LS.)