AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING INCUBATOR
Year: 1855

page_text: Sealed the 23rd May 1856, and dated the 24th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Juliana Martin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the 24th
November 1855.
I, JULIANA MARTIN, of Soho Sq, London, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING INCUBATOR, to be as
follows:-
My Invention of an improved self-acting incubator consists in attaching to
the apparatus a mechanical arrangement, whereby the heat to which the eggs
are subjected is maintained at a uniform temperature without requiring per-
sonal attention. The apparatus consists of a framework which supports a tray;
at each side is a cylinder or vessel containing water, beneath which are fitted
adjusting lamps for the purpose of heating the water. The shelf which supports
the tray is made hollow, and communicates with the heating cylinders, so that
the water flows beneath the tray, communicating its heat to the eggs contained
therein. Above the egg tray is a vessel for holding a supply of cold water, to

page_text: check the heat of the water in the cylinders when required. This vessel is
fitted with a valve, to which is attached a lever in connexion with a float resting
upon the surface of a column of mercury. The tube containing the mercury
is fitted inside one of the water cylinders. When the temperature of the water
rises above a certain point, the float opens the valve of the cold water vessel,
the admission of the water causes the mercury to sink and closes the valve
when the temperature is reduced to the proper point. The hot water displaced
by the cold flows off by a waste pipe into a vessel kept for the purpose near
the machine. Although I have described the apparatus as fitted with one
tray for holding the eggs, it is obvious the number of trays may be increased
without departing from the Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Juliana Martin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIANA
MARTIN, of Soho Square, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Juliana Martin, Her special licence that I, the said Juliana Martin, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Juliana
Martin, 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 SELF-ACTING
INCUBATOR, upon, the, condition, (amongst others) that I, the said Juliana
Martin, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Juliana Martin, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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:
In the natural process of incubation the animal heat imparted to the egg
ranges from one hundred and one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit, subject
to alternations caused by the rising of the hen; and the success of the operation
of hatching eggs by artificial heat principally depends upon their being main-
tained at an even temperature within the range above named, or to make
allowances for these alternations, say, from 95° to 105°. Now, the object of
this Invention is to control the range of temperature by means of self-acting
apparatus, herein-after describel, so that the water, which is the medium for
imparting heat to the eggs, shall not rise to a temperature exceeding one hundred
and five degrees Fahrenheit, or fall below ninety-five degrees. A serious draw-
back to the artificial incubators now in use has been the unremitting attention
and frequent inspection necessary to guard against too great a degree of heat,
or a deficiency, which would be equally fatal to the vitality of the eggs, involving
ioss and disappointment; hence, the object of this Invention is to maintain the
temperature of the apparatus at the requisite degree of heat without requiring
personal attention. The incubator consists of a framework which supports one
or more trays; these trays rest upon hollow shelves, communicating with a
cylinder or vessel fitted at each side of and attached to the framework; these
cylinders contain water, which also circulates through hollow shelves, upon
which the egg trays rest. Beneath each cylinder is fitted a lamp or gas burner,
for the purpose of heating the water in the vessels above. The lamp or burner
is fitted so that its distance from the vessel above may be regulated by means
of a screw. Above the egg tray or trays is fixed a vessel of cold water, which
serves to reduce the temperature of the water within the apparatus, as herein-
after described. Within one of the cylinders is placed the apparatus for
regulating or controlling the heat of the water; it consists of a wide glass tube,
of about thirteen inches and a half in length by one inch and three-eighths in
diameter, forming an air vessel. The upper part is contracted, and terminates
in a narrow tube, bent at right angles to the larger tube, and then parallel to
the same.
The narrow tube communicates with a tube of about three inches
and a half in length by one inch in diameter, which forms a mercurial chamber.
From the lower part of this chamber proceeds a small tube, which is carried
downward about two inches, and then bent upward, terminating in a tube of
about four inches and a half in length by one inch diameter. This tubo is

page_text: open at the upper part to receive a wooden cylinder or float. A quantity of
mercury is poured into the open tube, which passes through the tube connected
therewith, and rises to a corresponding height in the mercurial chamber. When.
the float is placed in the open tube it is supported by the mercury: To the.
upper part of the float is fitted a small metal cap, having a wire and milled
head attached thereto. This thermometrical arrangement is fitted within a
tin guard, to which is affixed a divided guage. A mark or ring on the float
enables the operator to read off the number of degrees of heat with facility..
The apparatus above described is placed within one of the cylinders or water
vessels, and the wire of the float connected with a lever fitted to a standard
within the cold water vessel; the other end of this lever is connected by.
means of a chain or wire with a valve, which closes a pipe that leads from the,
lower part of the cold water vessel, and communicates with the interior of
the incubator. Another pipe or tube is also connected with the upper
part of the incubator, to carry off the surplus water when the temperature
is lowered by the admission of cold water from the vessel above. The.
action of the apparatus is as follows:-Water is poured into one of the.
cylinders or water vessels; it flows through the hollow shelves beneath the
egg trays, and into the cylinder on the opposite side. When the cylinders
are nearly full the lamps or gas burners are lighted; as the temperature of
the water rises, the air within the glass expands, and depresses the mercury
contained within the mercurial chamber; this causes the float to rise and.
act upon the lever attached to the chain or wire of the valve. Should.
the heat of the lamps or gas burners cause the temperature of the water
to rise above one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit, the float will be
sufficiently elevated to act upon the lever of the valve, and raise it from its
seat; this causes a quantity of cold water to flow down the pipe into the
cylinders, which immediately reduces the temperature to the proper degree.
The surplus water displaced by the injection of the cold water flows off through.
the waste pipe to a vessel placed near the apparatus for that purpose. On the.
contrary, if the temperature of the water within the incubator falls below one
hundred and five degrees, the valve is kept down to its seat by the wire attached
to the float, and while it remains thus, heat is continually imparted to the
cylinders from the lamps or burners, which quickly raises the temperature of
the water to the maximum degree. These improved incubators may be con-
structed with one or more trays for eggs, according to the number required to
be hatched..
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying.

page_text: the same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details of arrangement described, as the same may be
varied without departing from the Invention; but what I claim, and desire to
secure by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the construction
and arrangement of self-regulating or self-acting incubators, substantially as
herein-before described, or any mere modification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Juliana Martin, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JULIANA MARTIN. (L.S.)