IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES, AND IN COMBINING APPARATUS USED FOR SUCH PURPOSE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilson, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES, AND IN COMBINING
APPARATUS USED FOR SUCH PURPOSE."
Sealed the 2nd August 1859, and dated the 7th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
February 1859.
I, JOHN WILSON, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING MINES, AND
IN COMBINING APPARATUS USED FOR SUCH PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The method by which I accomplish this is by the construction of a receiver,
or air or gas holder, at or near the mouth of the downcast shaft, of a capacity
and strength proportionate to the quantity and pressure of air required for the
supply of the workings of the mine, to which receiver I attach a sufficient
number of force pumps to produce and maintain whatever pressure may be
required within the receiver. I also attach to the receiver one or more
downcast main pipes, of a diameter proportionate to the extent of the
workings to which the fresh air is to be conveyed, such pipes being supplied
with the requisite valves to regulate the pressure of the air passing down

page_text: them from the receiver above. To the lower end of these main pipes, at the
bottom of the mine, I attach a number of smaller pipes and of branches
therefrom, so that the latter may reach to the extremities of all the working
portions of the mine. As the workings extend, further lengths of piping
are, from time to time, to be added, so as to conduct the air supply to the
remotest termini of the workings.
It will be evident that, by the foregoing arrangement, fresh atmospheric
air may be forced into every part of the mine, in whatever quantities and at
whatever speed or pressure may be deemed desirable; and it will also be
evident that the apparatus thus described will be available, not only for the
transmission into the mine of atmospheric air, but of any other gases, or
mixtures of gases, which, under any possible circumstances, it might be
considered judicious to inject into the mine, whether for purification, for the
extinction of fire, or for any other purpose.
of
Furthermore, to the foregoing described arrangement, I apply a further
apparatus, for the preservation of the lives of the miners, in cases of explosion
gas in the mine. At certain convenient intervals, to be regulated according
to the number and position of the miners, I propose to insert into the various
pipes and branches a number of small tubes, either of flexible or other
material, such tubes to be furnished with stop-cocks and mouthpieces, so
that when an explosion occurs, the miners, knowing the position and number
of such tubes, may run to them, and inhale through them fresh atmospheric
air, until the atmosphere of the mine has been restored. Such tubes may, if
expedient, be arranged in pairs, so that whilst the miner is using one for
inhalation, the other may be turned on, so as to create a current of fresh air
around him, and in the neighbourhood of the spot on which he may be lying.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN S
WILSON, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give 'and grant unto

page_text: me, the said John Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said John Wilson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Wilson, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VENTILATING MINES, AND IN COMBINING APPARATUS USED FOR SUCH
PORFOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Wilson,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Wilson, 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 follow-
ing statement thereof, that is to say :-
The method by which I propose to accomplish my improvements is (as
briefly indicated in my Provisional Specification) by the construction, at or
near the mouth of the downcast shaft of the mine, of a gas holder or receiver,
of a capacity and strength proportionate to the quantity and pressure of the
atmospheric air required for the supply of the workings of the mine, and for.
maintaining the purity of its atmosphere. To this receiver I attach a force
pump, or a sufficient.number of force pumps, to produce and maintain by the
quantity and velocity of the air which they shall inject into the receiver,.
whatever pressure may be required within it. I also attach to the receiver
one or more main pipes, of a diameter, or collective capacity, or size;
proportionate to the extent of the workings, to which the fresh air is to be
conveyed, such pipes being furnished with valves to regulate the quantity,
velocity, or pressure of the air passing through them from the receiver.
These main pipes are continued to the bottom of the downcast shaft of the
mine; and to the lower end of these main pipes, at the bottom of the mine, I
attach such a number of other pipes, either of the same or of any other
diameter, and of branches therefrom, as may be necessary to convey the air
to the extremities of all the working portions of the mine. As the workings
extend, further lengths of piping are from time to time to be added, so as to

page_text: conduct the air supply to the remotest termini of the workings. These
arrangements, as regards the receiver mains and pipes, are of an analogous
character to those adopted for conveying gas from the gasholder through the
streets of a town or city, to the houses or other places in which it is to
be consumed, except that it may be found convenient to have the whole or
portions of the pipes of flexible material. On motive power being applied to
the air pump or pumps attached to the receiver, atmospheric air will be forced
into the latter, and thence through the various mains, pipes, and branches to
the extremities of the working portions of the mine, in whatever quantities
and at whatever speed or pressure that may be deemed expedient or necessary.
The extreme ends of the various pipes and branches may be furnished with
stop-cocks, so as to permit the regulation or discontinuance of the supply
(although I prefer that they should be without them), and at such parts
of the mine as may be expedient, T-pieces or openings in the mains with screw
caps may be introduced, so as to allow fresh branches to be attached, in the
event of their being required for the supply of new workings in any direction.
The main pipes should be properly protected from possible injury, by being
covered up or enclosed within the sides of the downcast shaft, and the various
pipes and branches within the mine should be laid along or slightly beneath
the floors of the various passages, galleries, or workings, and covered, so as to
protect them from injury or displacement by explosion or otherwise; it may,
however, be found preferable to insert them in grooves along the sides or roof
of the workings. The apparatus thus described will, it is evident, be available
not only for the transmission of atmospheric air, but of any other gases, or
mixtures of gases, which under any possible circumstances it might be
considered judicious to inject into the mine, whether for purification, for the
extinction of fire, or for any other purpose; all that is necessary in such
a case being to attach the inlet pipes of the air pumps to reservoirs or
generators of the gas or gases to be so injected. Under ordinary circum-
stances, however, the inlet pipes of the air pumps should be continued to that
place in the vicinity of the mine from which the purest supply of atmospheric
air can be obtained; and, if necessary or desirable, they can be continued in a
vertical direction to any required height, so as to obtain from upper strata of
the atmosphere purer air than would be obtainable at the surface of the
ground. When this is the case, the end of the inlet pipe should be turned
downward, as in the upper part of n, Figure 4, in order to exclude rain, &c.
.
I furthermore apply to the arrangements thus described, an apparatus for
the preservation of the lives of the miners, in cases of explosion of gas in the

page_text: mine. In the extreme lengths of the pipes in the workings of the mine, at
certain intervals, to be regulated according to the number and position of the
miners, I propose to insert a number of small tubes, either of flexible or other
material, such tubes being furnished with mouthpieces, and, if necessary,
with stop-cocks, so that when an explosion occurs, the miners, being
previously acquainted with their number and position, may run up to them,
and inhale through them atmospheric air, until the general atmosphere of the
mine has been restored to a condition capable of supporting life; and I prefer
to arrange such tubes in pairs, so that whilst the miner is using one for
inhalation, the other may be creating a current of atmospheric air around him,
or in the neighbourhood of the spot in which he may be lying. Although, as
I have stated, these tubes may be furnished with stop-cocks, I prefer that they
should be without them, so that air may constantly be flowing through them,
and thus ready for immediate use in the moment of danger. The lengths of
piping to which these tubes are attached will of course be at the extreme
ends of the workings, in the immediate vicinity of the miners; and when from
the progress of the workings the pipes require to be extended, the lengths
furnished with the tubes being constructed, as I prefer them to be, with screw
joints, can be unscrewed, and intermediate lengths of piping inserted, so as to
carry forward the extreme lengths so furnished with the tubes to the required
position.
Although I believe the above general description of my arrangements
is sufficiently indicative of the nature of the improvements I purpose to effect
in the ventilation of mines, and of the apparatus or combination of apparatus.
which I propose to employ therein, I nevertheless think it right, for the clearer
understanding and elucidation thereof, to subjoin the Drawings hereto
annexed, of which the following is a description:-
In Figure 1, A represents a section of a diaphram double action air-pump,
the piston of which is brought into action through the joint a, attached to the
crank b, which crank is on a line of shafting, to which rotary motion is given
by being put in gear with the ordinary engine of the mine, or by a separato
engine, as may be desirable. B, B, are the inlet pipes, and C, C, the outlet
pipes communicating with the receiver D. Any force pump capable of being
used for air will answer the purpose, or a fan may be used. I prefer,
however, according to my present impressions, to use a pump such as the one
indicated, in which c is a flexible diaphram, firmly fixed at its outer edge on
to the cylinder of the pump at d, d; and at its inner edge between the two
metallic diaphrams (with flanges to enclose and guide the flexible diaphram),

page_text: marked respectively e and f. During the upward stroke air enters the lower
part of the cylinder by the valve g, in the lower inlet pipe into the space
beneath the diaphram, whilst the air in the space above it is discharged or
forced into the receiver D, through the valve h, in the upper outlet pipe. At
the downward stroke the valves 9 and h close, and air is received into the
upper part of the cylinder, through the valve i in the upper inlet pipe,
and discharged from the lower part into the receiver D, through the valve j
in the lower outlet pipe. Although in this sectional Drawing only one pump
is represented, any number of pumps may be used and worked, if necessary
or expedient, by the same line of shafting. From the receiver D the air
passes through the main pipe or pipes E, E, such main pipes being furnished
with valves or stop-cocks k, so as to regulate the pressure or velocity, as may
be requisite, according to the length and capacity of the underground pipes
respectively, in connection with such main pipes. F represents the mouth of
the downcast shaft of the pit or mine, down which the main pipe E passes,
properly protected from being injured by the corves or baskets represented by
, in their passage up or down the shaft; this protection should be obtained by
the pipes or mains being contained within a longitudinal slot or recess in the
shaft, so as not to project beyond the facing of the side of the shaft, and tho
recess or slot itself covered in by wooden boards, or in any other convenient
way. The imaginary continuation of the shaft at G shows the bottom of the
mine, and shows the continuation of the main pipe, along the bottom of the
mine, towards the workings in the direction of H, and of a smaller or branch
main towards the workings in the direction of I; Figure 2 represents a
ground plan, in which A, A, A, are three air-pumps, each worked by the line of
shafting marked K, through the cranks b, b, b,; B, B, B, are the upper inlet
pipes; C, C, C, the outlet pipes into the reservoir D; and E, E, E, the main pipes
from the reservoir to the mouth of the shaft F. It may be advisable to employ
a single main pipe instead of a number, so as to reduce friction. Figure 3
represents a terminal length of the pipe to be used at the extremity of the
workings, in which m, m, m, are three of the pairs of flexible pipes with
mouthpieces, to which I have alluded in my previous description, as enabling
the miners to inhale atmospheric air, whenever an explosion shall have vitiated
or destroyed the ordinary atmosphere of the mine. The flexible tubes at
m, m, m, should be placed in recesses either in the side or beneath the floor
of the workings. The terminal ends of the pipes which deliver the air into
the workings should be in the forms n or m, shown at Figure 4, or arranged
in some analogous manner, so that the particles of coal or dust may not be

page_text: able to drop into the pipe, the discharge from which will be in the direction
The joints for turnings of branch pipes should not be at right
angles, but in the form indicated at Figure 5, or an analogous form.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
JOHN KIDSON, Solicitor,
Sunderland.
JOHN WILSON. (L.s.)