IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND COOLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Casper, of Moorgate Street, in the City of
London, Manager of The Mirror Advertising Company, Limited, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND COOLING RAILWAY
CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 24th December 1878, and dated the 20th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Casper at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1878.
"
EDWARD CASPER, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Manager of the
Mirror Advertising Company, Limited. IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND
COOLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
This Invention relates to improvements in ventilating and cooling railway
carriages in a simple, cheap, and effective manner without it being necessary to
open the windows of the said carriages.
•
In carrying out my Invention I provide a metal ring or hoop which is fixed at
the side, top, or bottom of each compartment of the carriage to be ventilated and
cooled; on each of these rings is fixed a pieco or bag of canvas which forms a kind
of funnel or cowl when acted on by the current of air or wind created by the
motion of the train. From the lower part of this funnel or cowl passes a pipe
which is continued down the end or side of the carriage underneath one of the seats
thereof. I provide a wooden box or receiver lined with zinc or other suitable,
metal having its front perforated on its upper part, the lower end of the said pipe.
opening into the said receiver or box. The receiver or box is about half filled with
cold water, ice, ice and salt, or other known suitable cooling agent.
By this arrangement it will be understood that the current of air produced by
the motion of the train acting on the said canvas will distend it, and a portion of
the said air will be directed down the said pipe and will pass into the receiver or,
box containing the cooling agent by which the air will become cooled, and it will
then be distributed through the perforations of the receiver or box into the lower

page_text: part of the carriage, and rising into the upper part of the carriage will drive out
the upper or vitiated or warm air through the usual spaces in the upper part of the
carriage. I am thus enabled to supply automatically to each carriage a constant
renewal and circulation of fresh cool air without it being necessary to open the
windows of the carriages, thus preventing draughts and the entrance of dust. The 5
said pipe may be provided with a valve so as to close when necessary the supply
of air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edward Casper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
December 1878.
6
EDWARD CASPER, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Manager of The
Mirror Advertising Company, Limited. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING AND
COOLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
This Invention relates to improvements in ventilating and cooling railway
carriages in a simple, cheap, and effective manner without it being necessary to
open the windows of the said carriages.
In carrying out my Invention I provide a metal hoop-shaped frame of an oblong
or other suitable form which is fixed between each two compartments at the side,
top, or bottom of the carriage to be ventilated; on each of these hoops is sewn or
otherwise fixed a bag of canvas, shaped so as to form an air receiver when acted on
by the current of air or wind created by the motion of the train; the narrow end
of the canvas forms a tongue or flap on each side and serves to conduct the air into
a chamber made to receive it, and the narrow end of the hoop is open to receive
the said tongue. The tongue end of the air receiver opens into the said chamber
or into a pipe which is conveyed underneath the partition dividing two compart-
ments, a hole being formed in the floor of the carriage to fit the said pipe at the
centre of the bottom of the said partition. I provide a wooden box or chamber
placed over the said holo and underneath the scats, the said box or receivor having
its top formed of a sheet of perforated zinc, the said box extending from side to side
of the carriage and fitting each side of the compartment.
But to make my Invention better understood I will proceed to describe the same
by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a section of part
of a railway carriage constructed with my improvements, and Figure 2 is a detached
front elevation of the air receiver.
a, a, is the air receiver formed of a metal hoop or frame open at the upper end
which is narrower than the lower end as shewn, the said frame being formed with
two lugs or brackets b, b, by which it is screwed to the underside of the floor c of
the railway carriage; d is the bag of canvas sewn or otherwise fixed on the frame
of the air receiver a; the upper part of the canvas forms a tongue or flap e, e, on
each side as seen in Figure 2; fis the partition dividing two compartments of the

page_text: carriage; g is the hole in the floor of the carriage under and in the middle of the
Baid partition f, and under this hole the air receiver a is fixed as shewn; h, h, are
the boxes or air chambers underneath the seats of the carriage and into which the
said hole g opens, the lower part of the partition over the hole g being cut away at
i, so that the air from the receiver a passes into both chambers in whatever
direction the train is moving; j, j, are the perforated covers of the boxes or
chambers h, h
By this arrangement it will be understood that the current of air produced by
the motion of the train acting on the said canvas & will distend it, and a portion
of the said air will thereby bo directed through the holo or opening g into the air
chambers or boxes h, h, and it will thon pass through the perforations of the zinc
covers i, j, of the air chambers or boxes h, h, into the lower part of the carriage and
will be distributed and drawn up into the upper part of the carriage, and will thus
automatically displace the vitiated air without any draught or current being felt.
The canvas is attached to the iron hoop with so much play or fulling as to
adapt itself to either the backward or forward motion of the carriage. I am thus
enabled to renew automatically to each carriage the air, breathed and vitiated as
herein-before described, without it being necessary to open the windows of the
carriages, thus preventing draughts and the entrance of dust.
"
In warm weather when required to cool the air I employ ice placed in a bag or
a tray in the air chambers h, h, so that the air introduced by the air receiver passing
over the said ice becomes cooled and thereby cools the carriage. I also line the
underside of the zinc covering j (when required) with muslin or other suitable
fabric to prevent the entrance of dust or sand.
Although I have shewn in the Drawing the air receiver placed underneath the
carriage it will be understood that it can be placed on the top or side thereof, in
which case a pipe would pass from the air receiver into the air chambers h. A
valve (not shewn in the Drawing) is provided so as to close when necessary the
supply of air.
Having thus described my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details
shewn and described, as they may be varied without departing from the peculiar
character of my said Invention.
But what I do claim is the improvements in ventilating and cooling railway
carriages, substantially as herein-before described, and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Casper, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
EDWARD CANDED 101