USRE3317E - Improvement in ventilators - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.'

E. LinoBERTs, OF'NEW YORIQ'N. Y.

'|MPaovEMEN-r IN VENTIYLTORS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 79,395, dated June 30, leed', Reissue No. ,3l7, dated l March 2, 1.869. f

To all @cham t't-mcy concern: v

Be it known that I, E. L. ROBERTS, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ventilating and Heating Buildings; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled l in the art to make and use the same, reference' being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- 'Figure l represents a sectional elevation, of

'o a building with my improved ventilating and heating apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with parts broken away.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts.

The nature of my invention relates to improvements in Ventilating and heating build- ..ings, whereby it is designed to provide a more `elfective and useful means of .accomplishing the same than any now .in use. Hithertoamong the various devices and arrangements D1 esorted to for the purpose no general and comprehensive plan has been found out suit.

v sions, by causing a'constant, steady, and uniform flow of fresh air into and through the room-in a manner tobe dil'used throughout the whole space, and taking up and carrying olf all impure and noxious air or vapor that may be discharged into the room by any cause.

To this end my invention consists, rst, in

Aa system of distributed airsupply and exhaust, calculated to be readily made equally operative irrespective of the condition or temperature of the exterior atmosphere,fwhereby a copious flow of fresh air may at all times be maintained throughout' the room 5 second, in

providing, in combination with means for pro- A ducing a distributed supply and exhaust, means for effecting a vforced exhaust; third, in providing al means for thoroughly mixing heated air with the supply of fresh air at or near the top of the room, or in the space above that occupied by the occupants in cold weather,

and diifusing the same throughoutv the room, s

and at the same time keeping a constant dow of fresh air through the .room fourth, inthe l combinations and arrangements of apparatus for accomplishing the above-mentioned objects, as will be more fully described.

, Inl the` accompanying drawings, A represents a side elevation of a'building, of which B may represent the door, and C the ceiling.

D represents an air-supply tube standing in a vertical position lby the side of the building, orin any convenient position relatively thereto, which is closed at the top and provided with means for opening communication at the bottom to receive the air directly from the external atmosphere, or for receiving it from at the upper end, or at a point near the top of,

the room, is connected to the distributingtubes F,arrapged upon the outside ot' the wall or within the same; or it may be within' the room near the top, in the place ofthe cornice, which is also provided with small openings af into the room.

Various plans may be adopted for introducing the air upon the principle above described whichy may serve equally well, provided the essen tial features be preserved, which consist in conveying the air from near the levelof the floor to the top of the room, or near the same, and distributing it throughout the whole surface of the same, as above described.

One or any other number of such shafts may be provided, as may be convenient. By this arrangement a passage for a supply ot' fresh air into theJ rooms near the ceiling may be 'kept constantly open, andat the same time the tendency of the air in the room to escape is checked, being balanced by the column of icat-.

loweropening with the atmosphere.

heads of the occupants.

cold air in the shaft communica-ting at its The undue pressure of the air into the shaft from strong winds may be regulated by an automatic valve.l

`When the building to be ventilated is com.-

vposed ot' several stories, .the supply may be 0E from the occupants of the room, or which may be imparted to it from other causes, and for conveying the whole air outot' the room to keep up a constant flow, giving place for a like inward dow of freshair, a means of eX- lhausting the same through the iioor is provided, as shown in Fig. 2.

G represents a space under the tloor of the room thron gh which communication is opened with the room, and which also has communication with a high vertical shaft, H, through which a draft will naturally flow,r drawing the air from the room, causing a partial vacuum therein, which will readily beilled by the intlow of airfrom the tube D, as before described.

' To further facilitate the dissemination and equalization of the ow of fresh air, and for made defects have been found to exist in-this respect, as, for instance, from Want of means for causing a distributed and thorough tlow, as above described, especially in large buildings and those having high ceilings and galleries, it is generally found that, while in some limited portions of the room contiguous to awindow that may be opened, or to a register over a window, there may be some circulation of currents of air, the greater mass of air will be found to be lying in a quiet state in various strata, with the coldest portion at' the bottom and the warmer at the top, while that'portion which is vitiated and deprived of its oxygen by beingl repeatedly inhaled and discharged from the human lungs is found in an intermediate stratum between those above lnentioned and abovev` the position of the To move this mass oi' air thoroughly and with .equal results 'with reference to al1 the occupants of all parts of the room it must be done either in an upward or downward direction, as, by an attempt to move it from one side to another of a room those persons upon the receiving side would t be unduly exposed to the fresh Vair when it might be too cold, or they might'be beneted y by it more than those on the opposite side, asv inpassing from one side to another it would become more or less vitiated'."

The diticulty'also of moving the air in a horizontal plane could not beeasil y overcome, as in a large building under such an arrangement the upper portion ofthe, room would bei the warmest, and the air, after entering yat the'right place, would rise and pass above the central portion of an audience, although it might be caused to descend again to the proper place for passing'ont, thus leavinga be moved.

Another ditliculty of such a plan would be larger portion in a body of air that could not in furnishing a sutlicient supply of fresh air s within the limited horizontal plane from'which it could be breathed by an audience ;A and in respect to moving the air in an upward direction I have encountered serious ditticultiesfin Y devising a plan suitable for all seasons, for

exhaust in a downward direction through the door has been adopted. When it is not convenient to .provide a large space under the floor as at G in the example herein shown,I

which may be made use of, I provide a series of lateral tubes or passages communicating with rowsof passages b throughthe floor, and with the main duct or channel leadingv to the exhaust-tube H, whereby the whole volume of air inl a room is constantly kept in motion, and .each individual may be said to be provided with a descending column of fresh air having a'snpericial area equal to that which he occupies in a closely-packed room or, if the room be thinly occupied, he will be enveloped in a column correspondingly larger and provided with an equal amount of exhaust, is composed ot' more than one story, the system of exhaust-passages which l have described to b e arrangedy under the door may be arranged under lthe iioor of every story, and

communication from each story be madewith the exhaust-shaft; or it may be continued downward through the several stories to the 'exhaust-shaft at the bottom, if preferred.

The means which I have thus far described I have found to be eicient only at times when the atmosphere is in kan active condition; but

.for large buildings and for times when the air 'the draft of the supporting and exhausting ap- In like manner, when the building.

paratus, and for that purpose I have provided l in combination with the abovedescribed means 1 for producing a distributed supply and exg haust within the flue or shaft H, at any convenient position therein, a heater, I, of any api proved construction, for the purpose of generatl ing heat for rarefying the air within the shaft, whereby the draft may be accelerated to any i desired extent, or regulated according to the circumstances of the case; and this I consider the essential and controlling feature ot' my 5 invention, for without the iniiuence of heat to control the current the object of the abovedescribed plan would in a great measure be defeated, as the air alone cannot be relied on to cause the necessary movement, while a means for governing the temperature of the air for effecting the necessary movement, in i combination with the above means, constitute acertain and reliable system of means for accomplishing the desired purpose.

In the colder seasons of the year it is necessary to lraise the temperature of the air received from without, as above described, by l., means ot' my improved ventilating apparatus, and for this purpose my improvement possesses peculiar 'and important advantages.

I provide a heater,` which may be ot the ordinary construction, arranged below the door of the room, and the heated air conveyed therefrom and discharged into the room in tubes; or theroom may be lie/ated by stoves within the same.l Now, as is well known, the heated air however discharged into the room, i will while warm rise immediately upward. It therefore, according to my improvement, en

counters near the top ofthe room the incoming e dit'used currents of cold air moving in an opposite direction and mixes with the same, and by reason of the cold-air supply-tube D being arranged to convey the supply from near a level with the floor of the room, the column ot cold air therein being heavier than the warmer air within the. room, the said heated air'cannot escape through the coldair passages, but is diffused and thoroughly mixed with the same, and carried gradually, constantly, and imperceptbly downward to the exhaust-passages through the tioor in' a column pervadin g the whole are-a of the room, the velocity of which may be governed entirely by a damper or valve in the exhaust-shaft, and the temperature of which has by the thorough mixing of the heated air with the cold airbeen brought to the required degree by the time it reaches the occupants ofthe room.

An important feature of my improved venprovided with registers, and, if desired. the

iiow may be stopped in any portion of the room and the exhaust confined to any portion.

I am aware that it is common to produce currents of air for ventilation, both for supply and exhaust, by mechanical means, and

also by changing the temperature of the air, and I therefore do not claim such means broadly; but,

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters 1. In combination with means for effecting a distributed exhaust as above described, means for effecting a forced exhaust, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. Mixing heated air for heating rooms with the inilowing distributed supply of fresh air at or near the top of the room by means substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, with the s upply-passages F or F at or near the top of the ro'om, of the vertical tube D, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination, with the tube D, ofthe 7. The means for producing a distributed supply and exhaust, consisting of the tubes D E F, the perforated ceiling, perforated floor, tiue H, and heater I, or the equivalents thereof, when all combined and arranged substantiall y as and for the purpose specitied.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 19th day of December, 1868.

E. L. ROBERTS.

Nitnesses:

FRANKYBLOCKLEY,

ALEX. F. ROBERTS.

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