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W. Newton del.

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London

JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.

No. XXIV.

Recent Patents.

To THOMAS GAUNTLETT, of Bath, Somersetshire, for certain Improvements on Vapour Baths, by which the Heat is better regulated, and the Baths rendered more portable.*

THIS invention consists of a portable apparatus to be employed as a vapour bath, by means of which steam may be conducted to any particular limb of the patient, or to the whole surface of the body. Plate XIV. fig. 1, exhibits the apparatus as it would appear when in action. a, is a small boiler, calculated to hold about a gallon of water, to be placed upon the ordinary fire of the chamber; b, is a bent tube passing from the top of the boiler to a receiver, c, which is a vessel about the size of a small tea-pot; through this the steam passes, and is emitted from it to the bath. This vessel may con

* Manufactured by MOODY and Co. Bath. VOL. IV.

tain a small quantity of any volatile matter, which, being acted upon by the steam as it passes, will be discharged therewith in the form of vapour, through the spout and other passages of the receiver, the emission of which is regulated by the handle, d, to be turned by the patient or an assistant. e, is a standard intended to suspend a sort of bell-formed hood or marquee made of flannel or canvass, and distended with a hoop and cords. This hood, which is shown by dots, is intended to enclose the patient, who is to be seated upon a sort of camp stool within. But, as the top, and some other parts, of the hood, are furnished with openings, the head may be excluded from the action of the vapour, or any particular limb only may be introduced within the hood.

Fig. 2 is a section of the cover of the boiler, a, shewing the construction of the safety valve and the pipe for emitting the steam. To this, another pipe, of any desired length, may be coupled, as shewn at fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section of the receiver, c, in which is seen the screw plug for regulating the emission of the vapour. The steam passing into this receiver, through the pipe, b, proceeds up the hollow screw plug, f, and escapes at the small holes into the space round the plug, and thence discharging itself, as shown by the radiant dots, fills the interior of the bell or hood; the width of the opening being regulated by the ascent or descent of the screw-plug, turned by the handle and universal joint, g.

In order to direct a current of steam to the feet of the patient, which is sometimes particularly desirable, a channel is cut round the plug, in a winding direction, so as to be always opposite to the jet, h; by which means, a volume of steam is always discharged through the jet, whether the discharging space above be opened, wide or

Gauntlett's, for Improvements in Vapour Baths. 283

nearly closed. The receiver, c, is placed in a tin dish, for the purpose of catching the water which may fall by the partial condensation of the steam.

The standard, e, is put together with screw-joints, for the convenience of packing; and the whole of the apparatus may be conveyed from place to place, with perfect ease, in a small case. The materials of which this apparatus may be made, can be varied at pleasure, and its proportions and dimensions are perfectly unimportant.

"A portable apparatus, by means of which steam may be conveyed for the purposes of a vapour bath, in two or more directions at the same time, and by the same movement, one of the said directions being under or immediately about the feet, and the other upwards, generally, into a casing or dress, suspended by a portable frame over the patient; and also such an arrangement of the said apparatus as will admit of the said two, or more, different directions being given to the steam, and of the steam being regulated either by the patient or an assistant, by means of a handle and universal joint, being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used in these kingdoms, I, hereby, declare this to be my specification of the same; believing the said specification, in all respects, fully, and without reserve or disguise, to comply with the proviso in my said hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent contained, and intending hereby to maintain my exclusive right and privilege to my said invention."

Inrolled, August, 1822.

To RICHARD SUMMERS HARFORD, of Ebbw Vale Iron Works, in the Parish of Aberystruth, in the County of Monmouth, for an Improvement in the Heating Processes in the Manufacture of Bar, Rod, Sheet, and other Description of Malleable Iron, whether the same may have been previously prepared by Puddling or other modes of Refining.

THE patentee states that he has experienced much inconvenience and difficulty in manufacturing "blooms, piled iron, scrap iron, sheet, hoop, and rod iron, and all other kinds of malleable iron; whether the same be for hammering, rolling, or slitting, owing to the impurities that adhere to its surface when placed upon the bottom of balling, heating, or annealing furnaces, these bottoms being usually constructed or covered with sand, gravel, scoria, or any vitreous substance, most difficult to be fused." And he farther states, that he has most completely proved that no substance, hitherto found out, would prevent the evil consequences that are produced by particles of silicious matter adhering to the surface of the iron, when placed upon the bottoms of such balling, heating, or annealing furnaces, so constructed and covered: for, when such iron is either hammered, rolled, or wrought out into bars, plates, hoops, or any other shape or form, it is found that very deep indentations and imperfections are made upon the surface, and, more or less, throughout the whole mass; and when iron, so manufactured, is wrought out into thin sheets, or plates, holes will be found completely through, which imperfections render such sheets, or plates, useless.

In order to prevent these inconveniences, cast-iron floors have been employed, for the purpose of placing the piles or pieces of malleable iron upon; but the

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