US451465A - dirkes - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

(No Model.)

H.-A. DIRKES. COMBINED DUST ARRESTER AND VENTILATOR FOR ems.

No. 451,465. Patented May 5,1891.

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H. A. DIRKES. COMBINED DUST ARRESTER AND VENTILATOR FOR CARS.

Patented May 5,1891.

O 11 lg O o l O o l witnesses catedby line 2 2 in Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATE T nron.

HENRY DIRKES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED DUST-ARRESTER AND VENT'ILATOR FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,465, dated May 5, 1891.

Application filed August 9, 1890- Serial No. 361,592. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. DIRKES, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Combined Dust-Arresters and Ventilators for Cars, of

which the following is a specification.

' removed for cleaning and moistening, said filter beingof a novel construction itself, and in part to provide a novel construction of the housings for said filter, whereby fresh air enters the car through the filter and the vitiated air is withdrawn from the car, in whichever direction the car may be moving, without the necessity of shifting or setting any of the parts when the motion of the car is to be reversed, said housing being so arranged that the passenger or train-man may conveniently regulate both the inflow and outflow of the air.

My invention will be hereinafter fully described, and its novel features carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,illustrative of my invention,Figure 1 is a front elevation of a dust-arrester and ventilator mounted in the side of a railway-car under the sash of a window. This device embodies myinvention and represents the device as seen from the inside of the car. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the device, taken in the plane indi- Figs. 3 and 3 are vertical sections of' the device, taken, respectively, on the lines 3 3 and 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the air-filter detached and drawn to a large scale, and Fig. 4 illustrates a slightly modified construction of said filter. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the application of my air-filter to an airadmitting opening in the end of the car,F1g. 5 being a front view, and Fig. 6 a transverse section.

I will first describe the device as illustrated in Figs. 1 to at. 0: represents the side of the carat a window, and y represents the sash and glass of the window. Setinto the side of the car below the window or at the bottom of the window-opening is abox or housing,which may be made of Wood, metal, or other suitable substance. This housing may also be of any desired size and proportion. In the drawings I have shown it of the same width as the Window-openin g and as having a vertical depth equal to about one-fourth of its width. This housing a is divided at the middle of its width by a hollow vertical partition a into two chambers orsections,which are fitted up alike, will be described. Each chamberis fitted up with keepers, as at a a and with a screen a H of fine wire-gauze at the outer side of the chamber. Within the chamber and extending across the same inside of the wire screen is a removable air-filter h, which is held in place by the keepers a and is inserted and withdrawn through an opening in the top of the housing a. All the air entering the car through the housing must pass through the screen and filter. The arrow .2 in Fig. 2 indicates the direction in which the car is supposed to be moving. In order to gather the air and deflect it into the car, I provide the housing a with like eXteriorly-arranged casings c and 0*, provided with curved or inclined interiorly-arranged deflectors c 0. These casings c c are arranged back to back and have their open ends or mouths directed oppositely, one toward the one end of the car and the other toward the other end of the same. When the car is moving in the direction indicated by the arrow z, the air is forced into the mouth of the casing c and deflected into the forward chamber by the curved deflector thereon. It passes the screen and filter of the forward chamber and enters the car purified. At the same time the rapid movement of the car produces a partial vacuum at the mouth of the casin g e and the air from the car passes out from the car through the rearward chamber of the housing a. Then the motion of the car is reversed, the result is the same, except that the devices that were before in front will be at the rear.

In order that the inflow and outflow of the air maybe regulated or cutoff entirely,I pro vide the housing a with two registers 01 d on the inside of the car, one for each chamber of the housing, and provide each register with an operating-knob (1. These registers are of a well-known construction and will not require any minute description.

Over the registers on the inside of the car I place an open-work frontispiece c, partly for the protection of the registers and partly for the sake of appearance. This frontispiece forms the inside frontplate ofthe chambered housing a. It may sometimes be desirable, particularly in very cold weather, to more effectually cut off the entrance of air, and I prefer to provide the air-gathering casings c and 0 with cut-off devices at or near their open months. As these are substantially alike, but capable of independent operation, a description of one will suffice for both.

In a chamber at the end of the housing a is mounted a slide g, adapted to be moved out across the casing e and to close the same. The operative mechanism of this slide consists of a lever 71, fulcrumed on a pivot in the roof-plate of the casing c. The longer arm of this lever is coupled to a slide-rod iin the hollow central partition a. This rod projects through the frontispiece c, and is provided with an operating knob or head 1". Bygrasping this knob and drawing out the rod 5 the slide g will be drawn out, so as to close the mouth of the casing c in whole or in part. These slides, which may be operated by any known means, are not essential to my invention.

It will be seen that the device as described is double, or consists of two like parts arranged in one housing and reversed in position, each section or part being capable of control or regulation independently of the other.

I will now describe with special. reference to Figs. 2 and l the mode of constructing the air-filter.

j is a frame, which will be made of tinned iron or galvanized sheet metal by preference and of the proper size and proportions to slide down in the slideways formed by the keepers a and to form a removable partition across the chamber of the housing. In this framej are arranged strips 7:, of felt or similar absorbent material, which extend across the frame, and have their surfaces or planes arranged obliquely to the face of the filter and to the path of the current of air flowing through the same. The object of this arrangement is to compel the air in its passage through the filter to impinge upon the oblique faces of said strips. I prefer to employ two or more of such strips and to give the strips of the two adjacent series opposite obliquities, as shown. The strips of one series may be arranged to stand opposite to the spaces between those of the adjacent series, as seen in Fig. si if desired. Any mode of securing the strips 7.". in the frame j may be employed. I prefer to form slits in the frame and to pass the material which forms the strips back and forth through these slits from side to side of the frame. Over the faces of the frame are or may be stretched crossed strands Z of some loosely-twisted fibrous material, as candlc-wicking, for example. For convenience in placing this material on the frame the latter may be perforated at intervals along its edges, as seen in Fig. 4, and the strands passed through these holes and back and forth over the frame.

The filter may be provided with a suitable handle at for removing it from the casing, and the strips 7; may extend across it vertically, as in Fig. l, or horizontally, as in Fig. 4. The crossed strands are omitted from the filter, as illustrated in Fig. at, and I do not consider them essential to my invention.

In using my device the train-man will at proper intervals draw out the filter l) and dip it in water or other liquid suitable for moistcning the strips 7.: and strands 7, and then replace it in the housing a. The airin passin g through the gauze screen a" is deprived of large particles, such as straws, large ciuders, and the like, and in passing through the filter every particle of the dust-laden air must encounter the moist filaments orsurfaces of the same and leave the dust particles adhering to these surfaces.

My filter is constructed with a view of offering a free although not unobstructed passage for the air and to provide passages of such a nature that the air cannot avoid impinging upon surfaces adapted to seize and hold the particles of dust, which are thus eliminated from the air before it can enter the car.

In Figs. 5 and (i, the former of which is an elevation and the latter a transverse vertical section, I have illustrated the application of my filter to the end of the car. In these views the filter Z is mounted removably in a housing 22, secured to the end as of the car on the inside and having an open-work front plate a. The filter is mounted in the same manner as that before described, and the register is omitted. A register may, however, be employed in this embodiment of my invention. The housing it covers an opening in the end of the car, and is this openin This opening may be provided with a wire screen (0 011 the outside of the car, as seen in Fig. 0.

I may say that in some casesas in very hot weather, for example, when free Ventilation. of the car is desired-the filter Z) may be removed from the rear chamber of the device, so as to permit the air to flow the more freely from the ear. The ready removability of the filter makes this very easy, and under such circumstances when the car is to start on the return trip it will only be necessary to remove the filters from the forward chambers, cleanse them, and then placethem in the other chambers for the next trip.

The gauze screens a are only auxiliary devices. Good results may be attained without them. The slides 1 may also be omitted, if desired.

While I prefer to mount my device atthe bottom of the car-window for lateral ventilation, it may as well be placed in any part of the car at the side, or it may be mounted in the roof of the car. In any case the housing of the device will be mounted in some part of the car-wall-that is, the ends, sides, or roofand will provide a passage or passages for the ingress and egress of air.

Ihave used the letters 0 and 0 to designate the two casings of the device that are arranged outside of the car; but this is only for convenience of description and does not imply any difference between the two casings.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a dust-arrester and ventilator for cars, the combination of a double-chambered housing mounted in the car-wall, exterior casings connected with the respective chambers of said housing and facing in opposite directions, deflectors for deflecting the air which enters the easing into the car through said housing an air-filter for filtering the air before it enters the car through said housing, and independently-operated registers for controlling the ingress and egress of air through the respective chambers of said housing when the car is in motion, substantially as set forth.

2. In a dust-arrester and ventilator for cars, the combination, with the double-chambered housing provided with deflectors and exterior casings facing in opposite directions, whereby the air will enter the car by way of one casin g and pass out of the car at the other, of the air-filters arranged across the passages in said housings, said filters each consisting of strips of fibrous material arranged obliquely to the path of the air flowing in and out, whereby the outflow of air is substantially unobstructed.

3. An air-filter consisting of a supportingframe and one or more series of flat strips of absorbent material extending across said frame, with their faces oblique to the face of the frame, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

et. An air-filter 1), consisting of a frame j, provided with oblique slits on two of its opposite sides, and flat strips k of absorbent material extending across said frame and through said slits, as set forth.

5. An airfilter 1), consisting of a frame j and two series of obliquely-arranged flat strips 70 of absorbent material extending across the same, as described, the strips of the two series having opposite obliquities, as and for the purposes set forth.

6. An air-filter Z7, consisting of a frame 3', one or more series of obliquely-arranged flat strips of absorbent material extending across the same, and a series of crossed strands Z of fibrous material extending across the said frame, as set forth.

In witness whereof 'I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY A. DIRKES.

. Witnesses:

HENRY CONNER, J. D. CAPLINGETT.

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