180 Su(f(f est ions for the better Ventilation of 



tioning the Admiralty in 1743, he received "one hundred 

 pounds as a reward for loss of time and expense, and from the 

 wish of their Lordships to give encouragement to persons who 

 may turn their thoughts to inventions that may tend to the 

 advantage of the navy.*'* Mr Sutton was not satisfied with 

 the report on his invention ; he answered the objections brought 

 against it by the captain of the Norwich as to danger from 

 fire by sparks coming down the tubes. This, he said, could 

 easily be got the better of by lengthening the tubes so as to 

 pass through the chimney, and thus all communication would 

 be cut off between the sparks and the tubes. Mr Sutton like- 

 wise complains of the injustice done to his invention by Dr 

 Hales, who makes no mention of it in his book, although he 

 knew it had been brought before the Royal Society, — and that 

 the Doctor used his influence to get his own machine used in the 

 navy in preference. Mr Sutton, with some boasting, says that 

 the benefits of his invention are " perpetual ; while Dr Hales 

 attempts to make the air in a ship wholesome by only a few 

 hours' use of his ventilators." He adds, his (Dr Hales' ventila- 

 tors) " are cumbersome, and take up room, and require many 

 hands to work them ; my pipes take up no room but what 

 may well be spared, and stand in no need of manual labour ; 

 his cannot extract air from the well at the bottom ; mine can.**' 

 Mr Sutton, however, like many inventors, was over sanguine ; 

 only a few years passed on, and both plans, as regards ships, 

 were consigned to oblivion, although, undoubtedly, Mr Sutton's 

 plan is more likely to be. again revived. t 



In a work called Observations on the Construction of 

 Ships, by J. Braithwaite, May 1810, mention is made of a 

 method of drawing air from the interior of ships. " It con- 

 sists of leading tubes from the most remote parts of ships' 



* Dated 22d Oct. 1743. Signed T. Compton, R. Haddock. 



t Another plan of ventilating the holds of ships was proposed, and brought 

 under the notice of the Society of Arts of London in 1821, by Mr Jacob Perkins 

 of London, who received a premium for it. He proposed to draw out the foul 

 air by means of two tanks half filled with water, which communicated freely with 

 each other, placed diagonally at opposite sides of the hold, that either the roll or 

 pitch of the vessel might produce motion. The foul air is conveyed off by means 

 of pipes or hose, &c. See Transactions, vol. 38. 



