The Howarth Ventilator, from what we can establish was designed in the mid 1800’s primarily to ventilate the Royal Armouries munitions stored deep within the Napoleonic Forts located around the coast of Great Britain.
Over time these gradually failed, seizing, rusting and eventually removed due to lack of routine maintenance leaving only three sites with 5/6 units still in existence. Virtually no information exists, from historic photos, drawings, construction details or their primary use
Having examined limited available data we surmised that these units are designed to replicate a powered extract fan using only wind to power the cowl rather than an electric motor used today. The cups on the top and the angled vertical vanes catch the prevailing wind causing the units to rotate. The rotational torque is transferred to an internal horizontal turbine impeller inside the extract tube that draws air out of the building.
The prototype is now complete ready for manufacture and hoped that they will be installed into the historic restoration projects at Heugh Battery in Hartlepool and Bembridge Fort on the Isle of Wight later this year.
