Improvements in or appertaining to Bicycle, Signalling, Table, and other Lamps.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Nov., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 16th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 16th Feb., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to Bicycle, Signalling, Table,
and other Lamps.
I, EVAN EVANS, of 45, Denbigh Street, Llanrwst, in the County of Denbigh,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention has for its object more especially an acetylene lamp that can be
carried about and submitted to comparatively rough usage without injury and
one which will get into a small compass, also one which cannot be blown out
by any ordinary wind. It is also valuable for bicycle and other vehicle lamps
as in fine weather a bicycle can be ridden with it against the wind without any
glass protecting the flame, the flame continuing alight, proof against all ordinary
jolts and wind pressure.
In carrying out my invention for bicycle lamps I place a small burner in or
near the point below the axis of a parabolic reflector and place a hole for the
escape of the air above with a shield to prevent the rain falling down into the
flame. The burner I prefer to be an ordinary smooth gas burner. The burner is
connected by an india rubber tube to the generator. The generator resembles
in appearance an ordinary bicycle pump and is clipped in any convenient manner
to one of the vertical or inclined parts of the frame. It consists of a long tube
closed at the bottom and having a screwed cap on the top. Through this cap
a tube passes having a cock at the end and this cock is connected to the burner
by an elastic tube. The pipe from the cock which for convenience sake is usually
made independent of the cock is connected with a second cylinder about half
the diameter of the first. This cylinder has a base consisting of a small drum
from which a tube rises to the top of the cylinder and connects with the tube ou
which is the aforesaid cock. The connection need not however be very air-
tight. This tube has a series of perforations extending its entire length and
surrounding this tube is a second tube having a slit extending up its entire
length. This tube fits loosely round the inner tube. On this outer tube is
threaded a series of drums open at the top but closed except where the tube passes
loosely through them at the bottom. These drums extend nearly to the top
of the inner tube. The bottom drum however only fits tight in said tube. The
innermost tube has preferably a disc or washer keyed to it at the top so as to
prevent these drums from slipping off. The drums are each of them filled about
one-third full with carbide of calcium, they are then placed open side upward
in the inner tube, the inner tube with its projecting pipe and cap is let into the
outer tube and the cap screwed on. The cock and the burner are connected,
the outer tube is now filled with water and is placed on the bicycle and the
cock is connected up by the indiarubber with the lamp.
The mode of action is as follows:-
The cock being turned and the lamp being lit, as the acetylene is burned and
the pressure reduces, the water passing between the outer tube and the inner

page_text: one enters the small central tube and rises up through it into the first drum
and falling among the carbide generates acetylene and thus raises sufficient
pressure to keep more water from coming in. The acetylene rises and supplies
the lamp. As the acetylene becomes exhausted the water again rises in the
tube and attacks the second chamber and so on till they are all exhausted. The
object of having the split tube is to prevent the lime from filling up the little
perforations in the central tube. In thus describing my invention for a bicycle
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself in the slightest to bicycle
lamps as this invention would be equally advantageous for a signalling lamp on
railways, for a lamp to carry about in the house instead of a candle, for a
reading lamp in railway trains and for any other like purpose. One great
advantage of it is that the acetylene has such an affinity for oxygen that when
the lamp is once lit it is almost impossible to blow it out. The actual details are
of course varied to suit the varied requirements, the main point being as follows:-
first that the water shall only be able to get to a small part of the carbide at
once instead of by capillary attraction being able to mount through a mass of
carbide to the top, secondly, the carbide being in shallow layers each able to
expand during the veneration of the gas it is not liable to cake into a solid lump
or force its way into the inner tube. I do not of course bind myself to only this
single plan for preventing the water getting to only a small portion of the
carbide at once nor yet to this special mode for preventing obstruction of the
passage of the water. but I do believe that this invention of mine is the first
instance in which a plurality of generators in series has been applied to a movable
lamp or to a lamp where the water is brought to the generator in regulated quantities,
the regulation being as in the case of a diving bell formed by the pressure of the
gas itself. I claim for this apparatus that it is a safety one as while the lamp is
in action. the acetylene is only generated as required and if by chance it were
generated too rapidly it would simply blow off or burst the tube. For additional
safety however I may arrange for an additional safety blow-off connection. This
may be useful for large portable or locomotive lamps.
Dated the 15th day of November 1897.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or appertaining to Bicycle, Signalling, Table,
and other Lamps.
I, EVAN EVANS, of 45, Denbigh Street, Llanrwst, in the County of Denbigh,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
-
This invention has for its object an acetylene lamp which can be carried about
and submitted to comparatively rough usage without injury and one which will
get into a small compass, and cannot be blown out by any ordinary wind. It is
also valuable for bicycle and other vehicle lamps as in fine weather a bicycle can
be ridden with it against the wind without even a glass protecting the flame,
the Hame continuing alight against all ordinary jolts and wind pressure. The
invention itself is an improvement upon Letters Patent granted to myself an
others, Nos. 12788. 20074, 22359, and 1050897.
Referring to the drawings,

page_text: Figure 2, section of same; and
Figure 3, elevation of the lamp;
Figure 4, enlarged sectional elevation showing details not set forth in
Figure 2;
Figure 5, a transverse section; and
Figure 6, a modification showing the same invention arranged as a head lamp
for a bicycle or carriage.
Referring first to Figures 1 to 5, A is a metallic tube closed at the bottom
and having a cap B at the top held down and screwed on to the tube A by the ring
flange C. Cap B is supplied with a little valve D. This valve consists of a cap
screwed on to the top of a small tube which when the cap is screwed tightly down
closes the top of the tube, when it is not screwed tightly down a small leak
arranged in the screw allows air to enter tube A. If valve D be closed tight or
dispensed with, the pressure of the gas acts in place of air, the gas replacing the
water in tube A as it lowers. Cap B has also a socket 6 into which a cock e
having an india rubber pipe E leading to the lamp F is screwed. Socket has
also an internal tube G screwed into it. The other end of this tube G is brazed or
otherwise fixed into the top of an internal cylinder H shown more clearly in
Figure 4. In the bottom of this cylinder tightly fits a drum I having preferably
a milled rim i at the bottom and in the bottom of this drum is inserted a loose
cap J having a perforation j in its bottom and a perforated false bottom above
over which is packed sponge K as shown. To the top of the drum I is brazed or
otherwise loosely attached an internal plate into which is soldered a tube L. This
tube L has a number of perforations at intervals. Surrounding this tube L
is a second tube M having a longitudinal slot and a small projection on tube L,
m passes into this slot. This is shown more clearly in Figure 5. This projec
tion m is at an angle of 90 degrees on the circumference from the perforations ?
which are in both sides of the internal tube. The projection m has a two-fold
use, first always to keep the longitudinal slot in the tube M from coming opposite
the holes and secondly, that whenever the tube M is moved relatively to the
tube L, projection m slides along the slot and thus keeps it open. On tube M
is threaded a series of perforated trays N. These trays N can be comparatively
deep and only partially filled with carbide as shown or they can be shallow travs
filled up to the top with carbide, in which case there is space left in tube H
whereby they can rise upward on the tube M. Where however they are deep
and only partially filled, I prefer to place a washer on the screwed end of
tube L and arrange the trays so as to nearly fill tube H. Referring
nbw to the lamp, Figure 3. E is the indiarubber tube connect-
ing it with the generator. P is the burner and Q a shield placed over a hole
or holes in the upper face. There is a series of holes round the glass in front
as shown. Burner P is formed to screw in and out so as to be replaceable and
adjustable for different heights of flame, to centre the flame at the focus.
Figure 6 is simply inserted to show how my invention can be applied so as to
assume the shape of the ordinary head lamp of a bicycle. It will be seen that
it is carried on the usual elastic connection S but the tube A is made very wide
and stout instead of long and narrow. The various trays N are shown in dotted
lines and the internal tubes L and M are also shown in dotted lines. On this
lamp I prefer to use an ordinary safety valve instead of the valve D. T is a con-
nection from the top leading to the lamp burner P, the portion where the letter T
is shown being preferably in indiarubber (but it can be in the form of a union
joint) so that the lid B of the lamp can be more easily unscrewed and taken off.
The remaining letters of reference in these drawings are the same as those in
Figures 1, 2 and 3. Although I have shown a perforated tube L and a slit
tube M, it is evident these can be dispensed with, that the various trays can ba
made as simple trays and without perforation in the bottom and a connection
for water be brought up on the inner side of the tube H either in a groove in

page_text: the sides of the trays or as another split and hinged cylinder between the trays
and the cylinder H the water rising between the two cylinders, the main object
being to so arrange the entrance of water that it shall not be stopped up by the
lime, and so that there shall only be a small perforation such as for the water to
enter. The use of the sponge K is to act as a filter to prevent dirt entering the
tubes L and M in case dirty water is used on a journey. In some instances I
may supply a second internal chamber H and its internal parts complete as a
change cylinder so that a bicyclist can carry it in his bag and when one cylinder
is exhausted take it off tube G and place another on.
The generator can be either attached to the steering post like a pump or inserted
in the steering post and handle bar stem.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In a portable acetylene generator which is capable of air regulation as
described the use of a perforated tube surrounded by a slotted tube for admitting
the water to the carbide substantially as described.
2. In a portable acetylene generator which is capable of air regulation as
described the use for supporting the carbide of trays threaded on a tube in a
receiver which can be lifted out as a whole substantially as described.
3. The portable combined generator and lamp constructed and arranged sub-
stantially as described.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.