IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING LAMPS WITH OIL OR FLUID TO BE CONSUMED
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th May
1862. A communication from abroad by Mr. Jacques Isidore Dézélu,
Engineer, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
-
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING LAMPS
WITH OIL OR FLUID TO BE CONSUMED," to be as follows:→
This Invention relates, first, to a portable apparatus for supplying oil to
lamps, intended to replace cans or apparatus used for the same purpose,
and to modifications in the lamps to which it is applied. This supply appa-
ratus is composed of a vessel containing oil in the middle of the vessel,
and at its bottom in the liquid is fixed a cylinder pierced at its base with
several holes in this cylinder works a piston carrying a hollow rod pro-
jecting to a certain extent above the apparatus; this piston returns after
each operation to the upper part of the cylinder by means of a spring. This
spring acts on a valve in the bottom of the cylinder, which rises at each ascent
of the piston and opens an orifice in the centre of the bottom of the cylinder
and permits the oil contained in the vessel to occupy the empty space below
the piston. At the upper part of the vessel is another vessel which receives'
after each filling operation any excess of oil injected, which returns to the
principal reservoir, .through the cover of the reservoir which serves as a filter.
The oil vessel is furnished with a cover which serves at same time as a guide

page_text: for the piston rod, and may be removed at will to afford access to the interior
of the reservoir. In order to effect the filling of the lamp it is taken from
its stand and turned upside down on the injecting apparatus above described.
The lamp is then placed on an adjusting part carried at the extreme top of
the piston rod before mentioned, the bottom part of the burner being so
adjusted as to bear on the extremity of the piston rod, and by pressure cause
it to descend in the cylinder, the pressure exerted on the oil in the cylinder
raises it in the hollow piston rod and opens the valve therein and it passes
thence through a passage into the oil reservoir of the lamp; on arriving in the
reservoir the oil drives out the air it contains. The air being entirely driven
out of the reservoir the oil in its turn passes in the same direction and then
falls on to the top of the oil receptacle which indicates the complete filling of
the lamp, any excess of liquid injected again enters the principal reservoir
after being filtered as above mentioned. This operation terminated, all
pressure is removed from the inverted part of the lamp, the piston becomes
free and ascends in the cylinder by the action of the spring and exhausting
and receiving a fresh quantity of oil through the valve in the bottom, com-
municating with the reservoir by the openings made round the base of said
cylinder, and in this position the injector is always in readiness to receive a
lamp for refilling. The extraction of the oil from the reservoir of the lamp
may also be effected by the same injector; for this purpose the oil must be
withdrawn from the large vessel containing the cylinder before mentioned and
the lamp placed in its natural position on the adjustment at the end of the
piston rod. The adjustment as before mentioned is received in the basin or
chamber of the wick holder and bears on the partition therein. It suffices
to press on the piston rod so that the air.contained in the cylinder may pass
into the injector, carrying before it the oil therein contained, the air arriving
also in the reservoir: rises to the upper part, and pressing on the surface of the
liquid causes it to pass out, at the supply orifice and from thence over the
burner, where it falls into the reservoir of the injector and then into another
vessel by an opening made in the lower part of the principal reservoir of the
supply apparatus. At the upper part of the burner there is a chamber for
receiving the oil forced out by the air contained in the reservoir. After a
certain time the oil spreads in this capacity by an opening made in the
partition on one side of the gallery. This opening, which affords access to
the upper partition, permits of the liquid returning into the reservoir the
moment the supply of air is diminished.
.
The following is .another modification of the lamp adapted, for filling by
the supply apparatus before described, the filling being effected exactly in the

page_text: same manner as in the first.-Its construction differs only by an improvement
of the burner and reservoir, one of the arms of the burner carries two conduct
pipes, one for the injection and the other for the passage of air. The second
branch only serves as an adjunct to the vessel into which the oil due to the
effects of distillation passes. This chamber occupies nearly the whole of the
lower circumference of the reservoir, but is separated for a certain distance
by two transverse perpendicular partitions connected to the foregoing. This
capacity is furnished near the two partitions with two tubes, which allow of
the oil entering this space to drive out the air and allow it again to enter as
desired, so as to create no resistance to the to-and-fro movement of the
liquid; as in the first arrangement, the reservoir is entirely closed, and only
communicates with the basin of the wick holder. In this modification of the
lamp the burner is a little higher than the circular partition above mentioned,
so that the oil cannot pass underneath. In this modification of the lamp the
wick holder is of a new kind applicable to both systems; it is fixed in the
basin by two arms gripping the upper partition of the burner. The axis of
the regulator is inclined, and by this means permits of bringing the light
down to the level of the oil and so facilitate its capillary action; the axis is
fitted square into the wick elevators, and in its movement of rotation turns
the latter with it in such way that each one acts perpendicularly on the wick,
directing it in the same manner.