IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH ELECTRIC LAMPS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER LIGHTING AND HEATING. PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Garrett Tongue at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th February 1881. A com-
munication from abroad by Dr. Auguste Lacomme, of Paris, France.
JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, Patent Agents
and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH ELECTRIC LAMPS, PARTS
OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR OTHER LIGHTING AND HEATING. PURPOSES."
A communication from abroad by Dr. Auguste Lacomme, of Paris, France.
This Invention has for its object improvements in and connected with electric
lamps, and also for other lighting and heating purposes, and consists, first, of:
mounting two or more pairs of carbons or equivalent on an axis, so that after a
definite time has elapsed, of a duration nearly equal to the time the carbons will
last, the axis and connections receives a partial rotation by means of. a current >
attracting an armature, or by an apparatus driven from the engine, for example, a
worm and wheel or an arrangement of gearing so timed for speed as at a certain
point of the revolution to transmit a current to the lamp and so cause a fresh pair
of carbons to appear uppermost, where it is locked until they are nearly consumed
when the operation again takes place. This is especially applicable to those
candles known as the Jablochkoff, although it can be applied to most other
arrangements.
It has the advantage of having any convenient number of candles, and the lamp
may be so arranged that when a candle is burning the adjoining one need not be
visible by reason of them being placed radially round the axis. A quick shunt
may be effected, and by a contact piece the current may be directed to one
carbon, and the opposite current be from the axis or in any convenient manner to
the other.
It is well known that where there is a continuous current from a machine, as
with a battery current, the positive carbon burns away quicker than the negative
carbon, and in order to make a candle meet these requirements I surround the
negative carbon by a carbon tube, which may be insulated from each other by
plaster of Paris or other material.
The outer carbon tube being of a greater sectional area than the inner one
counterbalances the inequality of consumption, but the inner carbon may be
D

page_text: pivotted loosely and rest against the outer carbon until the current passes, when
they immediately separate and the arc is formed between them.
The inner carbon may be raised or may rest against some suitable material or
composition which will withstand the intense heat at or near the part where the
are is established.
The inner carbon may be tubular, and may have a stem passing up through it
with a disc resting on the top of one or both carbon tubes. The disc may be of
copper or platinum, or in some cases of a composition or material, abestos, for
example.
Two tubular carbons may be placed one directly above the other, a rod or stem
passing up through them, and between these two carbons a distance piece or
washer of metal, composition, or material, say, asbestos, sliding on the stem or form
part thereof, so that as the carbons are consumed they still maintain the same
distance apart by the descent of the washer or stem and washer or distance
piece.
The stem or wire rod that passes up through the carbon tubes may be secured to
the upper carbon, and the distance between the two be regulated, as is now usual
where sticks of carbon are used, by an armature and magnet to control the distance
Hollow carbons may be
between the points and the length of voltaic arc.
employed in incandescent lamps by mere modification.
The distance piece may be applied to carbon sticks in any well known lamp, and
by its use all complicated mechanism is dispensed with.
In this way the upper carbon is held in an E shaped piece, the centre projection
being between the carbons and determining their distance apart, and the lower one
sliding freely around the lower carbon. This E shaped piece slides on an upright,
or standard, or arm, and the distance piece of metal, composition, or material may
be movable, and may in all cases be under control, and may be used in existing
lamps and in combination with regulating mechanism.
A button, distance piece, or cup may be placed between two carbons, not only to
keep them a certain distance apart, but may assist in guiding the carbons as they
are consumed, and raised or lowered as the case may be.
The distance piece may be of platinum or other suitable metal or alloy, or
material composition, in some cases asbestos.
This distance piece may be placed between carbon discs, and caused to revolve
and so rotate this discs, or vice versa.
The carbon tubes before referred to, may be used for lighting purposes by being
consumed in combination with a gas or gases or other flame directed on to the
carbon tube.