IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND BURNERS FOR CARRIAGES, RAILWAYS, SHIPS, AND GENERAL PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Reece, of No. 168, Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, M.D., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND BURNERS
FOR CARRIAGES, RAILWAYS, SHIPS, AND GENERAL PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Reece at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th July 1878.
HENRY REECE, of No. 168, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, M.D. "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND BURNERS FOR CARRIAGES, RAILWAYS, SHIPS, AND
GENERAL PURPOSES."
The object of this Invention is the construction of gazine lamps and burners in
such manner as to greatly augment the illuminating power of the light with a
given quantity of oil, to afford greater safety in operation, and to lessen the risk of
loss by breakage. For this purpose I insert a cotton wick tightly within a thin
metal tube reaching from the light down to the bottom of the vessel containing the
essential oil to be used for the generation of the gas, the lower end of the tube
being notched for the purpose of allowing the oil to flow freely from the oil vessel
to the wick within the tube. I wind lamp cotton round the thin metal tube
containing the wick, which lamp cotton I surround with a metal tube finely
perforated. Within the reservoir which extends all round the perforated tube I fix
horizontal plates for the purpose of preventing the liquid oil dashing about and
affecting the light.
I provide for the admission of air into the reservoir as the liquid oils burns away,
and thus prevent a vacuum being formed, and at the same time the escape of vapour
from such reservoir is also prevented by means of the following arrangement:-At
the outer edge or circumference of the burner I fix a tube standing up from the top
of the reservoir and leading down to the bottom of the interior of the same, into
which I screw another and smaller tube reaching down to the level of the upper dasher
plate, the ends of the inner tube being provided with only a very small air hole.

page_text: For the purpose of replenishing the reservoir I unscrew the inner from the outer
tube, and afterwards again insert the same air holes, not allowing any sensible
amount of vapour to ascend through them, firstly because of their small size, and
secondly because the baffle plates in the interior of the reservoir have only small
apertures through them which prevents any considerable quantity of vapour
reaching the air holes in the smaller of the two tubes.
provide an improved method of ventilation through the casing holding the
burner. The air is drawn through fine perforations in the casing upwards through
a short chimney, whence it is deflected through perforations in the circumference of
a cap; it then proceeds upwards, striking against a horizontal baffle plate which
directs it at right angles outward.
In addition to the air entering through the lamp casing it also passes from the out-
side into a ring placed round the chimney of the casing, the ring being furnished with
apertures between it and the casing for that purpose. The air having passed within
the ring into the annular space formed by the same, and the outer circumference of
the cap above mentioned, it continues its upward direction until it meets the afore-
said horizontal baffle plate by which it is deflected into the atmosphere together
with the current of air coming from the interior of the casing.
I also furnish the bottom of the lamp with suitable plates for the purpose of
deflecting the flame upwards.
A part of my Invention also consists in the application of lenses to the outside of
lamps, by which means fractures caused by heat are prevented.
This method of construction is peculiarly adapted for lamps for ships' use, and in
all situations where they are subject to violent motion or jerks, in which case the
brilliancy of the light is not affected, nor is there any overflow or waste of oil, even in
the extreme case of turning the lamp upside down, by reason of the oil only being
able to pass to the wick through the notches at the bottom of the wick tube which
rests on the bottom of the reservoir.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
"IM-
said Henry Reece in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th January 1879.
HENRY REECE, of No. 168, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, M.D.
PROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND BURNERS FOR CARRIAGES, RAILWAYS, SHIPS, AND
GENERAL PURPOSES."
The object of this Invention is the construction of gazine and other lamps in such
manner as to auginent the illuminating power of the light with a given quantity of
oil, to afford greater safety in operation by diminishing the heat of the lamp, and to
lessen the risk of breakage by reason of such diminished heat.
I will now proceed, with the aid of the accompanying Drawings, to describe a
lamp for carriage or general out-door use constructed according to this Invention.
Figure 1 is a vertical section on the line A, B, of Figure 2. 1 is the reservoir;
1ª, vertical partitions or dash plates with small orifices at the bottom for the
purpose of free communication between them; 2, the burner and wick holder,
2 being notches in the bottom edge of the same, and 2b slits or openings in its
periphery; 3, a removeable concave glass reflector fixed at the back of the lamp
behind the burner; 3ª is a sheet of polished metal fixed behind the reflector 3;
4 is a sheet of polished metal at the side of the lamp; 40 is the transparent
glass on the opposite side; 5 is a perforated metal cover at the back of the polished
sheet 4; 6 is a horizontal perforated plate projecting from the four sides of the
reservoir; 6a are perforations through the bottom of the lamp casing leading
between the two plates 6 and 7; 7 is a finely perforated curved metal plate fixed
to the three sides of the reservoir directly above the plate 6; 7a are grooves, one on
cach side of the lamp casing, into which two of the edges of the plate 6 take or
slide, by which means the reservoir is withdrawn from or placed within the lamp;
8 is the top of the lamp casing provided with perforations a at the four sides, a short
distance from the edge; 9 is a finely perforated curved metal plate or sheet of gauze
fixed directly over the perforations a; 10 is a cone-shaped funnel passing through
and fixed to the top of the lamp casing, and provided with perforations a¹ in that
portion of its circumference which is within the lamp; 11 is a concave disc or head
piece fixed a short distance above the top of the funnel 10 by means of strong
wires b which connect the same to the top of the casing; this disc is provided with
perforations C; 12 is a tube or channel for the purpose of allowing any water that
may fall from the disc 11 or otherwise on to the top of the casing to run freely off,
so as not to enter through the perforated plate 9 into the interior of the lamp.
Figure 2 is a plan view, in which 13 is the tube, closed by a screwed thimble or
cap through which the reservoir is provided with the oil for combustion, the cap
being provided with a small air hole for the purpose of preventing undue pressure
within the reservoir; the tube 13 is placed outside the lamp.
Figure 3 is a plan view with the top of the casing removed.
Figure 4 is a back view of the lamp, in which 14 is the perforated door working
on hinges in the ordinary manner, and d the air hole in the tube 13.
The reservoir 1 having been supplied with the essential oil or other illuminating
material, and the wick lighted at small orifices in or near the top of the burner, the
inside of the lamp is kept cool by means of the outside air passing inside the lamp
through the perforated plate 6, 6º, and 7, 8 and 9, through the door 14 on to the
back of the plate 3ª and the reflector 3, and through the perforations in the cover 5,
passing out in great part in the form of heated air through the funnel 10, when it
is received by the disc 11 and carried away by a current of air passing between the
top of the funnel and the disc.
By this method of ventilation I am enabled to fit the casings of lamps with glass
lenses instead of the ordinary glass, and to use glass mirrors and glass reflectors
inside such lamps, which has hitherto been impracticable without considerable risk
of breakage by reason of the great heat engendered by the flame of the lamp. By

page_text: this means I also prevent in a great measure the tarnishing of reflectors and other
polished surfaces in the interior of such lamps.
•
Similar letters and numbers of reference indicate like parts in the several Figures
of the Drawing.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same may be performed, I would have it understood that I claim,-
First. The arrangemont and combination of the various perforated plates and
fittings, with especial reference to the curved perforated plate 9, and the perforation
in the casing directly underneath the same, as herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, as and for the purposes set forth.
- Second. The construction of the reservoirs of lamps with vertical dash plates as
shewn at Figure 1 in vertical section, and at Figure 3 in dotted lines of the annexed
Drawings.
Third. The construction of that part of the wick holder which is fixed within
the reservoir of lamps with slits or orifices at various parts and heights of its
periphery leading through the same to the wick for the purpose of allowing of the
free access of the oil to the wick.
Fourth. The method of fixing the reservoir to the lamp so as to leave the body
of such reservoir exposed to the outside air.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Reece, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.