Improvements in or Connected with Paraffin Lamps and with the Burners thereof to Enable a Lamp to Burn a Long Time without Attention.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 14th May, 1889-Accepted, 13th July, 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GEORG WILHELM LYTH, of No. 7, Bryzzaregaan,
Stockholm, Sweden, Philosophical Instrument Maker.]
Improvements in or Connected with Paraffin Lamps and with the
Burners thereof to Enable a Lamp to Burn a Long Time without
Attention.
I, SAMUEL HENRY GLADSTONE, of No. 7 Great Winchester Street, in the City of
London Merchant do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object of this invention is to provide a paraffin lamp which without any
superintendence may continue burning with an even flame and at the same illuminating
power during a comparatively long time; e.g. for a fortnight.
For this purpose it is necessary that a sufficient quantity of paraffin oil shall be
supplied to the flame during the whole time and that the supply be given at uniform
pressure.
The simplest method of obtaining the latter requirement is by keeping the paraffin
at the same level during the time the lamp is burning. This may be effected, for
instance, in the same way as in the well-known Argand oil lamp.
If to a paraffin lamp so arranged a burner of any construction hitherto known be
used, and the flame allowed to burn for some time, it will be found that a crust
forms on the wick which increases little by little and considerably impairs the power
of the light. After a certain interval explosions occur in the wick tube, and these
throw up the crust and even eject burning paraffin which may cause a fire
sometimes the flame is extinguished.
Such burners are inapplicable when the flame is required to burn for a fortnight
or more without superintendence and with the same illuminating power.
The explosions just mentioned are caused by gas, which forms in the gradually
heated wick-tube, which gas is prevented by the crust from escaping as it is
generated.
Such explosions are prevented according to this invention by providing for the
gas a free exit along the wick on the outside or inside or both and under or past
the crust.
It is advantageous to lead the gas up to the burning flame, when it helps to
increase its power.
Dated this 22nd day of August 1888.
;
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Connected with Paraffin Lamps and with the
Burners thereof to Enable a Lamp to Burn a Long Time without
Attention.
I. SAMUEL HENRY GLADSTONE, of No. 7, Great Winchester Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, 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:
The object of this invention is to provide a paraffin lamp which, without any
superintendence will continue burning with an even flame and at the same illuminating
power during a comparatively long time; for example for a fortnight.

page_text: To this end it is necessary that a sufficient quantity of paraffin oil should be
supplied to the flame during the whole time, and that the supply be given at uniform
pressure.
The simplest method of fulfilling the latter requirement is by keeping the paraffin
oil at the same level during the time the lamp is burning.
If with a paraffin lamp so arranged a burner of any construction hitherto known
be used, and the flame allowed to burn for some time it will be found that a crust
will form on the wick, which will increase little by little and considerably impair the
power of the light. After a certain interval explosions will occur in the wick-tube,
and throw up the crust and even eject burning paraffin thus perhaps causing a firo ;
sometimes the flame is extinguished. Such burners are therefore inapplicable when
the flame is required to burn for a fortnight or more without superintendence and
with the same illuminating power.
The explosions just mentioned are caused by gas, which forms in the gradually
heated wick-tube, which gas is prevented by the crust from escaping as it is
generated.
Such explosions are prevented according to this invention by providing for the gas
a free exit along the wick on the outside or inside, or both; and under or past
the crust.
It is advantageous to lead the gas up to the burning flame, when it helps to
increase its power.
The invention may be carried out in many ways for example by tubes proceeding
from the sides of the upper part of the wick-tube but an advantageous arrangement
is represented in the annexed illustrative drawings as applied to round burners.
Fig. 1 shews the upper part of such a burner in elevation and partly in section.
Figs. 2 & 3 represent the burner respectively in vertical section and plan with the
wick, glass holder, and flame spreader removed.
Fig. 4 represents the same parts as Fig. 2 taken to pieces.
The wick is held or guided in an annular chamber having an inner tubular wall
and an outer tubular wall, these walls being hereinafter referred to respectively as
the inner and outer wick tubes.
a is the inner tube and 6 the wick. The outer tube e which closely surrounds the
wick, is very short and is enclosed by a somewhat wider tube dc which, for the sake
of convenience, is made in two parts. This tube is prolonged downwards and replaces
the lower part of the outer tube of the ordinary wick tube. To the upper part d
which is loosely pushed on to the lower part the short tube e is fastened in such a
manner that a narrow space is left between the two. There is a similar open space
between the tube c and the uncovered portion of the wick b. is the handle by
which the wick is moved up and down; g is a flame spreader and the chimney
holder.
The wick having been put in as usual, the loose part de is pushed over the wick
in the manner shewn in the drawing.
When the flame burns the wick tube becomes heated and the paraffin in the wick
becomes partly volatilized, but the gas produced, unhindered by the crust, escapes
through the open space between the tubes e and c d and is ignited by the flame. By
this construction the mouth of the passage between the tubes d and e never becomes
blocked up by the crust.
Figs. 5 and 6 represent in vertical section and plan respectively a round burner
with means of escape for the gas on both sides of the wick.
-
The tubes surrounding the outside of the wick are in this burner arranged in the
same manner as in the burner shown in Figs. 1 to 4. The inner tube a however
extends only a short distance from the wick, and inside the same there is a narrower
tube a' which forms the inner wall of the wick tube proper. The tube a is so much
smaller than the wick as to leave an open passage on the inner side of the wick,
opening at the top between a and a¹. The tube a which in this modification is made
longer than the tube e to serve as a guide for the cylinder i to which the wick is

page_text: fastened, is at its lower part perforated or provided with openings, indicated by
dotted lines in Fig. 5. These openings serve as passages for the gas, which is
generated in the wick. The tube à is attached to the tube a' in such a manner that
a free passage is left between them.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a burner for paraffin lamps a wick tube provided with openings for the
escape of gas formed in its interior during the burning of the lamp, substantially as
described.
2. In a burner for paraffin lamps an outer wick tube extending only a short
distance along the wick and surrounded by a somewhat wider tube, which continues
downwards and replaces the lower part of the outer wick tube proper, leaving an
open passage around the wick and the said short tube at the upper part of the wick
substantially as described and illustrated.
3. In a burner for paraffin lamps an inner wick tube extending only a short
distance along the wick and having within it a somewhat narrower tube, which
extends downwards and replaces the lower part of the inner wick tube proper,
leaving an open passage inside the wick and the said short tube at the upper part of
the wick, substantially as described and illustrated.
4. The improved burner for paraffin lamps constructed arranged and operating
substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4, and to Figs. 5 and 6 of the
drawings.
S. H. GLADSTONE,
Per L. W.