IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Theodor Möller, of Abbo, Finland, in the
Empire of Russia, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS."-
A communication from abroad by Adolf Forselles, residing at Evois,
Finland, in the Empire of Russia.
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 24th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Theodor Möller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th May 1865.
I, CARL THEODOR MÖLLER, of Abbo, Finland, in the Empire of Russia, do
5 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps. In constructing
lamps according to this Invention, suitable for burning turpentine and hydro-
carbon oils, each lamp is provided with a vessel to contain the turpentine or
hydrocarbon oil, which is usually at an elevation above the burner in order
that the burner should be constantly supplied under pressure; but the requisite
pressure may be obtained when the oil vessel is situated below the burner by
pressure applied by means of compressed air, or by weight, or by a spring.
The passage of the oil to the burner is regulated by means of a cock or valve
in the supply pipe. The oil before it is admitted to the burner is subjected
to heat in a portion of the supply pipe or tube in order to vapourize the oil,
or it may be beated in a vessel in connection with the supply pipe, and such

page_text: heating is by the flame or flames of the lamp. It is, however, preferred that
the end of the supply tube or pipe should be that part of the apparatus which
is heated by the flame or flames of the lamp, and it is further desirable that
the outer end of the supply pipe or tube should be continued, or have a con-
tinuation applied beyond the burner, in order to admit atmospheric air, but
the arrangement for admitting air to the vapour passing to the burner tube
may be varied. The end of the supply pipe or tube immediately over the
burner tube is closed at its outer end and is flattened or made of less diameter
than the other parts of the supply pipe. Through this flattened end a conical
plug or valve is introduced, which can be caused to close a small outlet passage
made through the under side of the supply pipe or tube over the burner tube,
and thus shut off the passage of the vapour from passing out of the end of the
supply pipe to the burner tube. This conical plug or valve is arranged to be
capable of nice adjustment in order to admit of the passage of any desired
quantity of the vapour down through the small passage, or outlet in the under
side of the supply pipe. The upper end of what I call the burner tube is
open and comes just below the outlet passage from the supply pipe, so that in
the downward rush of the fluid or vapour from the outlet passage the vapour
or fluid will carry with it a quantity of atmospheric air. The lower end of
the burner tube is bent upwards, and is divided into as many small passages
or jet pipes as may be desired; it is preferred to have two such jet burners,
which come under the end of the supply pipe and the extension of it, through
which the air passes to the upper end of the burner tube, hence the end of
the supply pipe containing the oil is heated by one flame, whilst the air supply
tube or passage or passages is or are heated by the other flame, or the arrange-
ment may be such as to admit of one flame heating both these parts. It is found
desirable to introduce a piece of sponge or other matter, through which the
oil can filter freely, to form a porous partition between the part of the supply
pipe which is heated and that which is beyond.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 30
by the said Carl Theodor Möller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
THEODOR MÖLLER, of Abbo, Finland, in the Empire of Russia, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Carl Theodor Möller, Her special licence that I, the said Carl Theodor
Möller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Carl Theodor Möller, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS," communicated to me from abroad by Adolf
Forselles, a person resident at Evois, Finland, in the Empire of Russia, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Carl Theodor Möller, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Carl Theodor Moller, do hereby
o declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps. In constructing
lamps according to this Invention suitable for burning turpentine and hydro-
carbon oils each lamp is provided with a vessel to contain the turpentine or
hydrocarbon oil, which is usually at an elevation above the burner, in order
that the burner should be constantly supplied under pressure, but the requisite
pressure may be obtained when the oil vessel is situated below the burner by
pressure applied by means of compressed air, or by weight, or by a spring.
The passage of the oil to the burner is regulated by means of a cock or valve
in the supply pipe. The oil before it is admitted to the burner is subjected
to heat in a portion of the supply pipe or tube in order to vaporize the oil;
or it may be heated in a vessel in connection with the supply pipe, and such.
heating is by the flame or flames of the lamp. It is, however, preferred that,
5 the end of the supply tube or pipe should be that part of the apparatus which,
is heated by the flame or flames of the lamp; and it is further desirable that
the outer end of the supply pipe or tube should be continued or have a con
tinuation applied beyond the burner in order to admit atmospheric air, but the
arrangement for admitting air to the vapour passing through the burner tube

page_text: may be varied. The end of the supply pipe or tube immediately over the burner
tube is closed at its outer end, and is flattened or made of less diameter than
the other parts of the supply pipe; through this flattened end a conical plug
or valve is introduced, which can be caused to close a small outlet passage
made through the under side of the supply pipe or tube over the burner tube,
and thus shut off the passage of the vapour from passing out of the end of the
supply pipe to the burner tube. This conical plug or valve is arranged to be
capable of nice adjustment, in order to admit of the passage of any desired
quantity of the vapour down through the small passage or outlet in the under
side of the supply pipe. The upper end of what I call the burner tube is
open, and comes just below the outlet passage from the supply pipe, so that in
the downward rush of the fluid or vapour from the outlet passage the vapour
or fluid will carry with it a quantity of atmospheric air. The lower end of
the burner tube is bent upwards, and is divided into as many small passages
or jet pipes as may be desired; it is preferred to have two such jet burners,
which come under the end of the supply pipe, and the extension of it through
which the air passes to the upper end of the burner tube; hence the end of
the supply pipe containing the oil is heated by one flame, whilst the air supply
tube or passage or passages is or are heated by the other flame. Or the
arrangement may be such as to admit of one flame heating both these parts.
It is found desirable to introduce a piece of sponge or other matter through
which the oil can filter freely to form a porous partition between the part of
the supply pipe which is heated and that which is beyond.
In order that the Invention may be fully understood, I have in the
Drawings hereunto annexed shewn various modifications of a lamp constructed
as above described.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 represent a wall lamp; Figure 1 is the cross section of the
lamp, and Figure 2 is the plan of the vessel c, in which the oil is vaporized.
In these Figures a is the oil holder, placed 10 to 20 inches 'above the vessel c,
with which it communicates by the pipe b; that can be shut by the cock b¹.
The vaporizing vessel c consists of a pipe hermetically fitted to the end of the
pipe 6 by being conically ground in and fixed by the nut d. The packing is
shown in the Drawing by the dotted lines e, and is put in before fixing the
vaporizing vessel to the pipe b. The end of the vaporizing vessel c is shut
off with a partition wall f, g, in which the opening h for the issue of the gas
is made with a diameter of th to th of an inch. The needle i, fixed on a
spindle hermetically ground and furnished with a screw thread, serves to

page_text: regulate the size of the outlet, and consequently even the size of the flame, by
screwing in the needle i, and closing more or less the opening h. The vessel c.
has a pipe loosely fitted to it; this pipe serves to let in the quantity of
atmospheric air which is mixed in the burner m with the gas. The gas jet
strikes perpendicularly downwards into the pipe m, and drives forward the air
contained in the pipe in taking fresh air from the pipe k. The gas jet inter-
mixed with air is divided by the partition wall n (see Figure 3) which represents
a plan of the lower part of the burner at the line a¹, c, in Figure 1, into two
currents, and conducted by the semicircular surfaces o, o, (Figure 1) to both
outlets p, p, (Figures 1 and 3) in the form of long rectangles, out of which
outlets the gas passes into the atmosphere in two flames 7, q, with a white and
brilliant light. In order to diminish the pressure in the vessel c, and in the
oil holder, the resistance to the passage of the gas through the burner is
lessened as much as possible. The inlets and m into the air pipes and
burners are for this purpose bent in a funnel form outwards, and the air pipe
is made of a diameter at least 2 to 4 times larger than the burner. The area
of the section of the burner (Figure 4) which shows the burner's section in
e, el, (Figure 1) ought to be nearly throughout equal; the section changes
in a', c', into a square equal to the above circular area (Figure 3) r, r, which.
is divided by the sharp partition wall n into two equal parts. The corrugated
surfaces o, o, (Figure 1) have such a form that wherever a sections, s;
(Figures 1 and 3) is taken a rectangle t, t, (Figure 5) is obtained whose area
is nearly equal to half of the area of the square r, r. The rectangular,
outlets p, p, (Figures 1 and 3) are of the same size. The above statement
that the section of the burner ought to be throughout of the same size is not
quite accurate since the gas is heated during the passage through the burner,
and consequently is of a greater volume than at the entrance into the burner,
therefore the burner's cross section should increase in the same proportion as
the gas is heated in order to equalize the velocity of the gas during its passage
through all parts of the burner; this is adjusted by widening the area of the
burner's cross section in the same proportion as this cross section is distant
from the burner's inlet m, and so that the area of both outlets together is rd
larger than the cross section at the point m. The burner may have very
different forms according to the form the flames are to have. The burner's
outlets p, p, ought to be made somewhat rounded, so that the middle z
(Figure 3) is a little higher than the edges x, x, (Figure 3). The burner
is loosely screwed into the air pipe k, and the current of air into the burner
may be regulated by the burner being tighter or looser screwed in as desired,
in order to admit a proportion suitable for the quantity of gas escaping from

page_text: the burner.
Whenever turpentine, oil, or any other resinous oil is used, it is
of importance that the heat in the vessel c should be sufficient to decompose`
the resin, or at least to maintain it in a liquid form, so that it may be carried.
off with the gas divided into small particles. The flames must therefore be
placed so high that only a small distance is left between them and the lower
bottom of the vessel. When a small flame is required a shorter burner ought
to be applied. In order to increase the heat in the vessel c and in the air
pipe k, two metal plates r¹ and s¹ (Figures 1 and 2) are fixed, the plate r¹ to
the lower surface of the vessel c, and the plate s¹ to that of the air pipe k.
In cases where a strong illuminating power is required, and no attention is
paid to the elegance of the form, it will be useful to make the air heater k'
(Figures 1 and 2) much larger than that exposed in Figures 1 and 2. Such
a one is represented in the plan, Figure 6, and a section of it is given in
Figure 7.
a is the inlet to the air reservoir, above which the gas chamber 6 is fixed.
The heat is transferred to the gas vessel 6 from the bottom plate c of the air
heater by the metal wall d. On Figures 7 and 8 a burner for one flame only'
is represented, constructed in other respects on the same principles as above-
shown.
Figure 9 is another modification of the said heating apparatus with two
inlets a, a, to the air heater b. The metal walls c, c, lead the heat to the air
heater. The construction of the rest of this apparatus will be readily under-
stood from the preceding description.
Figure 11 is a table lamp with the oil holder above the burner; this lamp
is constructed similar to the lamp No. 1, but fixed by a bend a on a vertical
barb standing on the base c. The oil holder is not shown on the Drawing,
but may be imagined on the same height above the burner as on Figure 1.
The bend a, which glides on the bar b, admits the lamp to the raised and
lowered, and is fixed to the bar 6 by the screw d. For the rest the con-
struction of the heating apparatus and the burner is the same as above
described, only with the difference that the inlet pipe e, f, is bent upwards in
order to have room for the burner and the heating apparatus under the glass
shade g. In order to be able to clean easily the boiler h and to put in the
packing i, two ground and well fitted cones 1, 1, with nuts are applied in the
same manner as in Figure 1 at d.
Hanging lamps are constructed similar to the wall lamp, Figure 1. The
other system of lamps in which the oil holder is placed under the burner is
principally used for table lamps; Figure 10 represents such a lamp. The
ressure which forces the oil up to the heating apparatus is, according to one

page_text: arrangement, produced by a sufficient [quantity of air being introduced into
the space A of the oil holder either by blowing into the pipe d¹ or by a con-
venient pump. The air thus compressed presses on the oil surface d in the
reservoir, and forces up the oil along the flat pipe e, f, f, (Figures 10 and 12,
the latter of which represents a section of the oil holder taken through the
line B, B, Figure 10,) which ends at the bottom of the oil holder, rises up
to f.f, and continues from f by the round pipe 9 which leads to the vessel
and the burner constructed as above described with two ground cones h, h,
(Figure 10.) The pressure requisite for the consumption of the gas must,'
beyond the weight of the whole column of oil e, w, from the bottom of the
oil holder up to the heating vessel, be equal to the weight of a column of oil,
which, according to what has been stated above, in different circumstances'
varies from 10 to 20 inches.
In proportion as the oil after the blowing in is consumed the air space A
increases above the surface of the oil, and consequently the elasticity of the
air blown in and also the speed of the flowing of the gas, is diminishing; for-
tunately the flame does not diminish in the same proportion as the pressure of
the air in the oil holder; thus such a lamp can burn a tolerably long time
after the blowing in although the pressure in the heating vessel is constantly
decreasing. The time is dependent upon the proportion between the quantity
of oil consumed and the original size of the air space in the oil holder.
A lamp constructed by me with an oil holder of originally 100 cubic
inches burns from 3 to 4 hours after the air being blown in, and developes
immediately after the blowing in a light equal to 18 stearine candles, and
still for 3 hours gives a light equal to 10 candles. The simplest lamps of this
sort consists of a somewhat large glass bottle or tin reservoir, from the bottom
of which a pipe leads to the burner, and the size of which admits of a suitable
portion of air being introduced through a pipe which is closed by a her-
metically closing cock or valve.
An improved but more complicated arrangement for these lamps is repre-
sented by Figure 10. The pressure of air in the oil holder of such a lamp is
kept up constantly by a weight which is kept up, so to say, by the compressed
air; this is produced in the following manner:-From the highest point i
(Figure 10) of the oil holder is led an air pipe z down to the bottom of the
vessel which is joined by the half circular pipe k to a pump which is as near
as possible free from any friction, as described below; this pump is placed in
the space 1, which in the oil holder is formed of the wall 1, 1, (Figures 10:
and 12.) The pump itself consists of a tin box m, in which is contained a
similar smaller one n, this being the pump piston; the. box n is filled with.

page_text: lead p (on Figure 10 represented by dotted lines.) The weight of the lead
ought to be equal to the pressure which is produced by the compressed air in-
the vessel on a surface equal to the sectional area of the box n. To the
upper and outer edge 7, 7, of the box m and to the depressed ring r, r, formed.
around the box n are hermetically fixed the two ends of a vulcanized thin
india-rubber or bladder tube; this tube is represented on Figure 10 by a
thicker line q, Q, r. The upper lid of the box n has a flange s, s, which fits:
easily within the cylindrical case 1, 1, of the oil holder, likewise the lower edge;
of the same box n is furnished with a similar flange t, t, which can also pass
easily into the box m. The india-rubber tube being fixed, and the box n with
the lead weight placed into the box m, this pump is introduced from the lower
open side of the space R into the oil holder, the half circular pipe k is fixed her-
metically to the bottom of the box mat u either by nuts and ground cones or by.
leather and india-rubber packing, after which two brackets a, x, (Figures 10
and 12) are applied under the bottom of the box m, and fixed by screws
in order to retain steadily the pump with the lead weight p, p. Air being
blown into the oil holder, it passes through the air pipes and k into the tin
box'm, and as the india-rubber pipe hinders its flowing out to the space R,
the piston n is forced by the compressed air up to the upper part of the
space R. On Figure 10 the dotted lines Q, Q, show the position of the
piston and the india-rubber tube when the piston is raised somewhat above
the half of its stroke. The air in the space R passes through the air pipe b¹, b¹,.
fixed across the oil holder from the upper part of the space R. The oil is
poured in from the opening closed hermetically by a screw with leather
packing, in which screw is the air-cock y shut as soon as air has been blown
in. It is clear that instead of the weight p, p, a spring acting in the same
direction may for this purpose be used. A spring is preferred in larger lamps
which would require a weight for the air pressures regulating unsuitable for
its size. A lamp furnished in this manner, and of the dimensions exposed on
the Drawing, can burn 7 to 8 hours, since the weight p, p, has been forced
up by blowing without considerably diminishing the illuminating power of the
flame although the pressure in the heating is somewhat lessening correspond-
ing in proportion to the height to which the oils surface has fallen in the
reservoir by its consumption. In order to prevent this I have constructed
lamps with a constant oil surface in the following way :-About an inch from
the bottom of the oil holder, and parallel with it, is a partition a¹ with a short
pipe c¹ descending to within half an inch of the bottom of the oil holder; the
air pipe leads to an air cock, which in this case is placed at y'; as the dotted
lines show from the point i of the pipe leads a separate pipes shewn by

page_text: dotted lines, this pipe is fixed to the partition a¹, a!. The consequence of this
arrangement is, that the surface of the oil under the partition is always at an
equal height with the. lower surface of the pipe c, and that the level of the
remaining oil in the reservoir has no influence at all on the pressure in the
heating vessel, which pressure by this construction is quite constant, as also
the illuminating power of the flame.
In the burner shown at Figure 13, a pipe a leads as is shewn from the
heating vessel to the burners b, b; one of these is shewn in side view at f.
The outlets are placed in c, c, and the gas flows into the burners from below
upwards..
It will readily be seen, from the foregoing descriptions, that similar lamps
can be constructed for one flame only, and also that, to the arrangement
represented at Figure 13, may be added an apparatus for heating the air
which by means of a pipe would furnish the burners. with hot air.
'
The variation represented in Figure 13 is advantageous in all cases; where
it is desired to reduce the necessary pressure in the reservoir to a minimum
separate flames independent of those placed under the gas apparatus may be
produced out of the same, apparatus, either above or on the sides of it, and
these flames can be fed by heated air out of the same air heater which fur-
nishes the other flames. If desirable to have free flames without the heating
apparatus being visible, the gas apparatus and the flames below it may be
closed in by a metal covering, and only one or several visible flames be placed
above the heating apparatus. Similar lamps can also have a useful appli-
cation as heating apparatus if a separate flame of great heating power is
produced independently of that under the gas-heating apparatus. Such lamps
for cheap oils may be used as heating apparatus in chemical laboratories, in
kitchens for ventilating rooms, and for other purposes.
Lamps constructed as above described, in addition to possessing the great
advantage of not requiring any glass tube, which is often apt to break, have
also the great advantage of producing with the same consumption of oil twice
as much light than the best constructed lamps, so giving a saving of half the
oil for the same intensity of light. Lastly, cheap resinous oils can be con-
sumed in these lamps, as, for instance, oil of turpentine produced from pine
wood, which by the quantity of carbon contained in it gives an extremely
beautiful and clear light. In these lamps many raw oils may also be used
which cannot be employed in ordinary lamps with a wick without purification,
and without a considerable loss of its quantity.
From the above description it will be seen that in lamps constructed
according to my Invention the lamps have a separate gas-forming boiler or

page_text: vessel, and also in some cases an air-heating apparatus above the flame, by
which means a considerable quantity of the heat which in usual lamps is lost
is employed to increase the illuminating power, since not only the gas but
even a large portion of the air which feeds the flame arrives to the point
where it is burnt in a strongly heated state; the temperature of the flame in
my lamps is thus considerably increased beyond that which is produced by the
flame of ordinary lamps, consequently even the particles of carbon floating in
the flame which cause the phenomenon of light in the flame of all light
apparatus are heated to a much higher temperature than usual, and produce
in the same proportion a stronger light. The gas also enters the burner from
the gas-producing apparatus with a speed corresponding to the pressure
produced, and by the power so gained the required quantity of atmospheric
air is put in motion, by which means the glass tube is avoided. The mixture
of gas and air thus put in motion is led by pipes (whilst preserving as much
as possible the speed obtained) to the outlets to be transformed into flame,
the form of which varies according to the form which is given the leading
pipes and the outlets.
In some cases the oil is forced up from the vessel to the burner by blowing
air into the oil holder when it is placed under the burner, and the use of a
wick is so avoided; in other cases a weight or a spring is employed which
maintains the pressure on the surface of the oil in the reservoir during the
time the lamp is in activity, and in other cases a constant level of the oil is
produced, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Theodor Möller, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
CARL T. MOLLER. (L.S.)