AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATION
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Best, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATION."
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 18th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Best at the-
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1857.
I, ROBERT BEST, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATION," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after described of arranging the
burner and shade or dome of a gas lamp or chandelier, whereby a greater
amount of light is obtained by the combustion of a given amount of gas than
by the ordinary arrangement. I place the burner in a horizontal position, so
that the flame shall be projected horizontally or nearly horizontally. The
burner I prefer to employ is the fish-tail burner, or other burner which produces
a flat or sheet-like flame. I place the said burner so that the plane in which
the flame is situated shall be horizontal, or nearly so. The burner carries a
gallery; on which the shade or lamp.glass is supported. The said shade or glass
is not globular, but much compressed vertically, so as to have nearly the figure
of an oblato spheroid, the axis of which is much shorter than the longest
diameter of the figure.

page_text: The gallery may either support the shade at the bottom or the top. By the
arrangements described a larger amount of light is obtained by the combustion
of a given amount of gas than by the ordinary arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Best in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BEST, of Birmingham,. in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our-
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Best, Her special license that I, the said Robert Pest,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Best, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ILLUMINATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Best, 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 Robert Best, do hereby 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:
My Invention consists of the method or methods herein-after particularly
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, of arranging the
burner and shade or dome of a gas lamp or chandelier, by which said method
or methods of arrangement a greater amount of light is obtained by the com-

page_text: bustion of a given amount of gas than by the ordinary arrangement of the
burner and shade or dome.
Figure 1 represents, in vertical section, a gas shade or dome and gas burner
arranged according to my Invention; and Figure 2 represents a plan of the
gas burner and gallery connected therewith.
The burner a is situated horizontally, so as to project the flame b in a hori-
zontal or nicarly horizontal plane. I prefer to employ the fish-tail burner, or
other burner which produces a flat or sheet-like flame.
-
The said burner a is so fixed that the plane in which the flame 6 is situated
is horizontal, or nearly horizontal. c is a gallery, on which the shade, dome, or
lamp glass d is supported; the said gallery c is fixed on the top of an upright
e, situated on the top of the burner.
The shade, dome, or glass d is not globular, but is much compressed verti-
cally, so as to have nearly the figure of an oblate spheroid, the axis of which is
much shorter than the longest diameter of the figure.
Although I prefer to make the shade or dome d of the shape described, and
represented in the Drawing, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as tho said shado
or dome may be made more nearly to approach a spherical figure without
departing from the nature of my Invention.
Although I prefer to support the gallery c above the jet, as represented in
Figure 1, yet I sometimes place the said gallery underneath the jet, as repre-
sented in elevation in Figure 3, in which said Figure the gallery and jet are
indicated by the same letters as in Figures 1 and 2. The position of the shade,
dome, or glass is indicated in Figure 3 by dotted lines. It will be seen, by
comparison of Figures 1 and 3, that when the gallery is supported as repre-
sented in Figure 1, the said gallery supports the lamp glass or shade at its
top, but when the gallery is arranged as represented in Figure 3 the bottom
of the lamp glass or shade rests upon the gallery. It will be seen, by referenco
to Figures 1 and 2, that the burner a is situated so far from the axis of the
shade, globe, or dome d, that the flame 6 projected from the burner is
concentric or nearly concentric with the axis of the shade, globe, or dome d.
By the arrangements described, a larger amount of light is obtained by the
combustion of a given amount of gas than by the ordinary arrangement.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
5 carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details described and represented, as the same may bo
varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the improvement or improvements in illumination herein-before

page_text: described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a
combined gas
burner and shade, in which the burner, placed out of the axis of
the shade, projects a flat flame in a horizontal or nearly horizontal plane,
the said flame being concentric or nearly concentric with the axis of the shade
or dome.
In witness whercof, I, the said Robert Best, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JAMES MURDOCH.
ROBERT BEST. (L.S.)