CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ON LUSTRES, CHANDELIERS, LANTHORNS, AND LAMPS OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS, AND IN THE MANNER OF CONVEYING THE GAS TO THE SAME
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINSON WEST, of Crane Court, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Brass
Worker and Lamp Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of February,
in the fifty-seventh year of the reign, give and grant unto me, the said James
Atkinson West, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said James Atkinson
West, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during
the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ON LUSTRES, CHANDELIERS, LANTHORNS, AND
LAMPS OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS, AND IN THE MANNER OF CONVEYING THE GAS TO
THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if
I, the said James Atkinson West, shall not particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more
fully and at large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Atkinson West, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be. performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say);-
That whereas in the usual manner of supplying gas to chandeliers, lamps,
lanthorns, lustres, &c., great inconveniences arise from the unequal supply
thereof from the main pipes, the flames being sometimes diminished, and at
other times enlarged to a dangerous extent; and likewise, that in consequence of
the gas continuing to flow through the aforesaid chandeliers, lamps, lanthorns,
lustres, &c., from the main pipes when the lamps are extinguished, dangerous
accidents may
arise by explosion. of the gas when mixed with common air,
or at any rate offensive smells might be occasioned thereby. Now, by means
of the prevention herein described, I prevent such accidents from happening,
and chiefly by the use of a double-acting valve or valves; nevertheless, as such
valve or valves may be made to opperate so as to produce the same effects in
various ways or forms, I do not mean hereby to exclude myself from the
benefits derived from the same in whatever manner. constructed, but as I am
required to specify a particular construction thereof, in order that the said pre-
vention may be carried into effect by any competent workman at the expiration
of my said Letters Patent, I annex the following Drawing and description.to
explain the same :-
:
A represents a pipe leading from the main gas pipe and entering the upper
part of the vessel B, to which it is closely attached so as to prevent the escape
of gas that way; to the lower part of the vessel B.a pipe is firmly secured
which leads to the several burners of the chandeliers, lamps, lantherus,
lustres, &c. C, a vessel resting or supported by its feet upon the bottom of
the outer vessel B, to contain water or any other proper fluid. D, a gasometer
or moveable vessel, the lower end of which descends into the water or other
fluid in the vessel C, and is kept steady in rising and falling by a centre rod E
attached to the bottom of that vessel, moving in a hole or guide fixed in the
middle of the pipe F. G, a flat plate valve or ring surrounding the lower end
of the gas pipe A. H, another flat plate valve.or ring, attached to the under
side of the gasometer D. I, a flat plate valve closing the top of the pipe F.
The gas entering the pipe A from the main and descending into the gasometer D
in the valves plates G and I, the gasometer then resting with the under sur-
face of the valve plate H on the upper surface of the valve plate G, causes it
to rise, and the gas escapes through an opening through the valve, plate H
and the pipe A, into the outer vessel B, from whence.it passes to the burners

page_text: through the pipe in its bottom, the flow of the gas being regulated by the
pressure on the gasometer. When, however, the gas ceases to flow in suffi-
cient quantity from the main to supply the burners, the gasometer descends,
and the valve plate H, falling upon the upper surface of the valve plate G,
cuts off the communication with the main, and prevents any gas from entering
into the apparatus. On the contrary, should too great a flow of gas take place
the pressure upon the gasometer being overcome thereby, it rises, and the
valve plate I is brought into contact with the under side of the valve plate G,
which closes the orifice in pipe A, thereby counteracting such increased flow
and ensuring an equal supply of gas to the burners.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkinson West, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventeen.