IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING LIGHT
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Giacomo Felice Marchisio, of No. 50, Baker Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING LIGHT."
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 24th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Giacomo Felice Marchisio
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March 1865.
I, GIACOMO FELICE MARCHISIO, of No. 50, Baker Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING LIGHT," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of obtaining light without danger of
explosion by the use of air which has been rendered inflammable by admix-
ture with the vapours of petroleum and other hydrocarbons. In all apparatus
employed in this system of lighting it is necessary to use liquids of a highly
volatile nature which are liable to explode spontaneously with the smallest
excess of heat.
The peculiar apparatus which constitutes the essential feature of this
Invention is intended to obviate the danger and inconvenience above referred
to. It consists of a circular chamber, in the interior of which rotates a drum
which receives its rotatory motion from any convenient arrangement of

page_text: mechanism outside the chamber; this chamber is half filled with water at its
normal temperature, and upon this water is poured petroleum in a specially
refined state, naphtha, or other hydrocarbon, so that the water and hydrocarbon
together will fill about two-thirds the capacity of the chamber. Whilst the
drum is at rest there is no danger of explosion, as the hydrocarbon will
always be at the same temperature as the water, and when the apparatus is
set in motion the external air enters the chamber by an opening for that
purpose, and passes into the interior of the drum, which is made hollow and
provided with openings at the sides; this air being carried through the
hydrocarbon by the rotation of the drum becomes impregnated with inflammable
vapour, and by the same rotation of the drum it is discharged through other
openings therein, and enters the supply pipe of the burners. The hydro-
carbon being constantly agitated and mixed with the water by the movement
of the drum all danger of explosion is obviated, as any undue elevation of the
temperature is rendered.impossible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Giacomo Felice Marchisio in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GIACOMO
FELICE MARCHISIO, of No. 50, Baker Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
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
Giacomo Felice Marchisio, Her special license that I, the said Giacomo Felice
Marchisio, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Giacomo Felice Marchisio, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING LIGHT," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Giacomo Felice Marchisio, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: 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 Giacomo Felice Marchisio, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My said Invention relates to a mode of obtaining light without danger of
explosion by the use of air which has been rendered inflammable by admix-
ture with the vapours of petroleum and other hydrocarbons. In all apparatus
employed in this system of lighting it is necessary to use liquids of a highly
volatile nature which are liable to explode spontaneously with the smallest
excess of heat.
The peculiar apparatus which constitutes the essential feature of this
Invention is intended to obviate the danger and inconvenience above referred
to; it consists of a circular chamber, in [the interior of which rotates a drum'
which receives its rotatory motion from any convenient arrangement of
mechanism outside the chamber; this chamber is half filled with water at its
normal temperature, and upon this water is poured petroleum in a specially
refined state, naphtha, or other hydrocarbon, so that the water and hydro-
carbon together will fill about two-thirds the capacity of the chamber.
Whilst the drum is at rest there is no danger of explosion as the bydro-
carbon will always be at the same temperature as the water, and when the
apparatus is set in motion the external air enters the chamber by an opening
for that purpose, and passes into the interior of the drum which is made
hollow, and provided with openings at the sides. This air being carried
through the hydrocarbon by the rotation of the drum becomes impregnated
with inflammable vapour, and by the same rotation of the drum it is dis-
charged through other openings therein, and enters the supply pipe of the
burners. The hydrocarbon being constantly agitated and mixed with the
water by the movement of the drum all danger of explosion is obviated, as
any undue elevation of the temperature is rendered impossible.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood, I sball
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a front elevation of my improved
apparatus for obtaining light; Figure 2 is a partial transverse vertical section

page_text: of the same; Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken at right angles
to Figure 2; and Figures 4 and 5 are details of the revolving drum.
This apparatus consists of an outer casing or chamber A, within which
rotates freely a drum B, which is divided into a number of chambers or com-
partments by means of the radial partitions a, a. The periphery of this
drum is closed, but at its two sides c and c¹ it has as many openings d formed
therein as there are chambers in the drum. The openings on one side serve
for the inlet of air to the drum, whilst those on the opposite side serve as the
exits for the air; these exits open into a closed hood or cap e fitted to the
side of the drum, and having a central aperture therein sufficiently large to
allow of the passage of the drum spindle f and the lower end of the pipe C
therethrough. The chamber A in which this drum rotates is supplied with
water up to the level D, D, and upon this water is poured petroleum in a
specially refined state, naptha, or other volatile bydrocarbon up to the level
E, E, or sufficiently high to seal the central aperture or mouth in the hood or
cap e.
F is the air inlet to the chamber A, and C is the exit pipe which
conveys the air from the hood or cap e after it has been rendered inflammable
by contact with the hydrocarbon, as herein-after explained. A continuous
rotatory motion in the direction of the arrow is imparted to the drum B by
spring, clock work, or other convenient and well known arrangement of
mechanism; but I prefer to employ for this purpose an endless chain G,
passing over a chain pulley H fast on a spindle I, which carries a toothed
wheel K; this wheel K gears into a small pinion L fast on the spindle f of
the drum outside the casing A. M is a weight through which one half of
the double chain passes, the links of such chain being caught by spring
catches in the weight itself, so that in winding up the apparatus it is simply
necessary to slip the weight up the chain without disturbing the chain itself,
when the catches will lay hold of one or other of the links, and so support the
weight. These catches are, as is well understood, so arranged as to allow
the chain to pass through the weight freely in one direction, and grip it in the
opposite direction. The atmospheric air which enters the chamber A also
fills the chamber inside the drum successively as they come round above the
fluid level, and as each chamber fills it is caused to pass into the petroleum, and
thereby impregnate the air it contains with the vapour of the hydrocarbon ;
the air thus rendered inflammable escapes by the exit apertures into the
hood or cap e, and thence passes through the pipe C to the burners to be
consumed.
In order to compensate for the loss of hydrocarbon by evaporation, a small
reservoir N is situate above the main chamber A, which reservoir is partly

page_text: filled with water up to the lip of the pipe g, which communicates with the
chamber A. Upon this water is contained a reserve supply of petroleum or
other suitable bydrocarbon, a small quantity of which is periodically allowed
to flow into the chamber A opening the stop-cock O; this is effected
automatically by attaching a lever arm P to the end of the spindle Q of the
cock, such arm being acted upon by one or more projecting pins h¸ in the side
of the toothed wheel K. The cock may be closed again after the pin has
passed by a spring, as will be easily understood by an engineer.
As the regularity of the light depends entirely upon that of the evaporation
of the hydrocarbon in contact with the air, and as this latter chemical phe-
nomenon is produced by the latent heat of the said liquid which may be
reduced either by the constant evaporation or by the lowering of the tem-
perature of the surrounding atmosphere, I propose in very cold weather to
maintain the desired temperature by means of a small burner R, situate
immediately beneath the chamber A, such burner being supplied by a branch
pipe S from the main pipe C, as shown. T is a glass guage pipe for indi-
cating the proper levels of the water and hydrocarbon in the apparatus.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1st. The general combination and arrangement of apparatus for obtaining
light, substantially as herein-before described.
2nd. The application and use of a drum divided into several compartments
provided with lateral openings, and caused to rotate by any convenient
mechanism in petroleum or other suitable liquid hydrocarbon floating on
water contained in a closed vessel, with a view to the mixing or impregnating
of air with the vapours of hydrocarbons, substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Giacomo Felice Marchisio, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five
GIACOMO FELICE MARCHISIO. (L.S.)