Improvements in Bearings or Supports for the Burners used in Incandescent Gas Lighting.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Dec., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 7th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 9th Oct., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bearings or Supports for the Burners used in
Incandescent Gas Lighting.
We, WILLIAM RICHARD CLAY and BEN WALMSLEY, both of 12, Great Moor
Street, Bolton in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows, that is to say:-
It relates to improvements in bearings or supports for the burners used in
incandescent-gas-lighting whereby the damages to the fragile incandescent
substances produced by the shocks, jars and other jerky movements liable to be
transmitted thereto, are entirely avoided.
As is well known, the bearings or supports of the usual type employed in con-
nection with ordinary gas lighting are rigid and unyielding so that any jerky
vibrations or shocks and jars that are transmitted to them such as may be caused
in the case of a gas lamp for street lighting by the vibration of the ground due to
a passing vehicle, or in the case of workshops, mills, warehouses and the like, by
the movements of machinery, removal of goods and other causes, are very damaging
to the incandescent substances out of which the mantles or incandescent bodies
are produced by destroying or overcoming the delicate adhesion of their particles,
thus adding greatly to cost of this said system of lighting.
To obviate this, by the employment of means of a substantial and thoroughly.
reliable nature is the object of this invention, and this object we attain in accor-
dance with one arrangement by suspending the burner from its supply pipe by
having an appropriately formed ball or otherwise hinged jointing intervening
between said supply pipe and burner, and further, by hinging or otherwise pivotally
mounting the supplementary part or parts of this supply pipe to the fixed main,
the said supplementary pipe being held in position against or by the resilience of
a spring, which may be of a spiral, flat, laminated or of other kind or description,
(such as a strip of india-rubber etc. although we do not recommend this), and which
may be arranged to be attached at one end either directly to the said supple-
mentary supply pipe or to an extending lever arm secured thereon, while the other
end of said spring is supported or retained by being secured to any suitable fixed
object in proximity therewith.
In accordance with another arrangement, instead of suspending the burner by
its supply pipe being pivotally connected with the supplementary supply pipe, we
may dispense with the first part and mount the burner directly upon the said
pivotal supplementary pipe, the resilience of the springs in each case being relied
upon for absorbing or counteracting the jerky or irregular vibrations that would
otherwise be transmitted to the burners.
In the case of the burners carrying the taps or valves which regulate the flow
of gas thereto, we employ suitable stop-pieces which arrest and prevent said
burners from being dragged or moved so far out of their normal positions when

page_text: the taps or valves are being operated, as would cause them to jerk and throw the
incandescent body out of position or otherwise destroy it.
Dated this 5th day of December 1896
W. R. CLAY.
BEN WALMSLEY.
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.
Improvements in Bearings or Supports for the Burners used in
"Incandescent Gas Lighting.
We, WILLIAM RICHARD CLAY and BEN WALMSLEY, both of 12, Great Moor
Street, Bolton in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
It relates to improvements in bearings or supports for the burners used in
incandescent-gas-lighting whereby the damages to fragile incandescent substances
produced by the shocks, jars and other jerky movements' liable to be transmitted
'thereto, are entirely avoided.
As is well known, the bearings or supports of the usual type employed in con-
nection with burners for ordinary gas lighting are rigid and unyielding so that
any jerky vibrations or shocks and jars to which they are or may be subjected,
such as those caused in the case of a gas lamp for street lighting by the vibrations
of the ground due to a passing vehicle, or in the case of workshops, mills, ware-
houses and the like, by the movements of machinery, removal of goods and other
causes, are very damaging to the mantles or incandescent bodies when said
common burners are displaced by those for this class of lighting. To prevent or
counteract this damaging effect various methods of mounting the incandescent
mantles, or their burners have been employed, such as securing a portion of the
burner and its mantle on springs, or mounting the whole burner as well as the
mantle on resilient bearings with a flexible (india-rubber or like) pipe for supplying
the gas thereto, or again by making the gas supply pipe act as the resilient
bearings or support for the burner. However, as there are many defects attend-
ing the use of these several devices it is to produce means that shall be of a
substantial and thoroughly reliable nature that forms the object of this invention',
and this object we attain by the employment of rigid supply pipes jointed together
to form levers in such a manner as to allow the burner they carry to move freely
in any direction while they are retained in position by springs arranged relatively
with their several fulcrums so that the inertia of the burner acts in one direction
and the force of the spring in the opposite direction as is hereinafter explained
by reference to 'the accompanying sheets of drawings in which:-
Fig. 1 is part sectional elevation of a street lamp having an incandescent burner
mounted therein by the supply pipes constructed in accordance with our invention.
Fig. 2 is an elevation of a burner and our improved construction of supply pipe,
exactly the same as those shown by Fig. 1 but the lamp and other parts are now
omitted.
Fig. 3 is a view of the parts shown by Fig. 2 as seen from above, and drawn
to an enlarged scale.
Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but illustrates an arrangement of our improved
parts when two burners are mounted together.
Fig. 5 is a view of parts shown by Fig. 4 as seen from above, and drawn to an
enlarged scale.

page_text: Fig. 6 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but shows a different form of holder for the
supporting spring.
Figs. 7 and 8 are also similar views to Fig. 2 but show two arrangements
whereby flat instead of closed spiral springs may be employed.
Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are illustrative of arrangements whereby our improved means
may be used when the gas supply pipes is situated above the burners.
Figs. 12 and 13 are similar views to Figs. 6 and 8 but illustrate open spiral
springs instead of a closed spiral and a flat spring respectively.
Fig. 14 is an elevation illustrating an arrangement whereby the gas for the
main lights of the burners is supplied through our improved jointed pipes while
the gas for the pilot or bye-pass lights passes through a coiled supply pipe forming
the resilient bearings for the whole.
Figs. 15 and 16 are elevations illustrating jointed supply pipes arranged in less
desirable positions (although to a certain degree effective) than are those illustrated
by the other figures.
Similar figures and letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the
several views.
The burner a carrying its usual incandescent mantle is mounted upon the
supply pipe b pivotted by a ball-and-socket joint at c to the horizontally disposed
pipe d, this pivotting of said pipe b enabling same to freely move in any lateral
direction, that the forces acting upon it, may cause so that by gravity it is always
brought, when otherwise free, into a vertical position.
The pipe d is pivotted at f by an appropriately formed joint secured to a hori-
zontal member g of the main supply pipe g, while a spring h supports said pipe d
the pipe b and the burner a at a point between the fulcrum f and the joint c by
being attached to a projection secured to the pipe g, by which means and
arrangement any vertical motion of this pipe g is transmitted through the joint f
to the pipe d and the parts it supports, while by the spring intervening between
said fulcrum f and the burner a all these movements are intercepted by it on
account of the inertia of the said burner a the said movements are almost entirely
centred in said spring hand so said burner and its fragile mantle are protected
against their damaging effects.
A simple arrangement of these parts is shown by Figs. 1, 2 and 3, while Figs. 4
and 5 are illustrative of a duplication of the .parts.
Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show yet other simple arrangements, the two latter having flat
springs h instead of spiral springs h. Again Figs. 9, 10 and 11 illustrate the
parts as secured to or used in connection with a supply pipe situated above the
burner a while a flat spring h¹ (Fig. 11) may also be used, and if desired stop-
pieces m may be arranged to prevent the parts from being pulled or forced too far
out of position by the turning of the taps n which in these several arrangements
are shown as being mounted on the burners a.
In Figs. 12 and 13 arrangements are shown whereby open spiral springs ha
may be used, their resilience acting as is well known, in an opposite direction to
the resilience of the closed springs in the other views.
Fig. 14 illustrates an arrangement of the parts above described whereby the
supporting spring h³ may be placed beneath the burners a and such spring h
may form the supply pipe for the bye-pass or pilot lights in the burners while the
main supply of gas may pass through the other parts as herein before described.
Figs. 15 and 16 are illustrative of an arrangement by which the fulcrum f is
brought between the spring hand the burner a but this arrangement is found by
experiment not to be so effective as those first before described."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In supports for incandescent-gas-burners a vertically disposed member of the
supply pipe, a ball-and-socket joint on said member, a horizontal member pivotally

page_text: connected to the main member or pipe, a spring for supporting the horizontal
and vertical members and the burner substantially as specified.
2. In supports for incandescent-gas-burners, vertical and horizontal members of the
supply pipe, pivotal joints for securing these together and to the main supply
pipe, a yielding support for maintaining these in position and said burner support
for maintaining these in position and said burner substantially as herein set forth.
3. In supports for incandescent-gas-burners, a vertically disposed member of
the supply pipe, a pivotal joint on said member, a horizontal member of said pipe
a pivotal joint on same, and a spring or yielding support secured to act between
the two said pivotal joints substantially as specified.
4. In supports for incandescent-gas-burners vertically and horizontally disposed
members of the supply-pipe, pivotal joints on same, a spring for supporting same
from beneath and the burners secured to said parts substantially as set forth.
5. In supports for incandescent-gas-burners, vertically and horizontally disposed
members of the supply pipe, pivotal joints on same, a coiled resilient pipe for
supporting said members and the burners they carry said coiled pipe being arranged
to supply gas to the bye-pass parts of the burners substantially as specified.
Dated this fth day of Santambar 1807
WILLIAM R. CLAY.
BEN WALMSLEY.
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.