IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arnold Souheur, of Seraing, Belgium, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS."
Sealed the 3rd March 1876, and dated the 24th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arnold Soulcur at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1875.
I, ARNOLD SOUHEUR, of Seraing, Belgium, Engincer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to lamps for burning petroleum or other hydro-
carbons to be employed in mines and other like places, where they are
liable to be exposed to the influence of inflammable gases, and has for
its object obtaining greater security from explosion than is provided by
safety lamps as ordinarily constructed.
The lamp is composed of a casing or envelope of glass surmounted
by a wire gauze cover or cylinder, of a central conical chimney, of an

page_text: oil reservoir, and of a frame connecting together the whole of the parts
of the lamp. The air enters from above by passing through two thick-
nesses of wire gauze.
The Invention principally consists,―
First. In the application of a cone or cover round the wick over the
ring, serving to close the oil reservoir, which cone or cover acts as a
reflector, and also prevents all communication between the flame and
the reservoir.
Secondly. In the employment in the rescrvoir of a spongy sub-
substance for the purpose of absorbing the petroleum.
Thirdly. Of a regulator formed of a tube or cylinder sliding upon the
wick holder and capable of being adjusted without opening the lamp by
the aid of a wire passing through the reservoir or by other suitable
means so as to regulate the height of the flame.
Fourthly. Of a self-acting catch or fastening attached to one part
of the frame, and consisting of a pin actuated by a spiral spring which
causes the pin to enter a corresponding hole or nick in the other part,
so as to prevent them from unscrewing or separating.
The Invention is also applicable to existing safety lamps which may
he converted to this system in an easy and simple manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arnold Souheur in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARNOLD
SOUHEUR, of Seraing, Belgium, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the 39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Arnold Souheur, Her special
license that I, the said Arnold Souheur, my executors, administrators,
ánd assigns, or such others as I, the said Arnold Souheur, my executors,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arnold
Souheur, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Arnold Souhour, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 lamps for burning petroleum or other
hydrocarbons to be employed in mines and other like places where they
are liable to be exposed to the influence of inflammable gases, and has
for its object obtaining greater security from explosion than is provided
by safety lamps as ordinarily constructed.
The accompany Drawing represents a vertical section of a lamp con-
structed in accordance with my Invention.
of
The lamp is composed of a casing or envelope of glass A surmounted
by a wire gauze cover or cylinder O, of a central conical chimney B,
an oir reservoir E filled with a spongy substance for absorbing the oil,
and of a frame D, D³, connecting together the whole of the parts of
the lamp. The air enters from above by passing through two thick-
nesses of wire gauze.
The Invention principally consists,―
· 1st. In the application around the wick F and over the ring K serving.

page_text: Fourthly. The combination in a lamp of the reflecting and separating
cone or cover H, the regulating tube or cylinder G, and the self-acting
catch pin c, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by
my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arnold Souheur, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.