A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MANNER OF SECURELY PROVISIONALATION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Tudor Owens, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick; Miners' Safety Lamp Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MANNER OF SECURELY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Tudor Owens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition;
on the 23rd December 1875.
I, HENRY TUDOR OWENS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Miners' Safety Lamp Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MANNER OF SECURELY
LOCKING MINERS SAFETY LAMPS," to be as follows:-
: - C'
Hitherto miners' safety lamps have been generally fitted with a
common screw lock of such a kind as to be easily picked or unlocked
by the miner at his will; and in practice this is found to be often done
by miners when engaged in working, and this carelessness on their parts

page_text: is found to be the cause of many of the explosions in coal pits which
from time to time occur.
According to my improved method of securing the lamp I provide a
lever lock, segmental in form, and corresponding in shape and size to
the inside of the lower part of the oil vessel in which it is afterwards
fitted. The bolt of my improved lock is so constructed that when acted
upon by the key it shoots upwards, and takes into an aperture of
suitable size provided for its reception in the base of the casing of the
lamp, and thus the fastening is secure and cannot be released without
being unlocker.
I propose to provide the locks in "suits," that is, that one key shall
pass all the lamps used in the same working, and that a different
pattern key shall be used in any adjacent working, so that in this
manner it shall not be possible for the key used in one pit to unlock the
lamps employed in another pit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Tudor Owens in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
TUDOR OWENS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Miners'
Safety Lamp Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Tudor Owens,
Her special licence that I, the said Henry Tudor Owens, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Tudor Owens, 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 law-,
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
'

page_text: an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MANNER OF SECURELY
LOCKING MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Tudor Owens, 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 Henry Tudor Owens, 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 Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say :-
Hitherto miners' safety lamps have been generally fitted with a
common screw lock of such a kind as to be easily picked or unlocked
by the miner at his will, and in practice this is found to be often done
by the miners when engaged in working, and this carelessness on their
parts is found to be the cause of many of the explosions in coal pits
which from time to time occur.
:
According to my improved method of securing the lamp I provide
a lever lock, segmental in form, and corresponding in shape and size
with the inside of the lower part of the oil vessel, which is also called
the lamp body, to which it is afterwards fitted, the bolt of my improved
lock is so constructed that when acted upon by the key it shoots
upwards, and takes into an aperture of suitable size provided for its
reception in the base of the casing of the lamp or the lock ring, and
thus the fastening is secure and cannot be released without being
unlocked.
To make my Invention better understood I will now proceed to
more particularly describe the same by reference to the accompanying
Drawing, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a miner's safety lamp
locked according to my Invention, the lock being placed outside the oil
vessel or lamp body; Figure 2, horizontal section of same on line A, B;
Figure 3 is an elevation of a miner's safety lamp with the lock fitted
inside the oil vessel or lamp body; Figure 4, horizontal section of same

page_text: on line C, D; Figure 5 is a front elevation of the lock I employ; and
Figure 6, detached views of the parts of the lock. Similar letters in all
the Figures represent similar parts.
เด
.
In Figures 1 and 2, a is the lock fitted outside the oil vessel 6 of the
lamp; c is the lock ring or lower casing of the lamp; d, the glass of
same; e, the perforated metal or wire gauze covering; f is the hinged
cover; g, the ring to which the hook for holding or suspending the
lamp is fastened; h is a stop block on the lower metal casing or lock
ring c of the lamp, against which butts the stop pin i on the outside of
the oil vessel 6 when the lamp is closed. The lever lock I employ is :
shewn in Figures 5 and 6, it is segmental in form as seen in Figure 2,
so as to correspond in size and shape with the oil vessel of the lamp to
which it is fitted; j is the bolt of the lock; % and 7, the levers and
springs of the same; m, Figures 1 and 3, escutcheons.
When the lock is acted upon by the key the bolt ; shoots upwards :
and takes into an aperture of suitable size (shewn in dotted lines on the
Drawing) in the stop block h, and can thus only be released by being
unlocked.
The lamp, shewn in Figures 3 and 4, is of a somewhat different con-
struction to that shewn in Figures 1 and 2, but the manner or method 2
of locking the same is similar. In this case, however, the lock a is.
placed inside the oil vessel b, and the bolt j of the lock shoots into an
aperture in the lower casing or lock ring c, suitable stop pins, shewn in
dotted lines, being provided on the upper surface of the oil vessel b, and
the under side of the casing or lock ring c for keeping the parts in the 2
proper position when the lamp is to be locked.
I propose to provide the locks a in "suits," that is to say, so that one
key shall pass all the locks used in the same working and that a
different pattern key shall be used in any adjacent working, so that in
this manner it shall not be possible for the key used in one pit to unlock g
the lamps employed in another pit. For this purpose each key is
stamped with a letter corresponding with the letter on the lamp which
signifies the particular suit.
"
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the best
means with which I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I a

page_text: details herein laid down, nor do I lay claim to the construction of the
safety lamps and lock herein-before described taken separately, but
what I do claim is the new or improved mode or manner of securely
locking miners' safety lamps by the employment of a lock fixed either
inside or outside the oil vessel, and constructed and operating sub-
stantially as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Tudor Owens, have here-
to set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Bix