Improve- MENTS IN STREET LANTERNS TO FACILITATE LIGHTING.”
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Alfred Skelton, of 37, Essex Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "Improve-
MENTS IN STREET LANTERNS TO FACILITATE LIGHTING.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Alfred Skelton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th April 1873.
I, THOMAS ALFRED SKELTON, of 37, Essex Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STREET LANTERNS TO FACILITATE LIGHTING," to be as
follows:-
The object in view is to provide improved means of opening and
closing the bottoms of the ordinary square street lamps, so as to enable
the lamps to be lighted without opening the side doors. This I do
according to this Invention by forming the floor or bottom of the lantern
of thick glass of sufficient strength to withstand the wear and use to

page_text: which it will be subjected, and cut in shape and fixed so as to leave a
sufficient space or opening to permit the lighting torch to enter and to
cover the opening or space so, provided by a quadrant or segment of a
circle, also of thick glass of size sufficient, to cover the opening, and
afford a bearing for itself upon the edges of the thick glass floor. The
quadrant or segment of glass is set in a metal frame or bar having a
loop round the central gas pipe, which serves: as, a pivot, and a projecting
arm extending outside the square frame of the lantern, so that the lamp
lighter may easily move the quadrant or segment from side to side by
means of his torch rod; and so open or close the space for the lighting
torch to enter. A metal bar is fixed to the lamp frame against the side
of the opening and flush or level with the glass floor, so that the outer
edge of the sliding quadrant may have a bearing upon it while being
moved.
In the annexed Drawing a is tlic frame of the lantern; b, the thick
glass floor or bottom; c, the movable quadrant or cover to the lighting
aperture; d, the gas pipe, serving as a pivot for the part c; c', the arm
of the pivot or cover; e is a bar fixed to the lamp frame; it secures the
corners of the two parts of the floor or bottom b, and also. aids in
supporting the quadrant or cover c.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Alfred Skelton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd October 1873:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, THOMAS
ALFRED SKELTON, of 37, Essex Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting..
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,, by, Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, fór Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Alfred Skelton; Her special
license that I, the said Thomas Alfred Skelton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I', the said Thomas Alfred Skelton,
my executors, administrators; and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 STREET LANTERNS TO FACILITATE LIGHTING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Alfred Skelton,
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: Thomas Alfred Skelton, 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 thereof, that is. to say:-
The object in view is to provide improved means of opening and
closing, the bottoms of the ordinary square street lamps, so as to enable
the lamps to be lighted without opening the side doors. This I do
according to this Invention by forming the floor or bottom of the lantern
of thick glass of sufficient strength to withstand the wear and use to which
it. will besubjected,,and cut in shape and fixed so as to leave a sufficient
space or opening to permit the lighting torch to enter, and to cover the
opening or space so provided by a quadrant or segment of a circle, also
of thick glass, of size sufficient to cover the opening and afford a bearing
for itself upon the edges of the thick glass floor. The quadrant or
segment of glass.is-set in a metal.frame or bar having a loop round the
central gas pipe,, which serves, as a pivot,, and a projecting arm extending
outside the square frame of the lantern, so. that the lamplighter may
casily move the quadrant or segment from side to side by means of his
torch rod, and so, open or close the space for the lighting torch to enter.
A metal bar is fixed to the lamp frame against the side of the opening
and flush or level with the glass floor so that the outer edge of tho
sliding quadrant may have a bearing upon it while being moved.
In order that, my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed.

page_text: DESUMITION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a transverse section of the lower part
of a street lanthorn constructed according to my Invention.
a is the metal frame; b, b, is the thick glass floor or bottom, it is
made in two pieces which drop into the frame a, and are bedded with
putty; they are further secured by the metal clip c, which embraces one
side of the frame a; the gas burner passes through the centre. or floor
at d, and it serves as an axis for the movable quadrant d*. The glass d*
is held in the metal trough piece e by rivets, or otherwise secured. To
the piece e the wire arm fis fixed, and a loop at the end of this wire
encircles the gas burner and holds the quadrant d* in its place, but
allowing it freedom to move to cover or uncover the lighting aperture g.
By this aperture the lamplighter inserts his torch into the lanthorn,
and he opens and closes the aperture by pushing with the torch the
projecting end of the wire arm f; i is a trough piece of metal fixed upon
the edge of the glass b, where it is liable to be struck by the lighting torch.
Where, as is sometimes the case, the gas tap is so constructed as to be
opened by the horizontal motion of an arm immediately under the floor
of the lanthorn a finger or vertical bar may conveniently be connected
with the moving quadrant in such a manner that when the quadrant
is moved so as to uncover the aperture 9, it carries with it the arm
of the gas tap and turns on the gas. The upper part of the lanthorn,
which is not shewn in the Drawings, may be of the ordinary form.
What I claim is the construction of the lower portion or floor of street
lanthorns, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Alfred Skelton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October
in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.