IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING VOLATILE OILS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Martinus Andreas Kaufmann_at_the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th December 1878. [Partly a
communication from abroad by Frederick J. Kloos, of Rotterdam, Manufacturer.]
MARTINUS ANDREAS KAUFMANN, of the Firm of Martin Kaufmann and Company,
of Rotterdam, Merchants, but at present residing at Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING VOLATILE OILS." [Partly a
communication from abroad by Frederick J. Kloos, of Rotterdam, Manufacturer.]
The said Invention consists, first, of an extinguisher constructed as herein after
described, by the action of which the lamp is extinguished when it is accidentally
overthrown, the extinguisher coming into operation as soon as the foot of the lamp
is inclined at a small angle to the table or support on which it is standing.
The said Invention consists, secondly, of the arrangement herein-after described
of the parts of the oil reservoir, whereby the surface of the oil is kept at the same
or nearly the same level however much the quantity of oil in the reservoir may
vary.
The extinguisher constituting the first part of the Invention is constructed as
follows:-In the axis of the lamp is a sliding rod extending from the underside of
the foot of the lamp to a short distance above the top of the wick. The said rod
slides in an axial hole in the lamp. The said rod carries at top a disc or cap of
such a size and shape, that when depressed upon the burning wick it extinguishes
the flame. The said rod slides freely in the axis of the lamp, and when the lamp
is resting upon a table or other level support, the bottom of the rod rests upon the
table or support, and the disc at its top is supported at such a height above the
flame, as not to interfere with the combustion of the lamp. When however
the lamp is inclined the rod descends in the axial hole in the lamp, and the disc at
its top descending upon the wick extinguishes the lamp. Thus in case of accidental
upsetting of the lamp, the flame is extinguished as soon as the foot of the lamp
makes a small angle with the table, that is, before the lamp has been completely
overthrown. In order to prevent the extinguishing of the lamp when it is lifted
by the hand from the table, a short horizontal rod fixed at a convenient point on
the extinguisher rod passes through a slot in the pillar of the lamp, its end pro-
Price 077

page_text: truding a short distance from the pillar. By taking hold of the pillar of the lamp
immediately below the said horizontal rod, the said rod and with it the
extinguisher rod is supported by the hand during the removal of the lamp, and
the extinguishing of the lamp prevented.
The arrangement of the parts of the oil reservoir constituting the second part of
the said Invention is as follows:-In the outer ornamental body of the lamp a fixed
vessel or reservoir is placed. The top of this fixed vessel carries the burner, and
the appliances connected therewith. It has on its top and near the edge an
opening, capable of being closed by a cap for the introduction of the oil.
In this fixed vessel is a moveable vessel, open at top. This moveable vessel is
supported on a coiled spring resting on the bottom of the fixed vessel. The
strength of this spring is such that as the oil in the said moveable vessel is
consumed, the diminished weight of the said vessel and its contents permits of the
expansion of the spring, which raises the said moveable vessel so as to preserve the
surface of the oil in it at the same or nearly the same level; a steady or uniform
flame is thus produced in the lamp. The opening in the fixed vessel at which the
oil is poured in has a pipe which conducts the oil into the moveable vessel, and a
wire or thin rod fixed to the moveable vessel rises and falls in the said pipe as the
said moveable vessel rises and falls, and serves as an indicator in filling the
reservoir. The fixed vessel has a central tube through which the rod of the
extinguisher passes freely, and the moveable vessel has a larger central tube which
surrounds but does not touch the central tube in which the fixed rod slides.
central opening in the top of the fixed vessel down which the wick passes is
provided with a funnel shaped mouth, similar to that frequently employed in ink
vessels. The said funnel shaped mouth prevents the escape of oil in case the lamp
is overthrown.
The