IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH LAMPS FOR ILLUMINATING SHOP-WINDOWS OR SHOW-CASES, OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Herbert Powis Turner at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th September 1879.
HERBERT POWIS TURNER, of Kingston-on-Thames, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH LAMPS FOR ILLUMINATING SHOP-WINDOWS
OR SHOW-CASES, OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in or connected with lamps which
are used for the illumination of shop-windows and show-cases from the outside,
or which are similarly used for other illumination purposes; and the principal
objects of the Invention are to obtain an increased illumination with a lessened
consumption of gas, to use naked lights, thereby dispensing with chimnies and an
air-shaft, the former of which is so very liable to fracture and increase the expense
attendant upon the ordinary kind of lamp, to allow of the light being deflected
from such lamps as hitherto fitted on to any desired part of the window, to specially
illuminate any required article wherever placed therein, instead of requiring as at
present that the article should be placed in a certain position and which is frequently
where it is seen to the least advantage, to bring the ventilation wholly to the front
and to such a position that it will be shielded from the wind, to arrange the front
glass so that it can be at once removed in case of fracture or for being cleaned, and
as easily replaced, and to provide a means by which such lamps can be more
securely retained in position, and by the application of which all strain is removed
from the facia of the shop-front in windy weather, the above referred to improvements
also rendering the lamps capable of being applied to low fronts (to which the
ordinary lamps used for these purposes could not be applied) level with the facia, and
yet so as to get a brilliant illumination of the whole of the window.
In carrying my Invention into practice so far as the bracket and case of the
lamp are concerned I make no alteration saving such as may be necessary in
carrying out the following and above referred to improvements.
One of my improvements consists in the application to such lamps of a hinged
or movable mirror or plated back which can be set at any desired angle, so as to
show or deflect the light from the burners to whatever portion of the window may
be desired. The mirror or plated back is preferably hinged at its bottom to the
inside of the back of the case, and it is set in position by means of a chain or looped
cord attached to its top, passing out rearwards through the case at its top, and
hooked ot looped in a book at the back thereof, so as to allow of instant re-adjustment
if the desired effect is not at at once secured.

page_text: Another improvement consists in the application to such lamps of a shallow
V-trough which is hinged to the lower front corners of the sides of the case of the
lamp and supports the lower edge of the glass which rests therein. The glass has
a slight freedom of vertical movement so that it can be raised just clear of such
trough which can then be turned on its hinges or centres out of the way of the
glass, which can then be slid down its side-grooves and at once removed for
cleaning, and can be as easily replaced.
The ventilating openings or apertures are arranged at the top of the front of the
lamp above the glass front, and are there shielded or protected from the action of
the wind by an encasing guard.
Another improvement consists in the application to such lamps of adjustable
buffers or padded rods which project in front of the lamp from the sides thereof,
and bear against the glass-pane or part of the shop front, and thus relieve the facia
of the great strain to which it is otherwise subjected in windy weather. These rods
are rendered adjustable by being screwed and actuated by nuts which bear against
lugs or sockets projecting from the sides of the case and through which the buffer-
rods pass.
The application of these or similar means is of great service also in
preventing the structure of the lamp from being strained.
I prefer to use naked burners (that is without the use of glass chimnies) and to
burn gas, though mineral or other oils, or other suitable illuminating agents may
be used in the above described improved lamp.