IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Beale Marston, of Leeswood Vale Oil
Works, near Mold, in the County of Flint, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING RAILWAY
CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 21st July 1868, and dated the 8th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Beale Marston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th February 1868.
I, WILLIAM BEALE MARSTON; of Leeswood Vale Oil Works, near
Mold, in the County of Flint, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING
RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps and apparatus
for lighting railway carriages.. In constructing lamps for railway
O carriages I form a casing enclosed at the bottom by a glass and at
the top by a reflector or cover; this close casing constitutes the chamber.

page_text: or body of the lamp. There is a chimney or passage out of the casing
or lamp chamber, and this chimney may rise from the centre of the
reflector. Through the side or top of the casing or lamp chamber a
tube containing a wick is passed, and the wick tube is surrounded by
an outer or air tube terminating within the casing or chamber of the
lamp in front of the extremity of the wick tube or burner so that the
current of air which the chimney sucks into the casing or chamber
of the lamp and which cannot enter otherwise than by the air tube
is caused to impinge upon the flame and so a sufficient quantity of
oxygen is supplied to it to cause the hydrocarbon to burn completely
and without smoke, yielding a brilliant white light. I prefer to arrange
in the casing or lamp chamber two wick tubes each with its air tube,
and the burners or ends of the wick tubes are placed opposite to cach
other so that the flames are projected the one on to the other, by which
the intensity of the light is increased. The wick or wicks may be
supplied with oil directly from a reservoir as heretofore, but I prefer
to have a reservoir separate from the other parts of the lamp; it is
fixed on the roof or other part of the carriage, the surface of the oil
in it being below the level of the burners within the carriages. From
this reservoir there passes a trough or pipe containing fibrous material
or other matter which by capillary attraction will conduct the oil along
the trough or pipe. This trough or pipe terminates at the edge of
the aperture in the carriage roof, through which the lamp is inserted,
and the outer end of the wick tube of the lamp enters the end of the
trough or pipe from the reservoir, which may be made to open for
the purpose, so that the wick of the lamp is brought into close contact
with the absorbent material in the trough or tube. One reservoir may
in this way supply several lamps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Beale Marston in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 7th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BEALE MARSTON, of Leeswood Vale Oil Works, near Mold, in the
County of Flint, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Beale Marston, Her special
licence that I, the said William Beale Marston, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Beale
Marston, 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 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 AND APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Beale
Marston, 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 with six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Beale Marston, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps and apparatus
suited for lighting railway carriages and for other analagous purposes
and capable of being employed in various ways as by affixing them to
roofs so as to give light to carriages internally or by attaching them
externally to the sides or ends of carriages. The construction in
both cases is the same in principle, but the form of lamps is modified,
as shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed by way of illustration,
according to the position in which the lamp is to be placed.
The construction of lamps which I employ for lighting railway
carriages internally and externally is also suitable for being used in
other places; for instance, as roof lights in lighting rooms or buildings
from the roof, or as side lights for station lamps for lighting railway
stations or other places.

page_text: The oils which I employ for burning in my improved lamps aro
oils of the hydrocarbon class, which are much cheaper than the
vegetable and other oils now ordinarily burned in carriage lamps, and
with proper care and by employing lamps such as I have constructed
and described herein, which are properly adapted to the character of
hydrocarbon oils, a superior light is obtained at the same time that a
great saving is effected by their use. When hydrocarbon oils are
burned they require a large amount of oxygen to be supplied directly
to the flame so as to insure the gases and evolved matters being perfectly
consumed in the process of burning, and unless more air is forced
through the flame than it can ordinarily obtain if burnt as an open
light the oils throw off sooty particles or lamp black, in short, will
be imperfectly consumed, and the oils are thereby rendered unsuitablo
for illuminating purposes. I have found in practice that in proportion
as more air is passed through the flame in burning these oils the more
perfectly is the combustion affected, and the whiter and brighter is
the flame produced. All this is well known to the majority of those
who make and refine hydrocarbon oils, and the usual way of burning
them is to pass air immediately under the light and then put on a glass
chimney to create a draught and draw the air through the flame, as
seen in the ordinary lamps hitherto used.
There are many objections to the ordinary lamps; all the materials
employed in their construction are conductors of heat, and no proper
arrangement is adopted for keeping the oil cool; it therefore commonly
gets heated, and in many cases is apt to throw off vapour of a dangerous
character.
In the lamps constructed as shewn in the accompanying Drawings
I have provided a remedy for these objections. The oil is prevented
from being heated and throwing off vapour, so that the lamp as con-
structed by me is perfectly safe. No glass chimney is required to
surround the flame, but provision is made for feeding it with the
requisite amount of oxygen by causing air to be admitted from a
distance from the flame through suitable channels directing it to
the places where it is wanted and preventing it from entering at other
points.
The accompanying Drawings shew and illustrate my improved method
of construction applied to a roof lamp suitable for railway carriages

page_text: and capable of being used in other places, and also to a side lamp
which may be attached to a railway carriage or be used for a platform
lamp or for lighting other places. The same letters are used in the
Drawings to designate similar parts, though they be modified slightly
so as to suit the different shapes of lamps required to be fixed in different
places.
2
Figure I. shews a roof lamp. A, A, is the casing of the lamp enclosed
at the bottom by a glass globe, such as is ordinarily used, and having a
reflector at the top to throw down light, and an outlet pipe to carry off
the vitiated air; B, B, are spaces between the cones F, F, into which
cold air is admitted at the lower end; C, C, are air chambers into which
fresh air is admitted; D, D, are oil vessels which are kept surrounded
with cold air; E, E, are wick tubes provided with regulators for
supplying and renewing wick in the ordinary way; F, F, are cones
which convey a supply of cold air and cause it to impinge upon the
flame issuing from the wick tube; this cone and wick may be placed so
as to deflect the light at any required angle. G, G, are tubes for
conveying a supply of air below the flame so as to cause it to deflect
upwards; H, H, aro reflectors; I, I, arc second cases adjoining the air
chamber C, C. It will be seen that the case I and the reflector H
together form the air space B, B; K, K, is a cap to separate the fresh
and burned or vitiated air chambers; L, L, is a tube arranged with a
curved top so as to prevent down draughts; M, M, is a space in
continuation of B, B. The air is admitted to the air chamber C, C,
through suitable channels formed in the top.and sides of the lamp; they
may be conveniently formed by using a double casing, the inner one
being perforated with holes to protect the flame from disturbance, and
the principal volume of it passes through the cone F, F, directly to the
flame, a small part passes under the oil reservoir D, D, through tho
spaces B, B, and part of this from thence passes through G, G, and
causes the flame to deflect upwards and the rest passes through the space
above marked M, M. The object of so admitting and directing the
current of air is to keep the case next to the oil vessel and air chamber
as cold as possible, as neither to vaporize the oil nor warm the air which
supplies the flame with its oxygen. In some cases the roof lamp
may be made with one flame instead of two, as shewn on the Drawing,
the parts being modified accordingly. It should be observed that the
air which is admitted only into the air chambers C, C, and is prevented

page_text: from finding any entrance into the casing at other points is conducted.
by the cone F so as to surround, the wick tube and impinge directly
upon the flame.. Where two flames are employed, as in Figure 1, the
wick tubes are placed opposite, the two flames are caused to project
towards one another; in practice I have found it advisable to introduce
a supply of air below each flame through the tube G so as to deflect
the flame upwards, by which means a steady as well as intense flame
is obtained. In some cases it may be found advisable to provide a
reservoir for containing oil separate from the lamp, but where it is
found inconvenient, such separate reservoir may be dispensed with. To
prevent the light from being extinguished by any sudden motion, causing
a concussion or other disturbance of the air supplied to the lamp I
cause the direction of the air channels supplying air to deviate from a
straight line at the required intervals by interposing suitable stops or
projections, or by otherwise giving a deflected direction to the course of
the incoming currents of air.
Figure II. shews my method of construction applied to a side lamp
suited for being attached to the outside or end of a carriage or for
lighting a platform or for lighting other places. It will be seen that
parts corresponding to those described in reference to Figuro I. are
used and are denoted by corresponding letters. It will also be seen
that the shape of the reflector H is modified to suit the position of tho
lamp, and the flame may be projected so far forward as to prevent any
inconvenient shadow being cast downwards or laterally.
Figure III. is another modification suited for lighting two compart-
ments of a railway carriage with one lamp having two burners, which
I find to be a convenient, simple, and very useful form of construction.
Having now described my Invention and the manner in which it
is performed I would have it understood that I do not claim separately
the parts constituting my improved lamp; but what I claim is, the
improved method of constructing lamps suited for railway carriages and
for other purposes and adapted for burning oils of the hydrocarbon
class by combining and arranging the parts in such a manner that air
is admitted to a closed casing at a point distant from the flame, part
being used to keep the oil cool and part being directed to the flame
so as to enable the light to be deflected at any required angle in the

page_text: manner and for the purpose substantially as herein described and shewn
in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Beale Marston, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
W. B. MARSTON. (L.S.)