IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kingsford Field, of Upper Marsh, Lambeth,
in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS." A communication from Anton Von Schuttenbach, of St.
Petersburgh.
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 1st March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kingsford Field
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st March 1858.
I, JOHN KINGSFORD FIELD, of Upper Marsh, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LAMPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps, which are so arranged
as to generate from the liquid supplied to them an illuminating gas or vapour,
by the combustion of which the light is produced; and the Invention consists
in constructing such lamps in the following manner:-The exterior case of
the lamp is a tube, which may be made to resemble a common candle; this
case is closed at both ends, &. contains the oil or liquid with which the lamp
is fed. Immediately under the bottom of this reservoir is an egg-shaped
vessel, of about one inch or less in height, the lower end of which is made of
thin sheet platina or other suitable metal. At its upper end this vessel com-
municates by two fine apertures with the reservoir above, and through these

page_text: apertures the oil or other liquid descends, and falling on the platina or other
bottom, which is heated as herein-after described, is converted into gas or
vapour, and this passes away by a pipe proceeding up from the top of the
lower vessel or generator into the reservoir; and the gas or vapour escapes
from the mouth of this pipe, and bubbles up through the liquid in the reservoir.
At the top of the reservoir a jet or burner is placed, and from this the gas or
vapour escapes, and is burnt like ordinary coal gas. From the space at the
top of the reservoir a small pipe also proceeds, and terminates in a jet under
the platina or other bottom of the generator, and at this jet a small quantity
of the gas or vapour is burnt, and by the heat it produces it generates a
constant supply for the main burner. When the apparatus is in use it is
usually placed in a candlestick; and it is necessary that the candlestick used
for it should be perforated in the socket to admit air to the lower flame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kingsford Field in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KINGSFORD FIELD, of Upper Marsh, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Kingsford Field, Her special licence that I, the said John Kingsford
Field, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Kingsford Field, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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," (a communication from Anton Von Schuttenbach, of St. Petersburgh,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Kingsford Field,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Kingsford Field, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in 'lamps, which are so
arranged as to generate from the liquid supplied to them an illuminating gas
or vapour, by the combustion of which the light is produced; and the Invention
consists in constructing such lamps in the following manner:-The exterior
case of the lamp is a tube, which may be made to resemble a common candle;
this case is closed at both ends, and contains the oil or liquid with which the
lamp is fed. Immediately under the bottom of this reservoir is an egg-shaped
vessel, of about one inch or less in height, the lower end of which is made of
thin sheet platina or other suitable metal. At its upper end this vessel com-
municates by two fine apertures with the reservoir above, and through these
apertures the oil or other liquid descends, and falling on the platina or other
bottom, which is heated as herein-after described, is converted into gas or
vapour, and this passes away by a pipe proceeding up from the top of the
lower vessel or generator into the reservoir, and the gas or vapour escapes
from the mouth of this pipe and bubbles up through the liquor in the reservoir.
At the top of the reservoir a jet or burner is placed, and from this the gas or
vapour escapes, and is burnt like ordinary coal gas. From the space at the
top of the reservoir a small pipe also proceeds and terminates in a jet under
the platina or other bottom of the generator, and at this jet a small quantity
of the gas or vapour is burnt, and by the heat it produces it generates a
constant supply for the main burner.
When the apparatus is in use it is usually placed in a candlestick, and it is
necessary that the candlestick used for it should be perforated in the socket to
admit air to the lower flame.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed...
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The Drawings, Sheet I., shew a longitudinal section of a lamp constructed
according to my Invention, and also the several parts separately from which.
he lamp is constructed. a, a, is the exterior case of the lamp, which is.

page_text: reservoir is supplied with the liquid to be burnt in the lamp through a hole in
the side of the reservoir, which is afterwards closed with a screw plug. b is
an egg-shaped vessel, the lower portion of which b' is formed of thin platinum;
c is a pipe connecting the vessel 6 with the reservoir a, and terminating in a
fine aperture within the vessel b, by the pipe c the liquid with which the
reservoir is supplied descends drop by drop into the vessel b or in a fine
stream, according as it is regulated by the stop-cock c¹. In place of making
one passage of communication between the reservoir a and the vessel 6, two
such passages may be constructed if the lamp be of large size. When the
lamp is required for use it is set to work in the following manner :-The
reservoir having been about half filled with the liquid employed, and the screw
plug having been replaced, the stop-cock d' of the jet or burner d is opened,
and the flame of a spirit lamp is applied to the bottom of the vessel b. When
this is well hot the stop-cock c' is opened, so as to allow a small quantity of
the fluid to descend on to it; this liquid is immediately converted into gas or
vapour, and passes up through the pipe e, which discharges it below the
surface of the liquid in the reservoir; the gas or vapour in passing up through.
this liquid becomes to some extent purified, and then issues through the jet or
burner d, where it is ignited; as soon as this flame burns steadily the stop-
cock fis opened, and then a portion of the gas or vapour passes from the
reservoir a by the pipe g, and proceeds to the jet h, from which it issues and
is ignited; this jet being placed immediately under the platina bottom of the
vessel b serves to keep it in a suitably heated state, and the flame of the spirit
lamp may be removed. i is a hood surrounding the jet h, to concentrate the
heat of the flame from this jet on the point where it is required.
The lamp above described is very suitable for. burning liquids which require
a high temperature to convert them into gas or vapour, and which do not
readily produce gas or vapour of high tension, such liquid, for example, as
sperm oil, whale oil, and other-oils of.a.similar_nature; but for liquids which
are more easily converted into gas or vapour, such, for example, as turpentine,
naptha, and other hydrocarbons, I prefer to employ a lamp of slightly modified
form. This lamp is shewn in longitudinal section by. the Drawing on Sheet II.
This lamp differs from that already described in that over the reservoir a a
chamber is formed, and this chamber j communicates with the reservoir a by
a passage furnished with a valve k, which is kept closed by a spring unless the
pressure of gas or vapour in the reservoir a becomes sufficient to raise the
valve, say, at a pressure of 100 lbs: to the square inch, a pressure which the
apparatus may readily be made to bear; if the gas or vapour reaches this pres
sure it escapes by the valve and passes up the pipe 1, in issuing from which i

page_text: becomes ignited at the jet, and the disagreeable smell which it would produce
were it allowed to escape unburnt is avoided. In this lamp also, when it is
working properly, the whole of the gas or vapour produced issues from the
reservoir a by a single pipe m, which supplies the under vessel b, and also the
jet or burner at the top of the lamp. The vessel b, in place of being con-
structed entirely of metal, as in the lamp first described, has introduced
between its upper part and its bottom 6¹ a ring of wood, rendered incom-
bustible by saturating it repeatedly with a concentrated solution of silicate of
potash or soda. Some of the other parts of the lamp are varied in form, as is
clearly shewn by the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kingsford Field, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
5 Witness,
ARTHUR FIELD.
J. K. FIELD. (L.S.)