IMPROVEMENTS IN NIGHT LIGHTS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Richard Greaves, of No. 524, New
Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN NIGHT LIGHTS."
Sealed the 22nd December 1871, and dated the 29th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Richard Greaves
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th June 1871.
I, JAMES RICHARD GREAVES, of No. 524, New Oxford Street, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN NIGHT LIGHTS," to be as follows:-
Night lights as at present manufactured are composed of fatty,
oleaginous, or waxy composition surrounded by a case of paper or other
suitable material, or they are held in a glass receiver, and are formed
with a small wick, but by the smallness of the wick used any inequality
therein or imperfection in the character or condition of the fatty,
oleaginous, or waxy composition of which they are formed will, under
certain conditions, cause the light to go out, as is also the case when

page_text: from the heat of the flame of the wick used not being sufficient to keep
the material in a suitably melted or fluid condition when subject to a
considerable amount of cold, as they are liable to in bed rooms during
low temperatures in winter time, by the material becoming congealed.
To remedy these and other defects I employ wicks composed of
worsted, darning, or other cotton, or asbestos and cotton, and muslin,
which may be steeped in camphor.
In employing such materials for the wick I prefer to form it in
substance much larger, say about six times the bulk of what is generally
used in night lights, and I enclose such wick in a metal, earthenware,
or glass tube which is formed to expose a portion of the upper end
thereof, and the material of which the night light is otherwise composed
as consumed then ascends by the tube up the wick to the flame.
I prefer to employ cases of metal, glass, or other non-combustible
material as the holders of such night lights.
I also apply a disc or feet of cork, wood, or other suitable non-
conductor of heat to the bottom of the wrapper or holder of such and
other night lights, to prevent as much as possible the conducting away
downwards of the heat of the flame produced in the burning of such
night lights, so as to keep the fatty, oleagenous, or waxy matter.
sufficiently molten to supply the wick.
The details may be varied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Richard Greaves in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RICHARD GREAVES, of No. 524, New Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Richard Greaves, Her special
Licence that I, the said James Richard Greaves, my executors, adminis-

page_text: "
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Richard
Greaves, 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 Ircland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN NIGHT LIGHTS,'
the condition
upon
(amongst others) that I, the said James Richard Greaves, 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 James Richard Greaves, 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 :-
are composed of fatty,
Night lights as at present manufactured
óleaginous, or waxy composition which is surrounded by a case of paper
or other suitable material, or they are held in a glass receiver, and they
are formed with a small wick, and it is found that by the smallness of
the wick so used any inequality therein or imperfection in the character
or condition of the fatty, oleaginous, or waxy composition of which the
night light is formed will, under certain conditions, cause the light to
This is also often the case when from the heat of the flame
go out.
of the small wick used not being sufficient to keep the material in a
suitably melted or fluid condition, particularly when such night lights
are subject to a considerable amount of cold, to which they are especially
liable in bed rooms during the low temperature of winter, by the
material becoming congealed.
To remedy these and other defects I employ wicks composed of
worsted, darning, or other cotton, or asbestos and cotton, and muslin,
which may be steeped in camphor.
In employing such materials for the wick I prefer to form it in
substance much larger, say about six times the bulk of what is generally
used in night lights, and I enclose such wick in a metal, earthenware,
or glass tube, which is formed to expose a portion of the upper end

page_text: thereof, and the material of which the night light is otherwise composed,
as consumed, then ascends by the tube to the wick of the flame.
I prefer to employ cases of metal, glass, or other non-combustible
material as the holders of such night lights. I also apply a disc or feet
of cork, wood, or other suitable non-conductor of heat to the bottom
of the wrapper or holder of such and other night lights to prevent as
much as possible the conducting away downwards of the heat of the
flame produced in the burning of such night lights, so as to keep
the fatty, oleagenous, or waxy matter sufficiently molten to supply the
wick.
The Drawing represents at Figures 1 and 2 a plan and a sectional
view of a night light formed according to my Invention. a is the outer
case formed of tin or other suitable material and which may be of any
desirable shape; 6 is the fatty, oleaginous, or waxy composition; c is the
wick; and d, the tube enclosing it. The wick is formed by a number
of comparatively loose strands of worsted, darning, or other cotton, or
asbestos and cotton surrounded or bound together by more closely twisted
starched or otherwise stiffened thread, or by muslin, in order thereby
to give support to the enclosed fibres, and prevent the wick falling down
in the fatty, oleaginous, or waxy composition when that becomes liquid
by heat.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew a plan and two sectional views of a metal
internal tube d separately. It is formed by bending a piece of tin,
but it may be formed of other suitable material, and the fatty, oleaginous,
.or waxy matter when rendered fluid by heat flows in at the vertical
joint of it when of metal as well as under it.
I am aware that it has before been proposed to enclose the wicks of night
lights in tubes, but in such case the wicks are closely surrounded by
the tube, so that the tube bore against the wick on all sides of it, and
became the support thereof on every side of it, whilst the object in
my case is as much as possible to avoid such close contact of the tube
with the wick on all its sides, though it may rest against one part
thereof and simply to form a sort of internal receptacle, chamber, or inner
reservoir for the more liquid portions of the fatty, oleaginous, or waxy
matter rendered fluid by the heat of the burning wick, and to ensure
a supply of such matter in a sufficiently fluid state to keep up
combustion. e is a disc of cork, or other suitable non-conductor of
heat.

page_text: Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details shewn and described, as these may
be varied, but what I do claim is, the forming night lights with wicks
of the character described, and receptacles formed by tubes d, also
the application to the bottoms thereof of disks of cork, wood, or other
suitable non-conductor of heat substantially as described.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Richard Greaves, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-onc.
JAMES RICHARD GREAVES. (L.S.)
JAMES RICHARD GREAVES. (L.S.)