IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wakefield, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS."
Sealed the 17th June 1878, and dated the 6th March 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wakefield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th March 1873.
I, JOHN WAKEFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION or Lamps,” to be as follows :—
The object of this Invention is to render the use of chimneys in
paraffin and other oil lamps unnecessary. This I effect by the employ.
ment of a heat absorber and flame conductor placed within the cone, and
between the wick case and top of the cone.
9

page_text: metal, and will consist of a rectangular frame extending across the cone,
immediately over and parallel with the flame.
Instead of a rectangular frame a perforated or slotted plate may be
fitted to the cone or transverse bars; one or more may be attached to
the cone, so as to lie above and parallel with the flame. By this means ♫
not only will the course of the flame upwards be controlled, but any cold
streams of air that might otherwise strike upon the flame will be heated
by contact with the heat absorbers, and thus a clear and brilliant flame
will be maintained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Wakefield in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th September 1878.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 1
WAKEFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth 2
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Wakefield, Her special licence that I, the
said John Wakefield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Wakefield, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Wakefield, 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

page_text: 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 John Wakefield, do hereby declare
3 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto.
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
The object of this Invention is to render the use of chimneys in
paraffin and other oil lamps unnecessary. This I effect by the employ-
ment of a heat absorber and flame conductor placed within the cone, and
between the wick case and top of the cone.
The heat absorber and flame conductor admits of various modifica
5 tions, but from experiment I find it will be proferable to make it of an
open metallic frame or curved slotted plate extending across the cone
immediately over the flame.
•
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in sectional elevation a
burner constructed according to my Invention and applied to a paraffine
lamp; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the burner taken at right angles
to Fig. 1; and Fig. 8 is a plan view, the top of the cone being out off in
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2.
A is the ordinary fixed cone, slotted at top to allow of the passage
outwards of the flame from the wick; B is the wick case secured as
5 usual to the base of the burner; C is a curved plate provided at its
extremities with tangs c, which project through holes made in the sides
of the cone, as shewn at Fig. 1, and are then bent over in order to secure
the plate to the conc. In the middle of this plate a slot is made about
equal in width to the slot of the cone, and about double the width of the
O wick case. The highest part of this curved plate, it will be seen,
occupies a position about midway between the top of the wick case and
the top of the cone. When the lamp is lighted and the wick is regulated
to its proper position the flame will fill the opening in the plate C, the
sides of which lie parallel to the sides of the wick case. This plate by
5 being in close contact with the flame as it rises from the wick will be a
heat absorber, and being also an air defloctor it will heat the air as it

page_text: passes to the flame, and thus the combustion of the vaporized oil will be
effectually secured, as when employing a glass chimney.
A modification of the heat absorber and flame conductor is shewn is
the plan view, Fig. 4, where D, D, are two parallel bars placed abovo
and on opposite sides of the wick case, and E, E, are end guide pieces 5
which complete the circumscribing of the ascending flame; I prefer
however the arrangement first described.
I would remark that my Invention may be used in combination with
& chimney when found convenient.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements 1
in the Construction of Lamps," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, a heat absorber and flame
conductor placed within the cone and between the wick case and top
of the conc, substantially in the manner and for the purpose above 1
described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said John Wakefield, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, the First day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
TAUN WAKERTELN