An Improvement relating to Incandescent Gas Lighting.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement relating to Incandescent Gas Lighting.
I, FREDERICK GEORGE BARTLETT, of 4. Elton Road, Bishopston, Bristol, plumber,.
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
-
This invention, which relates to incandescent gas-lighting, is an improvement
upon an invention forming the subject of a former application made by me for
Letters Patent No. 23454 of 1896, according to which said former invention incan-
descent gas-lighting over a series of burners is controlled from one by-pass main
cock or tap; each burner being provided with a pilot light kept permanently
alight.
According to this present invention the pilot light for each burner in the series
is extinguished when the gas at the burner to which the pilot light is applied is
ignited, and when the supply of gas to the said burner is cut off the pilot light
is restored.
These objects are obtained by placing a valve in the tube by which gas is
supplied to the pilot light. While the burner flame is alight and being fed with
gas, the valve in the pilot light tube is, by the pressure of gas acting below it, raised
from the position before occupied by it and closes on a seat higher up in the tube,
thus cutting off futher supply of gas to the pilot light which is accordingly
extinguished. When, by turning the by-pass main tap in the proper direction the
supply of gas to the burner is cut off, the valve in the pilot light tube, being no
longer held up by the pressure of the gas, descends by gravitation to its lower
seat. The valve by leaving its upper seat re-establishes communication between
the gas supply and the upper part of the pilot light tube. The gas thus allowed
to issue from the pilot light tube, is ignited by the expiring flame still burning
at the burner. The lower seat of the valve in the pilot light tube is slotted or
otherwise made so as not to be gas-tight and, accordingly, a continuous supply of gas
is maintained to the pilot light except when the communication is closed, as afore-
said, by the valve when raised to its upper seat in the pilot light tube.
1007
NICHOLAS WATTS.
Chartered Patent Agent, Bristol.
I, FREDERICK GEORGE BARTLETT, of 4, Elton Road, Bishopston, Bristol, plumber,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is
.

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
t
This invention, which relates to incandescent gas-lighting, consists in improve-
ments upon a former invention made by me and constituting the subject of a
former application made by me for Letters Patent No. 23454 of 1896, according to
which said former invention the lighting of a series of burners in a system is
controlled from one by-pass main cock or tap; each burner being provided with
a pilot light kept constantly supplied with gas.
Now this present invention consists in controlling the issue of gas from the
pilot light tube of each burner by means of a valve placed in the pilot light tube
or in a channel communicating with the tube.
The said valve, which may be a ball valve, a pin valve a cup valve, or of other
suitable kind, has one seat below it and another above it. The lower seat is dentated,
grooved, or otherwise made not gas-tight. When the supply of gas to the burner
is cut off by the by-pass main cock being turned in the right direction, the valve
appertaining to each burner lies in its seat, thus preventing passage of gas through
the aperture which it controls, as set forth in the specification of my said former
Patnet No. 23454 of 1896. When the burner valve is thus down, the valve in the
pilot light tube is also down and rests on its lower seat, but, this latter not being
gas-tight, the gas admitted through the by-pass of the main cock passes up the
pilot light tube and keeps the flame at the top thereof alight. When, by turning
the by-pass main cock in the proper direction, a sufficient supply of gas is admitted
to the chamber below the burner valve, the latter valve rises under the pressure
and clears the aperture in the seat below it, as set forth in the specification of my
said former Patent No. 23454 of 1896. The gas issuing at the burner top is ignited
by the pilot light. At the same time as the burner valve rises, the valve in the
pilot light tube also rises until it reaches its upper seat and when it reaches its
said uppér seat it obstructs communication with the part of the tube above it and
thus causes the pilot light to become extinguished.
When it is required to extinguish the flame at the burner, the by-pass main cock
is turned in the direction proper therefor and the burner valve descends to its seat,
as set forth in the specification of my said former Patent No. 23454 of 1896. The
valve in the pilot light tube also descends and lodges on its lower seat which, as
aforesaid, not being gas-tight, permits the gas admitted from the by-pass of the
main cock to flow through the pilot light tube The valve in the pilot light tube,
by leaving its upper seat, re-establishes communication throughout the pilot light
tube and the gas thus allowed to issue from the pilot light tube is ignited by the
expiring flame still burning at the burner.
In order to remove from the burner valve any pressure which may be due to a
column of gas in the pilot light tube when the valves are down, a grooved sleeve
is preferably fitted to the pilot light tube. The grooves in the sleeve are open
below to the atmosphere which, entering the grooves, is conducted upwards by
the induced current in the tube.
Referring to the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings, Fig. 1 represents,
in vertical section, a valve and valve chamber as devised for lighting burners in
incandes-as-lighting in accordance with the specification of my Patent No. 23454
f 1896 whereby a series of burners in a system can be controlled from one by-pass
main cock. As is well understood, a Bunsen tube or other ordinary burner is
screwed or otherwise attached to the barrel b. The valve a is shown on its seat,
thus closing communication with the nipple c. At Fig. 2 is shown the burner,
also in vertical section, but the valve a is raised. So far as regards the barrel b
and its valve a they are practically the same as those referred to in the specification
of my said former Patent No. 23454 of 1896. The action in respect thereof is also
practically the same.
The subject of this present invention is, as aforesaid, the control, by means of
a suitable valve, laced in the pilot light tube, or in a channel communicating
therewith, of the
passage of gas to the upper part and issuing point of the said tube.

page_text: At Figs 1 and 2 the valve shown is a ball e of aluminium or other suitably light
and durable metal or material. It is contained in a ferrule f which is virtually
an enlargement of the pilot light tube g, g'. The valve e is of smaller diameter
than the interior of the ferrule f. The upper end of the lower party of the pilot
light tube forms the lower seat of the valve e. This seat is not gas-tight, being
grooved, dentated, serrated, or roughened with that object. A sectional view of
the lower seat is shown, drawn to an enlarged scale, at Fig. 3. The ball valve is
indicated in dotted lines as resting on the seat. The lower end of the upper
part g of the pilot light tube forms the upper seat of the valve e.
.
At Fig. 1 the valve e is shown in the position it occupies when the gas is not
being supplied to the burner, but only to the pilot light tube through the by-pass
of the main cock. The gas passing through the grooves or apertures in the lower
seat of the valve e passes up about the later and feeds the flame of the pilot light.
The main flame of the burner is extinguished. When it is desired to light gas
at the burner, the by-pass main cock is opened accordingly and the valve a rises,
as seen at Fig. 2, and allows the gas to pass through the aperture a¹ and thence
through slots in the casing or open-ended thimble d¹ to the nipple c whence it
passes to the burner as set forth in the specification of my Patent No. 23454 of
1896. The gas issuing at the burner is ignited by the pilot light. A gauze
disc e placed below the nipple c serves the double purpose of excluding dirt from
the valve chamber and of preventing the valve from rising into the nipple. As
the valve a rises, the valve e in the pilot light tube also rises to its upper seat
at the bottom of the upper part g' of the pilot light tube and cuts off communica-
tion between the part below the valve e and the part above it. The pilot light
being no longer fed with gas becomes extinguished, but not before the gas issuing
at the burner is ignited.
When it is required to extinguish the burner flame, the main by-pass cock is
turned in the direction proper therefor, and the valve a descends to its seat, cutting
off further passage of gas to the burner, as set forth in the specification of my said
former Patent No. 23454 of 1896. The valve e also descends to its lower seat
which, as aforesaid, not being gas-tight, permits the gas admitted from the by-
pass of the main cock to flow through the pilot light tube. The valve e, by
leaving its upper seat, re-establishes communication throughout the tube, and the
gas thus allowed to issue from the pilot light tube is ignited by the flame at the
Burner before the said flame expires.
Briefly, the pilot light is extinguished, as the burner flame is lit, and the
pilot light is re-lit as the burner flame expires.
The valve in the pilot light tube is not necessarily a ball. It may be in the form
of an inverted pin e¹ as shown at Fig. 4 and, at an exaggerated scale at Fig. 5.
Or, it may be cup-shaped or of other suitable form.
Instead of being in the pilot light tube, the valve controlling the communica-
tion therein may be in a channel provided in the barrel b with which channel the
pilot light tube communicates. In order to remove from the valve a any back
pressure of gas when the valves are down, the device shown at Fig. 6, and, at an
exaggerated scale at Fig. 7, may be employed. It consists of a sleeve which,
except where the grooves occur, fits on a nozzle g² constituting a section of the pilot
light tube. The grooves are open at the lower end to the atmosphere and an up-
ward current is induced in the pilot light tube.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that
I do not here claim the method of and means for controlling the lighting of a series
of incandescent gas-light burners herein before set forth, as such method and means
are described and claimed in the Specification of my former Patent No. 23454
of 1896, but what I claim is :-
In incandescent gas-lighting where a series of burners in a system is controlled
from a common by-pass main cock or tap, and such as is described and claimed in

page_text: the specification of my former Patent No. 23454 of 1896, or the like, the provision
in the pilot light tube, or in a channel communicating therewith, of a valve such
as e, or its equivalent, so constructed and arranged as, when its lower seat, to
allow gas to descend above it and keep the pilot light burning, but when gas is
being fed to the burner, the said valve rises to an upper seat and blocks the further
passage beyond it, substantially as hereinabove described with reference to the
accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings.
Dated this 15th day of October, 1897.
NICHOLAS WATTS.
Chartered l'atent Agent, Bristol.