Improvements in Oil and Like Lamps for Illuminating Purposes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov, 1897-Accepted, 29th Jan.,
1898
[Communicated from abroad by LA COMPAGNIE CONTINENTALE D'INCANDESCENCE
ET DE CHAUFFAGE, of 3, Kue de L'Evêque Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Manufacturers.]
Improvements in Oil and Like Lamps for Illuminating Purposes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is automatically to subject liquid fuel, which is
contained in a receiver surmounted by a gasifying burner of any suitable con-
struction, to a predetermined degree of pressure, and to ensure the constancy or
uniformity of such pressure for so long as the burner continues in operation.
The said arrangement is particularly applicable to all kinds of suspension lights
or lamps, such as lyre-shaped lamps; also to street lamps; and generally to every
description of illuminating apparatus of that class.
By describing, merely as an example, a "lyre-shaped" arrangement, such as
is frequently used in apartments, fitted with apparatus in accordance with our
invention, a sufficiently clear idea of the principle embodies in the device will be
given.
The lyre-shaped lamp is represented, in section, in the accompanying drawing,
in which,
a designates the liquid fuel reservoir; b, the screw-plug employed to close the
filling orifice of the same, the joint being made perfectly air-tight;
c, the plunger tube, through which the liquid fuel rises to the burner d;
d, a gasifying burner of any suitable type or construction;
h, an upper air-tight chamber to which the liquid poured in at a may rise
under adequate pressure;
f, a tube bent towards the dome of the reservoir a and forming an extension
of one arm of the lyre k, which leads to a close, air-tight smoke-consuming
chamber ;
m, a pointed screw-tap enabling the piping fk and to be connected with or
disconnected from the atmosphere; and the air-tight chamber generally forming
a smoke-absorbing device, containing either air only, or, preferably, air and small
charcoal, which, where used,--has the effect of reducing the capacity of the
space in which it is placed; for it is well known that charcoal absorbs 7 or 8
times the volume of atmospheric air, which it liberates again, however, in pro-
portion as its temperature rises, and re-absorbs once more as it cools down.
The space
I therefore, if it contain charcoal, will be in the same position, as
regards its effect, as a similar, but far more capacious space, containing air only.
The employment of charcoal thus renders the apparatus highly serviceable, by
enabling the smoke-consuming device to be of portable or convenient dimensions,
whilst being sufficiently powerful in its action.
The operation of the mechanism is extremely simple.

page_text: During the initial heating of the burner by means of alcohol or any other
means, after the tap m has first been turned off, the condensed air in the charcoal
is liberated and expands under the influence of the heat radiating from the lamp-
chimney. It exercises a rapidly increasing pressure upon the fluid in the reser-
voir a, which accordingly rises, both, through the tube c, into the burner d, and
through the tube g, into the receiver h.
By the time the fluid reaches the burner it becomes converted into vapour (or
gas), ignites, and from that moment assumes the task of continuing to heat, or
maintaining the temperature of, the chamber 1. Presently there is restored, as
it were, an equilibrium of temperatures as regards the said chamber, viz., between
the heat gained by it and the heat it loses by radiation. At this juncture the
liquid fuel ceases to ascend to the chamber h and the apparatus continues to work
under the constant pressure supplied by the column raised, as long as there is
any liquid left in the chamber h.
If the flame has to be extinguished before all this liquid has been consumed,
it is only necessary to operate the pointed screw-tap m. The air will then escape
through the narrow orifice o; the liquid contained in h will redescend into a;
the burner flame will go out; the smoke-absorber will cool down; the charcoal
will re-absorb air through the orifice o, which has remained open; and eventually
the apparatus is ready to be kindled anew.
We do not limit ourselves to the details of the particular construction herein
described or to the form of apparatus shown in the drawing, which may vary
within the scope of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:
1. In illuminating apparatus, in the operation of which any desired liquid fuel
is used, the combination of an air-chamber heated by waste heat, and com-
municating with the liquid fuel reservoir, with a pipe (or system of pipes) g,
plunging into the said reservoir, and terminating in a second, raised reservoir h
adapted to act as a pressure regulator.
2. The employment of charcoal in any form, or of any other similar material,
for the purpose of rendering the closed air-tight chamber more powerful (or
effective) in proportion to its predetermined volume.
Dated this 19th day of November 1807
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.