AN IMPROVED SAFETY LAMP
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Arthur Dillon, of the City of Dublin,
Ireland, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAFETY LAMP."
Sealed the 10th May 1870, and dated the 13th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Arthur Dillon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th November 1869.
I, THOMAS ARTHUR DILLON, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
SAFETY LAMP," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain combinations and arrangements of
mechanism whereby a safety lamp is produced which is applicable to the
use and requirements of miners, the distinguishing characteristics thereof
being that it is capable of imparting a great amount of light and of
being used with safety in immediate proximity to substances liable to
explosion, inasmuch as it does not become unduly or dangerously
heated, and cannot be tampered with by the workmen, as is the case
with the safety lamps ordinarily in use.
A strong case of convenient portable size is constructed of any suitable
material, such as metal, wood, vulcanite, or ebonite, or of a combination

page_text: of such materials, openings therein being provided which are fitted with
glass (when the outer case is not of glass) of a lenticular or other
suitable form, and through which the rays of light from the flame of the
lamp are transmitted. In this outer case is placed an inner water-tight
lamp formed with openings, which are also fitted with glass of a
lenticular or other form (when the said inner lamp is not of glass as it
may be), and which correspond in position with the openings in the
outer case:
The upper portion of the inner lamp is constructed by
preference in the form of a double cone, the space between the outer and
the inner concs serving as an inlet passage for the admission of air or
oxygen, or a mixture thereof for the purpose of supporting combustion
and generating light, whilst the inner cone carries off the products of
combustion. The two cones are provided with suitable inlet and outlet
pipes, which pipes are filled with fine wire (as in the arrangement
known as Hemming's safety tube), and are furnished with valves which
respectively open inwards and outwards. For the production of light oil,
candles or any other suitable source of hydrogen and carbon may be
employed, and when air is used for the purpose of supporting combustion
it may either be forced or drawn through suitable pipes into the lamp
from the mine or other place in which it may be used, or from a fixed
reservoir, or may be compressed into a reservoir attached to the lamp
itself, and as the supply of air is impelled or drawn through the safety
tubes mentioned explosion is impossible. When pure oxygen is em-
ployed it can be readily compressed into and carried in a reservoir
attached to the lamp as last mentioned, and is similarly drawn or
impelled through the safety tubes so as to prevent explosion. The space
between the outer case and the inner lamp is filled with water or any
other liquid, vapour, or substance capable of greatly absorbing the heat
rays and at the same time of transmitting the rays of light, the body of
the inner lamp being so placed therein as to be entirely surrounded
thereby (with the exception of the mouths of the inlet and outlet pipes)
by the non-conducting medium. Access to the inner lamp is prevented
by the fact of its being surrounded by water or other absorbant of heat,
as before mentioned. Any suitable mechanical arrangements, as will
be well understood, can be applied as adjuncts of security with a view of
preventing the inner lamp being tampered with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Arthur Dillon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ARTHUR DILLON, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent,, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One, thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Arthur Dillon, Her
special licence. that I, the said Thomas Arthur Dillon, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Arthur
Dillon, 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
"AN IMPROVED SAFETY LAMP," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Arthur Dillon, 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 Thomas Arthur Dillon, do hereby
declare 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, that is to say:-
. My said Invention consists in certain combinations and arrangements
of mechanism whereby a safety lamp is produced which is applicable
to the use and requirements of miners, the distinguishing characteristics
thereof being that it is capable of imparting a great amount of light and
of being used with safety in immediate proximity to substances liable to
explosion, inasmuch as it does not become unduly or dangerously heated,

page_text: and cannot be tampered with by the workmen, as is the case with the
safety lamps ordinarily in use.
A strong case of convenient portable size is constructed of any suitablo
material, such as metal, wood, glass, vulcanite, or ebonite, or of a com-
bination of such materials, openings therein being provided which are
fitted with glass (when the outer case is not of glass) by preferance of a
lenticular form, and through which the rays of light from the flame of
the lamp are transmitted. In this outer case is placed an inner water-
tight lamp constructed of any material or materials adapted to the
purpose, and formed with openings, which are also fitted with glass, by
preference of a lenticular or other form (when the said inner lamp is not
constructed of glass, as it may be,) and which correspond in position
with the openings in the outer case. The upper portion of the inner
lamp is constructed in the form of a double cone, the space between the
outer and the inner cones serving as an inlet passage for the admission
of air or oxygen, or a mixture thereof for the purpose of supporting
combustion and generating light (when sources of light are used
réquiring a supply of air or oxygen), whilst the inner cone carries off
the products of combustion. The two cones are provided with suitable
inlet and outlet pipes, which pipes are fitted with fine wire or equivalent
substitutes therefor (as in the arrangement known as Heming's safety
tube), and arc, if requisite, furnished with valves which respectively open
inwards and outwards. For the production of light oil, candles or any
other suitable source of hydrogen and carbon may be employed, or
electricity may be used to produce the necessary light, and when air is
used for the purpose of supporting combustion it may either be forced or
drawn through suitable pipes (which may be either rigid or flexible or
partly rigid and partly flexible) into the lamp from the mine or other
place, or from a fixed or moveable reservoir, or may be compressed into
a reservoir attached to the lamp itself, and as the supply of air is
impelled or drawn through the safety tubes before mentioned explosion
is impossible. When pure oxygen is employed to support combustion it.
can be readily compressed into and carried in a reservoir attached to the
lamp as last mentioned, and is similarly drawn or impelled through
the safety tubes so as to prevent explosion, atmospheric air or oxygen
may be induced by causing the flame of the lamp, candle, or other
source of light to impinge or act on an air or water reservoir (fixed inside
the said lamp) so as to generate a current of steam or air, which current

page_text: will induce or impel the required supply of air or oxygen to feed the
flame, the heat of which flame is thus utilized. In like manner oxygen
gas may be generated from any convenient-source or supply within the
lamp by the application of the flame of the lamp itself to the reservoir
containing such supply of oxygen giving material. The space between
the outer case and the inner lamp is filled with water or any other
liquid, vapour, or substance capable of greatly absorbing the heat rays
and at the same time of transmitting the rays of light, the body of the
inner lamp being so placed therein as to be entirely surrounded (with
the exception of the mouths of the inlet and outlet pipes) by the non-
conducting material. It is evident that access to the lamp by the miners
is entirely prevented by the fact of its being thus enclosed in and
surrounded by water or other absorbent of heat as before mentioned.
Any suitable mechanical arrangements, as will be well understood, can
be applied as adjuncts of security with a view of further preventing the
inner lamp being tampered with.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion that I do not claim any particular mode of producing light
or the employment of any specific supporter of combustion, or any
particular method or methods of compressing or forcing the air or gas
into the lamp; but what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as constituting the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction and arrangement of
safety lamps as and for the purposes herein-before set forth and
described, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Arthur Dillon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
THOMAS ARTHUR DILLON.
(L.S.)