IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE LAMP COMMONLY CALLED THE MODERATOR LAMP
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, of 21, Guildford
Street East, Farringdon Road, in the County of Middlesex, French
Lamp Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE LAMP COMMONLY CALLED THE MODERATOR LAMP."
Sealed the 8th October 1867, and dated the 30th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Baptiste Auguste
Menage at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
on the 30th July 1867.
I, JEAN BAPTISTE AUGUSTE MENAGE, of 21, Guildford Street East,
Farringdon Road, in the County of Middlesex, French Lamp Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE LAMP COMMONLY CALLED THE MODERATOR LAMP," to be
as follows:-
Firstly, instead of the oil tube and the moderator rod within it (which in
the common moderator lamp are used for regulating the amount of annular
space through which the oil ascends by the action of the spring and plunger or
piston) I use a single tube without any moderator rod within it, the regulation
of the quantity of oil ascending being effected by making the tube of suitably
small diameter at its upper end, where it communicates with the burner.
Secondly, I fit to a cup attached to the lower end of the oil tube beneath
the plunger a plate of wire gauze operating as a filter, through which the oil

page_text: must pass before it can ascend through the oil tube to the burner, whereby
the oil is filtered and freed from the impurities, which in the common
moderator lamp remain in and ascend with the oil and clog the lamp.
The filter is fitted, as above mentioned, into a cup attached to the oil tube.
not ascending or descending with the plunger, but remaining at the lower
end of the lamp a little above the basement, and it is not permanently fixed to
the oil tube but is fitted into a cup formed at the end of the oil tube, so that
it can be easily removed when foul.
The filter may be made with a plate perforated with small holes instead of
wire gauze, but I do not recommend that construction and prefer wire gauze
as more effective.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BAPTISTE AUGUSTE MENAGE, of 21, Guildford Street East, Farringdon Road,
in the County of Middlesex, French Lamp Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven, and Numbered 2199, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her special license, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I,
the said Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself, and themselves, or by my, or their
deputy or deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I, the said Jean
Baptiste Anguste Menage, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, in
such manner as to me the said Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in my or their discretion
seem meet, and in the said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in

page_text: writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, regard
being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:―
Whereas, in the ordinary moderator lamp heretofore used the regulation of
the quantity of oil that is permitted to ascend or be forced up through the oil
tube (by the action of the spring and plunger or piston) is effected by the
insertion of a moderator rod through such tube, which rod limits or contracts
the space through which the oil can pass, and with such method of regulation
the annular passage left for the oil is apt to become clogged.
And whereas, in the ordinary moderator lamp the oil passes from the oil
reservoir direct up through the oil tube so that any impurities which collect
in the oil reservoir ascend with the oil through the oil tube.
Now my Invention consists, firstly, in dispensing with the moderator rod
and using a simple oil tube for the oil to pass up to the burner without any
rod within it, and in regulating the supply of oil to the burner by contracting
the diameter of the oil tube at the upper end thereof to a suitable extent to
regulate the supply that shall be delivered to the burner..
And, secondly, in fixing to the lower end of the oil tube. an inverted cup,
into which is fitted another cup, and this latter cup is provided with a disk of
wire gauze (or a plate perforated with very small holes); the latter cup
operates as a filter through which the oil must pass before it can ascend into
the oil tube, whereby the oil is filtered and is wholly or partially freed from
the impurities which may have collected in the oil reservoir.
The more fully to explain my said Invention I will now refer to the
Drawing or plan thereof filed herewith.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure I. shews a vertical section of a lamp constructed according to my
improvements, with the plunger partly raised and supposed to be descending
by the operation of the spring; Figure 2 is a detached view in section full
size of the cup and filter, herein-before referred to, fitted together; Figure 3
is a front view of the filter alone detached; Figure 4 shews a plan of the

page_text: A, Figure I., is the oil tube which I generally make for a lamp of the size
shewn by the Drawing, of about one-eighth of an inch internal diameter up
to within about three inches from the upper end, where it begins to be con-
tracted, see Figure 5, and the diameter of the smaller part of the tube should
be extremely small, but of course the size of the lower part of the oil tube
and of the contracted part of it at the upper end must be regulated in each
case according to the size of the lamp, the strength of the spring, and the size
of the burner. B is the oil chamber; C, the spring; D, the plunger or piston;"
E is the cup at the lower end of the oil tube, into which the filter cup F is.
fitted; the cup E is attached to the oil tube as a fixture; the filter F is not
permanently fixed to the cup E, but is made to fit into it oil tight, but so that
it can be removed for the purpose of cleaning it when it has become foul by
intercepting the impurities of the oil. The oil is forced up through the oil
tube by the spring C acting upon the plunger D in the usual manuer, and the
quantity issuing into the burner at the upper end of the oil tube is regulated
entirely by the amount of contraction or diminution of diameter of the upper
part of the oil tube, as above pointed out. By thus dispensing with the.
moderator rod a considerable amount of unnecessary friction in forcing up the
oil is got rid of, and there is less liability of the oil tube becoming clogged.
The oil before it can pass up from the oil chamber into the tube must, as
berein-before pointed out and as is apparent from the Drawings, pass through
the filter F which takes up any impurities or dirt that may have collected in
the reservoir, or the greater part of such impurities or dirt, and thus to a very
great extent a supply of pure oil is furnished to the burner. The filter F may
be made either with a piece of wire gauze or with a plate of metal perforated
with very small holes, but I consider wire gauze preferable.
In the lamp which I have above described the oil tube does not move up
and down with the plunger but is a fixture, so that the cups E and F remain
always at the base of the lamp, the cup F being raised a little above the base-
ment by the legs a, a, Figures 2 and 3, but in some moderator lamps the oil
tube ascends and descends with the plunger. When a filter F is applied to
such lamps the cup E will be fixed to the end of the oil tube, and the filter
cup F will be fitted into it in the same manner as I have above described,
the important point being that whether the oil tube is stationary or moves up
and down with the plunger the filter cup should be below the lower orifice of
the tube so that no oil can be forced up through the tube without first passing
through the filter.
I have also described and shewn in the Drawing the oil tube as a compound
tube with the lower part of a comparatively large diameter, and the upper

page_text: part of a very small diameter, but instead of that arrangement a tube may
be used either of a very small diameter throughout or of a more considerable
diameter up to near the burner, the upper end being contracted to a small
diameter; the main alteration constituting this part of my Invention (as
berein-after limited and claimed) consisting in dispensing with the moderator
rod, and regulating the supply by the contraction of the oil tube.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that I claim,—-
Firstly, as applied to the construction of a lamp of the kind called a
moderator lamp (and to that kind of lamp only) the combination of an oil
tube having no moderator rod contained in it, and regulating the supply
of oil to the burner by the contraction of the upper end of the tube with a
filter placed beneath the lower end of the oil tube so that the oil must pass
through the filter before entering the oil tube.
And, secondly, I claim separately, as applied to the kind of lamp called
the moderator lamp and to that kind of lamp only, a filter such as I have
described place beneath the lower orifice of the oil tube; I do not claim
separately an oil tube contracted at the upper end, and I do not claim any
of the other parts of the lamp shewn on the Drawing, or herein-before
referred to.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Auguste Menage, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JEAN BAPTISTE AUGUSTE MENAGE. (L.S.)