IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM, SHALE, AND OTHER MINERAL OILS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Petit, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Mechanician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR
BURNING PETROLEUM, SHALE, AND OTHER MINERAL OILS."
Sealed the 24th December 1867, and dated the 29th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Petit at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
June 1867.
I, CHARLES PETIT, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM, SHALE, AND OTHER MINERAL OILS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a lamp to burn.all mineral oils.
and give a brilliant light without either smoke or smell; and with a round
wick instead of a flat.
My lamp consists, firstly, of a body in which is an interior reservoir for the
oil, and through the centre of which reservoir passes a tube for conveying air
to the interior of the flame. The wick surrounds this said interior air tube,
which is carried above the top of the oil reservoir nearly to the height of the
top of the burner. Over the wick is passed the wick carrier,, which is also
circular and cut at its upper extremity into a series of small claws which
catch into the wick to raise or lower it as required. Down one side of the
said wick carrier are cut a series of small holes forming a rack, into which

page_text: takes a small pinion, which on being turned raises or lowers the said wick
carrier as required. Over the outside of the wick, and resting on and closing
the top of the said reservoir, is placed the burner, which rises to about the
same beight as the said air tube, and is provided at its base with small per-
forations for conveying back to the reservoir the oil that drips from the flame.
Over the burner thus fixed is placed a capsule having perforations at its base
for the admission of air to the exterior of the flame; the said capsule is not
carried above the burner as in the lamps at present in use; this said capsule
is in its turu surrounded by the plate in which the glass or chimney is
secured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Petit in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
PETIT, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mechanician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Petit, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Petit, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Petit, 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 LAMPS FOR BURNING PETRO-
LEUM, SHALE, AND OTHER MINERAL OILS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Petit, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Petit, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
(that is to say)—
This Invention consists in forming the burners of lamps with their air
chambers and passages much larger than those in general use, in order to
burn not only shale and boghead oils but also the lighter mineral oils, such
as the oils of petroleum and others of a similar nature. I prefer to use a
round wick instead of a flat one, and the principal object to accomplish is to
enable sufficient air to be in contact with the flame for obtaining a regular
and perfect combustion without smoke or flickering, and this result is attained
with my improved lamp, the construction of which is shewn in detail in the
Figures drawn about half size on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference representing the same parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 represents a socket for covering the wick and closing the lamp,
there being small holes o in the moulding at the base for returning any oil
that may drop from the wick to the oil vessel; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, shew three
different arrangements of external sockets or covers constructed according to
my Invention; Fig. 5 represents the oil vessel with its wick holder; Fig. 6
represents an internal socket made of shistus or argillaceous clay slate (the
French shiste), to which socket the current of air is admitted at the base
through a round, triangular, or square opening m, and to this socket I apply
my various covers, as shewn in Fig. 7; Fig. 8 represents a bottom view of
the covers, each of which hems the wick and spreads the air to the flame, and
these covers may be made of sheet metal; Fig. 9 represents a lamp complete,
some of the internal parts being shewn by dotted lines, and for enabling the
lower part to be cleaned with facility it can be disconnected at the circle k ;
Fig. 10 shews in plan the top part of the lamp, on which is placed the cap or
ring which supports the glass chimney, there being a raised circle which
collects any oil that may drop from the pinion and allows it to enter the oil
vessel through the small holes o; and Fig. 11 is a view of the wick holder
detached.
In the foregoing Figures A represents the cover or socket; B, the internal
socket; C, the oil vessel; D, an internal tube for the passage of air, which is
introduced at the bottom of the lamp; E, a receptacle below the tube D for
receiving the spent or burnt pieces of wick; F, the wick holder; H, the part
which hems the wick; I, small openings for the admission of air; J, a small
forked rod, attached to the tube D, and passed through the small receptacle
to which it is fixed by a screw nut, thereby enabling the base or foot of the
lamp to be connected to the oil vessel. The upper part of my improved wick
holder is round, and at the top there are a number of small slits for giving it

page_text: elasticity, so that the wick is evenly. conducted to the top of the burner and
the feeding of the oil not interfered with, there being a toothed rack and
pinion for raising and lowering the wick holder and wick, and this rack may
be either rivetted or soldered to the holder. The wick should not be bound
fast, as is generally the case when it is round, but a single vertical slit formed
between the threads for enabling it to glide easily on the tube D; the wick
holder is put in from above, and the rack gears into the pinion. The lamp
shewn in the Drawings is of the moderator or carcel principle, but my
improved burners can be applied to several forms of lamps and suspenders
and the ordinary round lamp glasses employed without any contraction in the
neck; and it will be observed that I do not make use of the discs or caps
which cover the light as is the case in some descriptions of lamps burning
mineral oils.
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the exact forms
and dimensions represented in the Drawings, as they may be varied to suit
the requirements, although at the same time I consider that those forms and
dimensions are calculated to obtain a perfect combustion of the oil, and give a
clear and intense light without smell or smoke.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Petit, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of
our Lord 1867.