IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS TO BE USED, AS MINERS' HAND OR HEAD LAMPS, AND OTHERWISE
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fyfe, General Manager of Young's Paraffin Light
and Mineral Oil Company, Limited, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS TO BE USED,
AS MINERS' HAND OR HEAD LAMPS, AND OTHERWISE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fyfe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th March 1881.
JOHN FYFE, General Manager of Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil
Company, Limited, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS TO BE USED AS MINERS' HAND OR HEAD LAMPS, AND
OTHERWISE."
This Invention has for its object the construction of a miner's hand or bead
lamp in an improved manner and so as to burn solid or semi-fluid hydro-carbons,
such as crude or refined paraffin, scale, or wax, or similar substances. The improved
lamp is also constructed so as to avoid unpleasant heating of the forehead when
carried on the head; and it is also advantageously applicable in many cases where
a small lamp is required, besides being used by miners or drawers.
The improved lamp may be made in the general form of a miner's ordinary head
lamp, or in any other convenient form. It has at the back a hook serving as a
handle or for attachment to the miner's or drawer's cap, and at the front an
inclined wick tube. One improvement consists in making the wick tube of copper
or other suitable metal which is a good conductor of heat, and in extending it
beyond the side of the can or holder downwards in an inclined direction to the
bottom of the inside of the holder or nearly so, the object being to transmit heat
for the purpose of liquefying the bydrocarbon. Instead of the extension inside
the holder being in a tubular form, it may consist of one or more strips of metal
forming continuations of the wick tube. For preventing the communication of

page_text: heat, a jacket or screen of metal, or other suitable material, is fixed round the back
and sides of the lamp with a space between it and the holder, and with openings
at the bottom and top to allow of a current of air ascending through the space.
The screen may be made of leather, wood, or other suitable non-conducting
material, in which case it may be fitted either close to the can or holder, or with
an intervening space. A similar jacket or screen may be fitted round the part of
the wick tube projecting from the holder, or this projecting part of the wick tube
may be enclosed in a conical shell fixed to and forming part of the holder. The
handle or hook is by preference made hollow for air to pass through to prevent
its being overheated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Fyfe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
September 1881.
JOHN FYFE, General Manager of Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil
Company, Limited, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS TO BE USED AS MINERS' HAND OR HEAD LAMPS, AND
OTHERWISE."
My said Invention has for its object the construction of a miner's hand or head
lamp in an improved manner, and so as to be capable of satisfactorily burning
solid or semi-fluid hydro-carbons, such as crude or more or less refined paraffin, scale,
or wax, or similar substances. My improved lamp is also constructed so as to
avoid unpleasant heating of the forehead when carried on the head; and it is also
advantageously applicable in many cases where a small lamp is required, besides
being used by miners or drawers.
Until now oil and tallow have been generally used in miners' lamps, and
although paraffin has been tried, miners have expressed various objections to its
use. These objections really were due, not to the paraffin, but to the unsuitableness
of the lamps in which it was attempted to be burned, and are effectually disposed
of by my improved lamp which has been practically tested, and which is found to
give a better and more economical light than either oil or tallow, with less heat
than tallow, and to be comparatively free from smell and smoke. My improved
lamp is made in two forms, one intended for use in strong air currents, as in open
roadways and the like, and the other for close working places. The first will, I
expect, be found most suitable for drawers or putters, and the second for miners or
getters.
My improved lamp may be made in the general form of a miner's ordinary head
lamp or in any other convenient form. One of my improvements consists in
making the wick tube of copper, or other suitable metal which is a good conductor
of heat, and in extending it beyond the side of the can or holder downwards in an
inclined direction to the bottom of the inside of the holder or nearly so, the object
being to transmit heat for the purpose of liquefying the hydro-carbon. Instead of
the extension inside the holder being in a tubular form, it may consist of one or
more strips of metal forming continuations of the wick tube. For preventing the
communication of heat a jacket or screen of metal or other suitable material is
fixed at the back of the lamp or round the back and portions of the sides, with a
space between it and the holder, and with openings at the bottom and top to allow
of a current of air ascending through the space. The screen may be made of leather
or wood, or other suitable non-conducting material, in which case it may be fitted
either close to the can or holder, or with an intervening space.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
to be hereinafter referred to, and representing modifications of my improved lamp
which have by practical trial been found to answer satisfactorily.
Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are side and back
elevations of a modification of my improved lamp suitable for use by drawers or
putters, the lid being shown open and in section in Figure 2; Figures 3 and 4 are
vertical and horizontal sections corresponding to Figures 1 and 2; Figures 5 and 6.
are a side elevation and vertical section of a modification of the lamp suitable for
use by miners or getters; and Figures 7 and 8 are a corresponding plan and a
horizontal section. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to
mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.

page_text: In the modification shown in Figures 1 to 4 .the can or holder 9 is is of the
truncated conical form of an ordinary head lamp, and may be made as usual of
tinned iron or of any other suitable inetal. The wick tube 10 is of copper, the
part of it projecting from the can 9 being by preference encased in tinned iron,
whilst the copper tube 10 itself or the lower side of it is continued down inside the
can to the bottom or nearly so. The copper wick tube 10 conducts the heat from
the flame down into the can 9 so as to melt or liquefy the paraffin or other hydro-
carbon. At the back of the can 9 there is soldered or otherwise attached a jacket
or screen 11 to prevent or diminish the communication of heat when the user
carries the lamp on his forehead. The jacket 11 is represented as made of wire
gauze, which material has been found well suited for the purpose, although, as
herein before stated, various other materials might be used. The jacket 11 is fixed
at its sides, and so as to have a space between it and the can, such space being
open at the bottom and top to allow a current of air to pass freely through it.
The usual hook-shaped handle 12 is fixed to the outside of the jacket 11. This
handle 12 is represented as solid, but it may be made tubular for the passage of
air to keep it cool. The lid 13 is by preference of the double or box form shown,
this form being found to maintain its tightness of fit better than the common form.
The lid may however be made of the common or other suitable form; or a lid
fitted to screw into the mouth of the can may be substituted for the hinged lid.
In the modification shown in Figures 5 to 8 the part of the copper wick tube 10
projecting outside of the can 9 is partly enclosed in a tinned-iron casing or shell 14
which bas holes formed in its sides to admit air to moderate the heat of the wick
tube 10. In the top plate of this casing 14 there are a few small holes formed
round the projecting end of the wick tube 10 to allow air to pass up to the
flame.
•
In any of the modifications of my improved lamp the wick tube may be
made either of a circular section, as shown, or of an oblong or other suitable
form.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The constructing or combining together of the parts of lamps to be used as
miners' hand or head lamps or otherwise, substantially in the improved manner
and for the purposes herein before described.
2. The making the wick tube (10) of copper or other good heat conductor, and
with a part of it or a part attached to it projecting down into the can or holder,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
3. The making of the lamp with a jacket or screen (11), substantially as and for
the purposes herein before described.
4. The fitting of the perforated casing or jacket (14) round part of the wick
tube, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I; the said John Fyfe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.