IMPROVEMENTS IN WICKS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stebbins Fish, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WICKS."
Sealed the 14th January 1873, and dated the 13th September 1872. .
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stebbins
Fish at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 13th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM STEBBINS FISH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WICKS," to be as follows, that is to say:
This Invention which relates to improvements in the construction of
wicks used in lamps, oil cups, and in other situations wherein oil, grease,
or spirit is required to be conveyed by the action of a wick, consists
essentially in the employment or application of asbestos or amianthus
as the material of which such wicks are constructed.

page_text: Wicks so constructed may be made flat, tubular, and round, square,
or of other required section, and the material is put together by forming
it into yarn, which is then woven, braided, or plaited together after the
manner of forming an ordinary wick of cotton, or the material may be
pulped and felted together, or the fibres may be laid parallel to each
other and bound together.
It is to be understood that whilst it. is preferred to construct the
improved wicks according to this Invention exclusively of asbestos or
amianthus, yet metallic wire or fibrous substance may be com-
bined therewith, such for example as cotton, flax, hemp or jute,
which in the case of woven wicks may be used for the weft, whilst
asbestos or amianthus is used for the warp, or vice versa. These
materials excepting metallic wire may also be used in combination
with asbestos or amianthus in the case of felted wicks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Stebbins Fish in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STEBBINS FISH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the 36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Stebbins Fish,
Her special license that I, the said William Stebbins Fish, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Stebbins Fish, my executors, administrators, or 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 Islo
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WICKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Stebbins Fish, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly

page_text: 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 William Stebbins Fish, 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 which relates to improvements in the construction
of wicks used in lamps, oil cups, and in other situations wherein oil,
grease, or spirit is required to be conveyed by the action of a wick,
consists essentially in the employment or application of asbestos or
amianthus as the material of which such wicks are constructed.
Wicks so constructed may be made flat, tubular, and round, square,
or of other required section, and the material is put together by forming
it into yarn, which is then woven, braided, or plaited together after the
manner of forming an ordinary wick of cotton, or the material may
be pulped and felted together after the manner set forth with reference
to forming packing of pulped asbestos or amianthus set forth in my
Specification No. 2671, A. D. 1872, or the fibres may be laid parallel to
each other and bound together by being surrounded with asbestos yarn,
or with wire, or by being placed within a tube of metal, glass, porcelain,
fire-clay, or other similar material.
It is to be understood that whilst it is preferred to construct the
improved wicks according to this Invention exclusively of asbestos or
amianthus, yet metallic wire or fibrous substance may be combined
therewith, such for example as cotton, flax, hemp, or jute, which in the
case of woven wicks may be used for the weft, whilst asbestos or
amianthus is used for the warp, or vice versa. These materials excepting
metallic wire may also be used in combination with asbestos or
amianthus in the case of felted wicks.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hercin-before

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent is, constructing wicks of asbestos or
amianthus substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stebbins Fish, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
WILLIAM STEBBINS FISH. (L.S.)