IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM OIL AND OTHER VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Hinks and Joseph Dlinks
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 22nd May 1863.
We, JAMES HINKS and JOSEPH IIINк8, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM OIL AND OTHER VOLATILE
LIQUID HYDROCARBONS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in lamps
for burning petroleum oil and other volatile liquid hydrocarbons, whereby
the flickering or unsteadiness of the flames produced by currents of air is
prevented, and perfect combustion of the said flames at the same time
obtained.
Our improvements are specially applicable to lamps used in India or where
punkahs are used.
Our Invention consists, firstly, in constructing and arranging the holders or
galleries by which the shades of the said lamps are supported in the following
manner-We take an ordinary flat wick burner and place the shade holder
or gallery at the bottom or at the mount of the said burner, instead of placing
the said shade holder immediately below the cone or deflector of the burner.
We make the said shade holder of perforated metal or wire gauze, and of a
diameter double that of the ordinary holder, the said holder being provided
with a rim. When the shade is in its place on the holder or gallery the

page_text: burner is wholly enclosed in the said shade, a space of about two inches being
left between the oil vessel and the perforated shade holder for the draught of
air to support the combustion of the flame. The said shade bolder is thus by
its position protected from the currents of air produced by the punkabs while
still permitting of a free and large ingress of cold air through its perforations
to the inside of the shade. We apply a holder or gallery of the construction
described to circular or Argand burners, the said burners being provided with
air tubes or cups for conveying air to the centre of the burner. The air fed
to the centre of the burners in ordinary lamps passes to the air tubes or cups
described through large openings at the top of the pillars or stands of the
lamps, and by the draught produced causes the lamps to smoke and give off an
unpleasant dour. In order to remedy these defects we either make the top
part of the said air tubes or cups of perforated metal or wire gauze; or we
cover the large holes described with perforated metal or wire gauze; or we
use a perforated metal basket to put the oil vessel or vase in, the bottom part
being lined with wire gauze.
Our Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvements in con-
structing the caps or covers, by which the tops of the shades of the said lamps
are surmounted, which caps or covers are commonly called punkab protectors.
The said punkah protectors are ordinarily made of wire gauze or perforated
metal of various heights, having a plain rim of inetal or a metal crinkle at the
top, the said protectors being made in every case the same size at bottom as
the top of the shade, so as to fit or embrace the top of the shade.
In constructing the said protectors according to our Invention we make
them larger at bottom than the top of the shade in the following manner :-
We take a disc of perforated metal or wire gauze of a diameter somewhat
greater than the diameter of the top of the shade, and fasten to the edge
thereof a perforated rim. A bolder is thus made somewhat similar to that
attached to the burner herein-before described, the middle of the holder
In
having a hole in it through which the chimney of the lamp may pass.
this holder we place a glass or metal conical tube, the said tube being of the
same size at bottom as the said holder, so as to fit tightly against the rim of
the said holder. The upper or narrow end of the tube is covered by a metal
crinkle of the ordinary kind, or by a disc of metal, the said upper end of the
tube being provided with a flange which serves to secure the said crinkle or
disc to the tube. When a punkah protector of the construction described is
in its place on the top of the shade the edge of the perforated holder is situated
beyond the edge of the shade, so that cold air nay freely enter at the per-
forations near the edge of the holder into the tube carried by the said holder,

page_text: and pass by the perforations within the tube to the body of the shade, while
hot air may readily pass from the lamp by the apertures in the crinkle or
metal disc surmounting the protector. By applying a protector of this kind
in combination with a shade holder of the kind berein-before described, the
lamp is protected both ways from the currents of air produced by the punkahs.
For cheap lamps the punkah protectors may be made in the following
way-We make the bottom and sides of perforated metal or wire gauze, the
diameter of the protector being somewhat less than that of the top of the shade.
To the edge of the bottom of the protector we fix a rim or strip of metal so as
to increase its size to that of the top of the shade with which it is to be used.
We leave the metal crinkle large enough to allow of the fixing of a strip of
metal or cylinder of glass under its edge of the depth or nearly of the depth of
the perforated sides of the protector. In using a protector of this kind the
cold air enters the perforated sides and passes by the perforated bottom to the
inside of the shade, while the hot air escapes by the apertures in the crinkle
at the top of the protector.