IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING, LIGHTING, AND HEATING BY MEANS OF LIQUID FUEL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING, LIGHTING, AND HEATING BY MEANS OF
LIQUID FUEL."—A communication from abroad by James Henry
Thorp, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America, Manufacturer.
Scaled the 4th August 1874, and dated the 17th June 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 17th June 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment. Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COOKING, LIGHTING, AND HEATING BY MEANS OF LIQUID FUEL," and have
O petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, .

page_text: and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that the said Invention is communicated to me from
abroad by James Henry Thorp, of the City, County, and State of New
York, United States of America, Manufacturer.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
scal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
This Invention is designed for cooking purposes, and while in use for
this may also be availed of for light giving uses to the extent ordinarily
required in reading, sewing, and household avocations generally, and
may also be adapted for heating or warming apartments when desired.
In the construction of the apparatus one or more troughs com-
municating with a suitable reservoir are arranged to confine a volume of
water in contact with the wick tubes or tubes of the burners in such
manner as to maintain the same at a comparatively low temperature and
thereby prevent the heating of the oil below and all danger of evil
results therefrom. The volume of water is moreover provided in such
relation with the chimneys of the burners that the aqueous vapor
rising to the flame increases, as has been found by experiment, the
intensity of the heat evolved. A volume of water furthermore is inter-
posed between the burners and the openings in the wick tubes through
which work the wick adjusting devices in such manner as to prevent the
flame of the burners from jumping to said openings and igniting the
wicks below the top of the wick tubes. The oil inlet of the oil receiver
is made of such size and so arranged that it serves the purpose
hand hole through which the wicks, if for any reason dropped from the
wick tubes, may be recovered. Fixed lugs are provided to pass through
slots in the base plate of the system of chimneys for the burners,
thereby retaining the said chimneys in position for use, and yet per-
mitting their ready removal when desired. A foraminated plate being
provided around the wick tubes and below the system of chimneys, said
plate is furnished with an upwardly projecting rim or equivalent means
of supporting the chimney without permitting such contact thereof as
would permit the rapid conduction of heat from the chimneys to the
aforesaid plate. The chimneys have their sides formed of plates of
of a

page_text: mica, which from their low heat conducting power retard the lateral
transmission of heat and thereby insures its passage upward through the
chimneys as required for cooking purposes, while from the transparent
character of the mica the light is permitted to pass laterally and be
availed of in the same manner as lamp or candle light.
When the apparatus is to be used for heating purposes a radiator is
placed over the chimneys and heated by the hot currents issuing from
the tops thereof warms the room or apartment in which the apparatus
is placed.
When used for simultaneously baking and steam cooking a steam
generator formed with passages coincident with the tops of the chimneys
is supported above the latter, and upon this steam generator is placed an
oven, the steam from the generator being conducted through a pipe to a
suitable chamber separately provided, and the contents of which are
cooked by the steam at the same time that the contents of the oven aro
cooked by dry heat communicated from the hot currents from the
chimneys passed to the passages in the steam generator, the heating of
the oven being also facilitated by its immediate contact with the said
generator. The system of chimneys are placed with their lower ends
resting upon a base plate cast with a series of cones, and their upper
ends against a top plate having openings coincident with the tops of the
chimneys, the two plates being clamped against the ends of the chimneys
by suitable bolts holding the whole together so that the system of
chimneys may be placed bodily in proper relation to the series of wick
tubes, or removed therefrom when required.
In the Drawings Figure 1 is an end view and partial section of an
apparatus made according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal
section of the same taken in the line x, x, of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a
vertical sectional view of the same taken in a plane at right angles to
Figure 1, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the top plate of the same;
Figure 5 is a side view and partial vertical section on a smaller scale
showing the apparatus as arranged for baking by dry heat and for
cooking by steam at one and the same time; and Figure 6 is an end
view and partial vertical section shewing the apparatus fitted with a
radiator and adapted for heating or warming purposes.
A is the oil receiver, a vessel provided with any desired number of flat
vertical wick tubes B, each having a horizontal row of vertically disposed

page_text: openings a in one side through which pass the ratchet feed wheels for
adjusting the height of the wicks, the ratchet wheels of cach tube being
arranged in the usual way upon a horizontal rod c¹ working in bearings
at a provided at the lateral extremities of the wick tube, and furnished
at one projecting end with a knob 6¹ for turning. At one side of each
wick tube above the feed wheels thereof is a trough C, and the
opposite side of each of the said wick tubes is another trough D extended
downward to the top of the oil receiver. These troughs C, D, com-
municate by pipes or passages c, d, with a water reservoir E fixed upon
the oil receiver at one side thereof, and of such height that being filled
with water and thereby supplying the troughs C, D, the water in the
latter will reach within a certain space of the tops of the wick tubes as
shown in Figure 3. The sides of the wick tubes are thus, kept in
contact with water, and being thereby prevented from becoming unduly
heated, danger of accident from the heating of the oil below or in the
wick tubes which might otherwise occur is avoided, as is also any
increased flow of oil to the burners which would be incident to its
becoming thinner or more fluid from undue heating. Morcover when
from the heat radiated from the burners upon the exposed surface of the
water vapor is generated, this vapor passing up to the flame and within
the chimneys provided to the burners, as herein-after described,
materially increases, as has been found by experiment, the intensity of
the heat evolved. Furthermore the trough C being interposed between
the tops of the wick tubes and the openings in the said tubes through
which the feed wheels play any danger of igniting the wicks through said
openings is effectually provided against. Arranged externally to the
reservoir E is the inlet passage F, closed when not in actual use by a
lid e, and made of such size and in such proximity to the wick tubes and
relation therewith that when, as frequently occurs, a wick y drops from
its tube it may by inserting the hand through the inlet F be withdrawn
from below in order to be replaced from the top. The wicks indicated
at are made preferably of felt.
The upper edges of the troughs C, D, are arranged in the same plane
to provide a support for the foraminated plate G one edge of which is
provided with slots through which pass vertical lugs g fixed to the
adjacent edge of the water reservoir E, these studs 9 retaining the
aforesaid plate in place. This plate G has its circumferential edges
turned upward around a wire to provide a raised rim i. Upon this rim

page_text: rests the base plate II of the system of chimneys I, the said base plate
being slotted coincident with the foraminated plate G in order that the
studs passing through the slots in the edge of the base plate may.
firmly retain the system of chimneys in position. The base plate is cast
in one piece with cones A³ corresponding in number with the wick tubes
and fitting over the latter in the usual manner to deficct to the flamo
the air rising to the chimneys through the adjacent portions of the
foraminated plate. Fixed around the lower part of cach cone is a sheet
metal collar m connecting by upright strips n with another collar rat
top. The spaces enclosed by the collars and the uprights are filled with
plates or panes w of mica fixed thereto and constituting the flat sides
and rounded ends of the chimneys I. J is the top plate formed with
openings & coincident with the open upper ends of the chimneys, and
provided on its under side with flanches which fit within the collars 1.
The base plate and top plate are connected by bolts K tightened by
nuts t to firmly confine the chimneys between so that the whole system
of chimneys can be moved bodily together. The sides of the chimneys
being of mica, which permits the free passage of light but retards that of
heat, the light from the burners is rendered capable of utilization in the
lighting of the room or apartment in which the apparatus is placed,
while the heat is directed upward through the chimneys to be employed
at the tops thereof for cooking or heating purposes, as presently herein
set forth.
When the apparatus is to be used for cooking by dry heat and steam
at one and the same time a tripod M is placed about the same, as shewn
in Figure 5, to sustain above the chimneys a steam generator N. This
generator has a cavity B' in its under side from which quite through the
generator extend passages C¹; these latter when the generator is in
position being coincident with the tops of the chimneys. The upper
part of steam space of the generator communicates by a pipe D¹ with a
separate cooking chamber R, as shown in Figure 5, and upon the said
generator is placed the oven S, the heated currents passed to the
passages C¹ form the chimneys impinging upon the bottom of the oven,
and the heating of the latter being also facilitated by contact with the
steam heated top of the generator.

page_text: When the apparatus is to be used simply for heating or warming
purposes the oven itself is taken away and either with or without the
removal of the tripod the apparatus is surrounded by a metal radiator T
so constructed that the hot currents from the tops of the chimneys shall
be directed against the same in order that their heat may be absorbed
thereby and diffused therefrom to the room or apartment in which the
apparatus is placed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention
is,-
First. The combination of the reservoir with one or more troughs or
receptacles holding water in contact with the wick tube or tubes in such
manner as to effectually cool the wick tube or tubes and thereby prevent:
the heating of the oil, thus avoiding all danger of explosion and waste
of oil that would otherwise occur, substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before set forth and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The combination of one or more open troughs containing
water with the burners of the chimneys whereby vapor is supplied to the
flame of the said burners within the said chimneys, substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before set forth and illustrated by the accom-
panying Drawings.
Third. A water trough or troughs provided between the burners and
the openings through which the ratchet wheels play to adjust the wicks
whereby the jumping of flame to the said wicks is guarded against, sub-
stantially as herein-before set forth and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings.
Fourth. The opening in the oil receiver serving the double purpose of
hand hole and oil inlet arranged with reference to the system of wick
tubes, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before set forth and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Fifth. The fixed lugs passing through slots in the base plate of the
system of chimneys to keep the said system in place without interference
with their ready removal when required, substantially as herein-before
set forth and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Sixth. The upwardly projecting rim or its equivalent provided to the
foraminated diaphragm for supporting the system of chimneys whereby
the undue heating of the said diaphragm is prevented, substantially as
and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the accom-
panying Drawings.
Seventh. The system of chimneys constructed with the sides of mica
to direct the heated currents upward for cooking or heating purposes
without interfering with the lateral transmission of light for illuminating
purposes, substantially as herein-before set forth and illustrated by the
accompanying Drawings.
Eighth. The radiator arranged in such relation with the mica-sided
system of chimneys as to be heated from the tops of said chimneys
whereby the apparatus may be used for general heating purposes without
detriment to its utility for cooking or illumination, substantially as
herein-before set forth and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Ninth. The combination as described of the oven, the steam generator,
and the chimneys furnished with suitable burners whereby the oven may
be used for baking, etc., simultaneously with the generation of steam for
usc in cooking the contents of a separate chamber, substantially as
herein-before set forth and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
Tenth. The combination of the base plate cast in one with the scrics
of cones, the system of chimnies arranged to operate in connection with
suitable wick tubes, the top plates having openings coincident with the
tops of the chimneys and the bolts' applied for holding the whole firmly
together, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before set forth and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Complete Specification set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth
day of June One thousand eight hundred and coventy four