IMPROVEMENTS IN MINERS' SAFETY- LAMPS
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 MINERS' SAFETY-
LAMPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fyfe at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 25th April 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 MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS.";
This Invention has for its object' to improve the constructive details of miners'
safety lamps, to adapt such lamps for burning solid or semi-fluid hydrocarbons,
such as crude or refined paraffin scale or wax or similar substances, and to combine
with the other parts contrivances or arrangements, rendering the lamps safer than
common safety lamps, and less liable to cause accidents. Common oil may also be
used with the improved lamps.
A lamp made according to the Invention is constructed with the usual wire
gauze casing, and with a conical wire gauze top, or with any other suitable known
form of top. The bottom of the main wire gauze casing is fixed to a ring, to
which there is screwed or otherwise attached a disk or plate having a central
opening over which there is an air cone or dome, the top of such cone having a
central opening through which the wick tube projects with sufficient space round it
for the passage of air to supply the combustion, such air entering up through the
cone as in a paraffin lamp. At a little distance beneath the disk or plate already
referred to, there is a second or lower disk or plate in which the wick tube is fixed
and to which the wick regulator is fitted. The space between the upper and lower
disks or plates is encircled by a belt of wire gauze through which the air to
support.combustion enters on its way to the interior of the cone. The reservoir or
vessel to contain the paraffin scale or other combustible substance is attached by
screwing or otherwise to the lower disk or plate, and can be removed for filling
without opening the lamp, the wick tube being fixed to the lower disk or plate.
The reservoir can be replenished without extinguishing the light. The wick tube
is made of a metal which is a good conductor of heat, such as copper, and it projects
down nearly to the bottom of the reservoir, so as to melt the paraffin scale or other
substance; and with the view of conducting more heat downwards, one or more
metal rods may be fixed to the upper disk or plate and extend down to or below
the lower disk or plate.

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 22nd October
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 MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS."
My said Invention has for its objects to improve the constructive details of
miners' safety lamps, to adapt such lamps for burning solid or semi-fluid hydro-
carbons, such as crude or refined paraffin scale or wax or similar substances, and to
'combine with the other parts contrivances or arrangements, rendering the lamps
safer than common safety lamps, and less liable to cause accidents. Common oil
may also be used with my improved lamps.
A lamp made according to my Invention is. constructed with the usual wire-
gauze casing, and with a conical wire-gauze top, or with any other suitable known
form of top. The bottom of the main wire-gauze casing is attached to a disk or
plate, up through which the wick tube projects, and this wick tube is made of a
metal which is a good conductor of heat, such as copper, and it or parts in con-
nection with it extend down nearly to the bottom of the reservoir, so as to melt the
paraffin scale or other substance. In one modification of the lamp there is a second
disk or plate which forms the immediate cover of the reservoir, and there is a
small space between this disk and the one first mentioned, to which space air has
access through wire gauze. The air entering the space between the disks passes up
through the opening in the upper disk, through which the wick tube projects, but
which is larger than the wick tube, and is then directed upon the wick by a
hollow cone or dome. In another modification there is only one disk which forms
both the top of the reservoir and the bottom of the lamp chamber.
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 two modifications of my improved
lamps.
Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are a plan and an
elevation of one modification of my improved miners' safety lamps, and Figures 3
and 4 are horizontal and vertical sections of the same, whilst Figures 5 and 6 are
horizontal and vertical sections of a' second modification. In these Drawings the
same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
In the modification shown in Figures 1 to 4, the lamp chamber or space in
which the flame burns is enclosed by the usual main cylindrical casing 7 of wire
gauze made with a conical wire-gauze top 8, and fitted with the usual hook or
handle 9. The bottom of the wire-gauze casing 7 is fixed to a ring 10 which is
attached by screwing to a disk or plate 11 forming the bottom of the lamp
chamber. The disk or plate 11 is connected by a narrow zone 12 of wire gauze to
a second disk or plate 13, which in this modification forms the immediate top of
the reservoir 14 for containing the substance to be burned. The reservoir 14 is
attached to its top plate 13 by screwing, an internal screw thread being formed
round the top of the reservoir to engage with an external screw thread formed on
the plate 13. For the purpose of replenishing the reservoir 14, it can be unscrewed
from the plate 13 and without opening the lamp chamber, it being unnecessary to
extinguish the light during the operation.
The upper disk 11 is formed with a central opening, up through the middle of
which the wick tube 15 projects, and the part of this opening round the wick tube

page_text: "
is covered by a hollow dome-like shell or cone" 16, which directs upon the wick
the air entering the space between the disks 11, 13, and passing up through the
opening in the upper one. The wick tube 15 is fixed in the disk or plate 13
forming the immediate top of the reservoir 14, and there are fitted in connection
with it a common arrangement of spindle 17 with pinions or star wheels for raising
and lowering the wick. The wick tube 15 extends down nearly to the bottom of
the reservoir 14, and being made of a good-conducting metal, such as copper, it
transmits heat from the flame down into the reservoir to melt the paraffin scale or
other substance used for producing the light. With the view of conducting more
heat downwards, one or more metal rods 18 may be fixed to the upper disk or
plate 11, and extend down to or below the lower disk or plate 13.
In the modification of my improved miners' safety lamp, shown in Figures 5
and 6, one of the two disks (11, 13) and the air space between them are dispensed
with, the disk 13, which is the immediate top or cover of the reservoir 14, forming
also the bottom of the lamp chamber. In this modification the air to feed the
flame enters through the lower part of the main wire-gauze casing 7, and for the
purpose of guiding the air to the flame without eddies a convex shell 19 of thin
metal is placed above the disk 13. This shell 19 is by preference soldered or
otherwise fixed to the disk 13, and the cavity under it will serve to receive and
prevent the escape of melted paraffin in the event of the lamp being accidentally
upset. Instead of the wick tube 15 being itself extended down to near the bottom
of the reservoir 14, a cylindrical conducting tube 20, made by preference of copper,
is screwed to the same piece to which the wick tube is fixed, and which is itself
screwed to the disk 13. The conducting tube 20 and the bottom which closes it
are perforated with small holes to admit the paraffin scale or other substance to
the wick when melted, the larger surface of the conducting tube facilitating the
effective communication of the heat, especially when the reservoir is only partly
full.
The main wire-gauze casing in either modification of my improved lamps may
be connected to the disk 11 or 13 with any desired fixing or locking appliance.
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 hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The combining of the parts of miners' safety lamps, substantially in the
improved manner aud for the purposes hereinbefore described with reference to
Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
2. The combining of the parts of miners' safety lamps, substantially in the
improved manner and for the purposes herein before described with reference to
Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
3. The adapting of the wick tubes and parts connected therewith in miners'
safety lamps, so as to conduct beat to and thereby facilitate the burning of solid or
semi-fluid bydrocarbons, the parts being constructed substantially as hereinbefore
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fyfe, have hereunto set my hand and
cool this Tants Gunt