ILLUMINATING BUOYS AND BEACONS IN HAR- BOURS, ROADSTEADS, AND RIVERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Louis Sheringham, of Southsea, in
the County of Hants, a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy,
for the Invention of "ILLUMINATING BUOYS AND BEACONS IN HAR-
BOURS, ROADSTEADS, AND RIVERS."
Sealed the 5th March 1858, and dated the 6th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Louis
Sheringham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 6th January 1853.
I, WILLIAM LOUIS SHERINGHAM, of Southsea, in the County of
Hants, a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for ILLUMINATING BUOYS AND BEACONS
IN HARBOURS, ROADSTEADS, AND RIVERS" to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to an improved method of illuminating such
buoys and beacons by means of gas applied in the following manner: I
place a suitable lamp or lantern in a buoy or beacon sufficiently elevated
above the water. The gas is conducted by an ordinary flexible tube
from the land, passing under water to the buoy or beacon, and thence
to the burner in the lamp. At a point a little below the burner, and

page_text: within the gas tube, place platina or any other suitable metal adapted
for the purpose. Voltaic wires are connected by any of the well-known
means to the platina. By means of an ordinary battery in connection
with the wires the gas may be ignited from the shore. The lamp can
be supplied with a sufficient quantity of atmospheric air by means of a
cyphon tube from the lower part of the interior of the lamp, passing
through the top, and curving over the external part of the lamp. Trap
valves may be employed which shut by the pressure of the water. The
ventilation may be effected by a similar cyphon tube from the top of the
lamp or by any other suitable means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Louis Sheringham in the Great Scal
Patent Office, on the 5th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM LOUIS SHERINGHAM, of Southsea, in the County of Hants,
a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Har heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Louis Sheringham, Her special
licence that I, the said William Louis Sheringham, my..executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Louis Sheringham, my executors, administrators, and 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 Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS FOR ILLUMINATING BUOYS AND BEACONS IN HAR-
BOURS, ROADSTEADS, AND RIVERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Louis Sheringham, by an instrument in
writing under hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: 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 Louis Sheringham, 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:
My Invention consists in methods of illuminating or lighting buoys
and beacons by means of the combustion of gas, volatile spirits, or any
other suitable hydrocarbon, in a lamp or lanthern attached to the beacon
or buoy, and I produce the daily ignition of the combustible material
with the aid of an electric current. The required illumination may also
be effected by means of the electric light. The method by which I
propose to illuminate beacons or buoys with the aid of gas is, by con-
veying to the lamp contained in a lanthern attached to a beacon or
buoy a stream of common gas, under water along the ground, in a tube
made of jointed metal or of some flexible impermeable nuaterial, such as
gutta percha or india-rubber. In a similar manner I lay down insu-
lated electric conducting wires, by means of which I transmit currents
of electricity to the lanthern or lanp, either from a galvanic battery or
any other machine for producing electric currents. One or more of
such wires may be made to pass through the tube for conveying the gas;
but I deem it generally better to lay down the wires outside the gas
tube, so as to prevent the gas from corroding or destroying the wires or
the insulating material by which they may be covered. The extremi-
ties of these wires within the lanthorns affixed to the beacon or buoy
I make of platinum or some other metal not easily oxydized; I con-
vey the insulated wires up through the lauthorn to the burner, placing
the platinum points or lips in such positions that a stream of electricity
may pass from one point to the other through the gas when it is flow-
ing out of the burner, and thus ignite the gas; two conducting wires
are necessary for producing the current of electricity; but if one of
the. wires be made continuous between that battery and the burner,
the ground or water may be substituted for a portion of the other
wire, so as to complete the circuit in the well-known manner. The
apparatus being thus constructed, and the gas turned on by opening a

page_text: cock in the supply pipe on shore, a stream. of electricity will cause the
gas escaping from the burner to ignite, and the coinbustion will con-
tinue as long as the supply of gas is kept up; and when the light ceases
to be wanted it may be extinguished by shutting a cock in the pipe by
which the gas is supplied. The anode by which I propose to illuminate
or light beacons and buoys by the combustion of naptha or other hydro-
carbon is as follows: If the material to be used be mineral naptha,
volatile spirit, or other similar hydrocarbon, I place a suitable lamp in
the lanthorne upon the beacon or buoy, to which I convey insulated
electric conducting wires in like manner as above mentioned, their
extremities being made of platinum wire as before. The lamp is made
with a reservoir sufficiently large to contain a sufficient quantity of the
material to be burnt for many weeks' consumption, and it is also made
with a reservoir for a vegetable, naptha to supply a saucer or cup
attached to the lamp in which the naptha is to be ignited for the pur-
pose of lighting the lamp. This saucer or cup is filled at each time of
lighting the lamp, and the supply is regulated by a suitable valve put
into motion by an electro magnet which is made magnetic, and thus
gives motion to a keeper by means of a current of electricity transmitted
through the conducting wires from the shore, the supply being regu-
lated so as to produce the heat necessary for lighting the burner.
Another electro magnet is also fitted within the lanthorn, so as to act
in the same way upon an extinguisher, by which when a current of
electricity passing along the proper conducting wires from the battery
on the shore brings the magnet and the extinguisher connected with it
into action the light will be extinguished, after which, when the magnet
ceases to act, the extinguisher will return to its place clear of the
burner. The naptha in the saucer is to be ignited by the action of a
current of electricity passing through it in like manner as above de-
scribed with respect to the gas. Three electric circuits are requisite
for this mode of lighting; and for this purpose I lay down the neces-
sary. number of insulated electric conducting wires in manner above
mentioned. For the purpose of effecting this mode of lighting I prefer
to use the patent naptha lamp known as Messrs. R. Holliday's and
Company's Lamp, but any other suitable lamp may be employed.
The lamp can be supplied with a sufficient quantity of atmospheric
.

page_text: air by means of a siphon tube from the lower part of the interior of the
lamp passing through the top and curving over the external part of
the lamp. Trap valves may be employed which shut by the pressure of
the water. The ventilation may be effected by a similar siphon tube
from the top of the lamp, or by any other suitable means.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lewis Sheringham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
W. L. SHERINGHAM. (L.S.)