IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' SIGNAL LAMPS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Aristide Oggioni at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
December 1871.
I, ARISTIDE OGGIONI, of Menaggio, Lake Como, in the Kingdom of
Italy, but now residing in Arundel Street, Haymarket, in the City of
Westminster, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SHIPS' SIGNAL LAMPS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention of improvements applicable to ships' signal lamps
relates to a novel means of lighting these lamps without the necessity
of going aloft to the lamp for that purpose.
Ships' signal lamps are usually aloft at the mast head or in some
other elevated position, and it has heretofore been necessary to send a
man up to the lamp for the purpose of lighting the same.
In rough
weather this is sometimes a very dangerous proceeding, and one object
of the Invention is to avoid the necessity of so doing, and to this end I
adapt to the lamp an arrangement of mechanism whereby the lamp may

page_text: be lighted from below by means of a cord, chain, or wire extending
from the lamp down to the deck.
In carrying out my Invention either stout thick candles made of wax
or other suitable composition or oil or other combustible liquid may be
used. The igniting mechanism required for these two cases will be
somewhat different in construction, but either form of lamp can be
ignited from below by means of a cord, chain, or rod, as before
mentioned.
When candles are used I generally employ four, which are contained
in four separate tubes arranged in the form of a cross fixed on a central
shaft, which is capable of being rotated in its bearings by the force of a
strong spring when the shaft is liberated from a detent lever which acts
on a detent wheel connected to the axle. When this detent lever is
pulled down by means of the cord, chain, or rod attached thereto the
shaft carrying the candle tubes will by the force of the spring be rotated
one quarter of a circle, and in so doing will cause the wick of the
ascending candle to come in contact with the surface of a roughened
spring bar. The wick is provided at its end with a composition which
will ignite by friction, or what is better small plugs of wood or other
substance provided with this igniting composition, may be stuck into.
the top end of the candle near the wick so that when the candle tubes
are rotated this composition will be rubbed against the roughened
surface of the spring bar and will thereby be ignited, and thus will
light the wick of the candle.
It will be understood that as there are four candles, which may be
placed in the tubes at any convenient opportunity, such as during fine
weather and in the daytime, the lamp may be used four times
without further attention than simply pulling the cord or rod to bring
up and ignite a fresh candle.
A small air cylinder may be adapted to the lamp and provided with a
tube through which a puff of air may be blown by drawing down
a piston in the air cylinder for the purpose of blowing out or
extinguishing the light when it is no longer required.
In order to produce coloured signal lights cylindrical blocks of the
combustible composition required to produce the desired colour on
ignition are placed in spring candle tubes of the ordinary construction,
and an igniting compound made up in the form of small cartridges is

page_text: adapted to the coloured fire compound in such a manner that when the
tube enclosing the coloured fire compound is released from its detent the
igniting compound will be rubbed against a roughened surface and will
be ignited by the friction. Two or more of these coloured lights of
different colours may be adapted to the same lantern or lamp, so that
any desired signal may be made.
When oil lamps are used they are fixed and the wicks are ignited by
means of an igniting fusée, a number of which made up in the form of
small cartridges are placed in a rotating chamber, and are ignited in
succession either by friction or percussion. A click or detent connected
to a spring sliding rod acts on the rotating chamber and causes the
same to move round part of a revolution when the spring rod is pulled
down by means of a cord or chain reaching down to the deck. Upon
pulling round the chamber one of the ignition cartridges will be
exploded and will cause a rush of flame to impinge on the wick of the
lamp and ignite the same.
The same extinguising apparatus as that used in the candle lamp may
be employed, and as the rotating cartridge chamber will contain several
igniting cartridges the lamp if it contains sufficient oil may be ignited
several times in succession by merely bringing the cartridge chamber
round and exploding a cartridge.