Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1887
Complete Left, 18th Feb., 1888
Complete Accepted, 13th Apr., 1888
I, JOHN HOWARD Ross Manager of Ross' Patent Lighting Coy. Limtd. of
Nos. 32 and 33 Wicklow Street in the City and County of Dublin, Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to oil lamps which have oil supplied to their wicks at constant
level, and have a forced air supply for their flames, rendering glass or other chimneys
unnecessary, the principal object which I have in view being a simple and effective
arrangement of regulator for maintaining the oil level, in combination with means of
supplying air. Lamps according to my invention may be constructed for use in
apartments or for street lighting or for light houses.
For lamps to be used in apartments, I make a casing which may be of globular or
other desired form large enough to contain within it the oil regulator, and having
branches extending from the casing each provided with a burner.
The regulator within the casing is a vessel supplied at the bottom with oil through
a valve the stem of which is jointed to a float in the vessel above it. According as
this float ascends or descends the valve is closed or opened by it, admitting or
stopping oil supply to the vessel.
--
Around the vessel is a second casing communicating with the float vessel by
apertures at the bottom so that the oil in this outer casing stands at the same level as
in the float vessel, and the wicks dipping into this oil convey by capillary attraction
the supply for the flames. The oil is supplied to the float valve by a pipe extending
through the ceiling of the apartment from an oil tank in any convenient place, and
around this oil pipe and enclosing it, is an air pipe supplied with air at a pressure above
that of the atmosphere by any suitable blowing apparatus. This air under pressure
issuing from a nozzle causes by injector action air from without to enter the casing
around the oil holder whence it passes through deflecting cones to the several
burners, supplying them with air without requiring any chimney to cause draught ;
or each burner may be supplied in this way by the injector action of a separate
nozzle.
For street lamps, I provide sets of pipes conveying respectively oil and air to the
base of each lamp post, the oil being supplied from a tank somewhat higher than any
P1

page_text: of the lights or under equivalent pressure, and the air being supplied at a pressure
above that of the atmosphere. In the lamp post, preferably at its base, I fix a
regulator consisting of a vessel covered by a flexible diaphragm like that of an
aneroid barometer, which is pressed down by a lever loaded with an adjustable
weight. To the centre of the diaphragm is jointed a valve which governs the inlet
for oil into the vessel, and from the vessel a pipe ascends to the burner in the lantern
above. The load on the lever being adjusted to the pressure of the column of oil
extending up to the burner, the supply valve for oil is opened or closed by the move-
ment of the diaphragm according as the column tends to diminish or increase and
consequently the level in the burner is maintained constant or nearly so.
pipe extends up to the lamp post and terminates in a nozzle under the burner from
which a jet of the air issues acting as an injector to cause a flow of air from without
to ascend the tube of the burner and supply the flame.
The air
Air
For a light house burner, I provide two, three or more concentric cylindrical
wicks contained in separate annular spaces each of which is in communication with
an oil supply pipe and one of which communicates by lateral overflow openings at
suitable level with an outlet pipe. The oil is supplied under pressure sufficient to
raise it somewhat above the overflow from the wick tube, and should it exceed this
level it overflows, the level in all the wick spaces being thus kept the same.
under pressure is supplied to an injector nozzle at the base of the burner and this
causes air from without to flow up the body of the burner, through gauze or
perforations which diffuse its flow, up between the wick spaces and out under curved
deflecting lips near the roots of the flame, by which the air is caused to impinge on
both the inside and the outside of each annular flame. At some distance above the
flame there is a chimney carrying off the products of combustion.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Oil Lamps.
I JOHN HOWARD Ross Manager of Ross' Patent Lighting Company Limtd.
of Nos. 32 and 33 Wicklow Street in the City and County of Dublin Ireland do
hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to oil lamps which have oil supplied to their wicks at constant
level, and have a forced air supply for their flames, rendering glass or other chimneys
unnecessary, the principal object which I have in view being a simple and effective
arrangement of regulator for maintaining the oil level in combination with means of
supplying air. Lamps according to my invention may be constructed for use in
apartments or for street lighting or for light houses, as I will describe referring to the
accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of one of a number of street lamps. Fig. 2 is a vertical
section of several lamps arranged around a central suspended body as a chandelier.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of another form of chandelier.
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a lamp suitable for light house or other purposes
where powerful illumination is required.
Referring first to Fig. 1 o is a pipe by which oil is supplied from some common
source at a height sufficient to command the highest level of the lamps supplied from
it, and a is a pipe by which air under pressure is supplied from a common source,
which may be an air forcing or blowing machine or a loaded gasometer. The oil on
its way from the pipe o to the ascending pipe o¹ by which it is led to the wick tube W
in the lantern, has to pass through a regulator R, a vessel covered by a somewhat
flexible diaphragm D such as that of an aneroid barometer. This diaphragm has
connected to its centre a valve V opening downwards and is pressed down by a
lever L carrying a weight which can be screwed nearer to or farther from its fulcrum
so as to impose on the diaphragm a downward strain equivalent to the upward
pressure due to the column of oil extending up to the wick tube W. When the oil
rises in the wick tube above the normal level the diaphragm D is bulged upwards
closing the supply valve V. Whon on the other hand the level in W is below
the normal, the diaphragm D is bulged downwards opening the valve V and
admitting oil to the vessel R. The air under pressure supplied by the pipe a passes
up the lamp post by a pipe a' and issues in a jet from a nozzle a in the base of the
lamp and this jet, by injector action, causes air from without to enter by apertures a*,
to flow up a conical passage a to pass through a wire gauze or perforated diffusing
screen a and up the annular passage around the wick tube W to supply the flame.
Referring to Fig. 2, the oil supplied by the pipe o enters the regulator R by a
valve V governed by a float F, maintaining it at a constant level and passes by slots r

page_text: into a casing o¹ surrounding the regulator, in which the same level is maintained.
The several wicks W partly immersed convey the oil by capillary attraction to their
respective burners. The air under pressure supplied by the pipe a issues from a
nozzle a³ in a jet which causes air from without to enter by apertures a*, and the
current to ascend the conical passage a³. This current issuing from the upper mouth
of a causes additional air to enter by apertures a' thus producing a plenum in the
cavity a surrounding the oil vessel, from which cavity the air flows with certain
force to supply the several flames.
In the chandelier shewn in Fig. 3 the oil supplied by the pipe o has its level
regulated by the regulator R and its valve V and flows by pipes o¹ to the wick
tubes W of the several burners, whilst the air under pressure supplied by the pipe a
passes to the several lamps in each of which it issues in a jet from a nozzle a³ acting
as described with reference to the similar appliances at a and a described with
reference to Fig. 1. By a pipe o³ the oil in the regulator is subjected to atmospheric
pressure. The float F is made with a central tube f through which passes a rod fl
that is hooked to the stem of the valve V. The rod f¹ screws into a nut at the top of
the tube f, so that the float F can be raised or lowered relatively to the valve V to
adjust level as desired. The screw adjustment of f¹ is secured by a lock nut and the
whole is covered by a cap C that can be removed for the purpose of adjusting the
level.
For producing a large flame suitable for a light house or for great illumination I
employ a burner such as is shewn in Fig. 4 having two, three, or more concentric-
argand wicks. In fig. 4 I shew three such wicks. Their annular wick spaces are all
supplied from one oil pipe o, and from one of these spaces there is an overflow
passage o¹ leading down to an overflow pipe o². Thus as long as there is sufficient
supply of oil by the pipe o, the level in all the wick spaces which are in communication
with each other is determined by that of the overflow o¹. The air under pressure
supplied by the pipe a issues in a jet from the nozzle a³ and this by injector action
operates as described with reference to Fig. 1. drawing in air from without by
perforations a causing a current up the conical passage a and through the diffusing
screen a whence it passes up the annular spaces around and between the several
wick tubes W. The apertures a* are arranged in such a position that the entering
air is deflected downwards, thus protecting the supply from gusts or irregularities of
current.
Above the tops of the wick tubes are fixed air deflectors, namely a central button B,
an inwardly turned lip D of the outer casing and lips d turned both inwards and
outwards, so that the air is caused to impinge on the root of each flame both
externally and internally, thus causing very perfect combustion. At some distance
above the burner may be fixed a chimney to carry off the products of combustion
but as this chimney does not extend downwards so as to enclose any part of the
flame, it may be of metal or other material not liable to fracture or other damago.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :—
1. The herein described method of supplying oil by pipes from a common source
to a number of street or other lamps at different levels the level of oil in each lamp
being regulated by a valve connected to a flexible diaphragm which is loaded to suit
the column of oil ascending to the lamp.
2. In combination with a street lamp or other elevated lamp a regulator of oil
level constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to
Fig. 1.
3. For supplying a forced draught of air to a lamp the combination of an air
nozzle a³, lateral ingress apertures at a conical passage a³, and a diffusing screen a
substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1, 3 and 4.
4. For supplying a forced draught of air to several burners of one chandelier the
combination of an air nozzle a³ lateral ingress apertures at a conical passage a³ and

page_text: additional ingress apertures a causing a plenum in a space a³ communicating with
the several burners substantially as described with reference to Fig. 2.
5. For regulating the oil level in several wick tubes of a chandelier, the construction
and use of a regulator R with valve V and adjustable float F substantially as
described with reference to Fig. 3.
6. For light houses and other places requiring great illumination the construction
and use of a burner substantially as described with reference to Fig. 4 having
several concentric wick tubes with a common supply and a common overflow for oil,
and appliances for creating a forced draught of air by means of an injector jet
supplied under pressure and inwardly and outwardly lipped deflectors causing the air
to impinge on the roots of the flames.
1
0 T
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.