THE CONSTRUCTION OF CANDLES, LAMPS, AND CANDLE LAMPS WITHOUT WICKS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Palling, of 134, Princes Road, in the
County of Surrey, Clerk, for the Invention of "THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CANDLES, LAMPS, AND CANDLE LAMPS WITHOUT WICKS."
Sealed the 29th June 1858, and dated the 30th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Palling at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th December 1857.
I, FRANCIS PALLING, of 184, Princes Road, in the County of Surrey, Clerk,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE CONSTRUCTION
OF CANDLES, LAMPS, AND CANDLE LAMPS WITHOUT WICKS," to be as follows, that
is to say:
I employ in the construction of the said candles, lamps, and candle lamps, a
tube of metal, clay, or other convenient hard substance, furnished with
a slender projecting branch on one of the sides through which the oil or other
illuminating substance from the body of the tube is impelled by its own.
weight, or by any other suitable contrivance so as to rise in a thin jet, which
I cause to burn at the opening of the said branch, and the object of my said
contrivance is to dispense with the trouble and expence occasioned by the
employment of wicks, and I claim as new and of my own Invention, the
construction of candles, lamps, or candle lamps in general in which wicks are
not employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Palling in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PALLING, of 184, Princes Road, in the County of Surrey, Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in-the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis Palling, Her special licence that I, the
said Francis Palling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as. I, the said Francis Palling, 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 Invention for "THE CONSTRUCTION OF CANDLES, LAMPS, AND CANDLE
LAMPS WITHOUT WICKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis Palling, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing.
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was 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 Francis Palling 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, that is to say:-
:-
It consists in the construction of a lamp which will distil, vapourize, or
render gaseous the oil or other fatty substances used in it, and in that state
burn them, giving flame without making use of any combustible wick, such as
is generally made use of. The form of this lamp is as follows:-It has a
reservoir or compartment for containing the oil or other substance made use
of; this reservoir may be of any shape so as to be either plain or ornamental,
or there may be several reservoirs instead of one; 'near its base is an outlet
opening into a small tube, having a stop-cock to regulate the flow of oil or to
stop it altogether when not in use. I prefer this tube to be curved in form

page_text: and slightly depressed; its length may be variable, and in form it may be
altered, according as it is to be plain or ornamental. At or near the
extremity and underneath the mouth of the last-mentioned tube, I attach a
metallic burner, preferably of a flat or disc circular form, so as to present a
suitably large surface to enable the oil to evaporate upon it; the centre of
this disc being slightly depressed has an opening in it for the double purpose
of giving a supply of air to the flame, and thus produce more perfect
combustion, and at the same time to permit any of the superfluous oil which
has either not been vapourized, or having been so has become condensed, to
escape through the said opening. Immediately underneath the burner or,
below the extremity of the vapourizing tube, I suspend an open vessel
or bowl
for the purpose of receiving the surplus oil which falls from the mouth of the
tube or through the opening in the burner. I find that not only does this
vessel serve as a receptacle for the unburnt oil, but by adjusting its distance
from the mouth of the vapourizing tube or the burner, it has the effect of
regulating the form and size of the flame, and of totally preventing the
formation of smoke during combustion; the reservoir or reservoirs for con-
taining the supply of oil may either be made to act in the usual way, by
allowing the oil to drop into the tube by the action of its own gravity, or by
what is known among lamp-makers as the fountain action. The principle
upon which my lamp burns is as follows:-By allowing the oil to pass in such
a small stream from the reservoir along the tube it is deposited in such small
quantities at the orrifice of the tube or on the burner, that upon the former or
latter of these being slightly heated the oil is decomposed and a gas or
vapour is formed, which igniting produces not only flame but also the
necessary heat to continue the distillation or gassification of the oil as it drops
on the burner, the flow of the oil being regulated by the stop-cock or other
similar suitable means. It will be apparent that two or more burners may be
used instead of one, and may be arranged with the reservoir so as to form any
ornamental design.
Having now described my Invention and how the same is to be carried into
effect or constructed, I wish it understood that what I claim and wish secured
by the before in part recited Letters Patent are,-.
First, the mode of vapourizing or distilling the oil or other substances used
for burning in lamps, by means of the small tube leading from the reservoir
containing the said oil or other substance, this action being continuous and the
gas or vapour being always supplied as required.
Second, the application of the metallic burner at or near and underneath

page_text: the extremity of the vapourizing tube, substantially as described in the
Specification.
Third, the bowl or vessel for receiving the waste or surplus oil; which I
find is also a most perfect means of regulating the form and size of the
flame & of consuming all the smoke, rendering the combustion more
perfect.
Fourth, the combination of the reservoir or reservoirs, the vapourizing tube
with a cock for regulating the supply of oil, the burner, and smoke consumer,
one or more of each, and all forming a lamp to burn oil without making use
of any wicks for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Palling, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
FRANCIS PALLING. (L.S.)