IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND IN
APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH." A communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 21st December 1852.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND IN APPARATUS TO
BE USED THEREWITH" to be as follows:.
This Invention relates to an improved mode of constructing
lamps, in which it is intended to burn, for the purposes of illumin-
ation, such combustible liquids as camphinc, preparations of tur-
pentine, and alcohol, or other volatile liquids, and which are liable
to explosion in lamps of the ordinary construction. The Invention
simply consists in interposing between the flame and the interior of
the lamp, or between the flame and any part of the lamp where
flame may by possibility get in contact with the vapor arising from

page_text: the combustible fluid, a medium or diaphragmn composed of wire
gauze or of pierced metal, so as to prevent any flame from passing
through to the reservoir in the interior of the lamp. It is well
known that wire gauze is employed in the Davy lamp for a some-
what similar purpose; that is, to prevent the flame from the lamp
from coming in contact with and igniting the explosive gases out-
side.
The present Invention is the application of the same principle to
prevent the flaine from reaching the explosive gases inside the
lamp, from the ignition of which many accidents have happened.
The saine principle is also applied to the cans which contain the
liquids with which the said lamps are to be supplied; that is the
opening by which the liquid is poured into the can, as well as the
spout, or opening whereby the liquid is poured out of the can into
the lamp, are both furnished with gauze, or perforated diaphragms,
so as to prevent the flame from gaining access to the interior of the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 21st June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton,
Her special licence that I, tlre said William Edward Newton, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the
said William Edward Newton, 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 ex-

page_text: pressed, should and lawfully might inake, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LAMPS AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 William Edward Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and as-
certained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and Figures
marked thereon (that is to say):
It has long been a desideratun to obtain a material for the pro-
duction of light for domestic purposes in situations where gas can-
not be had, which shall be free from the objections to which the
substances now made use of for that purpose are liable.
Whale and other oils, tallow and wax, are all subject to be
dropped from the receptacles containing them, doing more or less
damage to carpets, clothes, and furniture, while most of them are
extremely offensive to the touch and smell, and produce much
smoke in burning, and are also objectionable in an economical point
of view. Amongst the substances to which attention has been di-
rected as substitutes for the above illuminating materials, arc
various alcoholic and resinous compounds, which are found to be
far more economical for the purpose of producing artificial light,
while the flame which they afford is brighter, and the light more
constant and brilliant, than that obtained from any of the substances
ordinarily used for the purpose, the light being equalled only by
that produced by the most carefully prepared gas. These com-
pounds are, furthermore, inoffensive to the touch and smell, innox-

page_text: ious to the dress and furniture, and are far less expensive than
the substances ordinarily made use of.
Amongst those which have been found to be least expensive, and
to furnish the most brilliant light, a highly rectified oil of turpen-
tine called "camphine," and a mixture of about five parts alcohol
and one of camphine called "spirit gas," stand foremost. The use
of these two substances for lighting purposes has heretofore been
objected to, on account of the danger arising from burning them in
lamps of the ordinary construction. This danger may arise from
two sources: Firstly, as the mixtures of which alcohol was an
ingredient were highly volatile and easily inflamed, it became ne-
cessary to burn them in lamps closed very tight without the usual
openings in the caps, as where the caps were perforated, as is usual
in lamps for burning oil, the fire was liable to be communicated
through this hole into the heated liquid within; when, on the con-
trary, these holes were not made in the caps, danger was to be appre-
hended from the expansion of the heated liquid and gas within.
Another objection to the use of these and other similar highly
inflammable substances for lighting purposes, arose from the care-
lessness of servants or others having them in charge, who, by fill-
ing the lamps without first extinguishing the light, incur the risk
of igniting the liquid in both lamp and can, thereby occasioning
deplorable accidents.
To remedy all these evils the experiments of the author of the
present Invention have been directed, and the result has proved
entirely satisfactory, as a lamp has been produced in which the
most inflammable spirituous compounds may be burned with entire
safety, and with which no accident can arise, either from the burst-
ing of the lamps, or from the carelessness or ignorance of those
using them.
It is well known, that if the flame of a lamp be surrounded by
wire gauze, in the manner adopted in the Davy safety lamp gene-
rally used in mines, that the lamp may be introduced into inflam-
mable gas without danger of igniting it; and it has furthermore
been discovered, that similar wire gauze is a bar to the ignition of

page_text: gas, proceeding from highly inflammable liquids in a state of ebul-
lition, and even to the passage of the flaine of the burning liquid
itself, so that a gauze cylinder may be placed vertically in a vessel
of such liquid, which may then be ignited within the cylinder, while
the fire will fail to communicate to the liquid without, in a manner
analogous to that in which, when the Davy lamp is introduced into
a gas which entirely surrounds it, the latter will burn upon the
inside of the gauze without igniting the body of the gas.
The nature of the present Invention consists in the application of
this discovery to the construction of lamps for the above purpose
in the manner herein-after described, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings in which Fig. 1, is an exterior view of a
lanp constructed according to the present improvement; Fig. 2, is
a modification of the same; Fig. 3, is a view of the can for con-
taining the liquid which is to be supplied to the lamps; Fig. 4, is a
section through the same, shewing the safety improvement adapted
thereto; Fig. 5, is a plan of the modification represented in Fig. 2;
Fig. 6, is a vertical section through the line B B, of Fig. 5; Fig. 7,
is a vertical section through the line AA; Fig. 8, is a vertical
section through Fig. 1; Fig. 9, is a section through the cap and
interior gauze cylinder shewn detached.
In Figures 1, 8, and 9, a, is a cylinder of fine wire gauze, sixty
meshes to the inch or thereabouts, secured to a cap piece screwed
into, or otherwise conveniently attached or adapted to, the upper
part of the lamp; the bottom a¹, of this cylinder is also made of
the same wire gauze. This cylinder descends to within inch more
or less of the bottom of the chamber containing the liquid; it is
carefully put together with solder, so that there may be no holes in
the cylinder larger than the meshes of the gauze. b, Fig. 9, is
another cylinder of similar gauze wire, soldered to the metal ring
c, and having a screw d, which fits into the screw f, in the lamp
cap g; these parts are seen put together in Fig. 8: h, is the hole
through the lamp cap, which may now be used with safety, as there is
no longer danger of the flame from the wicks being communicated
to the gas within. The wick having been passed through the tubes,

page_text: k, lies coiled within the interior cylinder b; and when it becomes
necessary to replenish the lamp, the cap g, gauze cylinder b, and
wick, are removed or partly removed together, The liquid in this
lamp is never entirely exhausted, as the exterior cylinder, as before
stated, and consequently the interior one, and the wick which it
contains, do not reach to the bottom of the lamp.
With a lamp of this construction, the cap, together with the in-
terior gauze cylinder, may be removed, and the vapor from the
alcohol or other inflammable liquid may be ignited within the
exterior cylinder without danger of the flame being communicated
to the gas upon the other side of the gauze; and if the surface of
the liquid itself be fired, it will burn slowly within the cylinder,
and in no case be communicated to the liquid upon the other side
of the gauze. This, I believe, was not known prior to the present
discovery, and upon this I have based my claim of novelty in the
present improvements.
When the interior cylinder is in place, as is always the case when
the lamp is in use, a double protection is afforded; the principal
use of this cylinder is, however, to contain the wick, so that it may
be removed with the cap, when the latter is unscrewed to replenish
the lamp.
In Figures 2, 5, 6, and 7, is shewn a modification of the lamp, in
which the cap is not removed when the lamp is to be replenished.
m, is a circular opening in the cap o. Beneath this hole the short
cylindrical or other shaped sac n, is secured to the cap o. The hole
m, is closed by the screw cap p, through which is a perforation
(seen in Figures 5, and 7), similar to the one in the lamp cap already
described, and for a similar purpose. When the lamp is to be
replenished, the screw cap p, is withdrawn, and the liquid is poured
into the wire gauze sac n, at the opening m. This, like the mo
dification first described, is also found to afford perfect protec-
tion, as the liquid and gas may be ignited at the opening m, with-
out the possibility of the flame passing through the gauze into the
lamp.
In this form of lamp it is intended that the cap o, shall be

page_text: removed only when the wick requires to be replenished, and it
becomes necessary that some method should be devised to prevent
the wick from being accidentally withdrawn into the lamp, as to
effect such a purpose it would be necessary that the lamp should be
opened. To carry out this object, I have devised the springs r, r,
Fig. 6, within the lamp tubes, which by pressure retain the wicks
within the tubes, while they allow them to be easily withdrawn as
they become consumed and require to be cut off. In order that
perfect safety may be attained, it is necessary that the can contain-
ing the inflammable fluid should in like manner be protected by
wire gauze over all the openings into it; this is effected in the
manner shewn in Fig. 4, which is a section through the can or
feeder; s, is a section through a disc of the gauze over the large open-
ing of the can, or that through which it is filled; and t, is a similar
disc of gauze, for the purpose of protecting the way to the small
opening through which the liquid is fed to the lamps. With a can
thus protected, the liquid may be poured out from the delivery
v, ignited, and suffered to flow back again into the can without
igniting the liquid or gas within.
The first lamps constructed upon this principle were furnished.
with gauze made of brass or copper wire; but these metals were
found to corrode rapidly in the various mixtures of camphine or
turpentine, so as to render them entirely unfit for illuminating pur.
poses. Various experiments were instituted to remedy this evil,
and it was ultimately discovered that where the wire gauze had
received a slight coating of silver, no such corrosion took place, and
the fluid was entirely uninjured by the contact of the metal. This
precaution is now in all instances resorted to, and no inconvenience
is experienced from the corrosion of the metal.
I do not claim burning mixtures of alcohol, turpentine, or other
inflammable compounds, in lamps of the construction usually made
use of for that purpose; neither do I claim surrounding the flame
of a lamp with wire gauze to remove the danger of explosion when
such lamp is introduced into an atmosphere of inflammable gas, as
that has been done by Sir Humphrey Davy and others, and is still

page_text: practised in the construction of the miners' lamp; but what I do
claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-The interposition
of wire gauze between the inflammable liquid within the lamp and
the opening in the same through which it is filled in any manner
calculated to accomplish the end desired.
Second, I claim the method of accomplishing this end by means
of the cylinder a, attached to the body or other convenient part of
the lamp, as set forth and represented in Fig. 8, of the accom-
panying Drawings.
Third, as a modification of this device, I also claim the method
represented in Figures 2, 5, 6, and 7, or any mere modification
thereof.
Fourth, I claim the combination of the interior cylinder b, with
the lamp cap g, as represented in Fig. 9, for the purpose set forth.
Fifth, I claim the combination of the wire gauze cylinder, with
the perforation operating in manner described, whether it be ar-
ranged in the manner represented in Fig. 9, or as represented in
Fig. 7, or any other manner substantially the same.
Sixth, I claim the method of protecting the wire gauze from the
action of the camphine or other resinous compounds, by coating it
with silver in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)