AN IMPROVED AIR-RAREFYING LAMP BURNER
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Silver at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd April
1873.
I, THOMAS SILVER, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America, now of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
AIR-RAREFYING LAMP BURNER," to be as follows:―
My improvements relate to burners for lamps for burning hydrocarbon
fluids without the use of glass chimneys or covers; the said lamps have a
flat wick tube extending above a cylinder within which is a rack for
adjusting the wick, and which is constructed to be attached to the body
of the lamp by screwing in the usual manner. Upon the said cylinder
is supported by means of a proper framework a cone or bell-shaped
cover having at the top the ordinary dome-shape with an oblong opening
at the apex through which the flame of the lamp passes. Within this
dome is a smaller dome with an opening similar in shape to that in the
outer dome but smaller.
The position of the opening of the inner dome is a little above the top
of the wick tube in order that it may divide the current of air ascending

page_text: The
through the bell-shaped cover and impinging upon the flame.
inner dome or cap is extended downward in a conical form; the bottom
part may be split, corrugated, or plain, the object of this extension being
to heat and rarify the air within the bell-shaped cover to cause a more
rapid ascension of the same.
The said improved burners may be applied to carriage lamps or to
other lamps used under circumstances where they will be subjected to
sudden or rapid movement or agitation whereby their flame will be liable
to be extinguished. I therefore provide at the lower part of the
extension of the inner dome or cap a screen composed of corrugated:
or V shaped bars which may be formed on the lower part of the inner
cone or otherwise with openings between them; these bars are arranged
over the solid part of another similar screen, the two forming together a
shield or protector to the flame, which shield will not prevent the
entrance of the air thereto, but will so control its upward passage as to
prevent its impinging violently thereon under any sudden or rapid
movement or agitation of the lamp. Perforated metal sheets or wire
network may be placed around the wick for the same object. At each
end of the aforesaid opening in the outer dome or bell-shape cover I place
a metallic shield which descends from the said opening through each
corresponding extremity of the aperture of the inner dome; the purpose
of these shields is to prevent the ascending air's impinging upon the
edge of the flame and to permit it to impinge only upon the flat sides of
the flame and expand it into the vacuum formed by the shields, thereby
greatly improving the combustion and widening the blaze.
Although these lamps will not require a glass chimney for ensuring
perfect combustion as usual with ordinary lamps, yet when a globe is
desired as an ornament, or for other reasons a flange or gallery may be
added to the bell cover for supporting a globe or glass cover.
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