IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL AND SPIRIT LAMPS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Syson Nibbs, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer,and James Hinks, of Birmingham,aforesaid,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL AND SPIRIT
LAMPS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Syson Nibbs and
James Hink's at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 6th March 1858.
We, JAMES SYSON NIBBS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and JAMES HINKS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OIL AND SPIRIT LAMPS," to be as follows:
Our Invention consists, firstly, of an improved construction of the hollow
cone or deflector, whereby atmospheric air is conducted to and directed upon
the flame of oil lamps. Instead of making the said deflector direct the
current of air in a nearly horizontal plane, we make the said cone or deflector
with its sides inclined to each other at a small angle, whereby the air is
directed very obliquely upon the flame and at a much higher point than usual;
we make the said cone, or, deflector of glass, and use in conjunction there
with a chimney, having a shoulder which directs a second current of air upou
the flame above the before-mentioned cone or deflector,
Our Invention consists; secondly, in connecting the gallery or glass-holder

page_text: of a moderator or other oil lamp by means of supports, wholly or in part
inclined upwards from the lamp to the gallery. By this method of con-
struction the oil is effectually prevented from passing to the said gallery.
Our Invention consists, thirdly, in making the deflectors of lamps burning
volatile oils, or spirits of the form of a dome compressed or flattened at top,
the said dome being made of metal. The said deflector or dome is per-
manently connected with the gallery, as the lamp may be lighted without the
removal of the said dome or deflector, the wick being temporarily raised
through the dome and depressed again after ignition. When we apply the
last described improvement to limps having flat wicks, we make a slot in the
flattened summit of the dome instead of a circular aperture, the said slot by
preference not extending so far down the sides of the dome as to be at its
ends lower than the top of the wick.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Syson Nibbs and James Hinks in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
SYSON NIBBS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
and JAMES HINKS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Syson Nibbs and James Hinks, Her special licence that we,
the said James Syson Nibbs and James Hinks, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Syson Nibbs and James
Hinks, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL
AND SPIRIT LAMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
James Syson Nibbs and James Hinks, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what 'manner the same

page_text: performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seat Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Syson Nibbs and James
Hinks, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists of the improvements in oil and spirit lamps herein-
after particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Our Invention consists, firstly, of the improved construction of the hollow
cone or deflector whereby atmospheric air is conducted to and directed upon
the flame of oil lamps having tubular wicks.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in elevation a cone or
deflector constructed according to our Invention. The same letters are
employed to indicate the same parts in the several Figures. The said
deflector, Figure 1, is made of glass, and its sides are inclined to each other
at so small an angle that the air is directed upon the flame very obliquely
and at a much higher point than usual.
.
Figure 2 represents in vertical section a portion of a lamp with which a
deflector made according to our Invention is used, the said deflector being
marked a in the said Figure 2. We prefer to use in conjunction with our
deflector a chimney having a shoulder of the form represented in Figure 2,
by which said shoulder a second current of air is directed upon the flame at
a point above the top of the deflector a. Although we prefer to use with
our deflector a a chimney of the form represented in Figure 2, yet a plain
chimney may be employed therewith.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in connecting the gallery or glass-holder
of a moderator or other, oil lamp with the said lamps by means of supports
wholly or in part inclined upwards from the lamp to the gallery.
Figure 3 represents in elevation a gallery constructed according to our
Invention; Figure 4 represents the saine in vertical section, and Figure 5
represents the same in plan. A gallery of this construction is also repre-
sented in Figure 2. The gallery b is connected to the ring c by means of
arms or supports d, which said arms or supports are inclined from the ring c
upwards towards the galley b. The gallery is connected with the lamp by
means of the ring c fitting on the wick chamber or tube e. By this method
of construction oil overflowing from the wick is prevented from passing from
the tube e to the gallery b.
Our Invention consists, thirdly, in making the deflectors of lamps burning

page_text: volatile or other oils or spirits of the form represented in plan in Figure 6.
and in vertical section in Figure 7 of the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say, of the form of a dome compressed or flattened at top. The said
deflector or dome f is made of metal, and is permanently connected to or
made in one piece with the gallery g, which said gallery supports the chimney
and the globe or shade surrounding the chimney. That part of the gallery g
situated near the base of the cone f is provided with holes, as represented,
for the purpose of directing a current of air exterior to the lamp wick.
The lamp represented in elevation in Figure 8 and in vertical section in
Figure 9 is provided with the deflector or dome, Figures 6 and 7.
When it is wished to light the lamp the wick is temporarily raised through
the opening in the dome, and depressed again after ignition.
When we apply a deflector and gallery made according to this part of our
Invention to lamps having circular wicks, we make the aperture in the dome
of a circular figure, and when this part of our Invention is applied to lamps
having flat wicks, we make a slot in the deflector, as represented in Figure 6,
instead of a circular opening.
When we use our deflector with a flat wick we prefer to make the slot so
that it shall not extend down the sides of the dome lower than the top of the
wick case or holder.
In connecting the wick-holders of lamps burning volatile or other oils or
spirits to the bodies of the said lamps, we pursue the method represented in
vertical section in Figure 10, and also in the lamp, Figure 9, that is to say,
we fill the space h between the wick tube i and the larger tube k in which it
is supported with an imperfect conductor of heat composed of plaster of Paris
mixed with cork cut into small pieces, or sawdust, and we close the space
containing the imperfect conductor of heat by means of the metal plate 1.
The manner in which the tube k, carrying the wick-holder, fits in the neck
of the vase or reservoir of the lamp will be understood by an examination of
Figure 9.
We insert a ring of cork m, Figure 9, in the bottom of the tube n in order
to isolate the metal collar o of the reservoir form the said tube n. The
method described of isolating the burner from the reservoir effectually
prevents evaporation of the liquid combustible employed as well as the
unpleasant smell which frequently attends the use of lamps burning volatile
oils.
The improvements described and represented with reference to Figures 6,
7, 8, 9, and 10, are especially applicable to lamps burning petrolene or
paraffine oil.

page_text: Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not
limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention ;
but we claim as our Invention,-
Firstly, the improvement in glass cones or deflectors for directing atmo-
spheric air upon the exterior of the flames of lamps having circular wicks,
herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompany-
ing Drawings, that is to say, making the sides of the said cones or deflectors
inclined to each other at a small angle, so as to direct the air very obliquely
upon the flame.
Secondly, connecting the gallery or glass-holder of moderator or other oil
lamps with the said lamps by means of supports wholly or in part inclined
upwards from the lamp to the gallery, as herein-before described, and
illustrated in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly, the method herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 6,
7, 8, and 9 of the accompanying Drawings, of constructing the metallic
deflectors and galleries of lamps burning volatile or other oils or spirits, the
said lamps having flat or circular wicks, that is to say, making the said
deflector of a dome shape flattened or compressed at top, and the said dome
and gallery being made in one piece.
Fourthly, the method of isolating the head of lamps burning volatile oils or
spirits from the reservoirs of the said lamps by means of plaster of Paris mixed
with small pieces of cork or sawdust, and also a ring of cork, as herein-before
described, and illustrated in Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Syson Nibbs and Jaines Hinks,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirty-first day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JAMED
NIDDS.
(L.S.)
JAMES HINKS.
(L.S.)