IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP AND OTHER LANG ORDING TO THE DE W An LAMPS SUBJECT TO THE EXPOSURE OF HIGH WINDS OR UNCERTAIN MOTION
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wavish, of Torpoint, in the County of Cornwall,
Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP AND OTHER
LANG ORDING TO THE DE W
An
°
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wavish at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1864.
I, JAMES WAVISH, of Torpoint, in the County of Cornwall, Ironmonger, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP
AND OTHER LAMPS SUBJECT TO THE EXPOSURE OF HIGH WINDS OR UNCERTAIN
MOTION," to be as follows (that is to say)
My improvements in the manufacture of lamps required in exposed positions
and violent or uncertain motions, such as on floating landing stages, steam
and ferry boats, ships, or like situations, whether used for signalling or diffusing
light, as well as for railways, carriages, or other purposes where economy and
brilliancy of light may be desired, consist, in adapting them in their con-
struction for the use of paraffin or other volatile oils, by making the chimney,
which is so essential in the proper combustion of such fluids, to assist in
obtaining the advantages so desired in lamps for the purposes herein named,
viz., that of protecting the flame from the action or effect of external currents
or violent winds; and this I effect by so constructing the tops of such lamps
that either separately or conjointly a cap is formed over the chimney, the

page_text: lower edge of which terminates below its top edge, where a provision is made
under a windguard for the rarefied air to escape without passing into the
body of the lamp, while the air is freely admitted between a wind guard and
an inner screen, so as to allow free ingress for the air to enter the body of the
lamp for supporting the flame. From this it will be seen that a lamp thus
constructed, whether at rest or in an inclined position, or with an undulating
or oscillating motion, will burn steady and bright from the air, which has free
access to the body of the lamp, passing through the gauzed screen below,
forming the external part of the burner, and placed in the ordinary way below
the chimney holder, which air, passing through the gauze supports the flame,
and forms a continuous current from rarefaction through the chimney to
escape over its top edge, and below the edge of the cap, making its exit
through openings formed in a loover or windguard for that purpose. By
these means I am enabled to maintain a steady brilliant flame in the midst of
a hurricane, and as the flame is formed by the upward current of air, the
same result will be obtained with the lamp in an angular as well as an upright
position, nor will it be affected. by the sudden rising or falling to which
floating bodies are liable to in rough weather.
In some instances I purpose further providing additional means for the ingress
of air into the bodies of these kinds of lamps by using circular or other formed
perforated plates sliding or passing one over the other, which permit of the
openings being made large or small for regulation, according to the nature
of the atmosphere; and I also purpose providing breaks in the oil or paraffin
cup that holds the fluid for combustion, that however this cup or holder with
the lamp may be tossed about the flame will not be flooded with an undue
supply.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Wavish in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th November 1864.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES 30
WAVISH, of Torpoint, in the County of Cornwall, Ironmonger, send greeting..::
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May,, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year:
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give ¡and grant 35
unto me, the said James Wavish,. Her special license that I, the said James

page_text: Wavish, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Wavish, my executors, administrators, or 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP AND OTHER LAMPS SUBJECT TO THE EXPOSURE
OF HIGH WINDS AND UNCERTAIN MOTION," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Wavish, my executors.or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of
them, 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 James Wavish, 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:
My improvements in the manufacture of lamps required in exposed positions,
or which are subject to violent or uncertain motions, such as on floating
landing stages, steam and ferry boats, ships, and like situations, whether used'
for signalling or diffusing light, as well as for railways, carriages, or other
purposes where economy and brilliancy of light may be desired, consist in
adapting them in their construction for the use of paraffin or other volatile
oils, by making the chimney, which is so essential in the
proper combustion!
of such fluids, to assist in obtaining the advantages so desired in lamps for the.
purposes berein named, viz., that of protecting the flame from the action or
effect of external currents or violent winds. And this I effect by so con-
structing the tops of such lamps, that either separately or conjointly a cap is
formed over the chimney, the lower edge of which cap terminates below the
top edge of the chimney, where a provision is made under a windguard for
the rarefied air to escape without passing into the body of the lamp, while the
air for supporting combustion is freely admitted between a windguard or an
inner screen, according to the description of lamps to which my improvements
are applied, so as to allow free ingress for the air to enter the body of the
lamp for supporting the flame. From this it will be seen that a lamp thus
constructed, whether at rest or in an inclined position, or with an undulating
or oscillating motion, will burn steady and bright from the air, which has free
access to the body of the lamp passing through the gauzed screen below the

page_text: flame, (forming the external part of the burner, and placed in the ordinary
way below the chimney holder), and which air passing through the gauze
supports the flame, and what remains unconsumed by the flame forms a
continuous current (from rarefaction) through the chimney, to escape over its
top edge, and below the edge of the cap, making its exit through openings
formed in a louvre or windguard for that purpose. By these means I am
enabled to maintain a steady brilliant flame in the midst of a hurricane, and
as the flame is formed by the upward current of air, the same result will be
obtained with the lamp in an angular as well as an upright position, nor will
it be affected by the sudden rising or falling to which floating bodies are
liable in rough weather.
:
In some instances I purpose further providing additional means for the
ingress of air into the bodies of these kinds of lamps by using circular or other
formed perforated plates sliding or passing one over the other, which permit:
of the openings being made large or small for regulation, according to the
nature of the atmosphere; and I also purpose providing breaks in the oil or
paraffin cup that holds the fluid for combustion, that however this cup or
holder with the lamp may be tossed about the flame will not be flooded with
an undue supply.
But with a view of being fully understood as to the nature and extent of
my Invention I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fig. 1 represents a square lamp with the door open, and the general body
and top shown in section for the better exhibiting the particulars of my
Invention, and although I have represented a square lamp, nevertheless it
may be round, or of other convenient shape, and adapted for any particular
position. The top of the lamp body is constructed in the ordinary way with
perforations and louvres or windguards not only for the escape of the rarefied
air unconsumed and other products of combustion, which I believe to be
very small, but also to admit the air into the body of the lamp to support
combustion.
. But the essential quality of my Invention consists in the cap A, which I
entirely cover over on the top, and this cap extends down, as shown, con-
siderably below the top of the chimney B. This cap I secure centrally over
the chimney by any convenient means, but in this case I have represented the
cap as soldered to a wire marked C, C, which may be bent at right angles, as
will be hereafter referred to; and soldered to the top of the lamp as at D, D;
the part that holds the chimney marked E, with the thumb bit F for raising
the wick and socket G united to the vessel for holding the paraffin or other
volatile oil marked II, H, possesses no novelty, and may be arranged generally

page_text: as here shown with good success.
But with a view of preventing the wick
being flushed, and thereby the flame overgorged with paraffin (or the fluid
used for combustion) by any violent motion imparted to the lamp, I apply
within the vessel H a series of annular breaks. or. tubes thickly perforated, so
as to allow the fluid to readily flow from the exterior through the inter-
mediate break, and from there to the inner break for supplying the cotton, or
if such annular breaks are serrated on their bottom edge, so that when
soldered to the bottom of the vessel openings will still be left for the fluid to
flow through, the same result will be obtained. A lamp thus constructed
will be found to burn perfectly steady in the most tempestuous weather, and
therefore will be found of the greatest value for signals and other purposes on'
board ships and other exposed situations, such as landing stages, steam ferries,
and other maritime purposes, which are generally required most in tem-
pestuous weather.
I do not profess to have invented a means whereby the light is increased
according to the size or proportion of the material used, but the constructing
of a lamp for the burning of paraffin or other volatile oils which
may .be used.
in exposed situations, and which may be effected with as much convenience
as when burning on a parlour table.
Fig. 2 is a side view, and Fig. 3 a top view of the cap A shown in section
at Figure 1, attached to the wires C, C, by which the cap may be held in
position, and secured to the body of the lamp as before stated. And as these
parts constitute the important feature of my Invention, I have not thouglit
it necessary to exhibit the various forms of lamps that are used on board ship;
as they have only to be so constructed as to allow sufficient. freedom for
ventilation, and the object will be attained whether supported in gimbals
between decks, or placed at the mast head, binnacle, or elsewhere.
And as brilliancy of light and economy of production are generally desirable,
I have exhibited in a front sectional view at Fig. 4 my improvements applied
to an ordinary hand lamp for officials engaged in and about railway stations,
in which case I have also exhibited the top of the chimney B passing up
within the cap A, which is as at Figure 1 shown in section. Tail lamps may
be made in like manner, and with equal convenience, as the
cap may be
attached to the top part of the lamp in any convenient way..
And Fig. 5
represents in vertical section a roof lamp possessing little novelty of con-
struction beyond the introduction of the cap A, and which may be fastened to
the reflector I, I, in the manner here represented, which is, by raising up a
neck from the inner edge of the reflector, which I purpose thickly perforating,
and soldering the cap to this raised part at J, J. I have represented it

page_text: thus for the convenience that as 'the top part of the lamp is lifted up by a
hinge joint in or about the part K, the cap A with the reflector may be drawn
out for the convenience of cleaning, as well as to remove the oil vessel,
chimney, &c.; fór cleaning and dressing. And I have adopted a somewhat
deeper glass than. is usually applied to roof lamps, but 'which cannot be
objectionable when lamps are placed in the division of a carriage for the
purpose of lighting two compartments, and assuming that the lamp bere
shown may be so placed, I prefer making the oil or paraffin reservoir of a
rectangular form, but still. applying breaks to prevent flushing the flame with
the fluid used for combustion from any violent motion imparted to the
carriage. Notwithstanding, if lamps are required with my improvements, and
constructed for placement in the centre of a compartment of a railway
carriage, the same may be done with equal convenience if so preferred, but I
will remark that if the lamp glass is very shallow, such as is ordinarily used,
I prefer closing up the airway at L, L, which. enters here, and escapes into
the body of the lamp just below the reflector I, for I have found in practice.
that air'so admitted has a tendency to make the lamp smoke, therefore, in the
case of shallow glasses being used, I prefer admitting the air through the
louvres at the top of the lamp for it to. descend to the burner, either by
passing through the perforations at N, N, or through perforations around the
outer edge of the reflector. And with the object.as. before expressed, viz.,
economy and additional light, I have exhibited at Fig. 6 my improvements
as applied to an ordinary constructed carriage lamp, such as are commonly
used on the high road for lighting private.or public carriages. And this I
effect by simply adhering to the three principal objects, viz., the divisions in
the oil vessel, the placing the cap A over the chimney, and the conserving of
sufficient ventilation and air ways. The last particular may be varied and even
regulated when desired, as for instance, the top belt of the lamp as at M, M,
Figure 1, may be perforated, and a strip of metal may be perforated in like
manner, so that by moving the outer plate more or less, so the perforations
at M, M, will be opened for the more ready admission of air which may be
necessary in some conditions of the atmosphere. And although I named that
these additional airways may be placed as here shown, nevertheless they may
be placed in any position that may be considered most convenient, but I
believe with the free ventilation above this provision will be found
unnecessary.
Having thus given a general description of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it understood that I do
not purpose limiting myself to any particular details, or any particular

page_text: position or use, for which lamps so constructed may be required, for although
I have stated that my improved lamp will be found useful for exposed
positions, there are a variety of purposes to which such lamps are applicable,
as the effect of draughts or currents of air is entirely neutralised; nor do I
claim the application or construction of lamps for burning paraffin or other
volatile oils out of doors, as that I believe has been already done, though with
an unsatisfactory result. But what I claim as new and of my Invention, and
wish to protect by these my in part recited Letters Patent for the purposes
herein stated is, the cap A as applied to lamps for burning paraffin and other
volatile oils, and the application to such lamps in connection with my improved
cap of the breaks or divisions in the reservoir of such lamps.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wavish, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
CHARLES JOHNSTONE,
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
JAMES WAVISH. (L.S.)