IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HOLDING THE ELECTRODES FOR USE IN ELECTRIC LIGHTING."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Bernard Godfrey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th November 1879.
WILLIAM BERNARD GODFREY, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR HOLDING THE ELECTRODES FOR USE IN
ELECTRIC LIGHTING."
This Invention of improvements in apparatus for holding the electrodes for use
in electric lighting relates to the carbon holders, and an arrangement of these carbon
holders by which, when one pair of carbons has been burnt down to a given point,
another pair shall automatically succeed to the position occupied by the first pair
before lighting or when giving out light, and depends upon a wire or cord attached
to the carbons at the desired point, such stop being arrested by a fixed point so
long as the stop remains intact, but when the carbons burn down to this point, and
the stop is either burnt or fused by the electric arc, then the apparatus is put in
motion and another pair of carbons succeed to the burnt ones.
The pairs of carbons may be arranged in several ways, for instance, they may be
placed in pairs like the steps of a ladder, and may be kept down by the stops, a
spring successively bringing them up to the desired position, or they may be
adjusted to fall by gravity as each stop is burnt away.
They may be adjusted to project from and round a cylinder or in a cylindrical
manner, and either vertically, or horizontally, or at any angle required, the cylinder
being rotated by a weight or spring allowed to come into play by the burning of
the stops successively as the carbons consume, or they may be adjusted in the
following manner, radially like the spokes of a wheel. In this form of the
arrangement an axle is mounted in suitable bearings, and upon this axle is mounted
an insulated disc to carry one set of carbons projecting radially like the spokes of a
wheel, and of the length desired. The corresponding carbons for the electric arc
are carried on another disc not insulated from the axis, the carbons being at such
distance from each other as is found convenient, and not too far for the arc; both
these discs are fixed to the axle, and holes or screw attachments are made for
holding the carbons in the discs. Another disc is also fixed to the axle carrying
short spokes corresponding in number with the pairs of carbons, and in the same
plane as the carbons passing through the axle. The length of the spokes is slightly
in excess of the length of the carbons when consumed to the desired point, and the

page_text: stop of wire or string stretches across from the spokes to the carbons at the point
An arm or
where it is desired that the new carbons shall replace the old ones.
projection from the framework of the machine is arranged so as to arrest the move-
iment of the discs by its interposition against the stop. It is obvious that when the
stop is burnt through the discs may then rotate till the next stop is again brought
up to the projecting arm. The rotation of the discs charged with the pairs of
carbons is caused by a helical spring on the axle, or by a falling weight, a cord
from which is coiled round the axle carrying the discs, or by any other suitable
mechanical means.