IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO-PIPES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alexander Ross of Acton in the County of
Middlesex late Lieutenant Colonel Royal Artillery and Henry Lawson of
Gauden Road Clapham in the County of Surrey for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO-PIPES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alexander Ross
and Henry Lawson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
25th October 1883.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER Ross, of Acton, in the County of Middlesex, late
Lieutenant Colonel Royal Artillery, and HENRY LAWSON, of Gauden Road,
Clapham, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO-PIPES "
Our invention relates to tobacco-pipes, and is designed to provide simple and
efficient means for preventing the nicotine from entering the mouth of the
smoker.
Our said invention is based upon the theory that tobacco smoking is a kind of
dry distillation, in which vaporised nicotine ascends and is drawn by suction with
warm tobacco smoke; but is deposited on non-metallic substances, if cold, as an
acrid, oily, and highly poisonous alkaloid.
All tobacco-pipes constructed with a reservoir or well at, or near, the bowl for
the purpose of intercepting and retaining nicotine in smoking, are made upon an
unscientific principle, and will fail to obtain the object sought, of transferring to
the smoker's mouth pure smoke, free from nicotine, for the reason that this
substance passes all such reservoirs or wells with the warm smoke and is either
deposited as so-called "oil" in the mouth-piece of the pipe and sucked bodily out
of it after collecting there; or is drawn as vapour with the hot smoke into the
smoker's mouth where it will be found to have a sharp biting and very disagreeable
taste.
In carrying our invention into practice we provide a small chamber which may
be globular, oval, or of any other desired or convenient form within which we
place sponge or similar absorbent filtering material This chamber is to be placed

page_text: as far from the bowl and as near to the mouth piece of every pipe as possible,
according to the length of the pipe-stem and the convenience of the smoker.
The stem leading to the bowl is secured to one side of the chamber and an
aperture is provided at the opposite side for the insertion of the mouth-piece which
is attached in such a manner as to be removable at pleasure. The sponge should
be so arranged that there is a space between it and the inner end of the said
mouth-piece in the chamber. We provide in the stem, between the chamber and
the bowl, a piece of material which is a non-conductor or a bad conductor of heat,
such as bone, ivory, or the like. The filter chamber may in some cases be made in
two parts so as to be separated for cleaning purposes, the two parts being united 1
by screwing or otherwise, but this is not essential as the sponge may be extracted
and inserted through the aperture for the mouth-piece. The said chamber may be
made of metal or of other suitable material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Alexander Ross and Henry Lawson in the Patent Office on
the 25th April 1884.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER Ross, of Acton, in the County of Middlesex, late
Lieutenant-Colonel Royal Artillery, and HENRY LAWSON, of Gauden Road,
Clapham, in the County of Surrey, "IMPROVEMENTS IN TOBACCO-PIPES 33
Our invention relates to tobacco-pipes and is designed to provide simple and
efficient means for preventing the nicotine from entering the mouth of the
smoker.
Our said invention is based upon the theory that tobacco-smoking is mainly a
kind of dry distillation by which the offensive products containing the alkaloid'
called nicotine will, if not intercepted, reach the smoker's mouth, either in the
volatile form of unfiltered tobacco-smoke, or as an oily, highly offensive fluid,
which, being deposited along the stem of the pipe, chiefly in the mouth-picco, is
occasionally sucked thence into the mouth.
In carrying our said invention into practice, we provide the pipe with a small
chamber, which may be globular, oval or of any other desirable or convenient
form. Within this chamber we place a piece of sponge or similar absorbent
material capable of filtering the tobacco-smoke or intercepting the nicotino:
contained therein.
This chamber is formed either within the mouth-piece or as near as possible.
thereto, so that the heat from the bowl will be prevented to some extent from
injuriously affecting the action of the sponge or similar material. And for this
purpose we also provide in the stem, between the said chamber and the bowl, a
piece or pieces of any suitable material which is a non-conductor or a bad conductor
of heat, such as bone, ivory, tin, or the like, and which acts in a similar manner to
the non-conducting material usually fitted in the handles of tea and coffee pots.
This non-conductor serves to prevent or hinder the passage of the heat-vibrations
along the stem of the pipe, and thus in a manner to isolate the filter-chamber;
leaving it more effectually under the cooling influence of the external atmosphero.
The piece of sponge or similar material is preferably so placed in the said chamber
that there is a space between the said piece and the end of the said chamber
nearest the bowl.
In the accompanying drawing we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practico.
Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show, partly in side elevation and partly in section, various
forms or modifications of our improved pipe, and
Figure 5 is a plan of part of the pipe shewn in Figure 3.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.
a is the bowl, b the mouth-piece and c the chamber which contains the sponge
or other absorbent material, and which we term the filter-chamber.
In the pipe shown in Figure 1, the chamber c is formed partly in the mouth-
piece band partly in the portion d of the stem, the said mouth-piece being screwed
into the said portion d; and two pieces of non-conducting material are employed
between the portions d and e of the stem, that is to say, we use an ivory screw-
threaded piece f having a central aperture or passage which forms part of the bore
of the pipe, and having a fixed collar of the same diameter as the stem at that
part, and we also employ a ring or washer g of tin, which is one of the best
non-conducting metals. One end of the piece fis screwed into, and may or may
not be cemented to, the portion e of the stem. The tin ring or washer is then
assed over the other end of the piece f, which is then screwed into, but not
:

page_text: cemented to, the portion & of the stem. These two pieces of non-conducting
material then present the appearance externally of two circular bands.
The filter-chamber c contains a piece h of sponge or similar absorbent material.
This chamber may be opened, for the purpose of taking out the sponge, by
unscrewing the mouth-piece from the portion d. In some cases we join these parts
by a smooth telescopic joint as shewn in Figure 2.
In Figure 3 we have shewn a pipe so constructed that the piece of sponge or
other absorbent material can be squeezed to free it from the "juices" which it has
intercepted, without taking it out of the chamber o.
In this form of pipe, the piece of sponge or other absorbent material (which is
not shewn in this Figure) is placed in a flexible tube i of india-rubber or other
suitable material. This tube is inserted in the mouth-piece b, which, in this case,
is made with an elongated chamber c to receive the said tube and with two slits or
apertures b¹ to permit the said tube and the sponge or other absorbent material
therein to be squeezed by the thumb and forefinger. Before this operation is
performed, the mouth-piece may be unscrewed from the portions of the stem.
The portion d is, in this case, dispensed with and the non-conductors above
mentioned are fitted between the mouth-piece and the portion 6.
In the case of meerschaum pipes, which cannot properly be fitted with ivory or
other screws, the non-conductor is made of pure tin, platinum, or other very low
conducting metal and is fitted (as shown in Figure 4) as a conical ferrule jupon
the end of the meerschaum parte of the stem. The filter-chamber c is made of
One of these parts is
silver and in two parts, which are joined by a screw.
secured to the mouth-piece b, and the other of the said parts is fitted upon, or
secured to, the platinum or other piece or ferrule j.
We prefer to make the bore of the pipe to enter the bowl at the centre thereof
as shewn in Figure 1, instead of at one side thereof as in pipes heretofore made.
A piece or pieces of non-conducting material must in every case be fitted
between the bowl and the chamber c, otherwise the heat conducted along the stem
from the bowl will impair the action of the sponge or other absorbent material and
render it incapable of performing its proper function.
Having thus fully described our said invention and the manner of performing
the same we wish it understood that we claim :—
First. In a tobacco-pipe, the employment of a chamber containing sponge or
other absorbent material in, or near, the mouth-piece in combination with a piece
or pieces of material which is a non-conductor of heat arrauged between the said
chamber and the bowl, for the purpose above specified.
Second. The improved tobacco-pipe constructed substantially as described with
reference to either of the forms or modifications shewn in the accompanying
drawing, for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof I the said William Alexander Ross for myself and on behalf
of the said Henry Lawson have hereunto set my hand and seal this Twenty fifth
day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty
1