IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Crombie, of No. 34, Coleman Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Crombie at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th November 1876.
DAVID CROMBIE, of No. 34, Coleman Street, in the City of London, Merchant.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-lighters.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to Edward Goodchild Phillips,
No. 2998, in the year 1873, was described the constructing fire-lighters of a number.
of pieces of wood arranged in a pyramidal or trestle form, so as to leave an open
space below the apex of the lighter, to give free access of air and ensure perfect
combustion.
According to this Invention I construct fire-lighters in the following manner of
a number of pieces of wood capable of being opened out and set into a trestle form.
The strips are cut into long triangular-shaped pieces; these pieces are placed
together side by side, and are connected together by a wooden pin, string, wire,
or metal tube passed through all of them near to their larger ends. The several
pieces having been thus connected one with the other their larger ends are dipped
into melted resin or such like material. When the lighter is to be used for lighting
a fire the strips are turned alternately in opposite directions upon the pin which
connects them, so bringing the lighter into the form of a trestle, which can be set up
in a fire-place with the pointed ends of the several pieces downwards, whilst the
apex of the trestle is upwards. By thus constructing fire-lighters it will be seen
that they can be made at but little cost and will occupy but little space when
packed together; and when lighting a fire with them the greater part of the wood
of which they are composed is close up to the central burning point, whereby the
heat is concentrated and is produced in close contiguity with the coal to be lighted
or with any cooking vessel placed above it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said David Crombie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th May
1877.
DAVID CROMBIE, of No. 34, Coleman Street, in the City of London, Merchant.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-lighters.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to Edward Goodchild Phillips,
No. 2998, in the year 1873, was described the constructing fire-lighters of a number
of pieces of wood arranged in a pyramid in a trestle form, so as to leave an open
space below the apex of the lighter, to give free access of air and ensure perfect
combustion.
According to this Invention I construct fire-lighters in the following manner of
a number of pieces of wood capable of being opened out and set into a trestle form.
The strips are cut into long triangular-shaped pieces; these pieces are placed
together side by side, and are connected together by a wooden pin, string, wire,
or metal tube passed through all of them near to their larger ends. The several
pieces having been thus connected one with the other their larger ends are dipped
into melted resin or such like material. When the lighter is to be used for lighting
a fire the strips are moved alternately in opposite directions upon the pin which
connects them, so bringing the lighter into the form of a trestle, which can be set up
in a fire-place with the pointed ends of the several pieces downwards, whilst the
apex of the trestle is upwards. By thus constructing fire-lighters it will be seen
that they can be made at but little cost and will occupy very little space when
packed together (five hundred being packed in a compass of less than four cubic
feet); and when lighting a fire with them the greater part of the wood of which
they are composed is close up to the central burning point, whereby the heat is
concentrated and is produced in close contiguity with the coal to be lighted or with
any cooking vessel placed above it.
In carrying out my Invention I proceed as follows:-In the first place wood is
selected as free from knots and cracks as can be got in battens, deals, or planks,
2 inches, or boards 14 inches thick and from 5 inches to 11 inches wide. These
are first cut across the grain into rectangular blocks 3 inches wide; the length
will be whatever the width of the batten or board was, the width of the batten or
board making the length of the block; thus, if cut from a batten 7 inches wide
the block will measure 7. x 33 x 23 in. These blocks are then cut diagonally
into slabs having a section of the form shown at Figure 1. These slabs are then
passed over a revolving circular saw which cuts a slit in them, as shown at Figure 2.
Four or more of these slabs are then packed together in the manner shown at
Figure 3, so as to form an oblong rectangular block, in which state they are cut up
into strips or legs, each to of an inch wide and with parallel sides.
The mode of cutting is by a circular saw having a cast-iron box open at the ends
and top travelling automatically to and fro by its (the saw's) side, with one end
towards the saw. The slabs packed, as above mentioned, are placed by the operator
in the said box as it travels, thus presenting the ends of them to the cutting edge
of the saw.
The width to which they are cut is regulated by a moveable fence placed in a
suitable position, and against which the operator pushes the end of the slabs each
time the box returns after a cut has been made. The legs thus cut are next sent
into the drying room, where they are kept twenty hours in a temperature of about
100 degrees, which thoroughly expels all moisture from them and ensures their
speedy ignition.
From the drying room the legs are passed to a machine for stringing or having
the twine or other material before mentioned put in them. This is done by means
of an endless chain of small boxes, each of which holds seven, five, or other number
of legs respectively forming one lighter. The said chain of boxes travels on two

page_text: polygonal revolving discs supported by suitable frame and actuated by hand or other
power.
The lighter legs are placed in these boxes (which are always travelling) with
their points downwards and the slits in a line at the top. A reel of twine is placed
on a spindle over the chain and the twine is led by guides over the slits, into which
it is pressed by one or more discs or rollers. Immediately after a box has passed
from under the last of the rollers and the string has been forced home in the slit
the string or twine is cut, and as the box descends the lighter falls out into a
receptacle prepared for it, and is then conveyed to the dipping tank, where the final
operation of the manufacture is performed. This consists merely of dipping the
thick end of the lighter in molten resin to the depth of 14 inches or thereabouts.
Figure 4 shows the fire-lighter opened out ready for use.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I claim,―
First. The manufacture of fire-lighters from tapering strips of wood and capable
of being set into a trestle form, substantially as described.
Second. The manufacture of fire-lighters from tapering or other strips of wood,
substantially in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Crombie, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
DAVID CROMBIE. (L.S.)