IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Simon at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 13th December 1879. A communication
from abroad by Rudolph Sarre, of Berlin, in the German Empire.
HENRY SIMON, of No. 7, St. Peter's Square, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS." [A communication from abroad by
Rudolph Sarre, of Berlin, in the German Empire.]
This Invention relates to a construction of lamp in which the oil is forced up to
the wick by air pressure in the following manner :-The body of the lamp is
divided by horizontal partitions into three compartments; the lowest which may
be in the base of the lamp communicates with the middle compartment by a pipe
reaching from the bottom of the middle compartment to nearly the bottom of the
lowest compartment, the lower end of this pipe being bent or twisted helically.
The lowest compartment also communicates with the highest by a pipe reaching
from nearly the top of the highest compartment to the top of the lowest, the lower
mouth of this tube being fronted by a plate kept against it by a weighted lever
which is mounted within the lowest compartment. In the middle compartment
there is fixed a small force pump having its piston rod projecting through the upper
part of the lamp and terminating in a knob by which it can be worked; this
has a suction valve communicating with the bottom of the middle compartment, and
pump
a discharge valve communicating with the bottom of the highest compartment by
a pipe in which there is a stop cock worked by an exterior handle, so arranged
that when the cock is closed it lies over the knob of the pump piston, and con-
sequently the pump cannot be worked unless the handle be turned aside, the cock
being thereby opened. The highest compartment communicates with the wick
chamber above by a small pipe in which there is a wire that can be moved up or
down either directly by hand or by a pinion acting on a rack, so as to regulate the
flow of oil into the wick chamber. From the upper part of the wick chamber an
overflow pipe extends down into the middle compartment where it terminates with
a horizontal volute bend. This overflow pipe may have in it a loose joint for
convenience of disconnecting. The wick chamber which may be lined with glass or
made of glass has extending through it a central air tube opening below from a space
under the wick chamber having lateral air holes, and opening above into the space
within the cylindrical or argand wick. When heavy oil is used the wick chamber
is made short; for lighter oils it is considerably lengthened, and it is provided with
the ordinary rack and pinion for raising and lowering the wick. The operation of
TDmine 971

page_text: the lamp is as follows:-The middle compartment is charged with oil by a pipe
extending to the upper part of the lamp where it is closed by a plug; in this pipe
is a float, and its lower part is of wire gauze or perforated metal. The handle of
the stop cock being then turned aside so as to open the cock and leave the pump
rod free, the pump is worked drawing oil from the middle compartment and
forcing it into the highest compartment and so compressing the air therein. When
the oil has filled the highest compartment it overflows into the lowest moving the
plate therein, and compressing the air so as to force such oil as may be in it into
the middle compartment. The movement of the plate causes the lever to strike the
side of the compartment, and this noise shews that the top compartment is filled.
When the pump has been sufficiently worked its rod is pushed down, and the stop
cock is closed by turning its handle over the rod. The compressed air in the
lowest compartment communicating its pressure to the upper compartment now
forces the oil up the tube supplying the wick chamber, and the overflow thence of
the surplus oil that is not consumed by the wick descends into the middle compart-
ment, whence it can be again pumped up to the highest compartment. The supply
of oil to the wick chamber may be automatically regulated in the following
manner:-
:-The supply pipe instead of opening directly into the wick chamber opens
into a compartment which is situated below an annular chamber surrounding the
wick chamber, and communicates with this annular chamber by an aperture fitted
with a valve opening downwards. This valve is attached to a float in the annular
chamber, so that according as the float ascends or descends therein, the valve is
more or less closed or opened, and thus the amount of oil supplied is determined
automatically by the level which it attains in the annular chamber which com-
municates with the overflow pipe and also with the wick chamber by lateral
apertures.