AN IMPROVED SELF LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Trotter, of North Shields, in the County
of Northumberland, Ship Store Merchant, for the Invention of "AN
T
39
Scaled the 2nd April 1875, and dated the 6th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Trotter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th October 1874.
I, HENRY TROTTER, of North Shields, in the County of Northumber-
land, Ship Store Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED SELF LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS,"
to be as follows :-
The main object of this Invention is to ensure the lighting and
extinguishing of all the public gas lamps simultaneously at the hours
required, thereby saving a great quantity of gas, to which end is fixed
within cach lamp and in a convenient position a reservoir of sand,
beneath which is a receiver balanced on the arm of a lever to receive the

page_text: sand as it falls from above. The other arm of the lever is graduated,
and has a shifting balance weight adapted so as to be fixed at any
required distance from the fulcrum. In another convenient position is
also placed an exactly similar contrivance for extinguishing the light.
To the first or lighting apparatus is fitted a spring kept in resilition by
means of a projecting arm from the fulcrum of the lever, and so con-
nected to the cock of the burner that when the spring is set at liberty
by the overbalancing of the lever from the weight of sand in the
receiver it shall turn on the gas. This act then sets at liberty another
spring, which carrys with it two matches fixed to the end, striking them
smartly along a sand board or other roughened surface so adapted as to
yield slightly to the pressure of the matches. The matches having become
ignited by the friction are by means of a guide brought to rest in close
proximity to the burner, setting light to the gas issuing therefrom.
When the time arrives for the light to be extinguished the sand in
the second receiver has overbalanced its counterweight, setting free a
spring attached by, suitable means to the cock of the burner which
turns off the gas.
When the apparatus is to be set in working order the attendant fixes
the balance weight of the lighting apparatus over the figure indicating
the number of hours to clapse before the gas is to be lighted. He then
puts in resilition the spring first mentioned by placing over it the pro-
jecting arm from the fulcrum of the lever; a connection is made to the
cock, and the reservoir refilled from the sand in the receiver into which
it had previously run. To the end of the second spring of the same
apparatus two matches are fixed, and the spring bent down and attached
by suitable means to the cock; which on being turned sets the spring at
liberty to rebound, striking the matches smartly along the sand board,
as before described.
The contrivance for extinguishing the light is set in a similar manner
to that described for turning on the gas, the balance weight being fixed
on the graduated arm of the lever at the figure indicating the length of
time to elapse from the setting of the apparatus to the turning out of
the light.
A modification of the above is applicable to alarm clocks, chamber

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Trotter in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
TROTTER, of North Shields, in the County of Northumberland, Ship
Store Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Trotter, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Trotter, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Trotter, my executors,
administrators, and 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVED
SELF LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Trotter, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Henry Trotter, 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 in writing, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
:-
The main object of this Invention is to ensure the lighting and
extinguishing of all the public gas lamps simultaneously at the hours
required, thereby saving a great amount of gas. To this end I fix

page_text: within each lantern and in any convenient position a motive power,
preferably clockwork, as being more certain of action and offering the
least obstruction to the light. Connected by levers to the motive power
is an apparatus fixed to the supply pipe or to the lantern frame. This
apparatus is furnished with powerful springs kept within resilition by
restraining bars until such time as the gas is to be turned on, lighted,
and finally turned off. This will be the better understood by referring to
the accompanying Drawing, wherein Figure 1 shows my Invention fitted
to a public lamp, and Figure 2 a sectional plan of the lower portion of the
same, showing the manner in which I propose to accomplish the turning
on and turning off the gas supplied to the burner; Figure 3 is a side view
of the lamp, and Figure 4 a plan of the same. In these Figures the
reference letters refer to the same parts in each Figure.
In using clockwork as a motive power for my Invention I place over
the socket of the hour wheel a cam (a) similar in every respect to those
used for alarm clocks. On this cam rides the short arm of the lever (b)
working on the axle (c) as a fulcrum. The end of the long arm of the
lever is shaped, as shewn, to a larger scale in Figure 5 for the purpose of
holding down and giving motion to the holding down bar (d) moving it
horizontally on the pivot (e), as shown in dotted lines, Figures 1 and 2.
Fixed to the framework of the lantern is a bent rod (f), upon which is
entwined a portion of two stout wires (g, g',) of brass or steel. These
wires are so bent as to act as springs (9) for the purpose of turning on
the gas, and by means of the friction board (k) striking the match and
(¹) to turn off the gas after the lapse of a certain time.
pipe within the lantern I fix a frame or support (h) having three arms
(1, 2, 3,) projecting outward from the centre; this frame acts by means
of the arm 1 as a support for the pivot of the holding down bar (d), and
by means of the arm 3, Figures 2 and 3, as a fixture for the restraining
bar (), which restrains or keeps in check the otherwise free end of the
stout wire (9). To the upper part of the cock I fix a clip (m), Figures 1,
3, and 4, to hold a match over the burner.
To the supply
The foregoing constitutes the lighing apparatus, and is thus set for
operation: The cam, on being set by the attendant in a similar manner
to alarm clocks for a certain hour, the free end of the wire is made to
traverse the guides 1, 1*, and restrained in the position shewn in the
Drawing by the hinged portion of the bar i being placed over it, and

page_text: and kept in position by the long arm of the lever b, as shewn. The
handle (o) of the cock, which had previously been turned aside to allow
the passing of the wire g along the guides is now returned to its former
position, and over the aforesaid wire. I may here remark that the
handle of the cock is of a bell-crank shape, so that when one of the arms
is horizontal the other is vertical, as the arms o, o*. A match is then
fixed in the clip, and the apparatus is ready to act when the hour arrives
for lighting the lamp.
The operation of lighting is thus performed:-The cam (a) on arriving
at the position shown in the Drawing sets at liberty the short arm of the
lever b, this, being pressed downward by the spring (n) above it, moves
the long arm outward, as shewn, by the dotted lines in Figures 1 and 2,
carrying with it the holding down bar. This operation allows the spring (9)
to force up the hinged portion of the restraining bar i, and to impinge
upon the under side of the handle (o) of the cock, carrying it round in
the direction taken by the guides until the handle has performed a
quarter revolution, thus turning on the gas. The spring then leaving
the handle, but still following the guides, passes the friction board k
smartly across the prepared end of the match, setting light thereto,
which ignites the gas issuing from the burner.
To turn off the gas I employ a cam a¹ placed on a shaft worked by a
wheel that shall make one revolution in the twenty-four hours, and in the
same direction as the hour wheel. This is attained by the ordinary means
of gearing wheels. Riding over this cam is the short arm of the lever b',
which performs duties precisely similar to the lever b, already described.
The parts d, g, and 2, having their counterparts in the lighting
apparatus, which have already been specified, need no further descrip-
tion, save that the wire g¹ requires neither a friction board nor guides,
as it is used for the purpose only of turning off the gas, and is controlled
in its upward motion by a projection on the under side of the handle o*,
which keeps the spring constantly bearing against it without the risk of
slipping away.

page_text: the gas performed in due time by the lighting apparatus places the
vertical arms o* of the cock over the end of the restrained spring as
shewn by dotted lines in Figure 2, ready to be acted upon immediately the
cam a¹ has set the lever b' at liberty to remove the holding down bar
from off the end of the restraining bar ».
For the purpose of regulating the hour at which the extinguishing
apparatus is to come into action I employ a key of the shape shewn in
Figures 6 and 7, where p is a circular handle having holes q, q, in its
circumference, into which fits a small stub projecting from the under
side of the arm (r) that works round a pivot in the centre of the handle.
This arm extending beyond the handle prevents the key being turned
passed a stop (s) which projects from the face (t) of the clock or case.
When it is required that the lamp be extinguished one hour earlier or
later (according to the season) the arm r is shifted one twenty-fourth of
the circumference, and kept in that position by the stub entering one of
the holes. The key is then inserted into the key hole, and the projec-
tion made to enter the opening u, Figure 8, and turned until stopped by
the aforesaid arm coming in contact with the stop s.
In Figures 7 and 8 I have shewn to a large scale the cam and key in
the position they would be at 10 a.m., after the attendant had set the
apparatus (which had previously turned off the gas at 6 a.m.) for 5 a.m.
on the following day. To accomplish this the attendant had but to shift
the arm from over the hole' to over the hole ", which allows the key to
move the cam forward one twenty-fourth of its circumference, thus making
it set the apparatus in motion one hour earlier.
Figure 9 is a plan of Figure 8, V being the wheel that makes one
revolution in the twenty-four hours, and s the stop projecting from face
(t) of the clock or case.
My Invention is equally applicable to private lamps, or where the
lamps are beyond easy reach of the attendant, as in public halls and
theatres; in these cases the restraining bar might be relieved from the
holding down bar by any suitable contrivance.
Having now described the object and nature of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed, I would remark in conclusion that under the above in part a
recited Letters Patent I claim as my Invention, the combination and

page_text: arrangement of parts and mechanism as and for the purposes herein-
before set forth and described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Trotter, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.