IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS FLAMES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Gerald C. Hopper at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 30th June 1877. A communication from
abroad by B. Diemer and Theodor Fendius, both of Berlin, Prussia.
GERALD C. HOPPER, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS FLAMES." [A communication
from abroad by B. Diemer and Theodor Fendius, both of Berlin, Prussia.]
These improvements consist in annexing to an ordinary gas burner a small auxiliary
burner or ignitor in conjunction with a novel mechanism, by means of which one
or other of these two burners being previously lighted it will ignite the other on the
former being extinguished; thus by the act of extinguishing the main burner the
auxiliary one is ignited, and will remain burning until it is desired to re-ignite the
main burner; when such is the case the auxiliary burner is thereby extinguished.
The mechanism consists in a small double conical valve adapted on a hollow stem
fitted vertically in the gas pipe of the burner, and susceptible of occupying two
positions, viz., raised when the gas is feeding the main burner, and lowered when
feeding the igniter; to the lower valve is adapted a flexible membrane whereby the
gas is precluded from entering directly the gas pipe, and which also serves to
actuate the double valve.
Requisite motion is imparted to this double valve in three different manners, and
by three different descriptions of mechanism, viz.:
.
Firstly. By pneumatic pressure acting on the membrane.
Secondly. By the pressure of the gas acting on the membrane.
Thirdly. By the pressure of the gas acting on a bell dipping in liquid.
Pneumatic Pressure.-In this case an air reservoir is made use of, the air
contained in the same being compressed by any convenient mechanism when the
main burner is to be ignited; the pressure produced by the air acting on
the diaphragm of the valve causes the latter to rise, and thereby admit the gas
through the hollow stem to the burner, at the same time closing the passage to the
igniter by application of the lower valve against its seating; so long as a sufficient
pressure is maintained in the receiver the main light will continue burning; when
the main light has to be extinguished the receiver is relieved of its pressure, causing
037

page_text: the diaphragm and double valve to fall, whereby the upper of the two valves closes
on its seat, intercepting the flow of gas to the main burner, whilst the lower valve
falling from its seat admits the gas to the igniter, which is ignited by the flame of
the main burner previous to its extinction.
Gas Pressure. According to this arrangement the pressure of the gas raises the
membrane and double cone stem, thereby feeding the main burner and excluding
gas from the igniter, but the gas is admitted through a cock combined with a by-pass,
allowing, whether closed or open as regards the main burner, a small stream of gas
to pass to the igniter in such manner that when the gas is turned off from the
main burner, as above stated, this auxiliary stream of gas passes through the vertical
double valve feeding the igniter, whilst the main burner is extinguished; when it is
desired to light the latter once more, on opening the cock, the pressure of the gas
once more raises the double valve, thereby admitting gas to the burner and
excluding it from the igniter, but previous to this action, or rather during this action,
the igniter has.communicated its flame to the main burner..
Hydrostatic Pressure.-According to this arrangement the membrane is replaced
by a bell, attached to the double vertical valve, with the lower open end dipping
in a liquid such as glycerine, which bell and double valve are raised by the
pressure of the gas so as to distribute the gas to the main burner, and lowered by the
effect of the diminution of said pressure, so as to allow the gas to flow to the igniter
and exclude it from the main burner, before one or the other of these flames being
extinguished, it ignites, the other.