IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHTS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert More Butt, of Fairfield Works, Bow, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHTS."
Scaled the 25th September 1858, and dated the 26th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert More Butt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
March 1858.
I, ROBERT MORE BUTT, of Fairfield Works, Bow, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
NIGHT LIGHTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of night
lights. For these purposes, in order to render night lights impermeable
to the melted stuff of which they are composed, cements are used at the
bottoms of the boxes or cases adapted to render night lights suitable for being
burned without water. The cases or boxes are made as heretofore of paper,
pasteboard, or wood, but it is preferred that such materials should be rendered
uninflammable, as described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to
The boxes or cases for the purposes of my Invention may be varied in
their construction, and the composition of the cement employed may also be
varied. If the boxes or cases are made by inserting perforated discs at the
lower ends, leaving spaces below the perforated bottoms, as is very commonly
the case, then I fill such spaces with cement after the wicks have been
inserted in the perforated bottoms. I prefer that the wicks should be sup-
ported 'by a tin or other holder in addition to passing through the perforated

page_text: bottoms.
Or, the cement is introduced in the interior of the boxes or cases,
above the bottoms of the ordinary materials, but in such cases the ordinary
bottoms are not perforated for receiving the wicks, the wicks being in such
cases sustained by any suitable wick holders, which are introduced when
the cement is still fluid; or, the wick holders may be retained in the centres
of the cement bottoms by any convenient means. Or, the night lights may
be cast or made separately, without coverings, and with their wick holders
attached, introduced into the boxes or cases having impermeable cement
bottoms. The cements employed are composed of a solution of silicate of
potash or soda, with powdered glass, flint, sand, chalk, or clay; or powdered
glass, flint, sand, or clay, or metallic oxides may be combined with sal-
ammoniac, borax, and gummy, gelatinous, or albuminous matters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert More Butt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the.
25th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MORE BUTT, of Fairfield Works, Bow, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the.
said Robert More Butt, Her special licence that I, the said Robert More
Butt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert More Butt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at.
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NIGHT LIGHTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert More Butt, 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 Robert More Butt, do hereby declare

page_text: the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of night
lights. For these purposes, in order to render night lights impermeable to
the melted stuff of which they are composed, cements are used at the bottoms
of the boxes or cases, adapted to render night lights suitable for being burned
without water. The cases or boxes are made as heretofore of paper, paste-
board, or wood, but it is preferred that such materials should be rendered
uninflammable as described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to
me. The boxes or cases for the purposes of my Invention may be varied in
their construction, and the composition of the cement employed may also be
varied. If the boxes or cases are made by inserting perforated discs at the
lower ends leaving spaces below the perforated bottoms, as is very commonly
the case, then I fill such spaces with cement, after the wicks have been
inserted in the perforated bottoms. I prefer that the wicks should be supported
by a tin or other holder in addition to passing through the perforated bottoms.
Or, the cement is introduced in the interior of the boxes or cases above the
bottoms of the ordinary materials, but in such cases the ordinary bottoms are
not perforated for receiving the wicks, the wicks being in such cases sustained
by any suitable wick holders, which are introduced when the cement is still
fluid; or, the wick holders may be retained in the centres of the cement
bottoms by any convenient means. Or, the night lights may be cast or made
separately, without coverings, and with their wick holders attached, introduced
The cements
into the boxes or cases having impermeable cement bottoms.
employed are composed of a solution of silicate of potash or soda with powdered
glass, flint, sand, chalk, or clay; or, powdered glass, flint, sand, or clay, or
metallic oxides may be combined with salammoniac, borax, and gummy,
gelatinous, or albuminous matters.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. In rendering the bottoms of
the cases of night lights impermeable to the melted stuff of which they are
composed according to the mode firstly described as above, I take a finished
night light as made in the ordinary way for burning, partly immersed in water
with the melted stuff and wick complete within it, and I fill in the space
below the paper bottom with a cement composed of a solution of silicate of
potassa, silicate of soda, or silicate of potassa and soda ntimately mixed with
so much sand or pounded glass, flint, or marble as will bring it to the con-
sistency of freshly made glaziers putty. I apply the. cement with a palette

page_text: knife or by any other convenient means, and I either strike the cement smooth
and flush with the lower edge of the case, or I leave a small part of the space
unfilled, so as to form an air chamber as a nonconductor of heat below the
impermeable bottom; or. I apply the cement in like manner to a night light
case of the same construction in which the wick alone is fixed ready for
pouring in the melted stuff, which I do after the cement is set hard or firm.
When adopting the method secondly described as above, I insert the cement
within the night light cases, and above the usual paper bottoms, so as to render
the latter impermeable to the melted stuff, and in that case the paper bottoms
are not perforated, and are either..flush with the lower edge of the cases, or
they are slightly raised above and within them, so as to leave a nonconducting
air chamber beneath...
In pursuing the method lastly described as above, I take an ordinary night
light case, without a perforation in the paper bottom, but with the usual space
below it, and I fill in that space with cement in the same way as is firstly
described herein. In the two latter instances I sustain the wicks by splitting
their lower ends into two divisions, and bend these in opposite directions at
right angles with the perpendicular part which I pass upwards through a
small piece of perforated tin as usual, or through a glass bead, and I then affix
such sustainers and wicks to the inside bottoms of the cases with a small
portion of cement composed of gum and ground sulphate of barytes; taking
care that the ends of the divided wicks shall extend beyond the sustainers and
cement, so that the capillarity of the wick may not be obstructed at the
extremities, and I prefer that these should extend to the circumference of the
cases; or, in those instances, I cast the night lights separately in suitable
moulds, leaving apertures through the fat cylinders for the wicks, which are
afterwards inserted with tin or other sustainers, by the weight of which they.
are retained in the proper position, and I press the night lights so made into
the prepared cases. In every instance I prefer to render the materials
of which the cases are made uninflammable by impregnating or coating
them with suitable salts or. composition according to a Patent granted to
me, and dated the Fifteenth March One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
five. It is, however, necessary to avoid using salammoniac for that purpose,
when silicates are used for the cement, because a decomposition of the
latter would result, and the intended. object would be thereby frustrated;
I prefer in that case to saturate or coat the materials of which the cases
are made with a solution of silicate of potassa, soda, or silicate of. potassa
and soda mixed with finely ground glass, sulphate of barytes, marble, chalk,.
white zinc or white lead. To give whiteness and smoothness. to the cement:

page_text: for the bottoms, the ground sulphate of barytes, white zinc or white lead may
also be mixed with the other materials previously mentioned in the proportion
of an eighth. In order to increase the brilliancy of the night lights by
rendering the cases more diaphanous, calico, linen, or other similar woven
fabric may be used in place of paper or wood for the cylinders of the cases,
rendering the sides and bottoms of such cylinders impermeable to the fat, and
also uninflammable by the method described for paper or wood. To prepare
the calico, I stretch it over a suitable frame, and lay on the silicated pre-
paration of the consistency of common whitewash with a wide flat brush,
repeating the operation if necessary on the other side. If the melted stuff of
which the night lights are made is a neutral fat, such as cocoa-nut oil, pressed
tallow, or palm oil, &c., the cases prepared as above described answer perfectly
well, and there is no exudation through the sides or bottoms, nor are the
wicks in any way impaired, but if fat acids are either wholly or for the most
part used, then I apply a final coating or thin wash to the inside of the cases;
(or to one side of the materials for making them,) composed of a solution of
gum and ground sulphate of barytes. The object of this coating is the inter-
position of a mechanical barrier, to prevent the contact of the fat acids with
the silicated composition within the cases, which would otherwise be partially
decomposed by the former causing a deposit or incrustation on the wick. The
solutions of the silicates of potassa or soda that I employ are of the following
densities: For saturating or coating the cases, 22° of Beaumé's hydrometer or
specific gravity 1.1692 (distilled water at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit
being 10000 ;) for the cement for rendering the bottoms of the cases
impermeable, 22° to 32° Beaumé, or specific gravity 1.1692 to 1.2667; and
for cementing the cylinders of the cases when they are prepared with silicates,
from 45° to 50° Beaumé, or specific gravity 1.4206 to 1.4902. I would,
however, observe that it is by no means necessary to be exact as to the specific
gravity of the silicates. A little practice in the use of them renders it
unnecessary to try the density; the medium sort of 32° Beaumé is the most
convenient for a supply, and it can be thinned out by the addition of distilled
water, or inspissated by evaporating it in a steam jacketed vessel with con-
stant stirring. I sometimes substitute a solution of gum or glue, or the white
of egg for making the cement before described, mixing either of them with
any of the powdered substances mentioned, in the same manner, and applying
tbem in a similar way as is specified for the silicates with the addition of a
small portion of borax to the glue, or of salammoniac to the gum, to increase
their tenacity; but I prefer the use of the silicates as being the most con-
venient in application, and the most perfect in use.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
application of the cements herein described to render night lights suitable for
being burnt without being partly immersed in water. I likewise claim the
mode herein described of sustaining the wicks by splitting their lower ends,
and cementing them as described to the inner sides of the bottoms of the
night light cases without perforating the discs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert More Butt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
R. M. BUTT.
L.S.)