IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS FOR GAS OR OTHER BURNERS AND LAMPS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Dixon at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th June
1875. A communication from abroad by Chauncey M. Murch,
of Cincinnati, County of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, United
States of America.
I, JOSEPH DIXON, of the City, County, and State of New York, United
States of America, but at present of Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFLECTORS FOR GAS OR OTHER BURNERS AND LAMPS," to be
as follows:
This Invention relates to improvements in mirrors or reflectors to be
applied to gas or other burners, lamps, or lanterns, for reflecting fore
and aft in one long line, on which the light is concentrated, the
Invention being particularly adapted for illuminating street carriages,
dark passages, tunnels, corridors, and other places.
The Invention consists primarily in two pairs of vertical mirrors each
pair arranged in a V form, and united at its apex in combination with a
single burner arranged between the apexes of the mirrors. The mirrors

page_text: are secured within the frame of the lamp each pair being united in
a V form as above mentioned, their outer or reflecting surfaces being
either flat or concave although the latter is preferable. The two pairs of
mirrors do not touch one another, a space being left between their apexes
in which space the burner is located.
It is preferred that the burner shall emit a broad flat flame, whose
plane is coincident with the common axis of the mirrors. The inner
sides of the top and bottom of the lamp frame are each provided with
reflecting plates, and the V shaped mirrors may extend from the lower to
the upper reflecting plate, but it is preferred to join them to elevated
reflectors, which are made slightly concave and curve over from the
V mirrors toward the front and back of the lantern, their inner ends
being joined by flat plates.
The Invention consists, secondly, of a means of readily attaching pairs.
of V formed wings or reflectors to any ordinary gas burner or lamp. To
this end wire supports or brackets are adapted to be secured to the
burner by jaws and slides or otherwise; these brackets have upturned
extremities that enter sockets provided at the apexes of the reflectors;
the latter are composed each of two similar concave blades or wings
having a V form in their horizontal section as before, but they are not
enclosed by a lamp frame as in the former case; these reflectors are
capable of adjustment to project the light equally in two opposite
directions, in equal or unequal proportions or wholly either forward or
backward. The reflectors may further be placed on their brackets in a
reversed position, and may be so constructed that when thus reversed 2
they will completely enclose the light.
The Invention further consists of a pair of reflectors of truncate,
pyramidal, conical, parabolic, or other shape coupled together by elastic
hooks, and formed to fit tightly to each other and to the chimney of the
burner with which they are used. The reflectors have so much of their a
vertices removed as to provide room for the neck of the lamp and the
chimney, the cut being so made as to allow the parts to fit closely to
each other and around the chimney in the shape of encircling lips,
causing all the lateral and as much as practicable of the vertical rays to
be reflected in a direct line forward and backward. The two reflectors
are coupled together by hooks which engage in eyes thereon, which
hooks are formed with a bow to render them elastic and enable them to

page_text: accomodate themselves to the expansion and contraction of the chimney
under variations of temperature.
The Invention consists, lastly, in an arrangement of three or more
reflectors to concentrate the light in as many definite directions, and
consists in funnel-formed or truncated parabolic reflectors which are
joined near their apexes by braces or otherwise, and are provided with
elastic fingers to press around and grasp the lamp chimney, when the
compound reflector is in position to hold it in place. There may be any
convenient number of these reflectors, and they may be arranged to
project the rays either horizontally or at any upward or downward angle
as desired.