IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING AND VENTILATING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Joseph Curtis, of 1, Sebbon Street, Islington,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING AND
VENTILATING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Joseph Curtis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1856.
I, WILLIAM JOSEPH CURTIS, of 1, Sebbon Street, Islington, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING
AND VENTILATING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improvements in lighting and ventilating railway
carriages. In order to improve the ventilation of the carriage, the lamp is
caused to take its air from the interior of the carriage, and for this purpose a
ring of wire gauze or perforated metal is introduced in connection with the glass
globe; and in the roof the carriage a box or case is opened, to put the lamp
into the opening through the roof, and it is then closed by a lid; from this box
a tube runs along the roof of the carriage, and on the ends of the tubes are
cowls, which turn in the opposite direction to that in which the carriage is
running, and thus a partial vacuum is produced in the box or case, and the
ventilation of the carriage and the burning of the lamp are improved. In
order further to improve the burning of railway carriage lamps in which the
oil reservoir is placed above the burner, I add thereto an air tube, which passes
from the burner at the point at which the oil should stand therein to the oil
vessel, and as the oil vessel is closed at the top, the oil cannot descend from it
until the end of the air tube becomes uncovered, and thus the overflow of the
oil is prevented.

page_text: FICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Joseph Curtis at the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOSEPH CURTIS, of 1, Sebbon Street, Islington, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Joseph Curtis, Her special licence that I, the said William
Joseph Curtis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Joseph Curtis, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LIGHTING AND VENTILATING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Joseph Curtis, 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 William Joseph Curtis, do hereby
declare 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 consists in improvements in lighting and ventilating railway.
carriages. In order to improve the ventilation of the carriage, the lamp is
caused to take its air from the interior of the carriage, and for this purpose a
ring of wire gauze or perforated metal is introduced in connection with the
glass globe, and in the roof of the carriage a box or case is opened, to put the
lamp into the opening through the roof, and it is then closed by a lid; from this
box a tube runs along the roof of the carriage, and on the ends of the tubes
are cowls, which turn in the opposite direction to that in which the carriage is
running, and thus a partial vacuum is produced in the box or case, and the
ventilation of the carriage and the burning of the lamp are improved. In
order further to improve the burning of railway carriage lamps in which the
oil reservoir is placed above the burner, I add thereto an air tube, which passes

page_text: from the burner at the point at which the oil should stand therein to the oil
vessel, and as the oil vessel is closed at the top the oil cannot descend from it
until the end of the air tubo becomes uncovered, and thus the overflow of the
oil is prevented.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a section of the apparatus; Figure 2 a plan of the same. A is
the outer case, fixed to the roof of the carriage C, in the usual way; B, the
outer caso of the lamp; D, the oil chamber, communicating with the burner;
E, the reflector; F, the flame; I, the glass, through which the light passes
into the carriage; G, the air valve, whereby the air from the inside of the
carriage passes to the lamp and ventilator h, the hanging valve shutting
occasionally against the inclined side i,; K, the ventilator, working like a
cowl on a chimney top, lightly supported on the pivot L; M are vertical
tubes connected with the case A, connected also with the horizontal pipe N,
to the end of which, as seen in Figures 3, 4, and 5, the ventilator or cowl is
attached; the cowl or ventilator may also, if desired, be applied directly to
each outer case and lamp of each carriage.
Figure 8 is a section, and Figure 9 a plan, of another mode of forming the
lamp, in which the principle of the capillary action of saturated cotton is
employed, in order to keep the light as low as possible. F is the descending
tube containing the wick, the upper end of the tube rising about of an inch
above the oil; the little spur f is used to adjust the wick, being turned by the
thumb and finger, the prongs or spurs entering into the wick. D, E, J, aro
the oil vessel, reflector, and glass, as before described.
Figure 6 is a section, Figure 7 a plan, of another variation of the last
described principle; F being the tube containing the descending wick, but in
this case the oil vessel is divided into two parts, D being the reservoir of oil,
communicating with the part D', in which the wick is deposited; the oil is
supplied to this part by means of the boles i, t, and the apparatus acts on the
principle of the bird fountains, so that whatever the level of the oil in the
reservoir, the oil in the part D' is always at the same level. As I find in
practise the apparatus works most satisfactorily when the level of the oil is
within a quarter of an inch of the upper part of the descending tube F, the
part D is closed, the oil being introduced through the holes i, t, or a single
hole may be used. The same letters refer to corresponding parts, as before
described.

page_text: The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The lamp is made as shown
and described, the reflector being formed somewhat in the shape of a table
lamp or candle shade, the light being thereby thrown downwards through the
glass I. The air for the supply of the lamp is supplied from the inside of the
carriage (which may either pass through suitable openings covered with wire
gauze), passing through one or more valves, as shown; the air, when quiescent,
enters the lamp through the hole or passage S, passing under and around the
hanging valve h, passing through the holes in the lamp case to the flame, and
thence into the atmosphere through the ventilator K. When the carriage is
in motion and passing rapidly through the air, a partial vacuum is formed
behind the cowl or ventilator, whereby the foul air, both of the lamp and that
arising from the respiration of the passengers, is rapidly drawn off, and the
carriage is kept perfectly ventilated; this action will of course take place
whether the lamp be burning or not; and for the mere purposes of ventilation
the ventilator may be made to communicate with any other suitable part of
the carriage. Should the door of the carriage be opened suddenly, the
valve his drawn or shut against the outside inclined side , and should the
door be closed suddenly or violently, the rush of air closes the valve against
the inside inclined side i; the instant the air returns to its normal state the
valve assumes its hanging or vertical position. Figure 3 is a longitudinal
section; Figure 4, a side view; Figure 5, a plan.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim are the combined means,
herein described, of lighting and ventilating railway carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Joseph Curtis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
HENRY WILLIAM CARPMAEL.
W. J. CURTIS. (L.S.)