CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BARTON ALCOCK, of the City of Kilkenny, in that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the said United
Kingdom called England, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day
of January, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said George Barton Alcock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
especial licence, that I, the said George Barton Alcock, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said George Barton Alcock, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Barton Alcock, do hereby declare that my said Innvention is described
in manner following, that is to say :-
My first improvement in lamps consists in giving a supply of oil to a lamp
from beneath, by means of a piston fitted to a tube. Fig. 1 represents a
lamp, of which E has the form of a candlestick, or any other form which may

page_text: be most convenient or agreeable; and C, D, is a tube representing a candle,
but which may be externally of any other figure, provided its interior part or
bore be cylindrical, or of such section as to fit the piston, hereafter mentioned,
thro all that part where the motion is to be performed. Now, I apply and
use in the said tube the piston B, which is capable of being slided upwards or
downwards within the bore of the tube, and its motion may be governed by
a rack G and pinion F, or by a simple sliding piece or other well-known con-
trivance; when the piston B is drawn down nearly to the bottom of the tube,
oil is poured into the space A, B, above the piston; and the lamp, consisting
of a cup and wick holder, or any other of the apparatuses constituting lamps,
is to be screwed, fixed, or applied to A.. A short movement of the piston will
force a sufficient quantity of oil into the cup to supply the combustion; and
the same motion may be repeated- as often as oil shall be wanting. By this
means the wick is supplied in a simple and expeditious manner.
My second improvement consists of an apparatus for affording a supply of
oil from below to a lanip or lamps placed above, which supply shall be regular
notwithstanding any irregularity or excess in pressure, beyond what is neces-
sary to raise the oil to the due height. In Fig. 2, E, E, represents a vessel
containing oil as high as F, F, and air is condensed into the upper part of its
cavity by means of the syringe D, G. The pressure of this included air would
force the oil to rise thro' the tube C, and pass out if it were not prevented by the
valve II, which opposes any escape upwards; B, B, represent the section of part
of two lamps of Argand, and any other lamps may be substituted in their place.
They are supplied with oil by the side tubes I, I. A represents a float or
piece, which in this Drawing is made cylindrical. It is so light as to float in
oil. Now it will be easily understood, that previous to the condensation of air
in E, E, (the whole of the oil being in that lower vessel), the float A will rest
upon the bottom of the chamber or cavity in which it is placed, and the valve
H which is attached to it will be open; so that when the condensation begins,
the oil will rise thro' C and H and I to nearly the same level in the two lamps
and in the chamber of A; but when it hath risen so high as to float A, the
valve H will be shut, and the lamps will be limited to the consumption of the
oil which has already passed. And again, since that consumption will lower
the level in the chamber A, the float will again descend and admit a farther
supply, and these spontaneous alternations of opening and stopping of the
valve H will be so frequent that the same level will nearly be kept. It is
obvious, that in order to obtain that level which upon trial shall be found the
best adapted to the lanips which may be used, it will be requisite to adjust the
weight of the float and the condensation of the air respectively, so as to produce

page_text: the desired effect, which also may easily be done by trial. It may also be
noticed, that the pressure of gravity, or of an heavier fluid than oil, or of any
other well-known agent capable of effecting the purpose, may be used instead
of that of condensed air in the lower vessel. And I do farther declare, that in
such cases as convenience or choice shall give the preference, a stop-cock or
any of the well-known contrivances for the transmission of fluids, which can
be opened or shut by a float, may be used instead of the valve H.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Barton Alcock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, and in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and six.
GEORGE BARTON ALCOCK. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of July, in
the forty-sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said George Barton Alcock came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made in the forty-fourth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and six.