Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 14th May, 1887
Complete Left, 14th Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 20th Apr., 1888
I, JAMES GILCHRIST, of 88 Abbotsford Place, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Binnacle
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as follows:-
This Invention has reference to and comprises improvements in the construction of
burners, and special fittings for admitting the air thereto, and in the wick holders and
actuating fittings connected with these and with lamps generally, suitable for all
kinds of ship lamps, car, house and other lamps, for lighting purposes, and also lamps
for stoves and other appliances for generating heat, by the burning of paraffin wax,
or of oils and other solid and fluid hydro-carbons, which will give a brighter and
purer light, with absence of smoke and the waste and nuisance caused thereby.
The nature and novelty of the invention or improvements consist all as follows:-
First, as applied to circular or annular forms of flame and flame wicks, the burners
consist of one, two, three, four, or other number, of thin metallic discs or plates
mounted over or within the hollow wick or flame, the first a short distance above the
wick, and when more than one, at short distances apart, on a central vertical metallic
spindle, and preferably in the form of an inverted cone, that is having the smallest
disc at the bottom nearest the wick, a very little smaller than the diameter of the
flame, and the others gradually increasing in size to the top disc, which might be
three eighths larger than the smallest, as found to answer well for a flame and wick
of about inch and half in diameter. These discs or plates are formed with a series of
perforations or holes, preferably over and through the central part of their surface
area, although the upper disc or discs may be partially or wholly closed. The central
spindle, carrying the perforated discs or plates, is screwd above for securing them at
proper distances apart, by ferrules between them, as at a distance apart of from one-
quarter to three-eighths of an inch, and each increasing about one eighth inch in
diameter upwards and which has been found to answer best for the said inch and
half diameter of flame, but these distances would require to be varied for larger wicks
and flames.
The spindle carrying these perforated discs in the said open conoidal manner, is
mounted by cross arms in a short hollow cylinder, so as to slide telescopically within
the fixed wick tube, and is screwed up and down by a spindle passing through an eye-
in the cross arins, and a small screw spindle passing down through the centre and

page_text: bottom of the lamp, preferably fitted with a large vulcanite cup secured to the lower
end of the screwed spindle, which cup answers the double purpose of screwing up or
down the conoidal discs without burning the fingers to regulate their best working
distance from the wick within the flame, and also for receiving any of the melted
paraffin or oil which may pass down the outside or inside of the lamp tube.
A further improvement consists in mounting this internal disc cap for supplying
air to the inside of the flame, on its central stem in the form of a hollow sheet metal
cone, open at the lower end to admit the air up the centre into it, and close or
nearly close at the upper end to cause the air to pass out through numerous holes
through the sides of the cone, or it might be annular slits; either with or without
the edges of the discs in the form of annular rings on the outside of the cone
projecting out to touch the flame, as in the case of the open separate perforated discs
herein before described, and either with or without regulating rings inside for regulating
the admission of air to the upper part of the hollow cone to pass through the several
divisions of it between the disc rings. These internal discs besides regulating the
amount of air to the inside of the flame, also conduct a great amount of heat down
the central stem to the short cylinder carrying it, which in turn heats the internal
wick tube of the lamp and melts the paraffin or solid frozen oils used. When paraffin
oil or other light oils are used, the central spindle and its moving tube may be made
of German silver or other low heat-conducting metal or material.
The lamp vessel containing the paraffin wax or oil round the wick, is preferably of
a narrow annular cylindrical shape outside the wick tube, and when all made of
copper or other sheet metal communicates the heat to the solid or liquid hydrocarbon,
but for large lamps where two or more wicks and burners were used as for lamps for
pullman cars or public rooms or the cabins of ships, a central reservoir vessel might
contain the hydrocarbon and supply the material to each wick vessel by separate
lateral or radial ducts; and these large lamps might be hung up by a spring clamp
gripping this separate vessel, which would be provided with a lid in the centre for
filling in the paraffin wax or other hydrocarbon employed; and when melted in the
wick vessels would communicate its heat and melt the whole in the central vessel,
the lids being preferably made with their raising knobs at one side, to enable them to
be easier raised and removed when solid paraffin is used. These hanging lamps might
by a further improvement be fitted with folding down stopped hinged plates on the
under part of the central vessel to answer as feet for standing them on tables or other
equivalent while trimming and cleaning the lamps, a swivelling plate with projecting
lugs being fitted for retaining the feet in their folded up position, and also in their
folded down position by having pins in the plate and slots or eyes in the feet. The
wick is moved on its tube extending to the bottom of the annular wick vessel, by a
short gripping tube or ferrule outside the long wick, with split or notched ends and
by a toothed rack soldered to it passing up through the gallery tube close round the
wick, where a pinion and spindle are worked within the open part of the gallery,
above the oil wick vessel, with milled head outside for raising or lowering the rack,
which by the gripping tube correspondingly raises or lowers the wick above or below
the top of the wick tube where it burns above the internal air admitting tube, and
above the outside wick tube of the gallery. By one arrangement the air is admitted
to the outside of the wick through the outside case of the gallery, perforated all
round for that purpose below the rim and grippers supporting the glass funnel or
globe, which is made of the proper height and diameter proportionate to that of the
size of the flame to give the proper draught to the flame as usual. The gallery is
made portable and secured by a rim inserted telescopically in the top of the outer
case of the wick oil vessel. The air is admitted up through the central wick tube
through a circular perforated case secured below the oil wick vessel, in the bottom of
which the central screw spindle is carried and is rotated by the before-mentioned
vulcanite cup below this air admission perforated case, and which is preferably
perforated in the bottom as well as round the circumference, and admits the air freely
up through the centre tube to the inside of the flame and distributing discs before
mentioned.

page_text: When these improvements are to be applied for heating by circulating water or
steam through pipes, as for railway carriages, or heating rooms or offices, a conoidal
scroll pipe or worm would be fitted over each burner and its set of discs, and the
water or steam let in at the lower wide end of the scroll pipe and out by the small
upper end, to circulate the water or steam through the undulating heat giving off
pipes in the apartment, and returned back to the lower part of the heat generating
worm over the lamp, so that the flame and heated products of combustion would
impinge direct on the whole. inner and under surfaces of the cone to heat and cause
the circulation of the water or steam through the said generating cone.
case or funnel in this arrangement would assume the contour of the conoidal worm
and so cause the heated gases to act on the outer surface of the worm also.
The outside
This coiled worm arrangement would also act equally well for the heating and
circulating of air through it, the cold air entering at the lower end of the worm, and
the heated air be passed into the room or apartment to be heated; in which case the
cone pipe would require to increase in diameter towards the top to give increased
capacity for the expansion of the air as it got heated, and freedom for the escaping
current of heated air, or instead of increasing the diameter of the worm it might be
inverted for heating air.
For the larger sizes of these lamps, whether used for lighting or heating purposes,
two toothed racks might be used, one on each side of the wick tube and gallery, with
separate pinions and spindles geared together by bevel pinions at an angle, and a
milled head on one of the spindles for actuating both by hand.
DL
L
1000

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lamps for Lighting and Heating Purposes.
I, JAMES GILOHRIST, of 88 Abbotsford Place, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Binnacle
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention has reference to and comprieses improvements in the construc-
tion of burners, and special fittings for admitting the air thereto, and in the wick
holders and actuating fittings connected with these and with lamps generally, suitable
for all kinds of ship lamps, car, house, miners and other lamps for lighting pur-
poses, and also lamps for stoves and other appliances for generating heat, by the 1
burning of paraffin wax, or of oils and other solid and fluid hydro-carbons, which
will give a brighter and purer light, with absence of smoke and the waste and nuisance
caused thereby, and with perfect safety.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing or carrying
the same into effect or practice may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended
an explanatory sheet of Drawings, in which the same reference letters are used to
indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where shown. Figure 1 is an elevation
half in section, and Figure 2 a corresponding plan of a duplex lamp with circular or
annular forms of flame and flame wicks suitable for railway Pullman Cars, halls and
such like places, and constructed in accordance with the improvements of my inven-
tion. While Figure 3 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 4 a corresponding plan of
a miners lamp as fitted with my new or improved burner and fittings.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of these Drawings:-The nature and novelty of the
invention or improvements consist all as follows:-The new or improved burners
consist of one, two, three, four, or other number of thin metallic discs or plates,
four a to a, being shown in these Figures, mounted over the hollow wick w or
flame, the first a³ a short distance above the wick w, and when more than one, at
short distances apart on a central vertical metallic spindle A and preferably in the
form of an inverted cone, that is having the smallest disc a' at the bottom nearest the
wick W about the diameter of the wick or flame, and the others a², a³, a', gradually
increasing in size to the top disc a, which might be three-eights larger than the
smallest a, as found to answer well for a flame and wick of about inch-and-half in
diameter. These discs or plates a¹, to a' are formed with a series of perforations or
holes a, preferably over and through the central part of their surface area, the holes a
gradually lessening in number in the discs towards the top, and leaving the plane parts a
of the plates towards the outer edges, and the upper disc at, or discs may be partially

page_text: or wholly closed. The central spindle A carrying the perforated discs or plates a¹,
to a, is screwed above for securing them at proper distances apart, by a nut a on
top, and ferrules a' between them as at a distance apart of from one quarter to three
eights of an inch and each increasing about one eight inch in diameter upwards and
which has been found to answer best for the said inch and half diameter of flame
but these distances would require to be varied for larger wicks and flames.
The spindle A carrying these perforated discs a¹, to a, in the said open conoidal
manner is mounted on the cross arms of a short hollow cylinder A¹, so as to slide
telescopically within the fixed wick tube B, and is screwed up and down by a
spindle A passing through an eye in the bottom A' of the lamp, preferably fitted with
and attached to a large vulcanite cup A*, secured to the lower end of the secured
spindle A', which cup A, answers the double purpose of screwing up or down the
conoidal discs a¹ to a without burning the tingers to regulate their best working
distance from the wick w within the flame and also for receiving any of the melted
paraffin or oil which may pass down the outside or inside of the lamp tube.
An equivalent arrangement to that described for raising and lowering the disc
burners a¹, to a, and their carrying spindle and cylinder A', would consist in mount-
ing a toothed rack on the cylinder A or a spindle as A' below and actuating it by a
pinion on a transverse spindle through the perforated bottom A' below. These
discs a¹, to a' besides regulating the amount of air to the inside of the flame, also
conduct a large amount of heat down the central steam A to the vanes and circum-
ference of the short cylinder A¹ carrying it, which in turn heats the internal wick
tube B of the lamp and melts the paraffin or solid frozen oils Z used within the lamp
case B, D, D'. When paraffin oil or other light oils are used the central moving
spindle A of the heat conducting tube A¹ may be made of German silver or other low
heat-conducting metal or material.
The lamp vessel B¹, D D¹ containing the paraffin wax or oil round the wick wis
preferably of a narrow annular cylindrical shape outside the wick tube at B¹, and when
all made of copper or other sheet metal communicates the heat to the solid or liquid
hydrocarbon, but for large lamps where two or more wicks and burners are used as
for lamps for Pullman Cars and shown in Figures 1 and 2, or for public rooms or the
cabins of ships, a central reservoir vessel D¹ would contain the hydrocarbon and
supply the material to each wick vessel B¹ by separate lateral or radial ducts D, D ;
and these large lamps would be hung up by a spring clamp gripping the upper
grooved rim 1, on the top of the central chamber D³ to carry the whole lamp with
forked straps projecting down over the lateral branch chambers D, D, to prevent the
lamp from turning; and this central vessel D' would be provided with a lid d in the
centre for filling in the paraffin wax or other hydrocarbon employed and when melted
in the wick vessels would communicate its heat and melt the whole in the central
vessel D, D', the lids being preferably made with their raising handles d' at one side,
to enable them to be easily raised and removed when solid paraffin is used. These
hanging lamps might by a further improvement be fitted with folding down stopped
hinged plates E on the under part of the central vessel D¹ to answer as transverse feet
for standing them on a table or other equivalent while trimming and cleaning the
lamps, a swivelling plate E¹ with projecting ends e being fitted for retaining the feet
in their folded up position, and also in their folded down position by having an elliptic
headed pin or pins e¹ in the plate E' and corresponding slots or eyes e³ in the feet E,
all as shown inverted in Figure 2 A, but at right angles to the actual position fitted
on the lamp. The wick w is moved on its tube B extending to the bottom of the
annular wick vessel B₁ by a short gripping tube b outside the long wick, with split or
notched ends indented in to catch the wick w and having a toothed rack or racks 61
soldered to it passing up into the inner retaining wick tube c of the gallery C, so that
a pinion or pinions 6 on the inner end of their spindle bare worked within the
annular space B at the upper part of the oil wick vessel the spindles b³ preferably
passing out through stuffing boxes in the case B¹. A milled head 6 is formed
outside on one of the spindles for raising or lowering the rack or racks, and when two
racks and spindles are used as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the pinions would be geared

page_text: outside by bevel wheels 6. These racks pinions and spindles by the gripping tube b
correspondingly raises or lowers the wick w above or below the top of the wick tubes B,
and outer retaining tube c of the gallery C, where it burns above the internal air
admitting tube B and above the outside wick tube c of the gallery. By one arrange.
ment the air is admitted to the outside of the wick w through the outside case C of the
gallery perforated all round for that purpose with small holes 2 below the rim and
spring grippers C₁ supporting the glass funnel or globe z, which is made of the proper
height and diameter proportionate to that of the size of the flame to give the proper
draught to the flame as usual. The gallery is made portable and secured by a socket
rim at C inserted telescopically in the top of the outer case B¹ of the wick oil vessel.
The air is admitted up through the central wick tube B through a circular perforated
case at A³ secured below the oil wick vessel B'; the perforations B in the case A³ may
be wider than those c³, at top, and in the bottom of the case A³ the central screw
spindle A2 is carried and is rotated by the before-mentioned vulcanite cup A* below
the case A³, and which is preferably perforated in the bottom as well as round the
circumference, and admits the air freely up through the centre tube B to the inside of
the flame and distributing discs before mentioned, all as indicated by the arrows in
Figure 1.
Figures 3 and 4 show the application of my improvements to miner's lamps. This
lamp consists of a usual conoidal or tapering shaped oil vessel F, with a hinged lid F¹
at top for inserting the oil and wick, and having an angled wick tube F in front all
preferably made of copper or other good heat conducting sheet metal. A vertical air
inlet tube or duct G is mounted in front up through within the vertical cylindrical
part of the angled wick tube F2 and carrying an internal stationary spindle A on.
cross arms A¹ at its upper part. The upper end of the spindle A (projecting above
the wick w and its supporting inner and outer tubes G and f) is screwed, and on it
I mount my new discs preferably in the form of two discs or plates a¹, a³, made in one
piece with an internal screwed ferrule by which the distance of the discs a¹, a², from
the top of the wick wo is regulated by hand. The lower disc a' is made of less diameter
than the upper one a², and is perforated with holes a while the upper disc a³ is preferably
made solid without holes. The wick w which would be split or made in the form of a flat
wick would be inserted from the inside and drawn up to form an annular wick between
the tubes G and f, and be raised to the height desired above these tubes under the
discs a', a³, by means of a prong or other instrument entering through slots fin the
tube near the top. The air passes up through the tube G to the inside of the wick
und Hame and impinges on the under perforated disc a', part passing through the
holes a and impinging on the upper disc a², and part passing out to the flame, and
thus a smokeless annular flame and light is produced most suitable for mining opera-
tions. The lower end G¹ of the air conveying tube G would preferably be made
angled and rest over the hollow or saucer shaped dish G2 attached to the front of the
lamp vessel F; and any oil or grease falling from the burner would be retained
by this hollow saucer G³. An air protecting case f2 is mounted to slide on the
outside of the flame tube f, and this perforated case would be raised up as dotted in
at C³, to protect the flame from draughts and admit air to it through the fine holes or
removed when not required.
The vertical back end of the lamp oil vessel F would preferably be formed with a
strip or strips of india-rubber or asbestos h and the hook H of german silver all to act
as a heat insulator for the finger's, and for being attached to the cap of the miner.
A close tube or opening h¹ would be formed in the bottom of the oil vessel F, for
attaching the latter to a vertical stud on the upper surface of the staple h', when
the sharp point of the latter is stuck into the coal walls to form a support for the
lamp all as dotted in in Figure 3.
In these lamps all the discs of burners and the parts leading down from them to
inner wick tube must be made of copper or other good conducting metal to heat air
admitted to flame and paraffine or oil in lamp leading to wick.
When these improvements are to be applied for heating by circulating water or
steam through pipes, as for railway -carriages, or-heating rooms or offices, a conoidal

page_text: scroll pipe or worm would be fitted over each burner set of discs a¹, to at and flame,
and the water or stean let in at the lower wide end of the scroll pipe and out by the
small upper end, to circulate the water or steam through the undulating heat giving
off pipes in the apartment, and be returned back to the lower part of the heat
generating worm over the lamp, so that the flame and heated products of combustion
would impinge direct on the whole inner and under surfaces of the cone to heat and
cause the circulation of the water or steam through the said generating cone. In this
arrangement the outside case or funnel z for carrying off the waste gases at the top
instead of being of glass as shown would be formed of sheet metal and would assume
the contour of the conoidal worm a little outside of it and so cause the heated gases to
act on the outer surface of the worm also on their way to the escaping top, and this
funnel case, might form a centre flue up through an outer close water vessel from the
bottom of which the circulating worm would draw the water and discharge it at the
top and this vessel might form the heating supply and circulating vessel for heating
purposes.
This coiled worm arrangement would also act equally well for the heating and
circulating of air through it, the cold air entering at the lower end of the worm,
and the heated air be passed into the room or apartment to be heated ; in which
case the cone pipe would require to increase in diameter towards the top to give
increased capacity for the expansion of the air as it got heated, and freedom for
the escaping current of heated air, or instead of increasing the diameter of the
worm the conical worm might be inverted for heating air.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The construction, or general arrangement and combination of the parts of
lamps for lighting and heating purposes substantially as herein described in reference
to the accompanying Drawings.
Second. In lamps for lighting or heating purposes, the construction and use of one,
two, or more heat conducting discs or plates mounted above the wick, with all or
any number of the discs formed with perforated air openings, substantially as and
for the purposes and advantage herein described in reference to and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
Third. In lamps for lighting or heating purposes, the mounting of the burner discs
or plates on a heat conducting movable regulating spindle, fittings and cylinder,
actuated by a screw spindle gearing substantially as and in the manner herein -
described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth. In lamps for lighting or heating purposes, the mounting of wick holders,
actuated by racks and pinions, for raising and lowering the wick, substantially as and
in the manner herein described, in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
Fifth. In lamps for lighting or heating purposes, the mode and means of admitting
air from the bottom and interior of the wick to be spread out to the flame by discs or
plates, substantially as and in the manner herein described in reference to and shown
in the accompanying Drawings.
Sixth. In lamps for heating purposes, the combination of annular flames with discs
or plates and water or air spiral heating worms over these, substantially as herein
described.