Improvements in and connected with Oil Lamps and Stoves.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Jan., 1896
Complete Specification Left. 21st Nov., 1896-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1897
Improvements in and connected with Oil Lamps and Stoves.
I, EDMUND FORD HULSE of 203 Padgate Road Warrington in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention is designed to increase the efficiency and safety of oil lamps and
stoves.
In order to extinguish the flame in case the lamps or stoves are upset while in
use, I may form in the lower part or around that part of the fount or reservoir, a
chamber which is filled with water, tetrachloride of carbon, or some other liquid
which will extinguish flame. This chamber communicates through one or more
pipes or passages with the burner or burner space, in such a manner that when the
lamp or stove is upset, the liquid will flow out and extinguish the flame.
A feeding tube may also communicate from outside the fount or reservoir to the
chamber, through which the supply of liquid in the chamber may be replenished
as required.
I have found that the efficiency of an oil lamp or stove is promoted if instead of
cutting or similarly trimming the wick, the carbonised part be simply compressed,
and for this purpose I construct a compresser consisting of a strip of metal or
suitable hard inorganic material having a shape and dimensions in plan similar to
those of a cross section of the wick. The compresser is furnished with a suitable
handle and, in using it, the top of the wick is turned slightly above the wick
casing and is pressed once or twice with the compresser. The wick thus treated
burns with a truer flame and the efficiency is increased.
To aid in the insertion of a new wick I employ an inserter consisting of a strip
of sheet metal narrower than the wick in the case of flat wicks, or of two or three
such strips arranged parallel with each other and connected at the top in the case
of circular wicks.
In circular wick lamps and stoves, I construct an annular chamber around the
air tube to which the oil can have access only through one or more comparatively
small openings at or near the bottom. The wick is arranged upon a tube capable
of sliding vertically in the annular space, and furnished at or near the bottom with
a block or surface capable of closing the oil inlet or inlets when the tube is
turned completely down. In this position of the wick tube therefore, the oil can
have no further access and the light is extinguished. On the side of the wick tube,
I secure or form a rack, by means of which it may be raised and lowered by a
pinion gearing therewith, and the wick is cut away or formed so as to permit the
rack to gear with the pinion. The wick tube may be lifted entirely out of the
fount or reservoir to change the wick, and there is therefore no longer any
necessity for making the burner plate removable thus obviating a possible source
of danger.
For the purpose of raising the gallery I may employ a tube or the like around
the upper part of the wick casing to which tube the gallery is attached, and I may
lift and lower this tube and the attached gallery by a rack and toothed quadrant,
or by a forked lever, or the like means.
Dated this 21st day of January A.D. 1896.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with Oil Lamps and Stoves.
I, EDMUND FORD HULSE, of 203 Padgate Road, Warrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to oil lamps and stoves and its chief objects are to provide
means for extinguishing the flame when the lamp or stove is upset, to cut off the
oil supply to the wick in a central draught lamp when the wick is turned down, and
to increase the efficiency of a lamp or stove by compressing the charred portion of
the wick instead of trimming it in the usual manuer.
In order that my invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated it
by the accompanying drawings to which I will now make reference.
Figure 1 illustrates in vertical section a lamp provided with the improved flame
extinguishing device, and also shows the means by which the oil supply may be cut
off from the wick.
Figure 2 is a view of a similar section of a lamp with a different arrangement of
flame extinguishing device.
Figure 3 represents in elevation and plan an implement which may be used for
compressing the wick.
Similar letters of reference are used to indicate similar parts where they occur
in the different figures..
In carrying this invention into effect I arrange upon or combine with a suitable
part of the lamp or a stove, a chamber which is filled with water, tetrachloride of
carbon, or some other liquid which will extinguish flame. This chamber communi-
cates in a suitable manner with the burner or burner space, so that when the lamp
or stove is upset the liquid will flow out and extinguish the flame.
The lamp illustrated in Figure 1 is of the central draught circular wick type,
and is provided with the reservoir or chamber for the flame extinguishing liquid in
the base of the pedestal. A is the oil fount or reservoir, furnished with the central
air tube B. The pedestal C of the lamp is formed or otherwise provided with a
chamber D containing a suitable liquid. This chamber communicates with the air
tube by means of a tube or equivalent channel E, so that when the lamp is upset
the liquid contained in the chamber flows into the air tube and thence to the
burner and wick. The tube E, if desired, may be carried right up to the burner
space, and may also be provided with or contain a smaller tube, the function of
which is to admit air to the chamber and thus facilitate the discharge of the liquid.
Air to support combustion may gain access to the central air tube through suitable
perforations or openings F in the stem of the pedestal. G is a cap covering the
opening through which liquid may be supplied to the chamber.
In the modification illustrated by Figure 2 the chamber D is combined with the
fount of a duplex lamp. The escape tube or channel E passes upwards through
the fount between the wicks or wick carriers H and opens into the burner space.
Liquid is supplied to the chamber through the tube J the upper end of which is
closed by the cap G.
It will of course be understood that these figures only illustrate methods by which
this part of my invention may be carried into effect, and that it may be equally well
effected by different and equivalent means.
As shown in Figure 1 the wick is carried upon or is contained within a tube K,
or is contained between two concentric tubes. Surrounding the central air tube is
a circular wall or the like L provided with small oil admission ports or openings at
or near its bottom. The bottom of the wick tube fits within the annular space thus
formed and cuts off the oil supply to the wick when it is lowered, by means of the

page_text: block, ring or other device M. If the wick is simply placed upon and around a
tube, the circular wall is preferably carried up to a point above the oil level and is
of such a size as to fit closely around the wick. The act of turning down the wick,
therefore, cuts off the oil supply and extinguishes the lamp. The side of the wick
tube or of one of the wick tubes is formed or provided with a rack gearing into a
pinion, or other suitable means or device may be employed for win ling the wick up
and down. The wick tube may be lifted entirely out of the fount or reservoir when
it is necessary to replace the wick, and the ordinary movable burner plate may be
dispensed with.
I have found that the efficiency of an oil lamp or stove is much increased if
instead of cutting the wick or rubbing it in the usual manner, the charred or
carbonised part be simply compressed. For this purpose I construct an implement
consisting of a strip of metal or suitable hard inorganic material having a shape.
and dimensions approximating to a cross section of the wick with which it is to be
employed. Figure 3 illustrates a convenient form of flat wick compressor consisting
of a metallic strip N and a handle O. When the implement is to be used the wick.
is turned to a position in which its end is within the wick: casing or at all events
only slightly above it and is pressed once or twice with the compressor. A wick
thus treated burns with a true flame.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination with an oil lamp or stove of a suitable chamber containing a.
flame extinguishing liquid, constructed and arranged substantially as and for the
purpose hereinbefore set forth and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
2. In a central draught oil lamp or stove, a wick tube or wick tubes the lower
end of which carries a block or the like and passes within an annular space formed
round the air passage so as to cut off the oil supply when the wick is turned down,.
substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accompanying
drawings.
3. An implement for compressing the charred or carbonised portion of the wick
of an oil lamp or stove, constructed substantially as herein before described and as
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of November 1896.
W. E. HEYS & SON,
Agents for the Applicant..