IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Weston at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th January 1882.
JOHN HENRY WESTON of Shepherds Bush in the County of Middlesex Gas
Engineer "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER
OF GAS"
My Invention relates to apparatus of simple construction which can be readily
adapted to any ordinary gaselier wall bracket or other gas fitting for the purpose
of carburetting the gas on its passage to the burner and thereby increasing its
illuminating power.
The apparatus as constructed for application to a wall bracket or to the several
arms of a gaselier consists of of a vase or vessel of suitable shape having an opening
at bottom from which a tube rises centrally or otherwise to a certain height
within the vessel this tube being provided at its upper part with a deflector or
deflectors for the purpose of directing the current of gas upon a sponge or other
absorbent saturated with a suitable hydrocarbon and contained in the space around
the tube between it and the sides of the vessel.
The deflector or deflectors are preferably so formed or arranged as to divert
the current of gas into a circular direction or otherwise cause it to circulate in
prolonged contact with the hydrocarbon. The vessel is screw threaded at bottom
around the open mouth of this tube for attachment to a two-way body-piece
which is interposed at a joint between two parts of the bracket or other fitting or
is attached thereto at any convenient point so that its passages respectively
connect the gas thoroughfare on the inlet and outlet side of the body piece
with two small tubes which rise from the body piece through the central tube of
the carburetting vessel. The one of these small tubes which is the inlet tube
terminates just above the top end of the said central tube in a downwardly
directed nozzle or nozzles which direct the issuing jet or jets of gas on to the
deflector or deflectors above described. After circulating in contact with the
hydrocarbon as above mentioned and thereby becoming carburetted the gas passes
out through the outlet tube to the burner.
To recharge the vessel with hydrocarbon it may either be unscrewed from the
body piece and refilled whilst in an inverted position through the central tube or
it may be provided with a removeable screw cover and be refilled in situ but the

page_text: former arrangement is preferred as being cheaper and less liable to leakage or
accident.
The apparatus as constructed for carburetting the gas passing to the whole of
the arms of a gaselier collectively instead of individually as above described,
consists of a vessel adapted to form part of the body of the gaselier or an appendage
thereof and which is attached to the lower end of the body part by a screw joint
at the top of the vessel so that it can be readily removed for refilling. This
vessel has also a central tube which when the vessel is fixed in position forms a
continuation of the central supply pipe of the gaselier or conical plug on the one,
fitting in a corresponding seat in the other, so as to make a tight joint when the
vessel is screwed up to its place. A valve is arranged in the pipe just above this
joint and is provided with a long stem with which the vessel comes into contact
whereby the valve is raised off its seat in screwing up the vessel. When the
vessel is removed for recharging the valve is closed down on its seat by a spring
and all escape of gas prevented.
*
The central tube of the vessel is perforated at various heights and surrounded
with deflectors which direct the current of gas downwards and cause a complete
circulation of the gas through the vessel. The sponges containing the bydro-
carbon are preferably fixed upon vertical wires or pins placed in alternate order in
concentric circles around the central tube. The gas passes through the central
supply pipe of the body of the gaselier, past the valve into the central tube of the
carburetting vessel, through the perforations beneath the deflectors, and after
circulating through the vessel and becoming charged with hydrocarbon vapour
returns through openings at the top of the vessel to the body part of the gaselier
and is thence distributed to the several arms and branches.