Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Supplying Oil or Fluid to Lamps or Burners.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Oct., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 7th Aug., 1890-Accepted, 13th Sept., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Supplying Oil
or Fluid to Lamps or Burners.
We GEORGE MAJOR of Robinson Street, Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Operative Spinner and SAMUEL NOTON of 250 Ashton Road, in the same town,
Furnishing Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention relates principally to the supplying of two or more lamps with liquid
fuel as for example with parafine oil. To avoid repetition we will refer hereinafter to
such liquid under the simple designation of oil. The principal object of our invention
is to supply the wick chambers of a series of lamps by self-acting apparatus which will
maintain the oil at a nearly uniform level within such wick chambers such level being
suitably near to the point of ignition so that the wicks of the lamps are kept constantly
saturated with oil whereby the illuminating power of the lamps is increased or is
rendered more constant in value the lamps have to be less frequently trimmed and the
trouble of filling separate lamp reservoirs and the consequent risks are obviated. We
apply the series of wick-chambers or oil cups to or upon a pipe or conduit which is
supplied with oil the supply being regulated so as to maintain as nearly as may be an
uniform level in the said wick-chambers. In some cases there may be two or more
connected pipes. The lamps may be either mounted or attached directly upon or to
the oil conduit or be connected therewith by means of branches or brackets which
may he fixed or jointed. The oil conduit is in communication with a supply
regulating chamber into which the oil descends from a supply tank reservoir or
cask which is at a higher level. This supply tank may or may not be adapted to
be closed so that no air can enter the tank excepting from the regulating chamber.
In the former case an air pipe extends from the upper part of the tank into the
said regulating chamber. The lower end of this air pipe extends downward to the
line of the liquid level of oil in the lamps or is connected with a vessel or chamber
which is open at the bottom and which has its lower edge coinciding with the
said line. An oil pipe extends from the bottom of the supply tank to the said
line of level or to a point below the same. It is preferred that both of these
pipes shall be comparatively small in bore. The oil pipe is provided with a stop
cock and if preferred the air pipe may be provided with a stop or regulating cock
or valve. The supply tank is provided with a filling opening which can be closed
by means of an air tight plug cap cock or valve. It is preferred that the tank
shall be adapted to be completely filled with oil. We prefer to provide against
the accidental overflow of oil from the lamps. We connect the oil conduit with
an overflow chamber or syphon which prevents the oil from rising to a dangerous
extent above its normal level in the lamp chambers the overflow being conveyed
into a suitable receptacle. When using a supply reservoir which is not air tight
we dispense with the said air pipe and admit the oil into the regulating chamber
through a valve which is adapted to be closed by means of a float. A ball float
valve may be used for the purpose but as the fluid pressure will not be great in
ordinary cases a directly acting float may be used. Such float may be a hollow
air tight vessel or be solid or be an open topped vessel. The oil may be supplied
directly from the cask placed at a higher level than the regulating chamber. We
may apply a float controlled valve to prevent the excessive rise of oil within the
air chamber in cases wherein the air tight supply tank is used. In the cases of
single lamps we provide each lamp with an oil reservoir which can be closed air tight
and we connect the wick chamber of the lamp with the bottom of such vessel by
means of a pipe which conveys oil to the wick chamber and which also admits air into

page_text: the reservoir to displace the oil at the times when the level of oil in the wick chamber
falls below its average level. The said pipe is provided with a stop cock. A separate
air pipe might be provided such air pipe passing either outside of the oil pipe or
through or partly through the same. By keeping the two pipes distinct a greater
variety of ornamental effect may be obtained. By the term lamps we do not exclude
burners used for heating purposes.
Dated this 11th day of October 1880
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Supplying Oil
or Fluid to Lamps or Burners.
We GEORGE MAJOR of Robinson Street Oldham in the County of Lancaster
Operative Spinner and SAMUEL NOTON of 250 Ashton Road in the same town
Furnishing Ironmonger 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 and accompanying drawings:-
Our invention relates principally to the supply of two or more lamps with liquid
fuel as for example with paraffine oil. To avoid repetition we will refer hereinafter to
such liquid under the simple designation of oil. The principal object of our invention
is to supply the wick chambers of a series of lamps by self-acting apparatus which will
maintain the oil at a nearly uniform level within such wick chambers such level being
suitably near to the point of ignition so that the wicks of the lamps are kept constantly
saturated with oil whereby the illuminating power of the lamps is increased or is
rendered more constant in value the lamps have to be less frequently trimmed and the
trouble of filling separate lamp reservoirs and the consequent risks are obviated. We
apply the series of wick-chambers or oil cups to or upon a pipe or conduit which is
supplied with oil the supply being regulated so as to maintain as nearly as may be an
uniform level in the said wick-chambers. In some cases there may be two or more
connected pipes. The lamps may be either mounted or attached directly upon or to
the oil conduit or be connected therewith by means of branches or brackets which
may be fixed or jointed. The oil conduit is in communication with a supply regulating
chamber into which the oil descends from a supply tank reservoir or cask which is at
a higher level. This supply tank may or may not be adapted to be closed so that no
air can enter the tank excepting from the regulating chamber. In the former case an
air pipe extends from the upper part of the tank into the said regulating chamber.
The lower end of this air pipe extends downwards to the required surface line of oil in
the lamps or is connected with a vessel or chamber which is open at the bottom and
which has its lower edge or the edge of the partition coinciding with the said line.
An oil pipe extends from the bottom of the supply tank to the said line of level or to
a point below the same.
In order that the nature and extent of our invention may be clearly understood we
will describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. In
the said drawings Fig. 1 partly in section represents an apparatus adapted to supply
a number of lamps with oil. In the said Fig. A A are two lamps b are the wick-
chambers C is the oil supply tank and D is the regulating chamber or supply regulator.
The wick chambers are in connection with an oil supply pipe e which is connected
by one end with the regulator D. The said wick chambers may be mounted upon the
pipe or be connected together by means of pipes extending from one wick chamber to
the other or the wick chambers may be connected with the pipe e by means of con-
necting pipes or branches which may be straight or curved. Any required number
of lamps upon the same level or thereabouts may be connected together and receive
their supply of oil from one regulator D and such lamps may be in different parts of
a building or might even be in different buildings.
The regulator D is divided into two compartments & a¹ by means of a partition d³

page_text: which extends downward from the top of the regulator. The connection of this
partition is air-tight so that no air can pass from the compartment d to the compart-
ment d' without passing below the bottom edge of the partition d². The compartment d
is connected with the supply tank by means of a pipe f which extends into the said
compartment to a point below the required oil level. The compartment d' is con-
nected with the tank C by means of a pipe g which extends from the top of d to the
top of C. The tank C is of an air-tight construction and the filling hole at c is
provided with an air-tight screw plug or other provision is made for suitably closing
the said opening. The pipe fis provided with a stop cock fl which is closed before
the tank is filled or partly filled with oil. When the tank has been filled the opening c
is tightly closed and the cock f¹ is opened. We prefer that the tank C shall be com-
pletely filled with oil. If this has been done very little oil will flow into the
compartment d when the cock is opened for the well known reason that liquid can not
flow out of a vessel without air is admitted to take the place of such liquid. As the
only way in which air can pass into the tank is by ascending the pipe g the atmo-
spheric pressure acting on the oil in the compartment d will force oil up the pipe g
until the oil stands at the same level in the said pipe as in the tank when the oil in
the tank will be balanced by the column of oil in the pipe. It will be understood that
the oil in all the wick-chambers will stand at about the same level as the oil in the
compartment d. As oil is consumed by the lamps or any of them which may be
lighted at any time oil passes from the compartment d to supply the place of the oil
consumed.
-
When the level of oil in the said compartment falls to such an extent as that
air can pass under the partition d2 and so obtain access through the pipe g to the
tank a proportionate quantity of oil is permitted to descend the pipe so that
the oil in the compartment d is maintained at a level which varies only slightly until
the tank C becomes empty. In order to prevent the accidental overflowing of the
wick-chambers arising from the overfilling of the regulator we prefer to apply an
overflow tank which is so connected with the pipe e as that oil will flow into such
tank before raising high enough to overflow at the lamps. This tank h may be in
any convenient position below the pipe e and may be an open cistern cask or receptacle
into which a syphon on the pipe e would discharge when desirable. Such accidental
overflowing might arise from underfilling of the tank C or from the removal of the
plug at c when the cock fl would be open. We may substitute an oil tank which
would not be air-tight for the air-tight tank C.
In such a case we should dispense with the air pipe g and admit the oil into
the compartment d through a valve which would be adapted to be closed by means
of a float.
A ball float valve may be used for the purpose but as the fluid pressure will not
be great in ordinary cases a directly acting float may be used. Such float may be a
hollow air-tight vessel or be solid or be an open topped vessel. The oil may be
supplied directly from the cask placed at a higher level than the regulating chamber.
We prefer however the arrangement illustrated by Fig. 1 of the drawings. We may
apply a float controlled valve to prevent the excessive rise of oil within the air
compartment & in cases wherein the air-tight supply tank is used. In the cases of
single lamps we provide each lamp with an oil reservoir which can be closed air-tight
and we connect the wick chamber of the lamp with the bottom of such vessel by
means of a pipe which conveys oil to the wick chamber and which also admits air into
the reservoir to displace the oil at the times when the level of oil in the wick chamber
falls below its average level the said pipe being provided with a stop cock.
Such a construction is indicated by Fig. 2. Fig. 3 illustrates the construction we
prefer to adopt in cases wherein there are only two lamps or a cluster of two three
or more lamps radiating from a common centre as in the cases of ordinary gasaliers.
In the example the wick chambers are connected by means of branch pipes e
with an oil chamber D' which is supplied with oil from an air-tight oil reservoir c'.
The oil from the reservoir c¹ flows through a cock f' and through a pipe f³ which
extends to the required oil level in the chamber Ď and is preferably nicked at the

page_text: end as in the drawings. By the term lamps we do not exclude burners used for
heating purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is —
1. The combinations of parts as and for the purposes set forth and indicated
hereinbefore with reference to the drawings hereto.
2. The air tight oil supply tank the regulator D and the connecting pipes and
cock f, fg in connection with a pipe e or with pipes which convey oil from the said
regulator to a number of lamps arranged at about an uniform level substantially as
and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
3. The supply tank C the regulator D the oil supply pipe e and the overflow
receptacle in combination with a number of lamp wick chambers 6 supplied by
the pipe e substantially as and for the purposes set forth and indicated.
4. The wick chambers of two or more lamps arranged at a suitably uniform level
and connected with an oil supply pipe or conduite and the oil supply regulator having
a compartment d into which the oil descends from a supply tank or cask at a higher
elevation in combination with means for preventing the overfilling of such compartment
substantially as set forth and indicated.
5. The oil supply regulator D or D' receiving oil from an air tight tank or reservoir
in the indicated manner in combination with two or more lamps arranged so that the
oil stands at the same level in the wick chambers of such lamps as in the said supply
regulator as set forth.
Dated this Sixth day of Anansi 1800
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.