IMPROVENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING LIGHT AND HEAT BY THE COM- BUSTION TYDRO-CARBON OILS OR OTHER INFLAMMABLE LIQUIDS AND GASES."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederic Wilkins at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th July 1880.
<1
FREDERIC WILKINS, of 40, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex.
IMPROVENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING LIGHT AND HEAT BY THE COM-
BUSTION TYDRO-CARBON OILS OR OTHER INFLAMMABLE LIQUIDS AND GASES."
The object of my Invention is to obtain more perfect combustion of the vapours
of inflammable hydrocarbon oils, coal, or other gas, and other substances, such as
animal or vegetable oils, paraffine, or spirits, than is obtained by the methods
ordinarily heretofore used for the purpose of producing light or heat. The first
part of my Invention consists of novel methods of constructing and arranging
apparatus for impregnating ordinary air with the vapour of a suitable inflammable
liquid, such as light bydrocarbon oil.
I take a long, narrow, shallow vessel of metal or other suitable material, closed
above and partially filled with the liquid to be treated.
This vessel has one or more openings at one end through which air can enter,
and, after passing over the liquid and becoming impregnated with its vapour, escapes
through an opening at the other end of the vessel. The vessel may be of suitable
form and size to suit the position in which it is to be placed and the purpose to
which it is to be applied, and it may be provided with divisions, or with separate
trays arranged above each other for holding the liquid, or other devices such as
sponge or other porous material, so that the air may be exposed to as large a
surface of the latter as possible. I fix the vessel arranged as described in a position
at a level sufficiently above the point where the light is to be produced, and the
mixture of air and inflammable vapour is sufficiently heavy to descend a pipe which
communicates between the opening, through which they escape from the vessel and
the burner where they are to be burned.
Where it is desired that light shall also be produced at the same level as the
vessel, I arrange one or more additional pipes communicating at one end with the
bottom of the vessel containing the liquid, and at the other end with burners,
preferably of the kind hereinafter described, to which the liquid flows from the vessel
without having been first vaporized and mixed with air, as first described. Both
methods of producing light may be used with the same vessel, the burners below the

page_text: level of the vessel being supplied with the mixture of air and vapour, whilst those
at the same level as the vessel are supplied directly with the inflammable liquid.
In order to keep the vessel properly supplied with the inflammable liquid I use
a modification of the apparatus well known as a "bird fountain." This consists of
an air tight reservoir filled with a supply of the inflammable liquid, and having a
small opening or neck at its lower end dipping just below the surface of the liquid
in the vessel, so that when the latter requires replenishing a bubble of air enters
the reservoir, whilst a corresponding quantity of the liquid descends into the vessel.
I sometimes modify this method of restoring the inflammable liquid to its proper
level by supplying the vessel from a separate reservoir at any convenient distance
through a pipe, one end of which enters the vessel at the level at which the liquid
is to be retained, whilst the other end enters the reservoir at precisely the same
level.
The reservoir is closed air tight, and is provided with a water vessel or fountain,
as already described, the lower end or neck of which descends just below the surface
of the liquid in the reservoir exactly at the same level as the pipe. When, therefore,
the level of the liquid in the vessel falls, it also falls in the pipe and in the
reservoir, and a bubble of air enters the water vessel, a corresponding quantity of
water passing into the reservoir, to the bottom of which it sinks, thus raising the
level of the liquid in the reservoir, the pipe, and the generating vessel.
The vessel or generator may be provided with an inner inlet valve and a pipe,
the outer end of which is conducted to any safe place, so that in the event of fire,
the expansion of the inflammable vapour by heat would close the inlet valve and
force the whole of the inflammable liquid out of the vessel, through the pipe from
which it would be safely discharged without danger of combustion. I sometimes
use one or more pipes passing through the vessel or generator, and arranged so that
warm or cold air or water may be passed through them so as to raise or lower the
temperature of the vessel as may be desired. Or the inlet pipe through which the
air is admitted may be heated or cooled in any convenient way. Or the generator
may be surrounded with a casing, through which warm or cold air may be
passed for the same purpose, and it may be covered with felt or other non-
conducting material.
Where the level of the burner below the generating vessel is not sufficiently
great to produce, by gravitation, the necessary pressure of the mixed air and gas,
I sometimes use a syphon, the shorter or ascending leg of which is warmed and
conducts the air to the generator, whence it descends to the burners by the longer
leg, after having been cooled in any convenient way. Or the air may be forced
through the vessel from an ordinary or collapsible gas holder, or by pumps or other
suitable blowing machinery. Instead of air, ordinary coal gas may be passed
through the vessel so as to impregnate it with inflammable vapour, its illuminating
power being thus greatly increased. Where the mixture of air and inflammable vapour
is to be burned as described, I prefer to use the kind of burner well known as the
argand" burner, the openings through which the inflammable mixture escapes
being large, and a cock or valve being preferably arranged for the purpose of
regulating and adjusting a supply of air to the burner, and cotton wool, wire gauze,
or other porous materials may be used, through which the inflammable mixture
passes, so as to equalize its pressure. A chimney of metal, glass, or other suitable
material, may be arranged above the burner, having preferably a lower flange
which may be utilized to serve as a reflector.
Where the pipe leading to the burner is of considerable length and having any
bends in it, I arrange at the lowest point of such bend a condensing vessel o
receiver filled with sponge or other absorbent material which collects any condensed
vapour, which can be revapourized and passed to the burners by the application o
moderate heat. Where inflammable liquid is to be itself supplied to burners upor
the same level as already described, prefer to use tubular or "star" burners
having a ring of very small horizontal holes at their upper part. In order to ignite
such burners a few drops of spirit or other easily inflammable liquid are placed in

page_text: a cup arranged under the burner, and preferably containing a piece of asbestos or
other uninflammable porous substance, and being lighted the latter is heated,
and the liquid in the burner is vapourized, and ignites as it issues from the holes,
giving a brilliant light. Any number of such burners may be arranged at the
same height, and supplied by pipes from the same vessel, which is similar in shape
to that first described, and is kept supplied with the inflammable liquid by a
fountain arrangement as already described, or a ball cock or other device of any of
the well known kinds may be used to maintain the liquid at a uniform level.
The burners last described have an internal wick of cotton, metal, or other
suitable material, rising nearly to the level of the holes and dipping below the
liquid, which is sucked up and vaporized by the heat of the burner. A cap of
platinum or other wire gauze may enclose the wick to prevent its becoming
charred.
Lights of the kind described may also be arranged in chandeliers, the vessel and
fountain or apparatus for supplying it being placed in the centre of the chandelier,
and a burner, connected to the vessel by a pipe, being fixed at the end of each
branch. Colza oil, or other vegetable or animal or other oils or liquids, may
be used if suitable burners be employed.