CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAIN LAMPS
Year: 1855

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 17th September 1855, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, Patent Agent, of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAIN LAMPS," a communication, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in so constructing the lamp without any opening in
the reservoir except to convey oil to the cups and burners, and providing
means of filling it at the cup by the removal of the burner cap, or of the cap
or stopper from a suitable opening provided in the cup for the purpose. By
having no opening in the lamp except in the cup, the lamp is simplified in its
construction, and there is not the same liability to leakage as in the fountain
lamps, as heretofore constructed, to be filled at the bottom; and the lamp if
upset will not have its oil spilled, as in the fountain lamp, which is filled at the

page_text: top of the reservoir, and has the oil forced to the burner by a piston, and on
these accounts the lamp is rendered cleanly, so that it forms a convenient lamp
for hand or table use. The Invention further consists in a certain arrange-
ment of the handle of the lamp, which affords proper convenience for filling
without spilling the oil, and by which when the lamp is held or carried in the
hand by the handle it is prevented overflowing, having no tendency to deviate
from an upright position, except in such a direction that the oil will run
towards the reservoir, so that all danger of overflow at the burner is prevented.
In the accompanying Drawing, which illustrates my Invention, Fig. 1 is a
front elevation of a fountain lamp with one cup; Fig. 2 a side view, showing
the same while being filled; and Fig. 3, a central section of the same, intended
to illustrate the manner in which the oil, when the lamp is accidentally allowed
to get out of an upright position while being carried, must run back to the
reservoir. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all
these Figs.
The lamp may be made with the reservoir A, cup B, and stand C, all of
glass, or all of metal; or the reservoir and cup may be made of one of those
materials and the stand of the other. Fig. 3 shows that the reservoir is
completely closed, except at the mouth of the passage a, leading to the cup.
The burner cap is made to screw into the cup in the same manner as the
burner cap of other lamps, and the opening which receives it serves for the
filling of the lamp. The handle D is attached to the stand C on the same side
of the lamp as the cup B, below the reservoir and the cup.
To fill the lamp, the burner cap is removed, and then the handle is taken
loosely in one hand, when the lamp will fall to the position shown in Fig. 2,
with the cup upward, which is the proper position for filling. The oil can or
feeder E is held in the other band, and oil is poured into the lamp till it is
seen by looking in the opening that the reservoir is full to the mouth of the
passage, when the feeder is removed, the lamp set upright, and the burner
cap screwed on.
Owing to the position of the handle D, not only does the lamp readily and
naturally assume a proper position for filling, as just above explained, but its
weight, if it be carried carelessly by the handle, will tend to make it incline over
in the direction shown in Fig. 3, where an exaggerated position of the lamp as
carelessly carried is given. It will be seen in that Fig., that when the lamp
inclines in that direction, the oil tends to run back from the cup into the
reservoir. This prevents overflow, and keeps the exterior of the lamp clean.
Fig. 4 gives a top view of a fountain lamp with two cups and burners, which
are indicated by the same letters as the corresponding parts of the other lamp.

page_text: These cups and burners are placed to form an angle of 90 degrees with the
centre of the reservoir. The handle D of this lamp, which is represented in
dotted lines, is placed midway between the cups and burners, and supposed to
be at the same height as in the first-described lamp, that is to say, just below
the reservoir and cups, and by that means the lamp is made to act like the one
first described. In filling it, if it be held loosely with the handle upwards, the
two cups will stand at the same height, and both higher than the reservoir, and
allow the lamp to be filled at either cup without overflowing the other. This
will be understood by supposing Fig. 4 to represent the lamp as seen looking
in a horizontal direction. This position of the handle also causes the oil if the
lamp be held carelessly to flow from both cups towards the reservoir, preventing
overflow from one as much as from the other.
First, constructing the lamp without any opening in the reservoir except to
convey the oil to the burner cup, and providing means of filling it at the cup,
substantially as herein described.
Second, placing the handle on the same side of the lamp as the burner cup
and burner if only one cup is used, and midway between the cups if two cups
are employed, and below the reservoir and cup, thereby enabling the lamp
readily to assume a convenient position for filling, and preventing overflow at
the burners or other parts of the cups when the lamp is carelessly held or
carried, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)