Improvements in oil lamps
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 12th May, 1886
Complete Left, 8th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 7th Apr., 1887,
I GEORGE ROBY of 33 Edward Street Moses Gate, Bolton in the County of
Lancashire author am in possession of an invention for Improvements in oil lamps.
I do hereby declare the nature of my invention for THE IMPROVEMENT OF OIL LAMPS
to be as follows:-
The first principle in this invention is an air tube open at both ends.
This tube is so arranged that one end which may be called the upper end projects
out of the reservoir the other end being fixed within it where it descends nearly to the
bottom. The lamp is fed with oil through the upper end of the tube and to facilitate
the process of feeding a saucer shaped reflector may be jointed to the tube and be so
arranged that when the lamp is laid on its back for the purpose of filling the fluid may
be poured into the reflector.
To understand the action of this tube it may be useful to consider a peculiarity in the
action of the fountain lamp.
When the burner of such a lamp is fed with oil through a tube the fluid is apt to
cease flowing although the reservoir is full of oil.
The reason is the oil having been carried out of the burner cup by a slow and
motionles process the fluid in the tube that feeds the burner remains in an undisturbed
state so that the open end of the tube may be laid bare and the fluid for a moment will
stand above its level-the pressure of the air against the open end of the tubo
balancing the downward pressure of the oil in the body of the lamp.
The air tube which forms one of the principles of this invention acts as an independent
power.
The lower end of this tube is locked by the fluid on the fountain principle but there
being a free passage through it there is a constant downward pressure of air which
effectively prevents the exhaustion of the burner cup.
In this invention the tube that feeds the burner does not receive its supply directly
from the reservoir but from a small vessel inclosed within the chief receptacle with the
effective result that the burner tube has not to struggle on the fountain system for a
supply of oil. It receives it in a ceaseless flow from the inclosed vessel which being

page_text: funnel shaped and broad at the bottom and open there supplies air to the reservoir and
receives oil from it on a larger surface than it would convenient or safe to give to
the feeding tube.
The upper end of the tube is fixed by a air tight joint in the inclosed vessel.
In carrying this invention into effect economy in construction and safety in use
demand that all tubes connected with it should be as narrow as circumstances will
allow.
When the reservoir is large and there are a number of burners to be supplied
from it to avoid having too wide an opening at the point where the reservoir is fed and
to give a solid support to the burner cups and to strengthen the general construction
of the lamp there may be an additional air tube one end of which will project
into the reservoir at the upper end and the other end will be fixed in a central
burner cup or tube care being taken that this tube shall be on an incline from
its highest to its lowest point and that the end fixed in the burner cup shall
descend low enough to allow it to be covered with fluid.
The funnel shaped vessel inclosed within the reservoir has no opening at the top
and forms a fountain within a fountain its first and chief use being to prevent overflow
both from the burner cup and from the tube that feeds the reservoir.
When the reservoir is constructed of glass or porcelain the tube or tubes connected
with it may be protected by a covering of metal.

page_text: I GEORGE ROBY author of 33 Edward Street Moses Gate near Bolton am in
possession of an invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN OIL LAMPS and I 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 :-
--
Having developed my invention under the grace and protection of the law I now
proceed to describe it more fully and to clear up what may appear as errors of
description in my provisional specification.
For the purpose of description the tube through which the reservoir is fed and the
enclosed vessel made as described broad at the bottom and narrow at the top may be
regarded as one and the same instrument.
Whatever form my lamp takes in all cases it is fed with oil by means of a tube open
at both ends the upper end of which projects out of the reservoir and is open to the
air while the lower end is valved or locked by the fluid in which it stands.
This invention receives its chief advantage from the form position and mode of
action of the tube open at both ends. This pipe or vessel exercies many distinct
powers all of which work automatically not one of which could be dispensed with
without injury to the lamp.
The broad bottom prevents overflow from the upper end when the lamp is put in
position after being filled.
It also prevents overflow from the burner cup when the vapour and fluid in the
roservoir are in a state of expansion.
The broad end of the vessel is open for the reception of the fluid forced out of the
reservoir by expansion and the narrow end is open for the free discharge of the vapours
within the tube so that as an air vessel it allows free play to the air vapours and oil
within the reservoir.
It is the chief passage through which air passes into the lamp in order to liberate
the oil for the purpose of combustion. It facilitates the flow of oil on to the burner.
It regulates the flow of oil.
A liability to overflow is a natural vicissitude of the fountain lamp and it may take
place whether the lamp is burning or not. It may be the result of a change of
temperature or of some active principle in the spirit or oil. The fluid being pent up
in a limited space and being subject to the action and reaction of heat and cold it
expands. When expanding it forces itself through the burner cup the only opening
through which it can escape.
Numerous combinations of lamps may be formed with this invention but they will
all be fed with oil through an opening at the side as at figure 2 or through an opening
at the top as at figure 6.
A lamp made according to figure 2 requires no tap or extra air tube the air being
able to escape out of the reservoir through the burner tube during the process of filling
but it might be inconvenient to fill a lamp attached to a lamp post or one with a long

page_text: tube to it by turning it on its side-in figure 6 the inconvenience is obveited by filling
it at the top.
When a lamp constructed according to this invention is filled with oil or with oil
and vapour and is standing in an upright position the open tube becomes an air vessel
and when expansion takes place the fluid is forced into the wide part and this space
can be made as large as is desirable and it should always be in proportion to the space
within the reservoir.
It is most essential to understand the point at which the open air vessel commences
to act and at which it works with the best advantage.
If the lower end were placed below the tube that feeds the burner cup oil could
not flow on to the burner. If placed too high the oil would flow too freely and rise
too high in the burner cup or even run over it so that the position of the air vessel
governs the level of the oil in the burner cup.
The lamps constructed according to this invention will take many forms but the
enclosed air vessel through which the reservoir is filled will govern all their action and
the point at which it is locked or valved may be regarded as the bottom of the reservoir
-in certain lamps the oil will stand above the light and will descend to the burner
cup by means of tubes.
When in describing this invention I say my lamp or the lamp I mean any such
like structure to which the leading principles of this invention can be advantageously
applied.
Figure 1 is the tube or vessel through which all lamps affected by this invention are
filled the upper end of which is open to the air and the lower end is valved against the
air by the fluid in which it stands.
In figure 2 the air vessel enters into its first practical combination producing a
cottage lamp. mm is the reservoir. A B C the tube open at both ends. D the
burner cup. T the tube connecting the burner cup with the reservoir. V is a tube
with holes in it enclosed in the tube T so as to leave a space between them. The
enclosed tube feeds from the reservoir and the fluid passes through the perforations
into the outside tube and from thence into the burner cup-the outside tube is blocked
at the end nearest to the reservoir and the inside at the end joining the burner cup-
the object of this arrangement is to prevent the oil from flowing too freely into the
burner cup when the lamp is carried with the burner end downwards.
The perforations in V must be large enough to allow the air in the reservoir
to escape while the lamp is being filled with oil and to allow the burner to be
properly fed.
In this
Figure 3 is a two burner lamp constructed in the form of a chandelier.
lamp the burner cup D D does not receive its oil directly from the reservoir but
from the burner cup D with which it communicates by means of the tube K K K.
Lamps 2 and 3 are turned on their backs or against the dead wall of the reservoir
for the purpose of being filled the oil being poured in through the opening at A-
which must face the opening in the burner cup to allow the air to escape from the
reservoir.
Figure 4 shows the invention in combination with a street lantern-Here the oil
holder stands apart from the lantern-but the burner cup and the glass chimney are
covered by the lantern glass W-gg is the glass chimney and the burner. This
lamp must be placed on its back to be filled with oil.
Oil lamps used as street lanterns will be liable to great changes of temperature
their contents being acted upon by the sun in the day and by extreme cold at night
contraction and expansion will be greater in them than in other lamps made according
to this invention therefore the broad open part of the space A B C should be
correspondingly large and the burner cup deeper-because the higher the fluid
rises in the burner cup the higher it will rise in the vessel A B C-when expansion
takes place.
Figure 5 is a combination in which two burners are placed in one lantern or by
lengthening the tube T each burner may occupy a separate lantern and stand apart at
any convenient distance the reservoir remaining at X. This lamp may be filled from

page_text: the top or at the side as is most convenient. The oil holder in this lamp is not shown.
The dotted or broken lines in fig. 4 and 5 are glass chimneys.
In figure 6 the combination takes a new form. This lamp is not turned on its back
to be filled with oil the fluid is poured in at the top through the opening A. While
filling the air escapes out of the reservoir by means of the tube H and finds an exit
through the burner cup--the stop iap K must be turned off during the process of
filling the reservoir. If this were not done the oil would rise above the lower end of
the tube H and then the air could not escape from the oil holder.
In figure 6 the lamp may have any convenient number of burner cups the tube H
being in the central one and the tap K as near as possible to the reservoirs. In lamps
of this form an additional air tube and a tap to be used as described are necessities—
When the burner cup is large and there are several of them the second air tube
supports the cups and strengthens the lamp.
Figure 7 is also a new combination. This lamp is a torch possessing the best
advantages of the napiha lamp torch used by market people and the kettle torch as
used at various mining and other industries.
In its general construction this lamp is the same as at figures 2 or six-the perforated
tube is dispensed with and the burner should be a strong tube suitable for a torch
light the burner should stand as far as is convenient from the oil holder. The fluid
being conveyed to the burner cup by means of a tube a fiery and spirituous fluid
such as naptha may be burned in this lamp with safety care being taken that the
burner tube is filled with wick. There are other combinations which it is useless to
enumerate after the examples cited.
In reference to the perforated tube figure 2 I do not hold myself bound to use it on
all occasions as it is only necessary when there is a long tube between the burner cup
and the reservoir-even then there are other means to the end required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
Here 1. I claim the tube pipe or vessel as is shown at figure one and which is
constructed narrow at the top and broad at the bottom the upper end being open to
the air and the lower end to the fluid in which it stands and by which it is valved.
2. 1 claim the provision of a space within the reservoir for a portion of the oil to
lodge in while being acted upon by expansion.
3. I claim a tube broad or narrow which acts as a feeding and expansion tube.
4. I claim an expansion vessel where ever fixed in a lamp which has an outlet for
its vapours through a tube the upper end of which is open to the air.
5. I claim all the combinations into which my feeding and expansion tube enters
forming lamps such as I have described they being the natural outcome of that part
of my invention as shown at figure 1.
6. I claim the strengthening of glass or porcelain tubes with metal as set forth in
my provisional specification.
Dated this day Fahruery 7ih 1887