AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ERSKINE COCHRANE, of Somerset Street, Portman Square, in the County of.
Middlesex, Esq, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
Iis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the: United Kingdom.
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Seventeenth day of June, in the first year of His reign, give and grant:
unto me, the said William Erskine. Cochrane, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that:
I,. the said William Erskine Cochrane, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed; and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
William Erskine. Cochrane, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to. be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months. next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become. void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Erskine Cochrane, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and the following description thereof (that is to say.) :-
My Improvement in the Construction of Lamps consists in a certain dispo-
sition of the parts of lamps used for illumination, whereby the flame is made to
rise or ascend from the wick in an inclined or oblique direction instead of
rising perpendicularly from the wick, which is the natural direction of flame.
By my improvements a current of air is directed in an horizontal, oblique, or
inclined direction upon the flame, so as to carry the flame out of its natural
perpendicular, and cause it to project over the edge of the wick and burner,
and, therefore, the light will shine upon the ground or place immediately
beneath the lamp without throwing a shadow beneath, as must be the case in
other lamps where the flame rises perpendicularly from the wick. In order
to exemplify the application of my said improvement in. the construction
of lamps, I have hereunto annexed a Drawing. Let A, A, A, (Figure 1) be
a common glass vessel or case capable of transmitting the rays of light and of
excluding the external air. Let B, B, be a common close fitted top cover or
reflector, without any other apertures (when the burner is placed in it). thán
that of the case or tube C, C, for conveying a' current of air to the flame
situated at G, and that in which the chimney or eduction pipe D is placed.
Between these two apertures, there is a space cut at K in the cover or
reflector B for the admission of the case or tube C, the burner F and case
containing it being introduced at the aperture in which the chimney D is
placed, the latter being previously thrown back by means of a double hinge.
The burner is secured in its proper position in the glass vessel or case by a
supplementary piece K, of the same. material as the reflector or cover, which
piece is attached to the air tubes or case C, and fits in and fills up the space
between the latter and the chimney D. The burner is also kept in its proper
place. by the oil holder being hooked at H to the rim on which the head or
external top cover is placed. The flame in my improved lamps may be
supplied with oil or other, inflammable matter by means of a fountain oil
holder on the known principles. To the posterior part of the burner, which
is contained and fixed in the tube or case F, Figure 1, a tube of about
half an inch in diameter is attached. This tube is contained in the air
tube or case C, C,, and terminates about half an inch more or less above.
it at d, d. To the oil holder. L, L, (which may be of any convenient shape)
a tube e, f, is attached, of such diameter as will just admit of its passing into
i

page_text: the tube d, d, which is affixed to the burner, and long enough to reach to the.
bottom thereof.
I
Figure 3 is the oil holder in the proper position for receiving the oil;
when the oil holder has been supplied with oil (or other inflammable matter
used in lamps) the burner F and tubes attached to it are to be inverted,
and in that position the tube e, f, of the oil holder is to be introduced.
into the tube d, d, attached to the burner: The tube or case C is then?
to be secured to the oil holder L by a latch 6, and placed in the glass vessel
or case in the position already described and represented by C, F, Figure 1.
In the interior of the tube e, attached to the oil holder, an air pipe f, of about
one eighth of an inch in diameter and of the same length as the tube e in
which it is contained, ought to be fixed, in order that when the oil is poured in
the air may escape without interruption. By this means the operation of
filling the oil holder is very much facilitated.
.
Figures 4 and 5 represent a burner with an oil holder of a different con-
struction. The oil holder L is attached to the upper end of the tube d, d, so
that the oil holder and burner form one piece. The oil is poured in at a spout
N, which joins to the tube d, d, in an inclined direction. The wick and wik
holder may be of the common kind, or, if preferred, the wick may be made in
two pieces, that piece which burns being cut with straight edges, as shewn
by G, Figure 6, and very small. It is held in a piece of tin plate M, which
is folded double to contain it, and within the fold is the other piece of cotton
wick 9, which lies in contact with the small piece of real wick G, and serves
to convey the oil to the same. This piece of folded plate M; with the com-
pound wick, is inserted into the inclined part of the case or burner F, and.
thereby the wick is held in its proper direction. G, Figure 1, is the mouth of
the burner whence the flame issues in the direction here shewn.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the burner and tubes, with the oil holder
secured in its proper relative position, and in readiness to be put into the glass
vessel or case. H is the hook by which the oil holder L is secured to the rim.
of the lamp. is the latch by which the oil holder is attached to the burner,
and K is the supplementary piece of the cover or reflector, which fills up the
space between the air tube or case C, C, and the chimney D, D. The
tubes C, C, Figures 1 & 4, for conveying a current of air to the flame,
terminate in narrow orifices on a level with the top of the wick holder, and
direct the current of air in an inclined direction, as shewn by the arrows in
Figure 1, in order to carry the flame in that direction. When the burner is
placed in the lamp, as shewn in Figure 1, the extremity of the wick G is just
beneath the posterior edge of the chimney D, as shewn by the dotted line, and

page_text: the opposite edge of the chimney may be sloped off at m, to cause the current-
of heated air to enter into the chimney in an oblique direction, as shewn by
the arrow.
Having now described a lamp constructed with my improvement, so as to
shew the application thereof, I do hereby declare that my said improvement.
consists in and is confined to that disposition of the parts of lamps used for
illumination, whereby a regular current of air is projected in such direction
upon the flame as to carry the same out of its natural perpendicular direction
into an inclined or oblique direction, in order to give light immediately beneath.
the lamp.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Erskine Cochrane, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty.