IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS WITH CIRCULAR BURNERS OR WICKS FOR THE COMBUSTION OF PETROLEUM, SCHIST, AND OTHER VOLATILE OILS, PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO GAS BURNERS, NIGHT LIGHTS, AND LAMPS BURNING SPIRITS AND ANIMAL OILS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles de Groote at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st March
1863.
I, CHARLES DE GROOTE, of the City of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Shorthand Writer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LAMPS WITH CIRCULAR BURNERS OR
WICKS FOR THE COMBUSTION OF PETROLEUM, SCHIST, AND OTHER VOLATILE OILS,
PARTS OF SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO GAS BURNERS, NIGHT LIGHTS,
AND LAMPS BURNING SPIRITS AND ANIMAL OILS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to lamps with circular wicks, known as argand
burners, and more particularly lamps in which petroleum, schist, and other
volatile oils is to be used, and consists in adapting to said lamps wire gauze
guards, through which the air passes to support combustion of the flame of the
lamp, the object of this Invention being to produce a lamp capable of burning
with a perfectly steady and uniform light even when brought into contact with
gusts of wind, and also to provide means for extinguishing the light and pro-
tecting the wick of the lamp when not in use, so as to prevent bad smell and
evaporation of the oil. The following is an example of the means by which
this Invention may be carried into practical effect:-I form a vertical passage
through the reservoir of the lamp, and adapt across the lower part thereof one
or more pieces of wire gauze for the passage of air inside of the circular wick
of the lamp. I also adapt two or more wire gauze flanges around the wick
holder, the lowermost of which serves to support the glass chimney of the
lamp, and by these means I compel the air necessary to support combustion

page_text: of the oil to pass in an infinitely divided state to the flame of the lamp, and
thus enable petroleum and other volatilo oils to be effectively burnt in lamps
constructed with circular burners or wicks. And I employ the following
arrangement for extinguishing the light of said lamps, that is to say, I adjust
a sliding wire up the centre of the wick holder, and affix to the upper end
of said wire a cap or inverted dished button, somewhat larger in diameter
than the wick holder, and to the bottom of said wire I affix a rack, which
gears into the teeth of a fine pinion fixed on a wire extending beyond tho
outside of the oil reservoir, so that upon turning this pinion round in one
direction the cap aforesaid will be brought down, and thus extinguish the
light, and bo raised by moving said pinion in an opposite direction; and this
mode of extinguishing the light applies to gas burners, night lights, and lamps
burning spirits and animal oils, and in cases where flat wicks or solid circular
wicks are employed the extinguisher above mentioned will require to be
modified in construction.
The following are examples of some of such modifications:-Over the top
of the wick holder, and to that part of an ordinary lamp which supports the
glass chimney, I hinge a cap piece, which when the lamp is burning is turned
back or down by a projecting handle, and is brought over the wick when it is
required to extinguish the light. For smaller lamps I adapt hinged hood-
shaped pieces to the wick holder, said pieces are separated and pulled down
when the lamp is burning, and are pushed up when it is required to extinguish
the light, or the hood may be in the form of a cap made of an entire piece of
metal. For small lamps burning solid circular wicks, I adapt to that part of
the lamp in which the wick holder slides a hinged piece of metal, acted upon
by a small spring; I also affix a small rod to the wick holder, said rod working
in a slit in the fixed case of the wick holder; when the lamp is burning the
wick holder will keep the hinged piece of metal aforesaid upright. And when
it is required to extinguish the light by pushing the wick holder down by the
small rod aforesaid, the hinged piece before mentioned will be forced by the
action of its spring across the case of the wick holder, and thus extinguish
the light.