IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC LAMPS, CANDLE HOLDERS, OR CANDLES, AND APPARATUSES CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jules Albert Berly at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th March 1881.
JULES ALBERT BERLY, Civil and Electrical Engineer, of No. 9, Relf Road,
Peckham Rye, London, S.E., in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC LAMPS, CANDLE HOLDERS, OR CANDLES, AND APPARATUSES CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
In those lamps or candle holders or candles in which the regulating mechanism
is dispensed with, the carbon pencils being placed parallel to each other and fixed
in separate holders, one being fixed, and the other inade to approach the fixed one
or recede from it so as to bring the ends or points in contact or separate them from
each other for the purposes of the light.
I replace the hinge, pivot, pin, or other rotating or oscillating arrangement or
contrivance by a piece of flexible matériel, such, for instance, as a strip of metal,
and I use the said flexible material according to the case as an hinge only, or both
as an hinge and a spring, this last one being either direct acting or antagonistic.
Alternating currents being, for well known reasons, used in connection with
electric candles, the approaching and receeding motions of the, moveable carbon
pencil to and from the fixed one, which motions are made use of for bringing the
points together or apart for the purpose of kindling the said candles, are obtained
by attaching the moveable carbon pencil to an armature which is attracted by an
electro-magnet when the current which passes through it is flowing or the circuit
closed, and which recedes from it when the current ceases to flow or the circuit is
opened, the same approaching or receeding motions are or may be obtained by
means of solenoid or otherwise.
It has hitherto been customary to hinge the combined carbon holder and
armature by means of pins or axles constituting an articulation round which as a
center the said moveable portion of the lamp or candle is made to rotate or
otherwise oscillate.
This arrangement has been found in practice to be a very imperfect one, for
various reasons.
The attracting power of electro-magnets or solenoids placed in a circuit in
which an alternating current is circulating is comparatively weak; and the
alternation itself of the current creates a certain amount of vibration or
trepidation.
For the first of these two causes, the weight or the resistance which the electro-
magnet or the solenoid has to overcome or attract must be as feeble and as little
as possible; and the hinge, pivot, or articulation must be as free as possible for the
same reason,
For the second of these two causes, on the other hand, the play in the working
parts of the hinge, pivot, or oscillating articulation must be as reduced as possible,

page_text: as the vibration or trepidation due to the alternating current taking place at a
very considerable speed, the noise created by the contacts of the metallic parts
striking against each other at that rate causes the lamp or candle to be intollerably
musical, and the defect goes on increasing as the hinged pivot or other oscillating
articulation wears out; the noise increasing in the same ratio, and the working of
the lamp, candle holder, or candle becoming affected by it as the moveable carbon
pencil instead of falling fairly against the fixed one, when the current becomes
interrupted either accidentally or otherwise, and being thus ready for relighting
by parting from each other when the current is reinstated or the circuit closed, falls
sideway or scissors like, that is to say, glides alongs the fixed carbon, the flexibility
of the carbon rods aggravating still this state of things, and in that case they will
part again to fall again; no light or are being produced until they happen by
mere chance to fall point to point.
One is therefore placed in a dilemna, as if the oscillating articulation is too free
or has any play, an intolerable noise is produced thereby and the play as before
explained will keep on increasing with time together with the noise until the lamp
or candle becomes uncertain in its action and refuses to perform its work; if it is
too tight (which can also happen by the dilatation due to the heating of the
apparatus, the current being weak, as already explained, the moveable carbon
pencil will not in this case be propelled to and from the fixed-one when the current
is interrupted or reinstated either accidentally or otherwise.
In practice the inconvenient of the play, other things being put aside,. does
not take any length of time to manifest itself even in the best regulated
apparatuses.
All those inconvenients are done away with by the adoption of a flexible
materiel or spring in lieu of the said articulation, the said material or spring being
firmly fixed at one end, and the moveable carbon holder or carbon as well as its
armature and appertenance being attached to it.
The said flexible material or spring may be thin, consequently opposing no more
resistance to the propelling and receeding motions of the moveable carbon than if it
was oscillating on on a very free pin, pivot, or articulation; and the working part
of it may at the same time be very short, so as to act exactly as a perfect center
of oscillation. If the said flexible material or spring is made very broad, all
twisting or sideway motion of the armature and carbons attached thereto is
prevented.
The noise resulting from the play and vibration and the play itself are therefore
completely done away with, the regularity of working is also completely secured,
as the moveable carbon fairly falls against the fixed one (ready to part again and
produce the light), when the current is accidentally or otherwise interrupted.
The automatic switching of one consumed candle out of circuit introducing
another into play has also hitherto in these description of lamps, candles, etc., been
effected by various ineffectual or uncertain combinations necessitating a great
amount of trouble, annoyance, and supervision, and giving very indifferent results.
I provide against these defects by means of the following arrangement:-
The moveable carbon pencils being in electric communication with each other,
and connected with the same pole, terminal, or conducting wire, the fixed carbon
pencils, instead of being mounted in the same manner, that is to say in electric
communication, are mounted on separate plates or bases, contrary to what has been
done hitherto, are not directly connected with the other pole, terminal, or conducting
wire; but the said other terminal or pole is mounted on a plate on which are as
many binding screws as there is fixed carbon pencils. Before fixing the fixed
carbon pencil into its socket or carbon holder, I slide through the end nearest the
holder a short cylinder of thin metal cut open longitudinally so as to act as a
spring, and of an inside diameter rather smaller than the carbon pencil itself. To
this spring cylinder is attached (rivetted or brazed) a short piece of bare or covered
copper wire of convenient size, the end of which is connected to one of the aforesaid
binding screws. The said cylinder of thin metal, by pressing against the carbon

page_text: rod, makes a good contact, and the current thus circulates in all the fixed
carbons through these cylinders and their wires attached to them, as heretofore
described.
When the candle which is burning is nearly consumed, that is to say, when the
arc reaches the said metallic spring cylinder, the wire connecting the said cylinder
to its corresponding terminal becomes fused by the heat of the arc, and the current
is therefore prevented from passing further through the nearly consumed candle;
the current then choses one of the remaining candles, and an automatic switching
is thereby effected.
In those candles in which one of the carbons is not made to approach or recede to
and from the other, such as the Jablochkoff candle, in which the two carbons are
fixed and connected together at the top for the purpose of kindling, the facility for
relighting does not exist as in the other systems, and it is not in the generality
of cases advisable to electrically connect the various candles in the same lamp.
I effect the automatic switching by means of a commutator, cylindrical or
otherwise, actuated by means of compressed air, vacuum or electricity, the necessary
motion being periodically given when required either by hand at distance by the
engine itself, or by means of a clock suitably arranged for the purpose.
A current of compressed air at a sufficient pressure stored into a suitable air
receiver is caused to flow through a system of piping from which it reaches the
compressed air switches which are branched upon the same piping, and actuate
either one single lamp or a whole circuit, the pressure of the compresed air causes
a piston working in a vertical cylinder or an air bag to ascend, and the motion
thus attained is used for actuating a switche by means of the intermediate pieces of
mechanism which can be required for the purpose. In a like manner vacuum, or
the action of a solenoid, or of electro magnets may be used for the purpose. The
piece thus raised, either a piston or other piece of mechanism, falls when relieved
back into its former position by its own weight, ready to be raised again when a
new switching is required.
In the arrangement of the Jablochkoff candle, known as "Gadot" candle holder,
in which one half of the carbons are electrically connected together and with one
of the poles, and the other half are also connected between themselves and with
the other pole, the difficulty attending to the switching has hitherto been to
prevent the arc burning too low, that is to say, lower down than is required or
safe, which difficulty necessitated the switching by hand at periodical intervals,
and also a temporary extinction of the lighting, as it was found necessary to wait
until the incandescent candle was sufficiently cooled. In this description of candle
holders or apparatus I obtain the automatic switching by insulating the half of the
candle from its holder with which it previously had electric communication, which
can be done by lining the inside of one of the sockets or carbon holders with an
insulating material such as ebonite. By connecting in the aforesaid manner one
of the tubes of each candle through a short wire to a corresponding terminal, all
these terminals being mounted on the same plate or base which is in electric
communication with one of the poles, as all the other carbons are through their
holders, and being mounted upon another plate in electric communication with the
other pole, when the arc reaches one of the wires this one is instantly consumed,
and the current not being able to pass through the burning candle any more, choses
another path opened to it, and immediately and automatically switches another
candle into circuit.