IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO OIL LAMPS, OIL FEEDERS, AND OTHER VESSELS FOR CONTAINING AND BURNING OILS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur Collings Wells and
Roughsedge Wallwork at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
on the 24th April 1883.
ARTHUR COLLINGS WELLS, and ROUGHSEDGE WALLWORK, both of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR
APPLICABLE TO OIL LAMPS, OIL FEEDERS, AND OTHER VESSELS FOR CONTAINING AND
BURNING OILS,"
Our invention refers to improvements in the construction and arrangement of
Lamps without wicks for generating gas from paraffin and other oils and burning
the same.
We form the receptacle to contain the oil of cast iron with a pipe screwed into
it descending from its lower side and then extending horizontally to have the gas
generator and burner screwed upon it-The lamp is arranged so that it can be
suspended by a loop linked to the oil vessel, or so that it can be readily attached
when required to feet upon which it can stand.
There is no tap between the oil vessel and the burner, but there is a tubular
spindle having a screw cup attached to one end and this tubular spindle passes
into the oil vessel the screw cup screwing into it-The lower end of this tubular
spindle is coned to enter the outlet tube from the vessel to the burner or into a
seating formed in the vessel and by screwing the screw cup in and out, the flow of
oil to the burner can be readily adjusted or shut off-The tube has also two small
holes in its side to allow air to pass from the vessel to the atmosphere down the
tube when it is being filled with oil.
The tubular spindle extends upwards in the screw cup, and is screwed on its
exterior for a winged screw nut the boss of which forms a valve that fits close to
the sides of the cup as a seating when screwed down, but when screwed up it
leaves a passage for the oil poured into the cup to pass through holes at the sides
of the tube into the oil vessel.
The gas generator and burner is formed entirely of iron cast in one piece,
dispensing with the adjustable screw plug hitherto employed in gas generating
burners for adjusting the supply of oil or gas.
It is also formed so that the jet or flame will strike directly on the generating
chamber, and is or may be provided with asbestos or other material to act as a

page_text: wick during the time when lighting and heating the burner before it begins to
generate the gas, and has also a cover or cowl hinged or otherwise secured to
protect the flame against currents or blast of wind.
Instead of the cup and valve above referred to for filling oil into the lamp, other
modifications of cup and valve is or may be used for the lamp above described and
which are also applicable to other oil lamps or Oil feeders or receptacles for oil,
which modifications are described as follows; a cup or funnel is screwed into the
upper part of the oil vessel.
In a hole in the centre of this cup there is a short spindle the inner end of
which on the inner side of the cup, has a disc upon it, and there is also a pin or
projection in the disc. The short spindle has a knob upon its outer end, by
which it can be turned and pressed in wards, there being a helical spring round the
short spindle acting between the cup and knob on the spindle to draw the disc
close against the inner side of the cup, in which position, the disc closes a hole in
the cup between the cup and oil vessel, but when the knob is pressed down and at
the same time partly rotated the pin in the disc is withdrawn from the hole and
its end rest againsts the end of the cup and thus holds the valve open to allow oil
poured into the cup to pass into the Lamp, Oil feeder or other vessel.
Another modification consists in arranging a disc on the end and inner side of
the cup to turn on a joint, a spring being applied to the joint to keep the disc
close to its face, and there is a pin or projection from the disc extending through
the hole into the interior of the cup by which the disc can be turned on its joint
to open or close the passage between the cup and vessel, or the joint pin of the
disc is or may be used to turn it-Or the disc is or may be made to partly rotate
on a central spindle the disc having a hole or holes corresponding to holes in the
bottom of the cup, by partly rotating the spindle (which is drawn up by a spring)
the holes are covered or uncovered.
Another modification consists in forming a hole from the cup laterally to the
side of the screw, this hole when the cup is partly unscrewed or rotated coming
opposite a gap or hole in the vessel in which the cup screws and thus allows the
oil poured into the cup to pass into the vessel, but when the cup is screwed up the
lateral hole in it comes opposite a part which covers and closes the passage.
Another modification applicable to vertical spouted "Oil feeders" consists in a
screwed cup screwed into the "Oil feeder" the spout of the Oil feeder screwing
into the centre of the cup in such manner that when screwed close up, a passage
from the cup to the vessel is closed but when partly unscrewed the passage is
opened. The cup may be formed solid with the oil vessel, and the spout arranged
in it as above explained.
A modification of the cup and valve is also applicable to oil Lamps for filling oil
into the lamp and providing an opening for placing the wick in the lamp and
holding it in position when burning:
The lamp has a hole or gap for the cup and valve, which is made to turn on one
side to cover and uncover the hole or gap, and when covering the hole or gap its
edge forms one side of the wick orifice and is or.. may be arranged to press the
wick against a point to hold it from moving.