CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARDS STAITE, of Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of November,
in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edwards Staite, my exors, admois,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Edwards Staite, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edwards Staite, my exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, excicise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, my Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William
Edwards Staite, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo performed, by an instiu-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same.
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the sand
William Edwards State, hereby declare that my said Invention has relation
to lighting by means of currents of voltaic electricity, and consists,-
Fustly, in certain improved anangements of apparatus for obtaining a
continuous light from or through the agency of the said currents.
Secondly, in certain improved aangements of apparatus for obtaining an
intermittent light from or through the said agency
And,
Tndly, in manufacturing, by certain new comb.nations and processes,
carbon of a quality more suitable for the exhibition or developement of electric
light than any hither to employed. And I declare that the manner in which
my said Invention is canned into effect in the three several branches thereof
is contained in the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say.-
Firstly, as regards my improved arrangements of apparatus for obtaining a
continuous light from or through the agency of voltaic cuirents of electricity,
the same are founded upon the following facts and considerations.-Electric light
is best developed when a check is given to the passage of the current by inter-
posing in the cucuit an electrode or electrodes, composed of substances which
are imperfect conductors of voltaic electricity, and at the same time capable of
sustaining an intense degree of heat, such as carbon and platinum. The light
is also best developed if the two imperfectly conducting substances are fist
brought into contact to completo the circuit, and then, after a moment or
two, are separated and kept at a certain short distance apart One of the
electrodes becomes under these cucumstances instantly heated to incondescence,
and highly luminous, and it continues so till, by the gradually wasting away
of the substance of which it is composed, the distance between the two
electrodes is encreased beyond the distance required for keeping up the voltaic
Clicuit To make the light therefore continuous, it is required that one of the
electrodes should have imparted to it a continuous movement towards the
point of ignition, conesponding very nearly with the ate at which it is
consumed It has been farther ascertained that it is in general preferable to
have one of the electrodes of a conical shape, while the other may be
indifferently either round, or flat, or conical On the electrodes may be in the
form of two concentric cylinders. Again, the more rarified and deoxygenated
the air around the point of ignition is, the more continuous and bulhant the
light, and hence may be deduced the propriety of enclosing the electrodes in a
vessel of small dimensions, hermetically sealed from the external atmosphere,

page_text: but with a valve in it for the escape of the included air when the expansion
begins to exceed those limits which experience may shew to be compatible
with the safety of the apparatus.
Figure 1 of the annexed Diawings represents an elevation, partly in section,
of an electic lamp, constructed with a view to meet the preceding conditions
A is a sole plate of glass, which is fitted into a brass ning, A². B is a glass
cover, which rests in a cucular groove in the sole plate A Wis one of the
wires which is canned from the battery upwards through the sole plate A to
near the top of the vessel B, where it is curved over, and terminates in a
pendant copper holder C, into the under end of which is inserted a solid
cylinder of carbon D, and kept fast by a binding sciew. At the point where
the wue W passes through the sole plate it is fitted with a collar and nut
d, d, with washers of vulcanized caoutchouc or gutta percha, by the screwing
up of which against the plate it is made at that point an-tight, or nearly so
W2 is another wire which leads from the battery to a hollow tube of copper E,
which passes up through the centre of the sole plate, and encloses a solid
cylinder of carbon 1', with conical top a G, G, are two triangular pieces of
platinum, each with its apex pointing inwards, which are attached to the fiee
end of two vertical springs which are made fast at then under ends to two
shoulder pieces b, b, on the outside of the tube E, and are so placed as to abut
against and serve as guides to the stick of carbon F, when it is pushed upwards
beyond the upper end of the tube E towards the point of ignition
II is a
spindle inserted within the tube E, the upper end of which presses against the
under end of the stick of carbon F. I is a rack on one side of this spindle,
and Ka pinion which takes into the rack, and is connected to a train of
wheels (not shewn in the Drawing) by which any degice of velocity of
movement can be given to the lack, and consequently to the stick of carbon,
which may be required. The late to which the clockwork is adjusted will
depend on the power of the battery employed, and the sticks of carbon may be
readily made of such various lengths as experience may shew to be suitable
for batteries of known powers. L is a double scroll spring which is attached
to the tube E, just below the part whicie it passes through the sole plate, and
kept up against the plate by a screwed collar c The play given to this
spring is made exactly proportionate to the least space which there should
be between the electrodes after the lamp has been lighted (so to speak), so that
by pressing against it with the finger the tube E, to which it is attached, will
be raised, and the electrode contained in the tube be instantly brought into
contact with the other electrode. M is a collar with a washer of vulcanized
caoutchouc or gutta percha, which is attached to the tube E inside of the

page_text: glass cover B, and which falling down upon the periphery of the orifice in the
sole plate A through which the tube E is passed (the spring L being liberated)
makes that orifice au-tight. N is a safety valve, through which the air in the
glass escapes when it attains to too high a degree of rarification and pressure
Figure 2 represents another arrangement, in which the two electrodes are
placed in lateral instead of perpendicular opposition to one another, and the
clockwork is dispensed with. C and E are two copper tubes which aro
respectively connected to the ends of the wires W₁ and W², and F1, F2, are
two sticks of carbon of similar form, which are contained in these tubes, and
act as the respective electrodes. Each tube has a coiled spring T inserted in
the upper end of it which exerts a continuous pressure on the stick of carbon
beneath P is a cylinder of compressed pipe clay, phosphate of lime, or other
like non-conducting and heat-resisting substance, against which the ends of
the two electrodes impinge when in action, so that as this cylinder counteracts
the pressure of the springs T, T, the electrodes can be protruded only in the
same proportions as they or either of them may happen to be consumed. The
wire W is passed through an oblong slot in the sole plate A, of such length as
to allow of a lateral movement of the wire and tube E attached to it equal to
the distance at which the two electrodes should be kept when in action; and
at the point where it passes through the slot it has a small sliding box R
attached to it, by means of which this lateral movement may be effected
without opening the slot to the admission of the external air. V is a thumb
sciew, by turning which one way the sliding box is moved forward, and the
electrodes brought into contact with one another, and by turning it the other
they are separated as before.
'
Figure 3 represents a modification of the last-described arrangement. In
this case one of the electrodes consists of two sticks of carbon F, F, enclosed
in two copper holders E¹, E³, with pipe-clay prolongations p, p, which are
united at top into one piece. The electrode D consists of but one stick of
carbon enclosed in a copper holder C, with pipe-clay prolongation q. The under
or protruded end of the electrode D impinges against the top of the pipe-clay
piece p, p, while the upper or protruded ends of the sticks F1, F2, of the other
electrode impinge against the pipe-clay piece 9, one on each side of the other
electrode. Each stick is continuously pressed outwards by a coiled spring E,
as in the plan, Figure 2, but the counteracting resistance of the pipe clay
prevents as before the stick from being ever protruded in a greater degree than
it wastes away. The arrangements for giving a lateral motion to the clectrodes
so as to bing them into contact with one another, and then breaking the
contact are similar to those previously described.

page_text: Figure 4 represents a modification of the arrangement shewn in Figure 1,
differing from it only in three points: first, in the relative position of the elec-
trodes being inverted, the smaller F being uppermost, and the larger D under-
most; second, in the electrode (D) being enclosed at its under end in a
cylinder of pipe clay P, from the outside of which ise two standards h, h,
which support the platinum guides G, G; and third, in these platinum
guides G, G, being attached to the ends of spindles of platinum and kept
pressed forward by coiled springs of platinum wire
Figures 5, 5, and 5b, represent an arrangement in which platinum is
employed as one of the electrodes, and a hollow cylinder of carbon F as the
other, and the progressive movement of the latter is effected without the
aid of wheelwork C is a copper cylinder which encloses another hollow
cylinder of pipe clay C², the interior of which is slightly coned in a downward
duection. D is a thick ng of platinum, which is fixed on the top of the
copper and clay cylinders C³, C², and bevilled off on its inner periphery, as
shewn E is a copper cylinder which encloses the hollow cylinder of carbon
which again is filled by a solid cylinder of pipe clay F. The compound
cylinder F, F, is made of such diameter that when pressed downwards by a
coiled spring T, as in the thiec pieceding aangements, it shall just pass
between the bevilled faces of the platinum ng D without touching, but
immediately below that shall be stopped by coming in contact with the interior
of the clay cylinder C, until its diameter is lessened by the burning away of
the carbon under the action of the voltaic current. The contact between the
electrodes is produced and broken off laterally by means of an arrangement
Similar to that employed in the plan, Figure 1.
Secondly, my improved arrangements of apparatus for obtaining an inter-
mitting light from or through the agency of electric curients have reference to
the employment of such light in situations and for purposes where it is neces-
sary or advisable that the same should be intermitted more or less frequently;
as, for example, where flashes of light, with various intervals of time between
them, are employed as signals for the conveyance of intelligence from one
place to another. In this case I employ at each terminal place or station a
voltaic battery and an clectic lamp of any of the forms herein-before described
or of any other analogous or approved form, and connect the voltaic battery of
cach station duectly to the electic lamp of the other station, and I produce
the intermittent flashes of light by breaking the connection as often as requisite
by the same means as are now ordinarily employed for that purpose in electric
telegraphs. But farther, in order to multiply the number of flashes which
can be made within a given time, as also to diminish the intervals required

page_text: between them, I use two, thice, or more wires of communication between
each battery and lamp, and employ as many distinct sets of electrodes as there
are wires, and I enclose morcover each pan of electrodes in a glass vessel of a
different colour, as white, red, green, blue, yellow, or purple. I have thus at
my command the means of varying the character of the flashes to an almost
unlimited extent without allowing more than a single instant of time between
them. For instance each vowel may be indicated by a flash of a particular
color, and each consonant by two, or at most three flashes of different colors,
variously arranged in point of sequence, so that cach flash being distinguishable
by colour from that which precedes and follows it the interval between them
may be the smallest possible.
Thudly, in order to obtain carbon of a quality more suitable for the exhibi-
tion of or developement of electic light than any hither to employed, I proceed
as follows:-I take about equal quantities of coal of a medium quality (neither
too ch nor too poor), and of that punified description of coke known as
"Church's Patent Coke," and reduce the same to a state of powder, mixing
the two materials intimately together. I then heat and compress this mixture
in close sheet-ion moulds till it becomes consolidated into a concrete mass; I
next plunge this mass into a concentrated solution of
sugar. When sufficiently
died I finally subject it for several hours in a close vessel containing pieces of
charcoal to a very intense white licat Carbon thus prepared is of an exceed-
ingly dense and homogeneous quality, and is possessed of the required amount
of conductability for the purposes of lighting. It is to be observed, however,
that when carbon is manufactured in solid picces in this way, these pieces
should not exceod five or six inches in diameter, for when of greater thick-
nesses they are rarely fiee from fissures. The series of processes described
under this head of my Specification differ from those followed in the prepa-
ration of what is known abroad as "Bunson's Carbon," chiefly in the substi-
tution of "Church's Patent Coke" for common coke, as one of the constituent
ingredients I have found "Bunsen's Carbon" well suited to the purposes of
my Invention, yet sensibly inferior to carbon prepared as aforesaid from a
mixture of coal and "Church's Patent Coke"
And having now descubed the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is as
follows.―
Fust, I claim the several arrangements of apparatus for obtaining a con-
tinuous light from or through the agency of voltaic electricity described under
the fist head of this Specification, in so far as regards the means adopted in
each of producing and breaking contact between the electrodes, and of impart-

page_text: ing to one of them a continuous movement towards the point of ignition and
illummation couesponding with the rate at which the same is consumed, and
of enclosing the ignited and illuminated bodies in a waim and rarefied
atmosphere.
Second, I claim the arrangements herein-before described for the production
of an intermittent light; and,
Thud, I claim the improvement in lighting herein-before described, in so
far as the same consists in the use and application of carbon suitable for the
exhibition or developement of electric light, and manufactured of the materials
aud in the manner herein-before described.
⚫ In witness whereof, I, the said William Edwards Starte, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our
Loid One thousand cight hundred and forty-seven