AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CANDLES IN LAMPS OR OTHERWISE
Year: 1860

page_text: 1
LETTERS PATENT to. Frederick Settle Barff, of the City and County of
Dublin, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR
EXTINGUISHING CANDLES IN LAMPS OR OTHERWISE."
Sealed the 12th February 1861, and dated the 26th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said 'Frederick Settle Barff at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th October 1860.
I, FREDERICK SETTLE BARFF, of the City and County of Dublin, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPA-
RATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CANDLES IN LAMPS OR OTHERWISE," to be as follows
(that is to say):-
My Invention has reference to an improved self-acting apparatus for extin-
guishing candles in lamps or otherwise, by causing a cap or extinguisher
(when actuated by the burning or wasting away by combustion of the
candle) to descend upon the wick or flame by its own specific gravity, and
thus put out the light, and consists of a metallic stay or clip suitably arranged
for being attached to a candle or stem of a lamp, from which a cap or extin-
guisher. in connection with a weighted lever is suspended through the medium
of an extending arm or branch, a catch, fastening, or rod being employed for
releasing the said lever, and causing the cap or extinguisher to descend as
above mentioned on the burning away of the candle, as also an adjustable
thumb stud, or other suitable medium, used for regulating the time the candle
is required to burn before the descent of the extinguisher.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Settle Barff, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
SETTLE BARFF, of the City and County of Dublin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign; did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Settle Barff, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Settle Barff, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I,
the said Frederick Settle Barff, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED SELF-ACTING APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING CANDLES IN LAMPS OR
OTHERWISE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick
Settle Barff, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Settle Barff, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to say):-
My Invention has reference to an improved self-acting apparatus for extin
guishing candles in lamps or otherwise, by causing a cap or extinguisher
(when actuated by the burning or wasting away by combustion of the
candle) to descend upon the wick or flame by its specific gravity, and
thus put the light out, and consists of a metallic stay or clip suitably arranged
by being attached to a candle or stem of a lamp, from which a cap or extin-
guisher in connection with a weighted lever is suspended through the medium
of an extending arm or branch, a catch fastening or rod being employed for
releasing the said lever, and causing the cap or extinguisher to descend as
above mentioned on the burning away of the candle, as also an adjustable

page_text: thumb stud, or other suitable medium used for regulating the time the candle
is required to burn before the descent of the extinguisher.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe it by the aid of the
accompanying, Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures
thereon marked (that is to say),-
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a candle lamp with my improved appa-
ratus applied thereto, as set or arranged for extinguishing the light; Fig. 2 a
corresponding view showing the candle extinguished; Fig. 3, a front view of
the same; Fig. 4, a top or plan view; and Fig. 5, a transverse section taken
horizontally through the dotted line in Fig. 3. In each Figure the same letters
of reference denote similar corresponding parts.
A, A, the lamp; B, B, nozzle, forming the stay or clip to which the
lever C, C, is secured through the medium of the extending arm or branch D, D;
E, E, centre upon which the said lever works.; F, F, counterbalance weight
for preventing the too sudden descent of the extinguisher; G, G, bar or rod
for retaining the extinguisher H, H, in its pendant position by the catch-
fastening I, I, formed in the same, being caused to take into the hole or
recess J, J, in the counterbalance weight; K, K, extending piece attached
to the spring seat K', which causes the candle to ascend; L, L, thumb stud,
actuated by the upward movement of the said extending piece so as to
release the rod from the counterbalance weight, and cause the extinguisher
to descend upon the candle as represented at Figs. 2 and 3; the time the
candle is required to burn before the descent of the extinguisher being regu-
lated by adjusting the said thumb stud upon the bar or rod, which is held so
as to move vertically in bearing M, M; N, N, vertical slot opening, through
which the extending piece works in connection with the spring seat; 0, 0,
bayonet fastening, in which the said extending piece may be secured so as
to keep the spring depressed during the insertion of the candle.
In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly note that
my Invention may be applied to candles buring in an ordinary candlestick,
by causing the stay or clip to be secured in any suitable manner round the
candle, and the counterbalance weight to be held in the position shown at
Fig. 1 by the insertion in the candle of a pin formed upon the lower end of
the said counterbalance weight, so as to cause the extinguisher to descend on
the said pin being released by the burning away of the surrounding portion
of the candle.
Having now described the nature of this my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would have it

page_text: 'clearly understood that I do not claim as of 'my' Invention the exclusive use
of the several parts herein-before described, except when the same are
employed in and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I hereby
declare to 'consist in the general construction and arrangement of the self-
acting apparatus for extinguishing candles by causing the extinguisher to
descend by its own specific gravity when regulated by a counterbalance
'weight.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Settle Barff, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
i
FREDERICK SETTLE BARFF. (L.S.)
Witness,
F. R. DARKIN CAMPBELL,
Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon & Co.,
77, Chancery Lane.