IMPROVEMENTS IN MODERATOR LAMPS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hornby Maw, of Broseley, Shropshire, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MODERATOR LAMPS."
Sealed the 11th September 1868, and dated the 13th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hornby Maw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th March 1868.
I, JOHN HORNBY MAW, of Broseley, Shropshire, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MODERATOR LAMPS,'
to be as follows:-
By my Invention one, two, or more additional lights or burners may
be added to that kind of lamp well known as the moderator lamp.
This I effect by means of tubular branches projecting or radiating from
one or more supply pipes arising from the piston of the cylindrical oil
reservoir or cistern and connected with such pipe or pipes, so that the
oil is impelled by the spring or pressure of the piston into wick sheaths
or burners attached to the ends of the aforesaid tubular oil conducting
branches. When there is a central burner, as in the ordinary moderator
lamp, the oil which overflows the wick drops directly into the cistern,
as in the ordinary moderator. But the lateral or branch lights of my

page_text: Invention are each of them provided with an overflow pipe or trough
reaching from the wick, sheath, or burner to the opening above the
oil cistern, into which they return their respective share of overflow
oil or other illuminating fluid. The branch burners are each furnished
with gutters passing around them both on the exterior and the interior
of the wick sheath. The interior gutter communicates with the exterior
gutter, and from thence the oil or illuminating fluid flows into the pipe
or passage which conducts it back to the reservoir. I either use a
single pipe to conduct the oil through the piston, fitting its upper end
with a tubular branched piece to connect it with the radiating supply
branches; or I use two or more separate pipes to convey the oil through
the piston, each separate pipe being connected with its own radiating
supply branch. I also (if I please to do so) allow the overflow oil of
the central or any single burner to flow on to the other burners by its
own gravitation down an inclined supply pipe. I also occasionally fix
the pipes which supply the burners upon the lower part of the outside
of the oil cistern, instead of bringing the supply of oil through the
piston, as in the ordinary moderator lamp, in which case also I use
return pipes to convey the overflow oil to the upper surface of the
piston to be returned to its lower surface as in the ordinary moderator
lamp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hornby Maw in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HORNBY MAW, of Broseley, Shropshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Hornby Maw, Her special
licence that I, the said John Hornby Maw, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Hornby
Maw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-

page_text: after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MODERATOR LAMPS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Hornby Maw, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hornby Maw, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
By my Invention one, two, or more additional lights or burners may
be added to that kind of lamp well known as the moderator lamp.
This I effect by means of tubular branches projecting or radiating from
one or more supply pipes arising from the piston of the cylindrical oil
reservoir or cistern and connected with such pipe or pipes, so that the
oil is impelled by the spring or pressure of the piston into wick sheaths
or burners attached to the ends of the aforesaid tubular oil conducting
branches. When there is a central burner, as in the ordinary moderator
lamp, the oil which overflows its wick drops directly into the cistern
as in the ordinary moderator; but the lateral or branch lights of my
Invention are each of them provided with an overflow pipe or trough
reaching from the wick sheath or burner to the opening above the
oil cistern, into which they return their respective share of overflow
oil or other illuminating fluid. The branch burners are each furnished
with gutters passing around them both on the exterior and the interior
of the wick sheath. The interior gutter communicates with the exterior
gutter, and from thence the oil or illuminating fluid flows into the pipe
or passage which conducts it back to the reservoir. I either use a
single pipe to conduct the oil through the piston, fitting its upper end
with a tubular branched piece to connect it with the radiating supply
branches; or I use two or more separate pipes to convey the oil through
the piston, each separate pipe being connected with its own radiating
supply branch. I also (if I please to do so) allow the overflow oil of

page_text: the central or any single burner to flow on to the other burners by its
own gravitation down an inclined supply pipe. I also occasionally fix
the pipes which supply the burners upon the lower part of the outside
of the oil cistern, instead of bringing the supply of oil through the
piston, as in the ordinary moderator lamp, in which case also I use
return pipes or channels to convey the overflow oil to the upper surface
of the piston to be returned to its lower surface as in the ordinary
moderator lamp.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an elevation of a moderator lamp with three burners
a, a, a, supplied with oil or other illuminating fluid from one cylindrical
oil reservoir or cistern; Figure 2 shows on a larger scale a section taken
through one of the side burners and through the central burner. Each
burner is fitted with a rack and pinion for elevating and depressing the
wick, as is usual. The space between the two cylinders forming the
wick sheath of each side burner is closed fluid-tight at the bottom, and
the wick sheath is carried by a branch or pipe c, the outer end of which
pipe is fixed upon an aperture on the side of the wick sheath, and the
inner end of which pipe is in oil-tight connection with a supply pipe d
passing down through the piston of the oil reservoir. The other side
burner and the central burner are similarly by other pipes d supplied
with oil from the oil reservoir, or, as before mentioned, one supply pipe
only might be led through the piston of the oil reservoir, and each of
the side burners be supplied with oil through branch pipes branching
out from this pipe, or the supply pipe or pipes might be led through
the lower part of the oil reservoir in place of through the piston. e is
an inclined pipe or canal through which the overflow of oil from the
side burners is led back into the top of the oil reservoir, or the overflow
of oil might first be caused to flow to other burners before thus passing
back to the oil reservoir. The overflow of oil from the side burners is
led into the outer ends of the pipes e through gutters f,f, fixed the
one around the interior and the other around the exterior of the tubular
wick sheath of the burner; the gutter around the interior of the tubular
wick sheath communicates by one or more passages g with the outer
gutter, and from thence the oil flows into the pipe or canal e, as shown

page_text: at Figure 2. h is a small stuffing box through which the stem i of the
pinion j passes; in place of this pinion being below the gutter git
might be above the gutter, so that any leakage through the stuffing
box might be led back to the oil reservoir through the pipe e; n, n, are
moveable cups fitted to the bottom of each of the side burners; these
cups are for the purpose of catching any debris of charred wick which
may fall when trimming the lamp, they also serve to control the supply
of air to the interior of the flame.
I would remark that although I have only shown in the Drawing
a lamp with three burners supplied with oil from one reservoir, yet I
do not confine myself to this arrangement, as two burners or a greater
number of burners may be similarly supplied from one reservoir. The
stand or holder and the branch tubes or canals of the lamp may also
be made of any desired ornamental pattern.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hornby Maw, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.