IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE LAMPS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Howes, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, and Walter Howes, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE LAMPS."
Sealed the 19th October 1855, and dated the 19th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Howes and Walter
Howes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 19th April 1855.
We, EDWARD LOWES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, and WALTER HOWES, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE
LAMPS" to be as follows:-
Instead in attaching carriage lamps to carriages by an arm carrying a socket
into which socket the candle tube of the lamp drops, or fixing the lamp to the
carriage by means of an arm fixed both to the carriage and the lamp, we attach
the lamp to the carriage in the following manner-An arm fixed on the
carriage has its end made square or angular, and the said end of the arm enters
a staple properly formed to receive it in the bottom of the lamp. When the
end of the arm is in its place in the staple at the bottom of the lamp, a screw

page_text: is passed through the said staple and the end of the arm, by which the lamp is
secured in its place; the screw is prevented from turning by the jarring of the
carriage by a hook or chain on the bottom of the lamp engaging in the thumb
plate of the said screw. Instead of fastening the nozzle of carriage lamps, that
is to say, the cone against which the top of the candle is pressed, by means of a
bayonet fastening, we fasten the same by means of a spring catch, which is more
convenient in use than the ordinary bayonet fastening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Howes and Walter Howes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
Howes, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and
WALTER HOWES, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edward Howes and Walter Howes, Her special licence that we, the said
Edward Howes and Walter Howes, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Edward Howes and Walter Howes, our exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the terni 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE LAMPS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Edward Howes and Walter Howes,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Edward Howes and Walter Howes, 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:-

page_text: Our Invention consists, firstly, of a method of attaching carriage lamps to
carriages; and, secondly, of a method of fastening the nozzles of carriage
lamps.
Figure 1 represents, in elevation, a carriage lamp constructed according to
the first part of our Invention; and Figure 2 represents a plan of the same.
Carriage lamps are ordinarily attached to carriages by an arm fixed on the
carriage, carrying a socket, into which said socket the candle tube of the lamp
drops; or carriage lamps are sometimes fixed to carriages by means of an arm
inseparably connected to the carriage and the lamp.
In attaching carriage lamps to carriages according to our Invention, we
make the arm which is fixed to the carriage, and to which the lamp is secured,
of the form represented in elevation in Figure 3, and in plan in Figure 4; that
is to say, the end of the curved arm a has its end 6 made square, angular, or
wedge-shaped, and perforated with a hole c; a staple e, see Figures and 2,
formed on the bottom of the lamp d, receives the end 6 of the arm a, the hole
in the staple e being made accurately to fit the end 6 of the arm a; a screw f
passes through the lower part of the staple c, and the end of the arm a inserted
in the said staple. By driving home the screw f, the lamp d is securely fixed
to the arm a; the screw f is prevented from turning round by means of the
spring g, through a slot in which the thumb plate of the screw passes.
order to turn the screw f, the spring 9, which is elastic, must be pressed
upwards until it assumes a horizontal position, when the screw f may be
turned. By allowing the spring g to resume the position shewn in Figure 1,
the thumb plate of the screw becomes engaged in the slot in the spring 9,
and the said screw is incapable of turning; or a small chain connected with
the bottom of the lamp may be connected with the thumb plate of the screw,
so as to prevent the screw from turning, but we prefer the method represented.
In
Figure 5 represents a vertical section of a carriage lamp constructed
according to the second part of our Invention; and Figure 6 represents a plan
of the interior of the same; the section, Figure 5, being taken through the lamp
in the direction indicated by the line h in Figure 2. Instead of fastening the
nozzle i, shewn separately in side view in Figure 7, and in front view in
Figure 8, to the candle tube k by means of a bayonet fastening, as is commonly
practised, we fasten the said nozzle i by means of the spring catch Z, which said
spring catch enters a hole n in the cone o, and engages under the edge of the
said cone o, as will be understood by reference to Figures 5 and 6. Although
the elasticity of the spring catch is itself sufficient for its working, yet
we prefer to use in addition another spring m. In introducing the nozzle,
Figures 7 and 8, it is so placed in the cone o that the spring catch may enter

page_text: the hole n in the cone o, and by simply pressing down the nozzle, the spring
catch I, engaging under the edge of the cone o, effects the fastening of the said
nozzle. In order to remove the nozzle, the thumb plate p of the spring catch
is pressed towards the axis of the nozzle, when the said nozzle may be lifted
from the candle tube k.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our
Invention,
-
Firstly, the method herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, of attaching carriage lamps to carriages, that is to say, by forming a
staple in the bottom of the said lamp, into which said staple an arm attached
to the carriage enters and is fixed by a screw.
Secondly, securing the nozzles of carriage lamps in their places by means
'of a spring catch fastening, as herein described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Howes and Walter Howes,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
EDWARD HOWES. (L.S.)
WALTER HOWES. (L.S.)