IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR LIGHTING ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN FULMINATING COMPOUNDS APPLICABLE THERETO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR
LIGHTING ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN FULMINATING COMPOUNDS APPLICABLE
THERETO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." -A communication from abroad by
Henry Bull Stockwell, Julian Wheat Merrill, and Edward Landon
Megill, all of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States
of twovie
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd November 1874.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS FOR LIGHTING ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN FULMINATING COMPOUNDS
APPLICABLE THERETO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows: —
This Invention relates to the use of a fulminate in combination with
a hammer or percussion device for lighting illuminating gas, the

page_text: operation of the hammer and the consequent ignition of the fulminate
being effected by the turning of the stop-cock to supply gas to the
burner. The fulminate is applied in the form of small beads or pellets
to a riband, which is coiled into a box or magazine attached to the socket
of the gas burner. This box is made with a hinged cover to give ready
access thereto, and an opening is made in the upper side of the box for
the passage upwards of the riband. The riband is led upwards to near
the burner through a grooved guide, one side of which is an elastic
continuation of the side of the magazine, and serves to hold the riband in
contact with the feed wheel. This feed wheel is keyed to an axle, which
is carried by the plug of the stop-cock, and it receives its axial motion
therefrom. This plug is also fitted with a tapped wheel or cam, the
projections on which when the cam is rotated act upon a dog situate
near the fulcrum of the hammer and force it outwards against the
pressure of a spring, which so soon as the hammer is released will cause
it to move forwards and strike the pellet of fulminate that has just
been brought opposite the hammer head. The grooved guide extends
upwards to form an anvil for the hammer to strike against, and on either
side of the hammer head winged pieces or shields are fixed for guiding
up the flame of the exploded fulminate to the top of the gas burner for
the purpose of igniting the gas issuing therefrom. The cam of the gas
cock is intended to turn only in one direction, and it is furnished with
notches, into which the dog of the hammer will fall and check or partly
lock the cock against an excessive action.
As an efficient fulminate compound for this purpose and equivalent
uses the following ingredients are by preference employed, viz.,
fulminating mercury, black sulphuret of antimony, saltpetre, and French
chalk. These are well mixed together in a pulverized state, and the
mixture after being moistened with water to bring it to a semi-fluid state
is deposited in the shape of pellets or beads in regular order of say four
to the inch on a riband made of combustible material. When the pellets
are dry they are coated with shellac or equivalent varnish to give the
colesion or tenacity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR LIGHTING ILLUMINATING Gas, and
IN FULMINATING COMPOUNDS APPLICABLE THERETO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,"
being a communication to me from abroad by Henry Bull Stockwell,
Julian Wheat Merrill, and Edward Landon Megill, all of Brooklyn, in
the State of New York, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention consists in so applying a fulminate in combination

page_text: Fig. 5, a partly sectional side view seen from a similar stand point to
Fig. 1; and Fig. 6, a horizontal section on the line x, x.
A is the socket and B the plug or cock of a gas burner. Said socket
is tapped or internally threaded at its bottom to adapt it to screw on to a
gas pipe, and is fitted at its top in a pillar b with a burner tip C; D is a
swinging hammer pivotted at c to the socket A and operated by the
spring d, which is also attached to the socket A; E is a cam rigidly.
attached to and revolving with the key or plug B, as for instance by
being fitted on to an oblong or angular projection e on the inner cnd of
the plug; G is a box or magazine arranged on one side of the socket A
and connected with the latter by lips f, f, entering notches g, g, in the
bottom of the socket and by a strap g' encircling the pillar of the
burner. This magazine has coiled within it the percussion ribbon I,
which is wound around a screw h that serves to secure the magazine to
the socket. From the magazine the percussion ribbon I passes up
through a grooved guide J, forming part of the magazine, said ribbon
being propelled up the same by one or more toothed feed wheels rigidly
and concentrically attached to the cock plug or key B as by a screw i̟,
which also serves to secure the cam E to its place. The rotation of the feed
wheel feeds the ribbon I upward or forward with each half revolution
of the cock, a distance equal to that between the percussion pellets or
beads m, m, on the ribbon I (Fig. 3). Opposite to the feed wheel is a
groove n in the one edge wall or cover q of the magazine, so that the
teeth of said wheel may penetrate and bite the ribbon. This wall or
cover q forms one side of the grooved guide J, and is made capable of
springing open when released from its closed hold by the hinged lid G'
of the magazine, whereby facility is afforded for adjusting the percussion
ribbon within the magazine G and up the guide J, clamping projections
o, o, on the opening end of the lid G₁ serving when the latter is raised or
closed to close and lock the wall or cover q. The one side of the grooved
guide J opposite the hammer D projects above the other side, as at r,
thus forming an anvil, against which the ribbon is struck by the hammer
nose 8. On either side of the hammer nose is a shield & set flaring in
an upwardly direction, by which the flame of the explosion of the
fulminate is confined laterally and directed upwards towards the gas.
The hammer D is formed or provided with a dog w, and the cam E is so
shaped that said-dog prevents the cam from rotating, except in direction
of the arrow in Fig. 4. The cam E is notched as at v, v, and when the
•

page_text: cam is rotated till the one of the notches v arrives opposite the dog u of
the hammer the dog enters one of the notches v, causing the hammer to
partially fall or close and to check or partly lock the cock against an
excessive action; also by the click produced, indicating that the gas is
fully turned off: Upon the cam E being turned by the cock a quarter
of a revolution further the dog is raised by the one highest point or
leaf wo of the cam next in order, which it passes just as the gas is fully
turned on, and the hammer D falls, exploding one of the percussion
pellets or beads m against the anvil 7, and the shield directs the flame
of the explosion into the gas jet, thus igniting the same. The ignition
of the percussion pellets or beads causes the burning off of the ribbon
for a certain distance from its top.
The fulminate pellets or beads m, m, on the percussion ribbon I it is
preferred to make of a compound composed of the following ingredients
in or about the following proportions by weight:-Fulminating mercury,
four (4) parts; black sulphuret of antimony, two (2) parts; saltpetro,
three (3) parts; French chalk, one (1) part. These are well mixed
together in a pulverized state, and after being moistened with water to
bring the mass to a semi-fluid state the mixture is deposited in the shape
of pellets or beads in regular order of four to the inch (more or less) on
the ribbon, which is also combustible, and after said pellets or beads aro
dry the same are varnished with an alcoholic solution of shellac or any
other suitable varnish which is combustible, and will give the exterior
of the pellets or beads the requisite degree of cohesion or tenacity.
The proportions herein-above given of the several ingredients of the
composition are those which have been found by experience to give the
best results that they may be more or less varied without materially
affecting the character of the compound, which as a fulminate produces
much flame with little explosive force, and might be used in any other
suitable form than as pellets or beads on a ribbon, and is applicable to
other purposes besides gas lighting; or any other fulminate may bo
used if desired for an automatic gas lighting device or apparatus of the
character herein described.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improve-
ments in Means for Lighting Illuminating Gas, and in Fulminating
Compounds Applicable thereto, and for other Purposes," as communi-
cated to me by my foreign correspondents, and explained the manner of

page_text: carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First. So applying a fulminate and a hammer or its equivalent in
combination with each other and with a gas burner as to produce the
ignition of the gas issuing from the burner by the action of the hammer
or its equivalent on the fulminate, substantially as specified.
Second. So combining the stop-cock which admits the supply of gas
to the burner with the hammer or its equivalent as to produce the action
of the latter by the act of opening the former to turn on the gas, sub-
stantially as herein set forth. .
Third. The combination of the magazine G, the guide J, the anvil »,
the swinging hammer D, the spring d, the cam E, the cock and the
burner or its tip, substantially as hercin specified.
Fourth. One or more feeding wheels / in combination with tho gas
cock and the ribbon magazine, substantially as herein described.
Fifth. The shield or shields on the hammer, substantially as and for
the purpose herein described.
Sixth. The fulminate compound composed of the ingredients herein
specified, or their equivalents, in or about the proportions herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Nowton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the First day of May, in