IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH OIL LAMPS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Gardner at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th March 1879. A communication from
abroad by Edmund Barrington, of the Continental Hotel, Paris, in the Empire
of France.
HENRY GARDNER, of No. 40, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent
and Mechanical Draughtsman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH OIL
LAMPS." A communication from abroad by Edmund Barrington, of the Continental
Hotel, Paris, in the Empire of France.
This Invention relates to detail improvements in oil lamps, such as are used for
railway carriage roofs, ships, and the like, part of said improvements being appli-
cable to domestic and other lamps.
The first part of the Invention consists in fitting an adjustable appliance, such as
a ratchet or toothed wheel and spring catch, to the wick lifter, so that when the
ordinary toothed rack is turned an adjustment of the quantity of the wick exposed
can be effected to ensure the same amount of light in all the compartments of a
train, the regulation of the wicks for this purpose being under the control of the lamp
trimmer or cleaner.
In place of a separate wheel being on the axis the spring or catch may engage
into the teeth of the wick lifter.
The second improvement consists in fitting two wicks or cottons in a single
burner tube that they can be raised by the one rack from a button head or other
appliance, the two wicks having a tendency to separate themselves during burning,
and thereby increase the power and brilliancy of the single flame. The two wicks
or cottons are in some cases caused to separate by fitting a wire or dividing blade
to the upper end of the wick tube, the wire or blade being of such a width that the
flame remains as a single flame.
The third improvement consists in fitting two wick tubes at opposite angles in a
burner that the upper ends of the wicks are set close together for producing a single
flame with a supply of air to the middle of the same, to thereby increase the illumi-
nating power of the flame. The two wicks are raised simultaneously by the same
button head or raising appliance.
The fourth improvement consists in providing the oil reservoir of an ordinary
railway roof lamp, having the oil reservoir above the burner, with a filling hole at
the side instead of at the top, to enable the filling to be effectual and without the
Price A11

page_text: formation of air bubbles in the reservoir, so that when the screw plug is inserted a
steady and regular flow of oil in proportion to the consumption is established
without the overflow into the basin, as is now the case.
The fifth improvement consists in fitting a short glass chimney tube into the
gallery of a burner of a railway roof lamp, that a clearance is left between the top
of said tube and the chimney proper or of the reflector, that the heated air of the
globe or basin may have exit to the chimney in the ordinary manner in addition
to concentrating the heat and increasing the brilliancy of the flame.
The sixth improvement consists in fitting two distinct wick tubes in the same
burner, both tubes being in line or end to end, as to make one wide flame by the
attraction of one flame to the other. The two wicks are raised by a single lifter
spindle.
The several improvements above mentioned are applicable to other than oil roof
lamps for railway carriages, and those under the first, second, third, and sixth heads
are applicable to oil lamps generally used for domestic and other purposes.