IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GAS LIGHTING
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ARMAND le Comte de FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in
the County of Middlesex, and 24, Boulevard Poissonniere, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and. grant unto
me, the said Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exors, admors,
and assigns, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands
of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR GAS LIGHTING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
FISH & NUS

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare that the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon; that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in an apparatus for regulating
more efficiently than by the apparatus hitherto, known the supply and action
of air in the chimnies of gas burners, whereby I am enabled to effect a more
complete decomposition of the gases and carbon. By this means I increase
the illuminating power of gas; that is to say, with a given volume of flame
.I produce a stronger and more steady and calm light, and consequently effect
a considerable economy in the consumption of the gas.
The apparatus is composed of two parts, of perforated metallic diaphragm or
moderator, and a disk. The former is placed at the bottom and the latter at
the top of the chimney of gas burners, and which prevent the action of the
external air on the upper part of the flame, and increases the heat in the s
interior of the chimney. I will now proceed to describe the Drawing.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal view. of the new apparatus set up on the top of the
chimney of a gas burner. A in that Figure is a circular metal piece or disk,
susceptible of receiving any kind of ornament, and on which are adapted
three prolongations b, b, b, produced either by enlarging the circular metal
picce b, b, or by the addition of other parts, and serving to form a current
of air between the glass chimney and the apparatus of about one fifth or
sixth of an inch. D is the lid or cover, which is raised for the purpose of
lighting the gas, to avoid an explosion by the mixture of hydogen gas with
the oxygen of the air under the pressure produced by my apparatus. This a
cover D is provided in the centre with a moveable valve H, to regulate the
apparatus to the action of the burner, that is to say, to increase or diminish the
current of air according to the quantity of gas supplied, and to correspond with
the constantly variable diameter of the current of air at the centre of the burner,
and obviate therefore a number of objections resulting from public lighting. By
means of the said apparatus I produce two currents of air, corresponding to
the two currents of air of the burner, the one round the gallery being fixed
and determined, and that at the inner centre of the burner, which is variable.
Metal being a good conductor of coloric, and glass a bad conductor of heat,

page_text: the inevitable consequence of the contact of the two bodies would be the
frequent rupture of the glass. To avoid that great objection, I adapt to the
apparatus a porcelain circle with sets close upon the top of the glass, and
which being also a bad conductor of caloric, obviates the inconvenience of
breakage; besides which, it possesses the advantage of throwing a white
reverberation into the chimney instead of the dark reflection produced by the
oxidized metal. B is the diaphragm or moderator placed at the bottom of
the gallery of the burner, and covers it uniformly, to permit of the glass being
set upon it, and to prevent the air from entering the chimney before it has
travelled through the metallic cloath of which it is composed: By this means
the air necessary for the combustion of the gas is made to reach the centre of
the flame, and acts on its interior surface in a diffused state of great and
minute divisions, and its molecules correspond to the molecules of gas. The
resistance that the air meets with at is agress by the pression of the disk
5 highly favors its action, and the flame, instead of being blue and unsteady,
acquires a fixity and density which give it a great analogy to that produced
by the Carcel lamp.
Figure 2 is a side view of the apparatus separate from the burner and
chimney. C, C, C, are bent hooks, between which the glass passes, unless it
10 becomes necessary, under particular circumstances, to make use of a suitable
support, to keep it in its proper position. D is a cover with a hinge E, which'
The cover D is
connects it with the disk, and serves for lighting the gas.
provided with a handle F for raising it. G, opening in the centre of the
cover D; it is regulated by the valve H, perforated with holes, and rendered
5 moveable by means of a screw I. This screw is fixed to the centre of the
said valve H, between the head of the screw J and the nut K, and is
supported on a cross piece L. This bar, in the centre of which is a hole
made screw-wise, is fixed at is two extremities by two rivets to the periphery
of the cover D. The height of the screw from its extremity to the nut
0 should be about two thirds of an inch. For the sake of greater simplicity
the cover might be made permanent, by means of small supports to maintain
it at a given height, but this arrangement would cause the burners that
work well to lose the advantage they have over those that work badly.
Figure 3 is a plan of a circle O of earthenware, or any other substance,
5 non-conductor of caloric, fixed to the disk by means of an incurvation of the
hooks C, C, of the circumference of the disk, to assist in maintaining it. This
circle O may be replaced by any other non-conductor of caloric, obviating the
inconveniences herein pointed out. S, S, S, openings in the porcelain circle
to receive the hooks.b, b; R, R, projections fixed on the part O, susceptible

page_text: of superseding at discretion the projection b, b, b, upon the metal disk A, A, o
to co-operato with them in forming a double current of air on the circumference
of the glass.
Figure 4 shews a plan of the metallic cloth B. P, circular space for the
passage of the burner, which fills it exactly. Q, metallic ring for maintaining
the meshes of the metallic cloth B. The dimensions of the apparatus may
vary in all its proportions, according to the kind of chimney on which it is to
be placed. It may be composed of any kind of metal or plastic carthy
material capable of resisting heat and oxidation.
And having now described the Invention communicated to me, and the
mode of executing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not lay
claim to the several parts of the apparatus herein mentioned taken separately,
as composing the said Invention, nor do I confine myself to the details herein
laid down. But what I do claim as the Invention communicated to me, and
intended to be protected by the said Letters Patent, is,-
The combination of an apparatus for regulating the supply and action of
air on the flame of gas burners, whereby I increase the illuminating power of
gas under a given volume of flame, and effect a considerable economy in the
consumption of gas, as herein-before described in reference being had to the
annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth
day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-two.