IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE USE AND APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Thomas Cooper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
January 1859.
I, SAMUEL THOMAS COOPER, of Upper Clapton, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE USE AND APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the use & application of coal gas or any other
kind of illuminating gas by igniting it in a way which has not hitherto been
practised, & is especially applicable to signals for railways, lighthouses, & ships
at sea. The essential condition of the Invention is to place a burner supplying
a small jet of gas in such a position under or near to other burners, that the
jet from the former being ignited, its flame shall ignite the gas from the latter.
when turned on. The means I propose for effecting this object is to lay down
two pipes for the conveyance of the gas to be used, one of a small diameter to
supply the gas to the burner with the single jet, the other of a diameter
sufficiently large to supply the gas to the burners which are to be used for
illuminating purposes, or the small pipe may be a branch from the larger one.
In the practical application of this Invention when in use, the gas in the
smaller pipe will be constantly turned on, & a small jet from its single burner
will be kept constantly lighted. The supply of gas in the other pipe will be
regulated & may be turned on or off by means of a cock or valve at some
given distance from the burner or burners which such pipe is intended to supply
with gas. By these arrangements the jet of gas from the small burner being
constantly ignited, & its flame being projected upon & in contact with the gas

page_text: from the larger pipe as it issues from one or more of its burners when turned
on, the moment the gas issues from the larger pipe the jet or jets of gas from
it coming in contact with the flame of the small burning jet will be ignited
& communicate their flame to the jets from other burners supplied with gas
from the larger pipe, if these are so placed in contiguity with each other as to
be calculated to produce that result. Thus by simply turning on the gas to
the burners of the larger pipe, a column, a pyramid, or a disk of gas flames of
any required dimensions may be instantaneously produced, & kept burning as
long as the gas from the large pipe is turned on, & the same may be imme-
diately extinguished by turning off the gas in the larger pipe, & the operations
of alternately lighting up or extinguishing these flames may be repeated at
will by simply opening or closing the valve which regulates the supply of gas
to the larger pipe.
The arrangement for the practical application of my Invention just described
is to be adapted for signals on railways in the following manner:-A lanthern
containing the burners of the small & of the large gas pipe is to be placed at
any elevation or position so as to be clearly visible, & may be fixed at any
distance that may be desirable from a railway station or other point from
which the signal is intended to be worked. The valve of the larger pipe by
which the gas is to be turned on or off is to be at or close to such station or
working point, & provided with a handle, by means of which the person in
charge of the signal is to turn the gas on or off as required. By this mode of
signalling a bright body of light can be displayed in a moment at distances
from the station far greater than by any other kind of signal now in use, &
with such brilliancy & certainty of effect that it cannot fail to be plainly
visible, & will be most effective for night or fog signals.
In cases where gas is produced on board of ships, gaslight signals on the
plan above described can be displayed at the mast head, or any other elevated
part of the ship's masts, or on the chimney, funnel, or paddle box, & the
lanthern containing the burners would be fixed at the point where the signal is
intended to be displayed, whilst the regulating valve would be at some place
of access on deck, or elsewhere.
For lighthouses this Invention can be applied in a very useful way to
produce the effect of revolving lights, regulating the time of the appearance
or occultation of the light with the greatest precision & simplicity. The
burners of a small & of a large gas pipe being arranged in the manner above
described for a railway signal, in order to produce the illuminating effect
required for a lighthouse, there may be a series of lantherns each supplied
with its permanently ignited jet & set of large burners to be lighted up. By

page_text: means of clockwork or some other mechanical contrivance the valve of the
large pipe which regulates the supply of gas may be opened or closed at any
required intervals of time, & the light will be visible during the time the gas
is burning, & invisible, being extinguished, during the time the gas is
turned off.
There are several details of arrangement & adaptations necessary or useful
to carry out my Invention for the above described & for other purposes to
which it is applicable; but I do not describe them here, as in the Complete
Specification they will be fully explained & detailed.
The mode of lighting up jets from gas burners as the gas issues from them
with the flame of a small jet kept constantly burning, may be applied to any
kind of gas burners for any illuminating purposes, such as street lamps, the
gaslights of factories, theatres, & public or private buildings, & shops, in all
of which cases a great number of gas jets may be ignited or extinguished
simultaneously by turning the gas on or off.
What I claim as my Invention is, the use of a fixed burning jet of gas, or
of any small flame kept burning, for the purpose of igniting the gas issuing
from any other burner or burners contiguous to such small jet or flame,
whether such Invention be used for signals, or any illuminating purposes.
The effects above described, namely, of alternately displaying or withdrawing
the light produced by ignited jets of gas may be produced in another way by
using only one pipe to convey the gas, that is to say, by at one time turning
the gas fully on, and at another without turning it off reducing it to a small
light, concealed or not visible at a distance. This is to be effected by fitting
to the pipe which conveys the gas a regulating valve, which is to be so con-
structed that when fully opened the gas will be supplied to the burners to the
full extent of the jets intended to be lighted up, but which, at the same time,
is to be furnished with a stop which shall reduce the supply of gas to a
minimum quantity, just to keep a small flame burning ready to light up the
jet or jets when fully turned on.
I do not describe any particular mode of constructing this valve; what I
claim is, the principle of constructing a valve with a stop, the action of which
sball reduce the gas supplied to the minimum quantity without any risk of
shutting it off & extinguishing it altogether.