IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND FOR FIRING CHARGES IN MINES AND OTHER BLASTING OPERATIONS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of " IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND FOR FIRING CHARGES IN MINES AND OTHER
BLASTING OPERATIONS."-A communication from abroad by Alphonse
Dumas, of Privas, France.
Sealed the 21st February 1865, and dated the 25th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th August 1864.
I, RICHARD, ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London; Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND FOR FIRING CHARGES IN MINES AND
OPHER BLASTING OPERATIONS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a former one of Alphonse Dumas, for which
Letters Patent were granted to W. E. Gedge, 11th April 1862, No. 1043,
and consists of improved apparatus hereafter described. This apparatus is
composed of a generator of electricity, of an induction coil, of a lighting or
fluorescent tube, and of a bag or envelope containing the generator and the
coil. The generator consists of a single element of a cylindrical battery with
two concentric compartments. The casing of the element is of caoutchouc,
which is a very good substitute for fragile ware, glass or pottery. The outer
compartment contains a zinc cylinder, and the inner, consisting of a porous

page_text: vase, receives a platinum or carbon plate. The position of the vase is main-
tained by an insulating washer, which completes the joints and prevents
communication of the liquid from one compartment to the other. The parts
of this portable apparatus, as the generator and the coil, are juxtaposed and
fixed in a leather box with wooden bottom and cover. The lighting tube
may be carried in the hand or strapped to the bag. Upon the cover of the
box there is a button for turning a threaded rod, which on being turned
allows of the current from the battery to the coil being closed. On the front,
and under the cover, are the two poles of the induced current terminating in
union collars. These union collars serve to put the coil in connection with
the lamp or with wires for exploding charges in mines, or for other blasting
operations, when induction is to be used. On the outside of the box are the
wires from the carbon and zinc poles of the battery. These wires allow of
the direct current from the battery being used for firing charges in mines, or
for the transmission of telegraphic signals, by uniting two or three ele-
ments. The apparatus may be carried by a man at his side suspended from
a strap over the shoulder.
C.
Application of the apparatus as a light. The light emitted is sufficient to
allow of a person lighting himself without danger in 'all parts, say, in mines,
where the air is still respirable. The light is generated without beat by the
passage of the induced current into a transparent receiver containing a highly
rarefied gas. This photo-electric apparatus is as useful for the inflammation
of charges- in mines as for lighting in explosible situations. It may be used
to fire either by the induced current or by the current direct from the battery.
To fire charges by the induced current.-After having tried the action of
the apparatus as a lamp, intercept the current by the button on the top of the
apparatus, separate the tube from the coil, and put the poles in connection,
one with a metal plate placed in the earth, and the other with the insulated
Swire-leading to the charge.
To fire charges by the direct current from the battery.-Each pole of the
battery has two communications, 1, from the battery to the coil, which
becomes the induced current when the circuit is closed by turning the button,
as before mentioned; 2, from the battery to the two wires communicating
with the. charges. Several batteries may be united. Thus the intensity of
the light may be increased by acting upon one coil with two elements uniting
carbon to carbon and zinc to zinc; while to obtain heating effects and the
intensity necessary for heating at a distance the wire of one or several
'primings, numerous elements must be connected by contrary poles, zinc to
carbon, and so on.

page_text: My method of applying a direct current for the explosion of charges consists
in acting on one or more telegraphic relay instruments placed with two or
three elements in proximity to the charges. The primings are composed of 3
very fine platinum wire, without twist, uniting the ends of the principal wires.
The distance between the ends of the wires is about a quarter of an inch.
The wire is surrounded by fulmi-cotton powdered over with fulminate of
mercury. Priming thus prepared is enclosed in a gutta percha pouch filled
with gunpowder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me.
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman,, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, admi,
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND FOR FIRING CHARGES
IN MINES AND OTHER BLASTING OPERATIONS," (communicated to me from abroad
by Alphonse Dumas, of Privas, France,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by-the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-.
This Invention relates to a former one of Alphonse Dumas, for which
Letters Patent were granted to W. E. Gedge, 11th April 1862, No. 1043,
and consists of improved apparatus bereafter described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings. The apparatus is composed of a generator of elec
tricity, of an induction coil, of a lighting or fluerescent tube; and of a bag or
envelope containing the generator and the coil.
The generator (see the vertical section, Figure 1, and horizontal section,
Figure 2) consists of a single element of a cylindrical battery with two con-
centric compartments a and b closed by a cover c. The casing of the element
is of caoutchouc d, which is a very good substitute for fragile ware, glass or
pottery. The outer compartment b contains a zinc cylinder, and the inner
compartment a, consisting of a porous vase, receives a platinum or carbon
plate. The position of the vase is maintained by an insulating washer e,
which completes the joints and prevents communication of the liquid from
one compartiment to the other. The parts of this portable apparatus, as the
generator and the coil, are juxtaposed and fixed in a leather box with wooden
bottom and cover. Figures 3 and 4 are elevations of the two sides, and
Figures 5 and 6 elevations of the two ends of the apparatus; Figures 7 and 8
are longitudinal sections; Figure 9 is a plan, Figure 10 a plan with the cover
removed, and Figure 11 a horizontal section. The lighting tube may be
carried in the hand or strapped to the bag, see Figures 3 and 4. Upon the
'cover of the box there is a button f for turning a threaded rod g, Figures 1
and 8, which on being turned allows of the current from the battery to the
coil being closed. On the front and under the cover are the two poles of the
induced current terminating in union collars h, Figure 5. These union
collars serve to put the coil in connection with the lamp or with wires for
exploding charges in mines, or for other blasting operations, when induction
is to be used. On the outside of the box, see Figure 6, are the wires i from
the carbon and zinc poles of the battery. These wires allow of the direct
current from the battery being used for firing charges in mines, or for the
transmission of telegraphic signals, by uniting two or three elements (see
Figure 16). The apparatus may be carried by a man at his side suspended
from a strap over the shoulder, as-represented in Figure 12:
Application of the apparatus as a light. The light emitted is sufficient to
allow of a person lighting himself without danger in all parts, say, in mines,
where the air is still respirable. The light is generated without heat by the

page_text: passage of the induced current into a transparent receiver containing a highly
rarefied gas. This photo-electric apparatus is as useful for the inflammation
of charges in mines as for lighting in explosible situations. It may be used
to fire either by the induced current or by the current direct from the
battery.
To fire charges by the induced current (see Figure 13).-After having
tried the action of the apparatus as a lamp, intercept the current by the
button fon. the top of the apparatus, separate the tube from the coil, and put
the poles in connection, one with a metal plate k placed in the earth, and the
other with the insulated wire / leading to the charge.
To fire charges by the direct current from the battery.-Each pole of the
battery has two communications, 1 from the battery to the coil, which
becomes the induced current when the circuit is closed by turning the button f
as before mentioned; 2, from the battery to the two wires communicating
with the charges (see Figures 4, 6, 9, and 10). Several batteries may be
united. Thus the intensity of the light may be increased by acting upon
the coil with two elements uniting carbon to carbon and zinc to zinc (see
Figure 14); while to obtain heating effects and the intensity necessary for
heating at a distance the wire of one or several primings, numerous ele-
ments must be connected by contrary poles, zinc to carbon, and so on (see
Figure 15).
My method of applying a direct current for the explosion of charges consists
in acting on one or more telegraphic relay instruments placed with two or
three elements in proximity to the charges. The same pile may act on four
or five relays, placed at any required distances apart, with one wire supported
on posts or insulated and placed underground. The relays and the pile may
also be placed underground as well as the wires which connect them with
the charges (see Figure 16). The primings are composed of a very fine
platinum wire, without twist, uniting the ends of the principal wires. The
distance between the ends of the wires is about a quarter of an inch.
The wire is surrounded by fulmi-cotton powdered over with fulminate of
mercury. Priming thus prepared is enclosed in a gutta percba pouch filled
with gunpowder.
And baving now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
=
First, constructing apparatus for lighting and for firing charges in mines
and other blasting operations substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying. Drawings.

page_text: Second, the employment of a casing of caoutchouc for the generating
lement of the apparatus, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five."