IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMP WICKS
Year: 1884

page_text: We, JOHN FULLER SHALLIS, of the Minories, in the City of London, Engineer, and
THOMAS COOPER JOHN THOMAS, of the same place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMP WICKS" to be as follows:-
In lamps for burning oil or spirit it is necessary the wick should always extend
below the surface of the oil or spirit in the reservoir in order that oil or spirit
may be carried to the burner by capillary attraction. As is well understood the
level of the oil or spirit descends as combustion proceeds, whilst the length of the
wick becomes reduced, and it is necessary to renew the wick when it becomes
reduced a certain length.
Some lamps are made with transparent reservoirs so that the length of the wick
is readily ascertainable by inspection, but in many kinds of lamps such for examples
as those used for signalling and lighting on railways and as signal lamps for ships,
and others such is not the case and therefore it is necessary to frequently remove
the burner to ascertain the length of the wick:-not only so but furthermore it
Bometimes happens that the light goes out at an inconvenient time through the
wick becoming too short, which may occur through miscalculation as to the length
of wick remaining in the lamp. In this way signal lights sometimes go out,
thus incurring great risk of serious accidents.
Now our invention is designed to obviate this difficulty for which purpose we
make the wick serve to indicate when it should be replaced, or, in other words, to
shew when it has become so short that it is no longer reliable for further use in the
lamp.
To this end we provide an indicator on the wick by making a portion of its
length of different colour or external appearance from the remainder so that when
the portion of one colour or appearance has been consumed it will be evident the
remainder should be removed from the lamp and a new wick substituted.
According to one arrangement the external surface of the wick is stained or other-
wise coloured at one or both sides or in the case of a circular wick it may be all
round. Thus the length so stained or coloured may be the portion to be consumed
or it may be the portion to be removed from the lamp after the other portion has
been consumed. A convenient mode of carrying our invention into practical effect
is to stain one portion of the length of the wick with what is commercially known
as Judson's dye, which we apply in a diluted form by means of a brush or similar
instrument or a thread of distinctive colour may be introduced along the one
portion of the length of the wick; so long as the wick be so made that the one
portion of its length shall be readily distinguishable from the other as and for the
purpose above set forth.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Applicants' Agent,

page_text: We, JOHN FULLER. SHALLIS,' of the Minories in the City of London, Engineer,
and THOMAS COOPER JOHN THOMAS, of the same place, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMP WICKS" and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In lamps for burning oil or spirit it is necessary the wick should always extend
below the surface of the oil or spirit in the reservoir in order that oil or spirit may
be carried to the burner or flame. As is well understood the level of the oil or
spirit descends as combustion proceeds, whilst the length of the wick becomes
reduced, and it is necessary to renew the wick when it becomes reduced to a certain
length.
Some lamps are made with transparent reservoirs so that the length of the
wick is readily ascertainable by inspection, but in many kinds of lamps such for
examples as those used for signalling and lighting on railways and as signal lamps
for ships, and others, such is not the case and therefore it is necessary to frequently
remove the burner to ascertain the length of the wick,-not only so, but further-
more it sometimes happens that the light goes out at an inconvenient time through
the wick becoming too short, which may occur through miscalculation as to the
length of wick remaining in the lamp. In this way signal lights sometimes go out,
thus incurring great risk of serious accidents.
Now our invention is designed to obviate this difficulty for which purpose we
make the wick serve to indicate when it should be replaced, or, in other words, to
shew when it has become so short that it is no longer reliable for further use in the
lamp.
To this end we provide an indicator on the wick by making a portion of its
length of different colour or external appearance from the remainder so that when
the portion of one colour or appearance has been consumed it will be evident the
remainder should be removed from the lamp and a new wick substituted. Accord-
ing to one arrangement the external surface of the wick is for a portion of its
length stained or otherwise coloured at one or both sides or in the case of a circular
wick it may be all round. Thus the length so stained or coloured may be the
portion to be consumed or it may be the portion to be removed from the lamp after
the other portion has been consumed. A convenient mode of carrying our inven-
tion into practical effect is to stain one portion of the length of the wick with what
is commercially known as Judson's dye, which we apply in a diluted form by means
of a brush or similar instrument; or a thread or threads of distinctive colour.may
be introduced along the one portion of the length of the wick; so long as the wick
be so made that the one portion of its length shall be readily distinguishable from
the other as and for the purpose above set forth.
> :
Referring to Fig 1 of the annexed sheet of drawings representing a lamp wick
of ordinary kind the portion of its length situate between the end a and the line b
may be lett plain and the remainder from b to c which may represent the portion
of the wick to be removed from the lamp when the part a to b has been consumed
may be stained or coloured on one or both of its sides in the manner herein before
mentioned. Or in lieu of staining or colouring one portion of the wick, a thread d
(Fig 2) or threads d' d' (Fig 3) of distinctive colour may be introduced along the
one portion of the length of the wick.
With our improved lamp wicks it only becomes necessary for a lamp trimmer
when trimming a lamp to somewhat raise the wick above the burner cone to ascer-
tain the length of wick remaining to be burnt and to determine whether it is
D

page_text: necessary or desirable to replace the remaining portion of the wick by a new one,
this knowledge being obtained without its being necessary to remove the burner as
is the case at present with lamps having opaque reservoirs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
A lamp wick made to serve as an indicator shewing without removal of the
burner whether the lamp wherein it is used requires a fresh wick as hereinabove
described.