IMPROVEMENTS IN .LAMPS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Augustus Nowell, of Nuneaton, in
the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
.LAMPS."
Sealed the 27th July 1869, and dated the 11th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Augustus
Nowell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th February 1869.
I, GEORGE AUGUSTUS NOWELL, of Nuneaton, in the County of
Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention häs for its object improvements in lamps.
The lamps to which my Invention apply are intended especially to burn
heavy hydrocarbon oils in combination with ordinary illuminating gas,
although other oils may also in the same way be burnt in them. These
heavy oils yield an inflammable vapour only when highly heated, which
renders their use perfectly safe, and at the same time renders it necessary
specially to arrange the lamps in which they are to be used. I arrange

page_text: the lamp in such manner that its flame communicates a high heat to
a close chamber into which a wick dipping into the oil enters. This
wick is adjustable by a screw or similar means, so that it may be made
to enter the chamber a greater or less distance according to the quantity
of hydrocarbon it is desired to volatilize. The gas is made to pass through
the same chamber, where it becomes heated, and where it mixes with
the hydrocarbon vapour, which it then carries on with it to the burner.
By means herein-after described the heat from the chamber is prevented
from being conducted to any inconvenient extent to the reservoir
containing the hydrocarbon oil.
When using an argand burner the following is the arrangement I
prefer to employ :-At the lower part of the lamp the reservoir for the
hydrocarbon oil is formed (it may be of globular or other convenient
form), and the gas pipe, which has a suitable regulating cock upon it,
passes up vertically through the reservoir and ascends nearly to the top
of the heated chamber, which is a cylinder closed at its upper end, and
at its lower connected with the top of the reservoir. A wick (which
I prefer to make of cotton wool enclosed in wire gauze) surrounds the
ascending gas tube, and can be moved up and down on it by turning a
milled head on the exterior of the lamp so as to regulate the amount
of wick within the heated chamber and consequently the amount of
vapour formed. The gas passing up its pipe to the top of the heated
chamber there enters the chamber, and descending mixes with the hydro-
carbon vapor, and the compound passes out near the bottom of the
chamber to the ring burner, where it is burnt. This burner encircles the
chamber. To check the conduction of heat to the reservoir the con-
nection between the reservoir and the heated chamber is made by means
of two rings or flanges of thin metal of low conducting power. One of
these is fixed on the top of the reservoir, the other to the lower end
of the heated chamber; they thus form flanges projecting outwards from
the two parts and they are joined together around their outer edges.
In order to carry away the heat which the upper connecting ring may
conduct from the chamber I apply to it wings of metal of high conducting
power, which also serve to support the chimney, and the current of air
rushing to the chimney absorbs the heat from the wings. Where a
batswing or similar burner is used I mount it on the top of the heated
chamber, and I obtain the requisite heat to the chamber by forming upon
it two metal horns, which project. up on either side of the lower part
of the flame and conduct the heat down from it to the chamber. To

page_text: reduce loss of heat from the chamber by radiation I clothe it with a
surface of polished metal, and by varying the amount of such clothing
the volatilization of the oil may be regulated independently, if it be so
desired, of the adjustment of the wick.
In this arrangement also I make the ascending gas tube telescopic;
it is perforated at its upper end for the escape of the gas, and the
tubular wick being placed on the outside of the tube over the perforations
the gas passes through the wick, and is so brought into close contact
with the hydrocarbon, which is highly heated by the chamber which
encloses it. A screw or similar contrivance raises or lowers the perforated
end of the tube and with it the wick at pleasure, and so the amount
of hydrocarbon evaporated is regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Augustus Nowell in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 11th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
AUGUSTUS NOWELL, of Nuneaton, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Augustus Nowell;
Her special licence that I, the said George Augustus Nowell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Augustus Nowell, my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Augustus Nowell, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 immc-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Augustus Nowell, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lamps.
The lamps to which my Invention apply are intended especially to burn
heavy hydrocarbon oils in combination with ordinary illuminating gas,
although other oils may also in the same way be burnt in them. These
heavy oils yield an inflammable vapour only when highly heated, which
renders their use perfectly safe, and at the same time renders it necessary
especially to arrange the lamps in which they are to be used. I arrange
the lamp in such manner that its flame communicates a high heat to
a close chamber into which a wick dipping into the oil enters. This
wick is adjustable by a screw or similar means, so that it may be made to
enter the chamber a greater or less distance according to the quantity
of hydrocarbon it is desired to volatilize. The gas is made to pass
through the same chamber, where it becomes heated, and where it mixes
with the hydrocarbon vapour, which it then carries on with it to the
burner. By means herein-after described the heat from the chamber is
prevented from being conducted to any inconvenient extent to the
reservoir containing the hydrocarbon oil.
When using an argand burner the following is the arrangement I
prefer to employ :-At the lower part of the lamp the reservoir for the
hydrocarbon oil is formed (it may be of globular or other convenient
form), and the gas pipe.(which has a suitable regulating cock upon it)
passes up vertically through the reservoir and ascends nearly to the top
of the heated chamber, which is a cylinder closed at its upper end and
at its lower connected with the top of the reservoir. A wick (which
I prefer to make of cotton wool enclosed in wire gauze) surrounds the
ascending gas tube and can be moved up and down on it by turning a
milled head on the exterior of the lamp so as to regulate the amount of
wick within the heated chamber and consequently the amount of vapour
formed. The gas passing up its pipe: to the top of the heated chamber
there enters the chamber, and descending mixes with the hydrocarbon

page_text: two discs ff, of low conducting power; they may advantageously be of
German silver; the lower disc is fixed to the top or cap of the reservoir b
and the upper to the bottom of the heated chamber e, which is thus
supported. g is an argand or circular burner connected with the sides
of the chamber e at some distance from the upper end and concentrically
around it, so than when the burner is lighted the upper end of the
chamber e shall be surrounded by the flame and thereby become
intensely heated. The gas passes by the pipo a nearly to the upper end.
of the chamber,e, and the chamber being closed at the top it then
descends, forcing its way through the wick 6', which is so large as to fill
the heated chamber so as to compel the gas to pass through its
interstices, and thus the gas and the vapour of the oil generated in the
heated chamber e become thoroughly incorporated or combined, and so
together pass to the burner and are consumed, and the oil having greatly
enriched the gas a very pure and brilliant light is obtained at a much
less cost than if the same amount of light were obtained by the burning
of gas. h, h, are radial wings; they may be of thin sheet copper or
gauze, and twelve or other number of them may be placed at equal
distances around the circle; they are soldered or otherwise metallically
connected to the upper disc f and support the glass chimney i and a
deflector k, by which the air entering between the wings is caused to
impinge upon the flame, and by which the combustion of the unrefined
oils is rendered perfect and absolutely free from odour during their
burning; when not used there is a slight odour with the oils in question.
The heat which the upper disc f takes from the chamber e it imparts in
great measure to the wings h, and these exposing an extended surfaco
communicate the heat to the air passing between; in this way the
heat is prevented from passing back to any injurious extent to the
oil in the reservoir, at the same time that the current of air passing
to the burner is heated and the brilliancy of the light is thereby
increased. In place of forming the chamber.e itself to project above
the burner so as to be surrounded by the flame, and thereby become
intensely heated, a metal heater rising up from the top of the chamber
may be thus caused to project above the burner. The chamber would
then be heated by heat conducted down to it from the heater which is
surrounded by the flame.
Figure 2 is a similar arrangement to that above described, but the

page_text: heat layer wings are employed, as shewn. If it is wished to burn
hydrocarbons that are solid at ordinary temperatures these wings may be
more or less omitted in order that the heat may descend in sufficient
quantity to keep them molten in order that they may ascend the wick.
The reservoir is in this case made of small size, and is supplied from a
cistern at a distance by a bird fountain arrangement, so that the oil is
kept at an uniform level in the reservoir 6 so long as any oil remains in
the cistern...
☐ Figure 3 is a vertical section of a lamp in which what is known as a
batswing or fishtail burner, giving a flat flame is used.
a is the gas pipe with a tap a¹ upon it; this pipe supplies the gas into
the upper part of the oil reservoir b. c is a wick holder capable of being
raised and lowered by the screw d; the wick in this case is solid, and,
as before, it is made of cotton wool enveloped in wire gauze, and it fits
the heated chamber e sufficiently closely to compel the gas to pass
through the interstices of the wick as it ascends to the burner g, which
is fitted into the otherwise closed end of the chamber e. From the top of
the chamber e two curved horns 1, 1, project, and their extremities dip
into the blue or non-sooting part of the burner flame; these horns may
be of copper and in one piece with the chamber e. The chamber e with
its horns is formed from a sheet of copper, so that the axis of the tube
may be parallel with the lines of stress placed upon the metal during
lamination for the reason that heat is conducted with greater facility in
that direction through the metal. These horns should be carefully
formed to a "curve such as shewn in the Drawing, so that their ends
where they dip into the flame shall be at such a tangent to the current
of the edge of the flame where they dip into it that the ignited stream
of gas impinging upon them causes by the action of the principle of the
"vortex," as it were, a whirlpool of gas and air in a state of intense
combustion within the curved horn, the radius of the curve of which is
made greater or less according to the amount of heat necessary to.be
produced for volatilizing the oil which is to be burnt in the lamp. The
horns will by this means become intensely heated, and this heat will by
conduction pass down to the chamber e. The action of these horns is
clearly shewn by the Drawing. The chamber e is bright or polished
externally to lessen radiation and loss of heat; it is enclosed within the
jacket tube m, to which it is attached at the lower end only. The jacket
tube m is also formed with similar horns which act to impode loss by

page_text: radiation and convection of heat from the inner horns 1, l. The
chamber e and its surrounding jacket I form from two tubes of metal,
and to form the horns at their upper ends I cut away two opposite sides
of the tubes, leaving on each tube two strips opposite to one another,
and these strips while one within the other are afterwards bent both
together to the curve desired. The tubes are brazed together at their
lower ends, and to keep their upper ends concentric with one another
small indentations are formed in the outer tube. The outer tube near
its upper end has a ring of metal brazed around it, which is ground into
a coned seat formed to receive it at the upper end of an outer tube n
fixed at its lower end on the reservoir 6; this tube is also of polished
metal. The horns on the outer tube might be omitted, as shown at
Figure 4, but not, I believe, with advantage. By thus surrounding the
chamber e with concentric tubes radiation and convection to the atmo-
sphere from the chamber is to a great.extent prevented, and the loss by
conduction will be small as the heat will have to traverse from end to
and of the tuboo aand m
radiation and convection of heat from the inner horns 1, 1. The
chamber e and its surrounding jacket I form from two tubes of metal,
and to form the horns at their upper ends I cut away two opposite sides
of the tubes, leaving on each tube two strips opposite to one another,
and these strips while one within the other are afterwards bent both
together to the curve desired. The tubes are brazed together at their
lower ends, and to keep their upper ends concentric with one another
small indentations are formed in the outer tube. The outer tube near
its upper end has a ring of metal brazed around it, which is ground into
a coned seat formed to receive it at the upper end of an outer tube n
fixed at its lower end on the reservoir 6; this tube is also of polished
metal. The horns on the outer tube might be omitted, as shown at
Figure 4, but not, I believe, with advantage. By thus surrounding the
chamber e with concentric tubes radiation and convection to the atmo-
sphere from the chamber is to a great.extent prevented, and the loss by
conduction will be small as the heat will have to traverse from end to
ond of the tubos e and m.
What I claim is,-
First. Constructing lamps substantially as herein described with
reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings.
Second. I also claim forming the chamber e or a metal heater pro-
jecting up from it to project above the argand or ring burner, so that it
shall be heated by the flame surrounding it.
Third. I also claim the constructing such lamps with wings or.
equivalent instruments between the heated chamber and the oil reservoir,
such rings or equivalent instruments exposing an extended surface to
the current of air which feeds the flame, so that the heat which would
otherwise be conducted to the reservoir may be imparted to the air,
substantially as herein described.
Fourth. I also claim in constructing such lamps the making the
connection between the heated chamber and the oil reservoir by means
of two metal discs of low conducting power connected together at their
peripheries, and attached near their centres, the one to the heated
chamber and the other to the oil reservoir, or to a part thereof, sub-
stantially as herein described.
Fifth. I also claim the constructing lamps suitable for burning the
vapour of heavy hydrocarbon oil in combination with gas, which may be

page_text: hydrogen, carbides of hydrogen, and hydrogen and carbonic oxide mixtures
are all the gases capable of utilization, in such manner that the oil is
raised by a wick from the reservoir into a heated chamber, where its
vapour is combined with the gas, and from whence the mixture of gas
and vapour is made to pass to a burner, such wick being so carried that
it may by the movement of a button or equivalent instrument on the
exterior of the lamp be caused to enter to a greater or less distance into
the heated chamber to regulate the vaporization of the oil, substantially
as herein described.
Sixth. I also claim constructing lamps for burning a combination of
heavy oil and gas with horns 1, l, to obtain heat from the edge of a
flat flame, as herein described, and to conduct the heat down to the
chamber e containing a wick dipping down into the vessel containing
the oil.
Seventh. I also claim in constructing lamps suitable for burning the
vapour of heavy hydrocarbon oils in combination with gas the clothing
the heated chamber e with a jacket or jackets, substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Augustus Nowell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.