Improvements in Automatic Safety Gas Burners.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Safety Gas Burners.
I, NATHAN MORRISON GARLAND of 10 East 14th Street New York City, County
of New York and State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to that class of devices intended to prevent flow of gas to the
burner when the flame is extinguished by accident or design, or when the ordinary
valve is opened by accident or design and the gas not ignited, the object of my said
invention being to produce a simple, cheap compact and efficient safety appliance or
gas burner which may be mounted upon the ordinary burner pillars of any gas fixture,
whereof the parts shall be few and simple, concealed or protected by the bnrner,
automatic in action, not liable to get out of order and permitting the ready ignition
of the gas.
To accomplish all of this my improvements involve entirely new and useful
arrangements or combinations of parts and peculiarities of construction as will be now
described and explained.
In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification. Fig. 1 is
a sectional elevation of a safety burner constructed and arranged for operation in
accordance with my invention and involving my improvements showing a key applied
for unseating the automatic safety valve whenever required at the time of lighting the
gas. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the safety valve shown in Fig 1. Fig. 3 an
elevation of the key shaft. Fig. 4 is a view like Fig. 1 and Fig. 5 a view of an
expanding rod.
In all these figures like letters of reference wherever they occur indicate
corresponding parts.
A is the base of a gas burner. B its shell or body and C the tip all of which may
be of any form and size.
Within the base I mount a valve D of which the bearing surface or face is rounded
after the manner of a ball valve and which is as large as convenient so that a slight
displacement will open a gas way of ample extent to serve the burner. The stem
of this valve passes through a bridge E provided for it, and is made hollow with its
lower end closed. The bottom of the or well thus formed is utilized as the bearing
for the lower end of the expanding rod F by which the valve is automatically moved
and it thus brings the said bearing point well below the face of the valve so that the
valve may be moved from its seat evenly all around or without canting and crowding
as will be readily understood.
The valve seat G formed in the base part or mounted therein is made sharp forming
a knife edge seat so that the valve will effectually close against it. A light spring H
holds the valve normally seated. The expanding rod F bears upon the tip at one end
and upon the bottom of the valve stem at the other and when cold, is of length to leave
the spring free to seat the valve. This rod is preferably made of aluminium but
might be of other suitable material. A portion of it may project through the tip as
shown in Figs. 1 and 4 near the portion of the flame or it may be mounted in the tip
as shown in Fig. 5.
When a lighted match is applied over the burner it heats the rod, which, expanding,
opens the valve a trifle and thus allows a small quantity of gas to escape at the tip and
which being ignited further heats and expands the rod, allowing more gas to pass
and thus the flame to increase until of the required size. This lighting requires but a
very few seconds. In some instances it may not be desirable to wait for the flame of
the match to heat the rod, and therefore I supply a key I passing through or
[DC]

page_text: connected with the valve stem, by turning which the valve may be unseated allowing
a quantity of gas to escape immediately. This is ignited and immediately expands the
rod. As soon as the key is released a spring b returns the key and if the gas is lighted,
the expanded rod will prevent the valve from seating completely but if not it will be
seated and the flow of gas then arrested. The key is prevented from being turned so
far as to sustain the valve in open position by any suitable stop as a pin a.
Between the tip and the shell of the burner I place an insulating packing e which
confines the heat from the gas flame or match to the region of the upper part of the
expanding rod and renders the device more sensitive than it might otherwise be. This
packing is not always necessary and may be omitted if desired.
The improved burner may be mounted in the place of any of the ordinary burners.
The gas fixture or branch in which the usual gas cock is mounted is not shown. The
working parts are all concealed within the burner and are thus protected against
accident or disarrangement. The form of the valve and the key may be changed, their
operation remaining the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. In a safety gas burner the combination of an expanding rod located in the
burner shell, the burner tip, the insulated packing between said tip and shell, a valve
located in the base and a spring operating upon the valve, the rod extending from the
tip at one end to the valve at the other substantially as shown and described.
2. In a safety gas burner the combination with an expanding rod of the valve
provided with a well or pocket and a spring operating upon the valve substantially as
shown and described.
3. In a safety gas burner the combination with the shell expanding rod and valve of
the burner tip and insulating packing substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 24th day of December 1800
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents to Applicant.