Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 11th June, 1888
Specification Accepted, 20th July, 1888
of Germany
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., MIM E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6 Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer 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 :-
Gas lamps with air supply current hitherto in use present two serious disadvantages,
which are highly prejudicial to the practical use of these lamps, and which are caused
by the excessive overheating of the gas
.
In consequence of the intense heating to which the gas is usually submitted in the
pipe supplying the burner of these lamps, a partial decomposition of the gas takes
place
A large quantity of carbon particles separate from the gas, the illuminating power
of which is thereby decreased, whilst the advantages derived from the expansion of
the
gas are greatly lessened. The second disadvantage is but the natural consequence
of the decomposition of the gas in the supply pipes, namely, the adherence to the
inner surfaces of the said pipes of considerable quantities of soot and carbon collecting
thereon in the form of graphite The gas supply is consequently diminished, and the
cleaning of the gas pipes of the lamp becomes necessary in a comparatively short
space of time. In lamps of this kind hitherto in use, the cleaning of the pipes can
only be accomplished by taking down the lamp and removing it to the workshops,
where it is taken entirely to pieces.
These disadvantages are avoided in the present invention, the object of which is to
prevent the decomposition of the gas in the supply pipe, or at least to reduce it to a
minimum, and also to provide an arrangement of the said pipes, which will enable any
person to easily clean the latter by simply brushing their inside surface, without having
to remove the lamp at all.

page_text: angement of one or several gas
The
The improved lamp is characterized by the
feeding pipes, which can be easily cleaned, and are adapted externally to the chimney.
By this arrangement the gas which flows through the pipes at a great velocity, gets
heated to a certain extent, but not enough to cause the separation of the carbon
gas then enters a special distributing chamber in which it is further heated, so that
the separation and deposition of the carbon takes place in the chamber, which is not
liable to be stopped The gas supplying pipes, and the superheating and distributing
chamber are so constructed as to allow of the deposit of carbon being removed without
taking the lamp to pieces to effect this purpose.
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in which two
arrangements are represented. In these,
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the improved lamp.
Figure 2 a modification in connection with the upper gas inlets.
Figure 3 a horizontal cross section through line -x, of Figure 1.
Figure 4 a vertical section of a modification of the lamp in which the supply gas
pipes form an independent part of the lamp.
Figure 5, a horizontal section through the distributing channels cast at the top of
the chimney of the modified arrangement
In the arrangement represented in Figures 1 to 3, a is the lamp chimney provided
with two vertical channels b, b, cored in the casting. These two channels are on
opposite sides of the chimney and at their upper ends are connected with a channel b¹
likewise cored in the top of the chimney The channels are provided at their
Junction with the cross channel 6', with projections d¹ d' usually closed by a screwed
plug, the removal of which permits the cross channel ¹ and the vertical ones & to be
cleaned The gas enters into the apparatus through a projection c provided on the
cross channel in the centre of the chimney. It is here divided into two equal parts
or currents, each of which flow down one of the vertical channels b. It is easy to
understand that owing to the comparatively small sectional area of the channels b, the
gas flows down the latter with a certain pressure, and much better than in the annular
space formed by the mantle surrounding the chimney of the lamps hitherto used. The
enlarged annular capacity through which the gas had to flow in these lamps before
reaching the burner, caused the gas to expand, in consequence of which its velocity
became so reduced, that it got so heated by its contact with the hot outer surface of
the chimney as to undergo a partial decomposition. Owing to the greater velocity of
the gas flowing through the channels 6 the heating of the gas is in the improved lamp
greatly reduced, so that the deposit of carbon paiticles on the inner surface of the
channels takes place only to a very limited extent. The heating the gas can be still
further reduced by adopting the arrangement of gas pipes shown in Figures 4 and 5.
This arrangement is a modification of the previous one, in which the channels b, b
are replaced by separate pipes mounted in proximity to the chimney. In the modi-
fication represented in Figure 5 there are four such pipes, which are at their upper
ends connected with the extremities of cross channels 6 at right angles to each other
and cored in the top of the chimney; all these channels extend fully through the
said top and are closed at each end with screw plugs d which can be removed for
cleaning purposes Opposite the part of the cross channels, where the vertical pipes b
open, projections with screwed threads are provided for the purpose of cleaning the
said pipes. These holes are like the ends of the aforesaid cross channels also closed
with screw plugs d. The gas is introduced at the point where the aforesaid cross
channels 61, 61, cut each other.
As the channels or pipes 6 and the cross channels b¹ are all straight, it is obvious
that after removing the plugs d, all channels can be cleaned very easily by introducing
into them a round brush. This cleaning of the pipes and channels can be accomplished
by any person without it being necessary to take the lamp down, or to pieces in any
way, as was hitherto the case The soot and graphite particles detached from the
pipes or channels when cleaning them, fall into the soot collector g.
From the foregoing description of the manner of cleaning the channels and pipes,
it follows that the latter must have such a form that they can be cleaned by passing a

page_text: round brush through them. As these brushes are fastened to a thin wire and con-
sequently possess a certain amount of flexibility, it is not necessary that the pipes
should be made straight, they can also be made curved.
The gas issuing from the lower end of the channels or pipes b enters in distributing
and superheating chamber A', which contains also the soot collector g. Now in
order to ensure that the gas arriving in the chamber A' through only a few channels
and under pressure shall be uniformly distributed amongst the small burner tubes h,
the latter chamber is provided with an inverted conical deflector f, which is connected
as shown in Figure 1 to the soot collector 9 by means of lugs i. The gas currents
issuing from the channels or pipes b strike against the said deflector, and in con-
sequence are diffused uniformly. In consequence of the inverted conical shape of the
deflector f, the gas that has expanded within it is pressed against the outer surface of
the chimney, so that it gets heated. The lower end of the conical surface opens
within the soot collector 9, whence the gas flows in the direction shown by the arrows
and is under a uniform pressure distributed to the burner pipes.
เ
In order that the soot collector may be easily removed for the purpose of cleaning
it, the body of the burner is formed of two parts A and A¹, which can be connected
together by means of flanges and bolts. By removing the bolts k, the lower part A of
the burner and soot collector g can be taken down and cleaned separately. The lower
part A of the lamp is provided with lateral openings, permitting the air to enter the
apparatus and circulate round the lower part of the chimney in contact with which it
gets heated before reaching the burners, and mixes there with the issuing gas. The
burner outlet consists of a ring 7 of refractory material, in which the burner tubes are
fixed at their lower end. The lower part A of the burner is provided with a broad
flange, supporting the frame of a glass globe L This frame consists of a flat ring
connected to the aforesaid flange by means of a hinge m and spring catch n. The
inner edge of the flat ring is curved downwards so as to support the glass globe L,
the flange of which is correspondingly curved, and fixed on the said ring so as to
permit the globe to expand freely when the lamp is burning. This arrangement of the
glass globe L, offers also the advantage that the lamp can be lighted from below by
disengaging the catch n and causing thereby the globe and frame to turn round the
hinge m.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The improvement in gas lamps, which consists in introducing the gas into the
distributing and superheating chamber by separate channels b, 61, in the casting forming
the lamp chimney, or by separate pipes provided with plugs d, which can be removed
to facilitate cleaning, the said channels or pipes being arranged so that the gas is
caused to flow through them at such a velocity that the separation of the carbon
contained in the gas cannot take place in the said channels or pipes by overheating,
substantially as described.
2. In combination with the distributing and superheating chamber, of a gas lamp,
an inverted conical deflector f for ensuring a uniform diffusion, heating, and distribution.
of the gas flowing into the chamber through the channels or pipes b, substantially as
described.
3. In a gas lamp as herein set forth, the construction of the body A and A' in two
parts, which can be readily disconnected from each other for the purpose of cleaning,
substantially as described.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.