AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE- MENTS IN ILLUMINATION
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Best, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ILLUMINATION."
Sealed the 1st November 1858, and dated the 7th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Best at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th May
1858.
I, ROBERT BEST, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATION," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in using two or more burners, producing a flat flame,
arranged as herein-after explained, in the shade or dome of a gas lamp or
gas chandelier.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I employ by preference fish-tail
burners, but other burners producing a flat or sheet-like flame may be
used. The said burners are so placed that the flames shall be in a hori-
zontal or nearly horizontal plane. The said burners are so situated with
respect to the shade or dome that the flames converge towards the middle or
axis of the shade or dome. When I use two burners only, I prefer to place
them so that the flames shall not be exactly opposite to each other, but in the
position of radii inclined to one another, at an angle of about one hundred and

page_text: twenty degrees. When I use more than two burners, I prefer to place them
in the position of radii equidistant from one another. The gallery, which is
situated on the burner for the support of the shade or dome, may support the
said shade or dome either at top or bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Best in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BEST, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Best, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Best, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Best, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ILLUMINATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Best, 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 Robert Best, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in using two or more burners, producing a flat
or sheet-like flame, the said burners being arranged as herein-after particularly
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in the shade or dome
of a gas lamp or gas chandelier.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in vertical section a gas
shade or dome with two gas burners arranged according to my Invention; and
Figure 2 represents a plan of the burners and gallery which supports the
shade or dome connected therewith.
The burners a, b, are situated horizontally so as to project the flames in a
horizontal or nearly horizontal plane.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I prefer to employ fish-tail burners,
but other burners producing a flat or sheet-like flame may be used. The
said burners a, b, branch from and are supported by the central pipe c. To
the upper part of the said pipe ca rod c¹ is affixed, which said rod c¹ carries
the gallery d, on which the dome or shade e is supported, as represented in
Figure 1. The said burners a, b, are so situated with respect to the shade
or dome e, that the flames from the said burners converge towards the middle
or axis of the said shade or dome.
The said shade, dome, or glass e is not globular, but is much compressed
vertically, so as to have nearly the figure of an oblate spheroid, the axis of
which is much shorter than the longest diameter of the figure.
Although I prefer to make the shade or dome e of the shape described and
represented in the Drawing, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as the said
shade or dome may be made more to approach a spherical figure, without
departing from the nature of my Invention. Although I prefer to support the
gallery d above the burners, as represented in Figure 1, yet I sometimes
place the gallery underneath the burners, as represented in elevation in
Figure 3, in which said Figure the dome, gallery, and burners are marked with
the same letters as in Figures 1 and 2.
When I use two burners only, I prefer to place them so that the flames
shall not be exactly opposite to each other, but in the position of radii inclined
to one another at an angle of about one hundred and twenty degrees, as will
be understood by referring to the plan, Figure 2. When I use more than
two burners, I prefer to place them in the position of radii equidistant from
one another.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of cafrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in illumination
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, combining two or more burners projecting flat or sheet-like flames in a
horizontal or nearly horizontal plane in the interior of a shade or dome,

page_text: the said burners being situated excentric to the axis of the said shade or
dome, and being so situated with respect to the shade or dome that the flames
converge towards the middle or axis of the said shade or dome, as described
and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Best, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ROBERT BEST. (L.S.)