A LAMP OF A NEW CONSTRUCTION, ACTING UPON THE NATURAL UNERRING PRINCIPLE OF THE DIPPERENCE OF GRAVITY BETWEEN TWO FLUIDS, WHICH PRODUCES A CONSTANT SUPPLY OF OIL OR OTHER COMBUSTIBLE FLUID TO FEED THE WICK OR BURNER THEREOF, FOUNTING IN A
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JoпN
BARTON, of Argyle Street, in the Parish of Saint James, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of November last, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, did give and grant unto me, the said John Barton, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Barton,
my exors, adiiors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves,
or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as
I, the said John Barton, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time.
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A LAMP OF A NEW CONSTRUCTION,
ACTING UPON THE NATURAL UNERRING PRINCIPLE OF THE DIPPERENCE OF GRAVITY
BETWEEN TWO FLUIDS, WHICH PRODUCES A CONSTANT SUPPLY OF OIL OR OTHER
COMBUSTIBLE FLUID TO FEED THE WICK OR BURNER THEREOF, FOUNTING IN A

page_text: PERPENDICULAR DIRECTION PROM A RESERVOIR BENEATH THE FLAME, HAVING TH
QUALITY OF BURNING OR CONSUMING THE WHOLE OF THE OIL OR OTHER COMBUSTIBL
FLUID APPLIED THERETO;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained t
proviso, obliging me, the said John Barton, by an instrument in writing unde
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calender months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in.compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Barton, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows (that
is to say):-
My method of raising the necessary supply of oil or other combustible fluid
in lamps consists in applying to the bottom of the column of oil or other combus-
tible fluid contained in the lamp the hydrostatic pressure of a fluid of greater
specific gravity, contained in an exterior reservoir, in which the lamp itself
with its contents and appendages is made to float, and which fluid of greater
specific gravity communicates with the interior of the lamp itself and is at
liberty to flow into it, subject to the counteracting hydrostatic pressure of the
column of oil or other combustible fluid contained in the lamp by means of
an aperture in the bottom of it. And with regard to this part of my Invontion,
I am induced to believe that by making the point at which the wick is placed
moveable by the continual subsidence of the lamp in the exterior reservoir
during the combustion of the oil or other combustible fluid, and by the other
improvements in the construction hereafter to be described, I render it
unnecessary, in the majority of instances, to employ for the heavier fluid any
one of greater specific gravity than common water, and in other respects
accomplish the end proposed with greater advantage or convenienco thau the
same has been hitherto done.
Before I proceed, however, to state more in detail the construction of my
lamps, I shall endeavour, for the sake of greater perspicuity, to elucidate the
principle still further by the following example:-
:
Let us conceive a vessel of any figure (that of a shallow cylinder or prism
whose axis is perpendicular to the horizon may probably be the most,
convenient), a, b, c, d, (Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing), having a tube e, f,
open at both ends, issuing centrically from its top a, b, the bore of which is of

page_text: small diameter (as for instance, one-tenth of an inch), it being only necessary
that it should be large enough to suffer a sufficient quantity of any combustible
fluid to supply any requisite number of burners, which may be connected with
its superior extremity, to pass freely, which tube communicates with the
interior of the vessel, a, b, c, d, and which vessel has also the aperture 7 in its
bottom. Let us now suppose this vessel to be filled with oil to a, b, and in
this state mado to float in water contained in a larger vessel h, i, k, l, so that
the surface of the water may cut the tube e, f, at m, which may be effected by
one or more floats of any convenient, buoyant substance of a specific gravity
considerably less than that of the fluid in which it is so made to float in the
most ordinary instances: the lamps themselves, which are hereafter to bo
described, are so made to float by two floats, the lower one of which is con-
stantly submerged beneath the surface of the liquor in which it so floats, and
the upper of which floats, with a small portion of its surface, emerging above the
surface of the liquor. In the annexed Diagram or outline Drawing, Figure 1,
we will suppose the outlines of the floats to be respectively designated by tho
dotted lines p, q, r, s, and t, u, v, w., It is clear that by this arrangement the water
in the exterior vessel will.enter the vessel a, b, c, d, at the aperture g, and that
the oil impelled by its pressure upwards will rise in the tube e, f, until its
surface n is at a certain height above the surface of the water in the exterior
vessel, that is to say, until the height of the whole column of oil is to that of
its counterpoising column of water in the inverse ratio of their specific
gravities; or, supposing o to ho the height to which the water rises in the
vessel a, b, c, d, until n, o, is to m, o, as the specific gravity of the water is to
that of the oil, which we will conceive to be as ten to nine, in which case the
distance between their respective superior surfaces m, n, would be one-tenth
part of n, o, or one-ninth part of m, o, and that the oil and water will then
both become stationary, the counteracting columns of each being reciprocally
equipoised. Let us now conceive that a wick be applied either at the point n,
or within a sufficiently small distance above it, for the capillary action of the
cotton to draw the oil upwards to the wick copiously enough to supply its
vivid combustion, we shall then see that the oil will of course gradually
consume, the water again entering at the aperture 9 in the vessel a, b, c, d,
and its superior surface o consequently rising in contact with the superior
surface of the supernatent oil, as the latter consumes, so as to supply its place,
and the superior surface of the water m accordingly gradually subsiding in the
exterior vessel h, i, k, l, until the contiguous surfaces of the oil and water
in the vessel a, b, c, d, have risen to e, the lower extremity of the tubo e, f; and

page_text: it will be equally clear that at this period, the altitude of the column of oil
m, n, in the tube e, f, which is still above the surface of the water in the
exterior vessel, will remain in the same proportion to its original altitude as
o, n, was to e, n, or as o, m, was to e, m, so that however flat the vessel a, b, c, d,
may be, and however small the distance o, e, if the horizontal area of the vessel
a, b, c, d, be-sufficiently large to render it capable of holding a sufficient
quantity of oil to supply the burner. or burners for the requisite time, the
surface of the oil n will, during its combustion, have approached that of the
water m only a proportionate part of the original elevation m, n, of the oil
above that of the water, and the distance m, n, between their two superior
surfaces, may accordingly be kept, during the combustion, indefinitely near to
its original length according to the construction of the lamp in this respect...
The part of my Invention which I am now endeavouring to describe con
sists in the application of the preceding principles to purposes of practical
utility, and I shall therefore now proceed to describe one of the various forms of
lamps which I have constructed upon such principles, and the necessary varia-
tions of which construction, in the adaptation to the almost infinite variety of
uses to which lamps are applicable, will be easily imagined by every able
workman in their manufacture, but the whole of which will necessarily fall
within the prohibition of my said Patent, as to this part of my said 'Invention,
if such construction be founded on the application of the before-mentioned
principles.
Figures 2 and 3 in the annexed Drawing respectively represent a perpen
dicular section and an external view of a lamp of my Invention, adapted for
the table, or to be placed on a shelf in a hall, or on a staircase, or for any
other ordinary purpose to which lamps on a stand or foot are conveniently
applicablo. A, Figuro 2, is a cylindrical vessel of thin brass or copper, the
bottom of which a, b, is fitted on its lower extremity either by a screw joint,
or in the manner of the lid. of a snuff-box, so as to be taken off at pleasure for
the purpose of cleaning the interior of the vessel A, and which bottom has an
aperture in its centre C, about one-tenth of an inch in diameter. From the
top of this vessel there issues the tube B, communicating with it, to the
superior extremity of which the burner or burners is or are adapted. The
lamp here described has four; to wit, a larger one in the centre, with three
smaller ones surrounding it at equal distances, forming a kind of branch or
chandelier. D, Figure II., is an air vessel or float, nearly but not quite suf-
ficiently buoyant to support the whole of the lamp itself, that is to say, the
vessel A with the tube B, and the burner or burners attached to its superior

page_text: extremity, in water, or such other fluid as it may be thought proper to use for
the purpose of supporting the necessary column of oil by its hydrostatic
pressure when the vessel A is filled with either oil or with such other fluid;
and E is an additional float, fitted on the tube B, towards its superior extremity,
which is so adjusted as to be capablo, together with the inferior float D, of
supporting the whole of the lamp itself; that is to say, the vessel A with its
tube B, and the burner or burners attached to its superior extremity, when
floating in water, or such other fluid as it may be thought proper to employ
the hydrostatic pressure of when the vessel A is filled with either oil or such
other fluid, so as for a small portion of the upper surface of the last-mentioned
float E to appear above the surface of that fluid.
It will be obvious that these floats may be made of any buoyant substance
capable of being adapted to such a purpose, as, for example, of the lighter
kinds of wood, varnished or otherwise rendered water-tight, or cork; or they
may consist of tin plate, thin brass, or any other thin metallic plates, soldered
up, so as to form a hollow air-tight vessel. In the lamp which I am now de-
scribing, the lower float D, as also the upper one E, are made of cork, with a
hole perforated through each of them of such a size as to fit with a convenient
degree of tightness on the outside of the tube B. It will also be evident, on.
considering the whole construction of the lamp herein-before and hercin-after.
to be described, that it will in many instances be practicable, and in some not
perhaps less convenient, to employ a single float of sufficient dimensions and
buoyancy to be fitted on that part of the tube B where the upper float E is
here represented as, being placed, so as to answer the purpose of both the
before-mentioned floats; but in general it will be found more convenient to use
two floats, as is the case in the lamp which is here described. The exterior
part of the lamp F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, serves to contain the fluid, by the
hydrostatic pressure of which the necessary column of oil for the supply of the
burner or burners at the superior extremity of the tube B is intended to be
supported, and in which the lamp itself, with its tube B, the burner or burners
attached to its superior extremity, and the two floats D and E, are intended to
float when the vessel A and tube B are filled, either with the oil originally
introduced into it in the manner herein-after mentioned, or with such residue
of the said oil as may from time to time during its combustion remain uncon-
sumed, together with such portion of the water, or other fluid heavier than oil,
by the hydrostatic pressure of which the column of oil is intended to be supported
as may during the combustion of the oil have entered the vessel A, through the
aperture C in its bottom, to supply the place of the oil so consumed. In the

page_text: lamp which we are now describing thero is a screw joint at K, H, mado water-
tight for the purposo of rendering it practicable to include in that part of it
which in the present form constitutes the base or pedestal K, HI, J, I, the
vessel A, which is intended as a reservoir for the oil or other combustible
liquid with which the lamp is to be supplied, and afterwards pouring on it a
column of water whose height may exceed that of the said last-mentioned
joint; and the top M, F, of the vase M, F, L, G, ought also to fit on the vase
itself by a screw or other joint, so made as to be water-tight, for the purpose
of preventing the spilling of the water or other fluid heavier than oil, by the
hydrostatic pressure of which the necessary column of oil is to be supported,
in case it shall be necessary upon any occasion to agitate the lamp, or put it.
into an inclined position.
With regard to the construction of the lamp itself with the exterior,
vessel, which is to contain the water or other fluid heavier than oil, in
which the lamp with its contents and appendages is intended to float
(except so far as relate to the form of the burner or burners herein-after
to be described), there appear to be but one or two more observations to make;
the first of which is, that the whole content of the vase M, F, L, G, at the
superior extremity of the exterior vessel F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, ought to be
such as to be equal, exclusively of the solid content of the upper float E, and
that part of the tube B which passes through it, to contain a quantity of fluid
very nearly but not quite equal to that which would be sufficient to fill the
vessel A, which is intended as the reservoir for the oil or other combustible
fluid by which the lamp is to be supplied, together with that of the tube B.
It will appear, upon consideration of one of the most convenient modes of
filling the vessel A and tube B' with the oil or other combustible fluid by
which the lamp is to be supplied, which I have thought it proper hereafter to
describe, that if the whole content of the vase M, F, L, G, exclusive of the
solid content of the upper float E, and that part of the tube B which passes
through it, was considerably larger than that of the said vessel A with its
tube B, the oil or other combustible fluid poured into the said last-mentioned
vessel through the tube B would have expelled the whole of the water or
other fluid heavier than oil, by the hydrostatic pressure of which the necessary
column of oil for the supply of the burner or burners is intended to be sup-.
ported, before the vase M, F, L, G, would appear to be nearly filled with the s
water or other fluid heavier than oil intended to be contained in the exterior
Vessel F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, and by the hydrostatic pressure of which the
necessary column of oil or other combustible fluid contained in the lamp itself,

page_text: that is to say, in the vessel A with its tube B, is intended to be supported, and
the necessary consequence would of course be, that if a larger quantity of oil or
other combustiblo fluid was poured in through the tube B, after it had already
expelled the whole of the water or other fluid heavier than oil from it and the
vessel A, a portion of the oil or other combustible fluid would necessarily pass
through the aperture C in the bottom of the vessel A, and either mix itself
with the water or other fluid heavier than oil contained in the exterior vessel
F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, or would rise through it, and float on the surface of
such water or other fluid heavier than oil contained in the vase M, F, L, G;
and if, on the contrary, the content of the said vaso M, F, L, G, exclusive of
the solid content of the bulk of the said upper float E, was less than the solid
content of the said vessel A, with its tube B, the said water or other fluid heavier.
than oil would have risen to the top of the said vase M, F, L, G, before the said
vessel A would have becomo filled with such oil or other combustible fluid as
might be intended to supply the combustion, and a part of the content of
the said vessel A would consequently be useless, or, in other words, the
whole of its solid content would not in such case be applicable to the pur-
pose of containing the oil for the supply of the lamp, as a portion of it
towards the bottom would still remain filled with the water or other incom-
bustible fluid in which the lamp with its contents and appendages was made,
to float.
i
The last circumstance, with regard to the construction of the whole of the lamp:
and its apparatus (except the description of the burner and its guards, which
is herein-after contained), which it appears to be necessary here to describe,
is, that whatever be the specific gravity of the heavier fluid by the hydrostatic
pressure of which the column of oil or other combustible fluid for the supply
of the lamp is intended to be supported, the relative heights of the whole
of the vessel A with the tube B issuing from its top, and of the branches
or tubes of communication leading to the burner or burners intended to be
supplied by the lamp should be to the distance between the bottom of the.
vessel A, when floating with its contents and appendages in the water or other
Quid heavier than oil in the exterior vessel, in a somewhat greater proportion
than the inverse proportion of the specific gravities of those two fluids, so that
when the vase M, F, L, G, should become filled with the water or other fluid.
heavier than oil in which the lamp itself with its contents and appendages is
made to float, the column of oil or other combustible fluid contained in the
vessel A and its tube B may be elevated in the latter to within about an inch.
of the extremities of the burners, that is to say, within a sufficiently small

page_text: distance of the wick to enable the cotton to produce by its capillary action a
sufficiently copious supply of the oil or other combustible fluid.
The practicable modes of filling the vessel or reservoir A are various, but
one of the most convenient, and that which I have generally adopted, is the
following -I firstly include the vessel A with its tube B and float D in the
pedestal K, H, J, I; I then screw or fit on the cover K, H, with its exterior
tube L, G, K, H, and the vase M, F, L, G, at the top of it, attached, and in
which the tube B is intended to be included, by putting it over the said last-
mentioned tube B; the float E is then put upon the tube B and pressed down
to L, G, after which I fill the said vessel K, H, J, I, and exterior tubo
L, G, K, H, by pouring in through the vase M, F, L, G, a quantity of the
water or other fluid heavier than oil, until the surface of such water or other
fluid heavier than oil contained in the exterior vessel appears just above L, G,
that is to say, just rising into the bottom of the vase M, F, L, G, from out of
the superior extremity of the exterior tube L, G, K, H. When it has arisen
to this height, it will of course follow (as we have before supposed the vessel
A and tube B to have been empty at the time of the vessel A being included
in the exterior pedestal K, H, J, I,) that such water or other fluid heavier
than oil, having a free passage through the aperture C in the bottom of the
said vessel A, will also have risen in the said vessel A and its tube B to the
same height. I then gradually pour into the top of the tube B the oil which
is intended to supply the lamp, which as it flows down on the surface of the
water or other fluid heavier than oil, by the hydrostatic pressure of which the
necessary column of oil is intended to be supported, necessarily depresses it by
its weight, the whole height of the column of oil from the contiguous surfaces
of the oil and water, or other fluid heavier than oil, being to that of the column
of such water or other fluid heavier than oil (estimating such height in each
case from such contiguous surfaces of the oil and water up to the surface of
the water standing at the time in the exterior vessel, or up to the surface of the
oil standing in the tube B respectively,) in the inverse ratio of their respective
specific gravities, that is to say, the perpendicular height of the column of oil
which floats on the water or other fluid heavier than oil in the tube B and
vessel A being constantly as much greater than that of its counterposing
column of water or other fluid heavier than oil by which it is supported
(reckoning upwards to the surface of each from the same horizontal plane, to
wit, from such contiguous surfaces of the oil and water), as the specific gravity
of the oil is less than that of the water or other fluid heavier than oil by which
it is so supported, or on the surface of which it so floats..
.

page_text: It will be evident from the preceeding description that the surface of the oil
in the tube B will constantly rise above the level of the surface of the water or
other fluid heavier than oil contained in the exterior vessel, as the respective
lengths of the equipoised columns increase until the tube B and the vessel A
with which it communicates are both filled with oil, and that the oil will by its
influx gradually depress the surface of the water or other fluid heavier than oil,
antecedently contained in the tube B and vessel A, and force it through the
aperture C in the bottom of the latter, until the whole of such heavier fluid is
driven out of the vessel A and its place supplied by the influent oil, at which
period the contiguous surfaces will be in contact at or close to the aperture C,
and the column of oil consequently of its greatest possible height; for if more
were afterwards to be poured into the tube B, a quantity of the oil itself equal
to the excess would of course protrude and make its escape from the aperture
C, so as to mix with the water or other fluid heavier than oil in the exterior
vessel F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, through which it would rise and float on its
surface. The content of the vase M, F, L, G, at the superior extremity of the
exterior vessel F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, or of the exterior tube L, G, K, H,
by which it is connected with the pedestal K, H, J, I, ought, however, to be
of such dimensions, that when the vessel A is nearly filled with the oil or other
combustible fluid with which the lamp is intended to be supplied, the water
or other fluid heavier than oil with which the tube B and vessel A had been
antecedently filled, and the greatest part of which will necessarily have been
forced by the pressure of the superincumbent oil through the aperture C, may
have caused the surface of the water or other fluid heavier than oil in the
exterior vessel F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, to rise very nearly to the top of the
vase M, F, LG, by which circumstance it will of course be known that
the vessel A is then nearly filled with oil, and that it has of course become
unnecessary to continue to pour in a larger quantity through the tube B, as
would indeed also be indicated by the height at which the surface of the oil in
the tube B would be then found to stand. All that remains to be done will
then be to screw or fit on the top M, F, of the vase, through the centre of
which the tube B passes, to affix on the top of the tube B the burner or
burners which it is intended to feed, with the wick or wicks so inserted into them
as to extend to the depth of about an inch below the surface of the oil then
standing in the tube B, so as to render it possible for the cotton by its capillary
action to feed the flame sufficiently, and the lamp will be than ready for use.
The remaining part of my said Invention, to which I have partly herein.
before alluded; is the construction of the burner; which consists in my lamp of a

page_text: tube a, b, Figure 4, in the annexed Drawing, tapering upwards, to the upper
part of which, and not more than about one-half its diameter below its superior
extremity, there is attached a small plate or ledge c, d, concave upwards, and
projecting on every side, from the exterior of the tube itself, to a distance equal
to about one-half of the diameter of such tube. The intention and effect of this
projecting plate or ledge is to catch the small quantity of oil which generally
exudes from the wick of a lamp which is sufficiently supplied, and by that means
not only prevent the unpleasant effect which results from the flowing of the oil
down the sides of the burner, but to apply the oil, which would otherwise be
wasted by this means, to the purpose of more copiously supplying the com-
bustion of the wick. It will generally be found, when the wick is properly
supplied, and this part of the burner has been well constructed, that the oil
which exudes from the wick and flows into this concave ledge or receptacle
will (from its natural attraction of cohesion, and the consequent disposition
which any small portion of it has, in common with other liquids, to assume a
spherical form,) rise in such receptacle with a convex surface, somewhat
similar to that with which a quantity of melted tallow or spermaceti rises in the
cup surrounding the wick of a candle which has been too shortly snuffed,
until its superior surface comes into actual contact with the lower part of the
wick itself over the edge of the superior extremity of the burner, by which
means the brilliancy of its light is not inconsiderably augmented. In order;
however, both that no part of the oil which exudes from the wick during its
combustion may be wasted, and also that the disagreeable effects which would
result from its flowing down the sides of it may be still more effectually pre-
vented, I attach to the tube which constitutes the burner, at a convenient
distance below the plate, or ledge, or receptacle, already mentioned, a second
plate, or ledge, or receptacle e, f, of the same figure but of larger dimensions
than that above described, (that is to say, whose diameter is generally to that
of the upper one in the ratio of about three to two,) and I perforate the tube
which constitutes the burner between the said two plates, ledges, or receptacles
with two or more horizontal circular rows of small apertures surrounding such
tube constituting the burner, the inferior edges of the lower row of which
apertures are in contact with the upper concave surface of the lower and larger
plate, ledge, or receptacle e, f, by which contrivance two effects are intended to
be produced; (that is to say), firstly, that any such oil as may escape over the
edge of the upper of the said two plates, ledges, or receptacles may be caught
by the lower one, and by that means again brought in contact with the wick
through the said apertures; and, secondly, that the external air which is

page_text: dmitted through the said apertures, and a certain quantity of which will of
ourse rise through the interstices of the cotton to the lighted portion of the
ick may assist in promoting the combustion.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Barton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of January, in the fiftieth year of the reign
of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the graco of God of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the
Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
ten.