IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING LIGHT BY ELECTRICITY
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Way, of Welbeck Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
LIGHT BY ELECTRICITY."
Sealed the 28th April 1857, and dated the 29th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Way at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
October 1856.
1, JOHN THOMAS WAY, of Welbeck Street, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
LIGHT BY ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in obtaining light by means of electricity, electrodes of charcoal
have usually been employed, and motion has commonly been given to such
electrodes by clockwork or otherwise, so as constantly to change their acting
points; but even with this precaution, it has been very difficult to obtain a
constant light, in consequence of the want of uniformity in the electrodes.
Now this Invention consists in the use for one of the electrodes of a substance
such as mercury, which is caused to flow through an orifice or orifices on to a
point or points of steel or other material. The mercury is in connection with
one of the poles of the battery, and the points are in connection with the other
pole of the battery, and they are so arranged that the distance beween them
and the orifices from which the mercury escapes can be adjusted so as to
bring the points to the level, at which the streams of mercury break into
[Price 8d.]

page_text: drops. In place of using points of steel or other material for the lower
electrode, a regulated surface of mercury may be employed, if desired, and the
apparatus may be surrounded by a glass to prevent the escape of morcurial
fumes; means also may be provided for raising the mercury from the lower
receiver. into which it falls, from the orifices to the upper receiver or cistern
which supplies the jets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thomas Way in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JonN
THOMAS WAY, of Welbeck Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred nud fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ine, the said John Thomas Way, Her special licence that 1, the said John
Thomas Way, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1,
the said John Thomas Way, my executors, administrators, and assigas, 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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN OBTAINING LIGHT BY ELECTRICITY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that 1, the said John Thomas Way, 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 In-
vention, and in what mauner 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 John Thomas Way, 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:
Heretofore in obtaining light by means of electricity, electrodes of charcoal
have usually been employed, and motion has commonly been given to such
electrodes by clockwork or otherwise, so us constantly to change their acting

page_text: points, but even with this precaution it has been very difficult to obtain a
constant light in consequence of the want of uniformity in the electrodes.
Now this Invention consists in the use for one of the electrodes of a
substance such as mercury, which is caused to flow through an orifice or
orifices on to a point or points of steel or other material. The mercury is in
connection with one of the poles of the battery, and the points are in connection
with the other pole of the battery, and they are so arranged that the distance
between them and the orifices from which the mercury escapes can beadjusted
so as to bring the points to the level at which the streams of mercury break
into drops. In place of using points of steel or other material for the lower
electrode, a regulated surface of mercury may be employed if desired, and the
apparatus may be surrounded by a glass to prevent the escape of mercurial
fumes, means also may be provided for raising the mercury from the lower
receiver, into which it falls, from the orifices, to the upper receiver or cistern
which supplies the jets.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
I use a cistern of iron, slate, or other suitable material, in which the
mercury is led by a pipe(with a stop-cock) to a jet, with as small an orifice as
I can conveniently make, from which by its own weight the mercury will flow
in a constant stream. I find a height of from two to four feet to give a suitable
pressure, but I do not confine myself to a particular pressure; itisobvious also
that the jet or jets may be thrown upwards or in any other direction that may
be desirable, but I prefer that it should descend from the orifice by gravity,
The necessary pressure may also be obtained by mechanical means. When a
small power only is employed the mercury may descend on to a point of steel,
platinum, charcoal, or other conductor in connection with one pole of the
battery, the mercury itself being connected with the other pole. And it is
important that the second electrode (or one of the electrodes) should be capable
of ready adjustment, to insure its being at the point where the stream of
mercury breaks, in order that there may be a space between the stream and
the second electrode. When the electric power is great I find that a point
electrode is liable to be destroyed, and in such cases I employ a small cup of
mercury made of infusible material, such as fire clay or other matter so
arranged that the mercury therein shall be in connection with one pole of the
battery, and I find that it is desirablethat the mercury should flow off only on
one side from the small cup, for which reason I make the cup cylindrical, and
about half an inch diameter, with the upper edge higher on one side than the
other, so that the edge is formed to an inclination or angle of forty-five degrees.

page_text: The use of a small cup of mercury for the second electrode is important, as ou
the one hand it does not materially interfere with the light passing downwards,
and at the same time the quantity of mercury subject to the heat is small as
compared with the quantity which would be present if the mass of mercury
formed the second electrode. The mercury flows away by a pipe from below
the small cup into any convenient receptacle, from which it may be returned
by hand by a pump or other means to the upper cistern. Finally, a glass is
used to retain the fumes of mercury; the glass is cemented into the two cast-
iron cylinders which form the upper and lower parts of the apparatus; this
glass is to be as infusible as may be, and its size may vary from an inch in
diamoter to two inches or more, nccording to the size of the light to be
produced. Instead of being a cylinder the glass may be fixed in segments in
a frame of metal, but in that case means must be takon to isolate one or other
of the electrodes; whether a metal or other conducting point or a cup of
mercury be used, it is essential that means should be employed to.adjust the
distance between the two electrodes. For this purpose a screw or rack and
pinion or other equivalent mechanism is to be used in combination with one
or other of the electrodes, in order that the distance apart of the electrodes
may be regulated thereby, and that they may be retained at a distance apart
corresponding with the breaking point of the stream of mercury.
I would remark, that I am aware that it is not new to employ a stream of
mercury as an electrode in apparatus for obtaining light by electricity. I do
not therefore claim the same, neither do I claim the adjusting of an electrode
by a screw or other mechanical apparatus when separately considered; but
what. I claim is, the use of a flowing electrode of mercury in combination
with apparatus for regulating the distance apart of the two electrodes; and
I also claim the combination of a small overflowing cup or regulated surface
of mercury, as a second electrode with a flowing electrode of mercury in
apparatus for obtaining light by electricity.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Way, have hereunto sot
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
JOHN THOMAS WAY. (L.S.)