Improvements in the Illumination of Ships' Compasses.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Aug., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 2nd May, 1892-Accepted, 4th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Illumination of Ships' Compasses.
I, LIONEL DE LAUTOUR WELLS of the Naval and Military Club, 94 Piccadilly,
in the County of London, Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows :-
:-
Ships' compasses are usually illuminated at night by lamps carried at the sides
of a metal hood formed with a glazed cpening through which the compass card can
be observed. This arrangement besides being cumbersome open to the objection
that owing to the nature of the oil permissible for use on board ships, a com-
paratively small illuminating power is obtained, and the lamps require constant
trimming.
Now my invention has for object the illumination of ships' compasses in a simple
and efficient manner. For this purpose within the glazed hood ordinarily employed
and upon the glass cover of the compass bowl I place one or more glass containers
each provided with a candle or with oil or wax to be burnt with a wick, such
containers being carried by discs rings or other supports of material such as india
rubber, vulcanite or paper that will resist sliding motion of the container or
containers upon the glass cover of the compass bowl. By the means described the
compass card can be better illuminated than heretofore, and the light or lights can
be readily adjusted by hand to any desired position for the better illumination of
any particular part of the card.
In carrying out my invention, I prefer to use a short candle designed to burn
for a given number of hours but having a wick and composed of wax or other
material capable of giving a better light than that usually obtainable from an
ordinary night light.
In some cases the disc ring or other support can be dispensed with, the glass
container or each of them, being adapted to be held in place for example by a pin
on the glass cover of the compass bowl which may be fitted to revolve."
1001
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.Č., Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Illumination of Ships' Compasses.
I, LIONEL DE LAUTOUR WELLS of the Naval and Military Club, 94 Piccadilly,
in the County of London, Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, 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 :-
Ships' compasses are usually illuminated at night by lamps carried at the sides
of a metal hood formed with a glazed opening through which the compass card can
be observed. This arrangement besides being cumbersome, is open to the objection
that owing to the nature of the oil permissible for use on board ships, only a
comparatively small illuminating power can be obtained, and the lamps require
constant trimming.
Now my invention has for object the illumination of ships' compasses in a simple
and efficient manner. For this purpose within the glazed hood ordinarily employed,
and upon the glass cover of the compass bowl, I place one or more illuminatin

page_text: devices each consisting of a glass or other transparent container provided with a
candle, or with oil or wax to be burnt with a wick, and carried by a disc, ring or
other-support of material such as india rubber, vulcanite or paper that will resist
sliding motion of the container upon the glass cover of the compass bowl, as I now
will proceed to explain by reference to the accompanying drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a ship's compass provided with means for
illuminating the same according to this invention, the glazed hood and part of the
enclosing car of the compass bowl being shewn in section;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the illuminating device and its support.
1 is the compass bowl supported in gimbals in the usual manner within a case 2
provided with a glazed hood or cover 3. 44 are the illuminating devices placed
upon the glass cover 5 of the compass bowl.
Each illuminating device consists as shewn more clearly in Fig. 2, of suitable
combustible material 6 such as used for the manufacture of candles or night lights,
or of oil, to be burnt by a wick 7 and enclosed within a container or receptacle 8
formed of transparent material such as glass, or in temperate climates it may be
gelatine, so that it will not materially interfere with the transference of light from
the burning wick to the compass card below the glass cover 5.
9 is a disc of
material such as india rubber, vulcanite, gutta-percha or papier mache that will
prevent the container or receptacle 8 from sliding freely upon the glass cover 5.
Or a ring of such material may be used instead of a disc, as indicated in dotted
lines in Fig. 2.
By the means described the compass card can be better illuminated than
heretofore, and the illuminating device or devices can be readily adjusted by hand
to any desired position for the better illumination of any particular part of the
card.
In carrying out my invention, I prefer to use a short candle designed to burn for
a given number of hours, but having a thicker wick and composed of material, as
for example wax, capable of giving a better light than that usually obtainable from
an ordinary night light.
In some cases the disc, ring or other support 9 can be dispensed with, the glass
container, or each of them if more than one be used, being formed with a hole or
recess as shewn in vertical section in Fig. 3, whereby it is adapted to be held in
place, as for example by a pin 10, fixed on the glass cover 5 of the compass bowl,
which cover may then be fitted to revolve about its centre so that the position of
the illuminating device can be varied to suit. requirement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Effecting the illumination of a ship's compass by means of an illuminating
device or devices such as herein referred to, placed directly upon the glass cover of
the compass bowl and within the glazed hood thereof substantially in the manner
hereinbefore described for the purpose specified.
2. In effecting the illumination of a ship's compass in the manner referred to in
the preceding claim, an illuminating device consisting of a candle with wick
enclosed within a glass or equivalent container or receptacle fitted with a disc, ring
or other suitably shaped support of material such as referred to, or formed with a
hole to receive a pin fixed to the glass cover of the compass bowl substantially as
described and shewn.
Dated this 29th day of April 1892.