Improvements in and connected with Lamps.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th July, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 13th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 16th May, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Lamps.
I, ALFRED ELLIS HARRIS, of 64 Finsbury Pavement, in the County of London,
Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to lamps for burning hydrocarbon and other oils.
According to my invention the burner of the lamp consists essentially of a tube
closed at one end and provided at the lower or closed end with a packing of suitable
fibrous material over which I sometimes place a layer of granulated material such
as metal filings, or spongy iron or other suitable material.
In the tube I place my burner properly so called, which burner I find it ad van-
tageous to construct of a metal frame adapted to fit the tube, the upper end of the
frame projecting a certain distance above the tube and made of a shape or contour
to give the required shape to the flame. I wind this frame with fine wire, suitable
fibrous material being placed within the space enclosed by the wire.
Or my burner may be formed by fitting the tube with wires arranged in any
suitable manner, or with plates or the like of metal or other incombustible
material.
The oil is supplied to my burner from a reservoir placed in any suitable position
and forming a part of the lamp or not as required. The said reservoir is in some
cases advantageously in the form of a bag adapted to be compressed so as to force
the oil therefrom. In practice 1 prefer to employ a bladder for the purpose, which
bladder is placed in a suitable box or chamber and compressed by a weight.
The supply of oil to the burners of lamps should be so regulated that when the
lamp is burning it will maintain the interstices between the pieces of material (or
the wick) in the burner tube full without running over; and for this purpose I
employ a valve which can be adjusted as required and which valve when shut off
also serves to extinguish the lamp.
Upon the burner tube I sometimes apply a sliding sleeve or collar by raising or
lowering which I can regulate the size of the flame and which also serves for
extinguishing the flame.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Lamps.
I, ALFRED ELLIS HARRIS, of 64, Finsbury Pavement, in the County of London,
Dentist, 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 :-
My invention relates to lamps for burning hydrocarbon and other oils.
According to my invention the burner proper of my lamp is constructed of a
metal frame adapted to fit the burner-tube, the said frame being wound with fine
wire and the space enclosed by the wire filled with suitable fibrous material.
The oil for the combustion is supplied to the burner from a reservoir placed in
any suitable position and forming a part of the lamp or not, as required; and, in some
cases, the said reservoir is advantageously in the form of a bag adapted to be
compressed to force the oil therefrom.
In practice when I use a bag I prefer to employ a bladder or wizen as I have
D
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page_text: round these to be impervious to oil. This bladder or wizen is placed in a suitable
box or chamber and compressed by a weight or its equivalent.
The supply of oil to the burner should be regulated according to the size of flame
required, and for this regulation I employ a valve which can be adjusted and which,
when shut off, serves to extinguish the light.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a sectional view of a lamp provided with my improvements :
Figure 2 is a view of the burner detached and shewn partly in section :
Figure 3 is a vertical section of the said burner; and,
Figure 4 is a view of the frame forming the foundation of the burner:
Figure 5 is a view illustrating a slight modification; and,
Figure 6 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section :
Figures 7 and 8 are sectional views shewing the application of my burner to lamps
provided with compressible reservoirs :
Figure 9 is a horizontal section of the lamp shewn in Figure 8.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
a indicates the the oil-reservoir of the lamp, which reservoir, as shewn in Figure 1,
is provided with an aperture at the centre through which air for supporting the
combustion of the flame passes, as indicated by the arrows in the said figure, and
which also serves to receive the burner, so that the latter is out of contact with the
oil-supply. is the burner-tube, the lower end of which communicates through the
pipe with the interior of the reservoir a; and e is the valve for controlling
the supply of oil to the burner, which valve is operated from the exterior of the
reservoir by means of a milled head f, as shewn, or by any other suitable means.
a is the nozzle through which the oil is introduced into the reservoir a.
g is the burner proper, and is the foundation frame of the same, the upper end
of the said frame being shaped, as shewn in Figure 4, or in any other suitable
manner, according to the shape of flame required.
Around the frame his wound a wire i, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, and in order
to prevent the several turns of the wire from becoming displaced relatively to each
other, the upper and lower bars of the said frame are preferably notched, as shewn
in Figure 4, the wire lying in the said notches. The space enclosed by the wire
and the frame is, as before stated, filled with suitable fibrous material which serves
to conduct the oil to the top of the burner. This fibrous filling is advantageously
composed of tow or hemp, except at the upper end of the burner, where I
advantageously place asbestos having wire incorporated therewith, as I have found
that, if tow or other combustible fibrous material is employed at this point,
it will soon become carbonized and consequently lose its power of suction or
absorption.
The burner as herein before stated is inserted into the tube c, with its end pro-
jecting above the said tube, as shewn in Figure 1, and the oil is admitted into the
tube through the pipe d, so that it will come into contact with the fibrous filling
of the burner and so be conducted by capillary attraction to the top of the same.
In order to prevent any free oil remaining in the tube c, which free oil during the
burning of the lamp, would probably become vapourized, owing to the heat of the
burner-tube and burner, I advantageously place in the lower end of the tube ca
packing of suitable fibrous material c¹ such has tow or hemp, and over this packing
I sometimes place at a layer of granulated material, such as metal filings or
spongy iron, as indicated in Figure 1. It will thus be understood that, when the
valve e is raised to allow oil to pass to the burner, only sufficient oil enters the tube c
to fill the interstices of the said burner.
j is a sleeve which I sometimes place upon the burner-tube c, which sleeve is
connected to a lever k so that it may be readily raised or lowered to vary the size
of the flame, or raised sufficiently, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, to
extinguish the flame.
I sometimes provide for regulating the size of the flame by raising or lowering

page_text: the burner bodily within the tube c, and for this purpose I advantageously fix
around the burner g a band 1, as shewn in Figures 5 and 6, which band is
provided with a stud m projecting through a slot in the tube c and having
screwed upon it a nut n, by means of which, when the burner has been adjusted
in any position, it may be readily held. In this case the burner advantageously
rests upon a spring o and, in order to avoid breaking the continuity between
the fibrous material at the lower end of the tube c and that within the burner,
I employ the intermediate extensible portion of fibrous material passing through
the inside of the spring, as shewn.
With the arrangement of reservoir shewn in Figure 1 it will be obvious that the
gravity of the oil causes it to pass into the burner-tube.
In cases, however, where the reservoir is to be placed beneath the burner I
employ my compressible bag arrangement. In Figure 7 the reservoir a is
represented as composed of a bladder, the neck p of which is connected by a
tube with the burner-tube c. is a weight resting upon the bladder and
serving to force the oil to the burner g, which weight, as shewn, is suspended
by a cord upon a drum s, so that by rotating the said drum the weight can
be raised. t is a catch for holding the drum stationary to prevent the weight
from pressing upon the bladder during the filling of the same.
In a pillar lamp the collapsible reservoir is advantageously composed of what
is known as the wizen which is of such shape that it can be placed in the
pillar. In order to compress the reservoir to force the oil to the burner I can
arrange plates v, r, acted upon by springs w, w, as shewn in Figure 8. Nuts x, x
on the screws y, y serve for limiting the extent of movement which the springs
can impart to the plates v, v, and also for drawing the plates apart when the
reservoir is to be filled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A lamp burner comprising a metal frame adapted to fit the burner-tube and
formed at its upper end in accordance with the shape of flame desired, the said
frame being wound with wire, and having the space contained by the frame and
wires filled with absorbent material, substantially as described.
2. In a lamp having a burner of the kind hereinbefore referred to a tube for
conveying oil to the burner, and a valve for controlling the passage of oil through
the said tube, substantially as described.
3. In a lamp the reservoir of which is below the burner, the use of a compressible
reservoir having a pipe extending to the burner, substantially as described.
Dated the 13th dow of Anvil 1901
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.