IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TORCHES FOR LIGHTING GAS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
May 1872. A communication from abroad by William Washington
Batchelder, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TORCHES FOR
LIGHTING GAS," a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to hand devices or torches for lighting gas by
the generation of an electric current, and the said Invention consists in
an electric torch or hand device, complete in itself, both in the generation
and liberation of the electric spark, that is to say, a device that is in-
dependent of the gas burner or fixtures to which the said burner
may be attached, or any medium independent of the torch itself, except
the band, as will be more fully herein-after described.´
gas
And the said Invention further consists in a torch constructed with a
chamber or deflector for receiving the escaping gas and mixing it with

page_text: the air so as to light the gas with the said chamber or deflector away
from or above the gas burner.
The electrical generating device may be constructed as described in
the Specification of former Letters Patent, dated March 14th, A.D. 1872,
No. 783, or any other suitable motor for producing an electric spark 5
may be used. To the extremity of the stem conductor the gas chamber
or deflector is secured to be used away from or above the burner, and to
receive the escaping gas and mix it with the air at such distance from
the burner as will insure the mixing of a sufficient quantity of air with
the gas to render it highly explosive. This receiver or deflector is one 1
of the essential features of my Invention; it is preferably made bell
shaped and closed at its top, so that the gas cannot escape vertically but
must be deflected laterally, and for this purpose it is provided with a
side opening to cause the gas to be deflected outward after its mixture
with the air. The deflection must be towards the liberating point and 1
at a distance from the burner. The liberating point is arranged opposite
the side opening in the gas chamber.
•
This gas chamber is insulated from its metallic stem or support by a
hard rubber section, which also insulates the liberating point from the
gas chamber or deflector. The positive electric current is completed 2
from the generator to the liberating point through the metallic stem or
support, and the circuit making connection with the earth is completed
by a chain or other suitable means uniting the generator with the
deflector or gas chamber. This union however must be with the lower
portion of the electric generator or with the hand. And in order that 2
this connection may be isolated from the positive portion of the
generator, the lower end of the connecting chain is attached to a
bracket, while its upper end is connected to another bracket of the
gas chamber so as to avoid any interference with globes or shades of
the burners. This is a highly advantageous arrangement as it allows S
the gas chamber or deflector to be used in connection with any kind of
shade or burner chimney in use.