IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS BURNING MINERAL OILS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of No 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS BURNING MINERAL OILS A communication to him from abroad by
Rudolf Ditmar of Vienna in the Austrian Empire
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st September 1882.
"
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS BURNING MINERAL OILS [A com-
munication to him from abroad by Rudolf Ditmar of Vienna in the Austrian
Empire.]
This invention relates to a construction and arrangement of lamp with .
cylindrical wick burning mineral oil, so as to increase the power and brilliancy
of the flame by introducing into its middle a mixture of the combustible vapour
of the oil with air in the following manner. Within the wick tube of the burner
is fixed an inner tube of smaller diameter so as to leave an annular air channel
round it and communicating at bottom with the oil reservoir; on the top of this
inner tube is fixed adjustably a hollow cap which may be of spheroidal shape made
of metal or ceramic or other refractory material and pierced with numerous small
holes. Centrally within the inner tube is a smaller tube filled with wick or other
capillary material, or it may be simply a capillary wick or stem of porous material
which reaches down into the oil, in the reservoir below the burner and reaches up
to the base of the spheroidal cap. The cylindrical lamp wick is arranged in the
usual way extending down into the oil in the reservoir, and around the burner
is a perforated gallery carrying a glass chimney. When the lamp is lighted, air
entering by the perforations of the gallery ascends partly outside the burner
between the flame and the glass, partly up the annular space immediately within
the wick tube, and partly through the upper part of the reservoir and up the inner
tube carrying with it into the highly heated spheroidal cap a quantity of the oil
vapour. The mixture of air and vapour issues through the perforations of the cap
in a highly heated condition into the centre of the flame and burns giving the
flame great power and brilliancy.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March
1883.
JOHN IMRAY of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the county
of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS BURNING MINERAL OILS."
A com-
munication to me from abroad by Rudolf Ditmar of Vienna in the Austrian
Empire.
This invention relates to a construction and arrangement of lamp with
cylindrical wick burning mineral oil, so as to increase the power and brilliancy
of the flame by introducing into its middle a mixture of the combustible vapor
of the oil with air in the following manner. Within the wick tube of the burner,
is fixed an inner tube of smaller diameter so as to leave an annular air channel
round it, and communicating at bottom with the oil reservoir; on the top of this
inner tube is fixed adjustably a hollow cap, which may be of spheroidal shape,
made of metal, or ceramic or other refractory material, and pierced with numerous
small holes. Centrally within the inner tube, is a smaller tube filled with wick
or other capillary material, or it may be simply a capillary wick or stem of porous
material which reaches down into the oil in the reservoir below the burner, and
-reaches up to the base of the spheroidal cap. The cylindrical lamp wick is arranged
in the usual way extending down into the oil in the reservoir, and around the
burner is a perforated gallery carrying a glass chimney. When the lamp is lighted,
air entering by the perforations of the gallery ascends partly outside the burner
between the flame and the glass, partly up the annular space immediately within
the wick tube, and partly through the upper part of the reservoir and up the inner
tube, carrying with it into the highly heated spheroidal cap a quantity of the oil
vapour. The mixture of air and vapor issues through the perforations of the cap
in a highly heated condition into the centre of the flame, and burns, giving the
flame great power and brilliancy.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig 1 of the accompanying drawings shews a diagram of the before-described
improved appliance for lamp burners; fig 2 shews a diagram of the mode of
applying it to a lamp; fig 3 shews a vertical section of an actual lamp; fig 4
shews an elevation of the casing to the burner, and figs 5 and 6 shew sections
taken respectively on lines x x and y y of fig. Similar letters of reference
indicate similar parts in each of the figures. b is the before described hollow cap,
the tubular extension of which passes centrally down through the wick tube and
into the chamber C containing the petroleum, inside which air is drawn into its
open end through the openings i, thereby carrying also petroleum vapour from the
chamber C up into the cap. Within the tube b is a second small tube a filled
with a suitable porous material having capillary action; or, in place of this tube,
may be used a tube or rod which is itself made of capillary material, such as
carbon, slagwool, porous clay, talc, asbestos or chalk: the rod or tube may also
be perforated longitudinally or transversely or both. This tube or rod a extends
upwards into the cap b, while its lower end extends down to near the bottom

page_text: The angles at which the perforations are formed in the cap determine the shape
of the flame. The glass chimney h may be of any desired shape.
Referring to the diagram Fig. 2, C is the oil reservoir, f the ring burner with
wick fl; g is the perforated casing carrying the chimney, h is the glass chimney,
and are the openings through which the air passes to the tube and cap b.
Referring to figs. 3, 4, and 6, the capillary wick f³ serves to convey the oil to the
lamp wick f. The cap b is, in this case, formed of fire-clay, while the tube thereof
is formed of metal.
Having thus described the nature of the said invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim
First-In lamps for mineral oil, the combination of a cylindrical wick with
a central gas generator consisting of the cap and tube b and the capillary
tube a.
Second-The arrangement of the cap and tube b, communicating both with
the outer air and the interior of the oil reservoir, for the purpose of conveying the
vapors generated in the reservoir into the flame.
Third: The herein described lamp burner, combined and operating as set forth.
Fourth In lamps for mineral oil, conveying a mixture of petroleum vapor and
air to the flame, by means of a hollow heated cap and tube, which, at the same
time, serve as gas reservoir, substantially as herein described.
:
Fifth The use, in lamps for mineral oil, of a hollow perforated cap b,
constructed of fireclay, talc, asbestos, or other refractory material, <operating
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand
and seal this sixteenth day of March in the year of Our Lord, one
thousand, eight hundred and eighty-three.
(L.S.)