Improvements in and relating to Mantles or the like for Incandescent Gas and Oil Lamps.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 14th Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Mantles or the like for Incandescent
Gas and Oil Lamps.
I, JOSEPH BLASCO DE LERY, of 68, Pine Street, in the City, County and State
of New York, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to lighting by incandescence from gas or oil.
There is already known a method of forming the incandescing element of a
burner, which consists in folding a rectangular strip of the fabric in such a manner
as to produce a bunch of cones adapted to be hung from their jointed apexes upon
a suitable support, the lower edges being free and open to admit the heat of the
gas flame.
The present invention is an improvement on that method of obtaining this
plurality of cones in a bunch, whereby the conical form is more pronounced and,
what is more important, the cones, once formed, will retain their conical shape
after the cotton or other vehicle for the incandescing material has been burned
out preparatory to the use of the article for lighting purposes. By my improved
method of forming, the same general shape is obtained as was obtained by the
formed method, but the new method of obtaining this shape results in the advan-
tages stated.
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying
drawing, in which:
Figure 1, represents a strip of the cotton or other fabric used as a base or
vehicle for the incandescing material and from which sections of uniform size
are cut to form each group of cones or tassels.
Figure 2, is an illustration, on an enlarged scale, of threads knitted together
and illustrating the construction of the strip shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3, illustrates the first and most important step in the new process of
forming the tassel or cone group.
Figure 4, shows the appearance of the material after undergoing the operation
illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 5, is a view of the spool over which the material is saddled after it
has been given the form shown in Figure 4.
Figure 6, is a side view of the complete tassel attached to the spool.
Figure 7, is a section of the tassel on line c,, of Figure 6.
Figure 8, is a view of a complete gas burner showing a number of the tassels
in place, and merely illustrating one method of using the tassels.
The fabric, constituting the base of the incandescing mantle, is usually made
of cotton threads by the knitting process, and in all knit fabrics the threads in the
form of a series of loops extends crosswise or transversely of the direction in which
the web is fabricated. The appearance of the threads in a knit fabric is shown
clearly in Figure 3. In forming my tassels, I prefer to use this knitted fabric,
and to this end I obtain the knitted fabric in strips, substantially as shown in
Figure 1. It may be remarked that the strip, before being made up into tassels

page_text: by my process, is treated or saturated with the rare earth or other incandescing
material.
Having obtained the strip, as shown in Figure 1, it is next cut up into uniform
pieces indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1, each piece being sufficient to
make one tassel.
These pieces which are lettered a, are oblong in shape. To form the tassel, one
of the pieces a, is grasped between the thumb and finger at the middle of each end
and gently stretched. Since the threads in the fabric-run in the direction of the
stretching, the tendency of the stretching will be to straighten them out, thus
drawing the long sides of the piece inward and curling up the long edges towards
each other forming two parallel tubes, which when laid out freely, assume the
form illustrated in Figure 4. Next, a metal spool, similar to that shown in
Figure 6, is placed crosswise of the curled piece, at its middle point, and the two
halves bent around it and secured by a few windings of thread, indicated by b',
this finishes the tassel, Its cross section, on the line,, has the appearance of
four tubes bunched together. These gradually converge until they join at the
point where the winding of thread occurs.
A tassel thus formed may be used on any kind of a burner suitable for the
purpose, but it is preferred to use it on the burner illustrated in Figure 8, wherein
a star-shaped frame c, is shown, on each point of which one of the tassels is hung,
the spool being slipped over the point and thus being easily removable at will.
Arranged below the frame is an air and gas mixing chamber e having outlets
from which the gas jets project and by which they are directed against the lower
edges of the tassels, the heat raising the tassels to a high state of incandescence.
It is to be understood, of course, that the first burning of the tassels (which does not
in fast occur until they are adjusted to the star-shaped frame) results in burning off
the cotton of the fabric and leaving the tassels of incandescing material undis-
turbed and in a position for immediate illumination.
In this connection, it is pertinent to observe that in all processes of manufactur-
ing mantles for incandescent lighting it is the practice to burn out the cotton or
other material of which the fabric is made, at the factory before shipment. This
is necessary for various reasons, but particularly because the mantle must be
given its conical or hood-like shape while undergoing this process of burning out
the cotton. The shaping operation consists in forming" or working upon the
mantle while the cotton is being burned out. After this burning and shaping,
the mantle must be dipped into collodion or other similar material to give it
sufficient stability to withstand the shocks it is likely to be subjected to in trans-
portation.
All this process of shaping and subsequent treating with collodion, is avoided
by using my improved tassels constructed in the manner herein described. An
essential feature necessary to obtain a high state of incandescence and even heat-
ing of the surface of the incandescing body, is the conical or tubular shape, and
by the act of stretching the material, as described, the threads are set and
the material which is thereby formed into the shape of the tubes retains its
shape, even against the warping action of the heat when the cotton base is burned
out.
The other advantage arising from this stretching process is the simplicity and
speed imparted to the manufacture. Whereas in the old process hereinbefore
referred to, it is necessary to fold first one side and then the other, and then hold
the folds in position while the fabric is being bent over the spool, in the present
instance the mere act of pulling the ends of the fabric curls the two sides together
where they will remain indefinitely, without being held.
at once,
I do not wish to limit my invention to the use of a knitted fabric, since it is
quite probable that a woven, crocheted or other similar stitch, may be made to
serve the purpose: my invention therefore embraces the use of any material that
will curl up at its edges when stretched. A knitted fabric will not curl when
stretched in a direction perpendicular to its threads, but a fabric constructed in

page_text: some other way might curl when so stretched: hence I do not limit myself to he
stretching of a piece of material either in the direction of its length or in the
direction of its threads.
Again, since it is possible to curl one edge of the piece of fabric over until it
meets the other, by simply stretching said other edge, my invention is not limited
to the grasping of the piece of material at the middle of its ends. The tassel
produced by stretching the pieces along one edge will consist of only two tubes or
cones which will serve satisfactorily.
It is also pointed out that the stretching operation is not necessarily a manual
one, since a machine could be easily devised for performing it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The method of making incandescing elements for gas or oil burners, which
consists in obtaining a piece of fabric of given shape and stretching it to curl
its edges into tubes, substantially as hereinbefore described, and as illustrated by
the accompanying drawings.
2. The method of making incandescing elements for gas or oil burners, which
consists in obtaining a piece of knitted fabric of given shape and stretching it
to curl its edges into tubes, substantially as herein before described and as illus-
trated by the accompanying drawings.
3. The method of making incandescing elements for gas or oil burners, which
consists in obtaining a piece of knitted fabric of given shape, and stretching it
in the direction of its threads to curl its edges into tubes, substantially as herein-
before described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
4. The method of making incandescing elements for gas or oil burners, which
consists in first impregnating the threads of the fabric of which the element
is composed, with the rare earth or other incandescing material then putting the
threads of the fabric under tension and finally burning the fabric to remove the
threads, substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accom-
panying drawings.
5. An incandescing element for use with a gas or oil burner, constructed sub-
stantially as and by the method herein before described and as illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.