Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Oct., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 20th Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Sept., 1888
We, ALFRED THOMPSON of 50 Old Broad Street in the City of London, and JOHN
HUBERT DAVIES of 14 Augustus Road, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
Our invention relates to improvements in lamps for burning mineral and other
oils without the use of a wick at the flaine.
We are aware that attempts have been made to produce a lamp in which the
mineral oil is first vapourised and afterwards burnt at the orifices of a burner; but
none of these are of such a construction or provided with such easy arrangements
for lighting and extinguishing as to make them suitable for ordinary lighting
purposes.
The present invention has for its object the economic production of light and heat
by the burning of the vapor of mineral oils with such arrangements that the lighting
and extinguishing of the lamp and its general manipulation is extremely easy.
We so arrange the lamp that the oil is supplied from a reservoir to a closed
chamber or tube where it is heated and its vapour carried from this chamber or tube
to a burner where it is ignited by a small flame which is kept constantly burning.
The vapor before being burnt may be mixed with a certain quantity of air or
otherwise.
The said chamber or tube which is hereinafter called the converter may be heated
directly or through metallic attachments, adjustable or otherwise, partly by the main
flame of the lamp and partly by a second flame produced by part of the vapour from.
the converter or by vapour from a second converter or by a wick burner; or it may
be heated entirely by the second flame. The converter may be a cylindrical vessel
with a number of metallic partitions inside, or containing a roll of copper ganze, a
bundle of copper wires or other material for forming a large heating surface. In one
arrangement the oil from a reservoir, where it is kept at a constant level by a "bird-

page_text: fountain" supply, or equivalent arrangement is admitted to the lower end of the
converter and attains a level therein dependant upon the pressure of the vapour
formed in the upper part of the converter. The mass of metal of good heat con-
ductivity in the converter appears to be of advantage. In another arrangement the
oil is admitted at a regulated rate to the upper end of the converter and becomes
vaporized as it passes downward and is carried to the burner from the lower end of
converter this arrangement prevents any accumulation of less easily volatilisable
oils in the converter.
We prefer to construct the orifice or orifices through which the vapors pass from
the converter of a very small size so that a good pressure of vapor has to be produced
in the converter; with this arrangement, any differences in pressure due to the
ebullition of the oil or to changes in the heiglit of the liquid in reservoir produced
little effect in the rate of flow of vapor to the burner.
It is advisable to arrange the orifice from the converter at a higher level than
that of the oil in reservoir to prevent possible overflow.
B
In using that form of converter in which the oil is kept at an approximately
constant level it should be so arranged as to be uninfluenced by the air entering the
lamp otherwise, as the lamp after starting gradually gets hotter and the incoming
air also hotter the converter is subjected to increasing temperatures with the result
of producing a larger quantity of vapor. With the other form of converter, however,
this is not so important as the supply of vapor mainly depends upon the regulated
supply of oil.
29
It is intended that the second and smaller flame, which may be called the "starter
light, should be always kept burning so that the converter may be always in a
condition to supply oil vapour to the main burner. If, however, the "
22
starter is
allowed to go out it may be reignited by heating the converter with an external flame,
and an arrangement for this purpose may be supplied with the lamp. The method
of lighting the main flame when the lamp is in working condition with the starter
alight varies with the form of converter used. With that in which the oil is kept at
a constant level the main flame may be started by opening a valve which admits the
vapour from the converter into the burner, the pilot flame being so arranged as to
ignite the issuing vapour. On closing the valve the main flame goes out and the oil
in converter is depressed; the amount of metallic surface in contact with oil in
converter may be reduced at the lower end so that when the level of the oil is depressed
there is less tendency to vapourisation. With that form of converter in which oil is
admitted in regulated quantities at upper end the main flame may be started by
simply opening the valve admitting the oil and extinguished by closing it; but it may
sometimes be advisable to introduce a valve between converter and burner which is
opened and shut at the same time as the oil valve.
Instead of using a valve to control the lighting and extinguishing of the lamp we
may effect the same results by raising and lowering the level of the oil in reservoir;
when the level is raised the level of oil in converter is also raised, or oil is allowed
to flow over into converter according as one form or other of converter is employed.
A convenient form of vapour valve consists of a cover of asbestos, metal, or other
suitable material which has its seat over the opening from converter; this cover
is attached to a metal valve rod passing through the end of a chamber enclosing
valve opposite to the valve seat, and which is actuated from outside; the vapour
passes into the chamber and through suitable channels to the burner. It is convenient
to arrange the valve rod so that by means of a spring or weight the valve cover will
not stay in any intermediato position but is kept either on the valve seat or at the
opposite end of chamber to close hermetically the hole through which the valve rod
passes.
To increase the efficiency and economy of the lamp we use the so called regenerative
principle, heating the air required to support combustion by passing it through
passages heated by the waste products of combustion which afterwards pass up a
chimney and a convenient form of burner to employ is an inverted argand of a
longer form than is usually employed for burning coal gas.. The oil vapour, is

page_text: admitted at the upper end and is allowed to mix with air in the argand or may be
mixed with it before it enters; sometimes we burn the vapour without previously
mixing it with air, and in this case the orifices in burner should be extremely small.
Instead of the argand burner one or more nipples of any convenient form may be
employed.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lamps for Burning Mineral and other Oils.
We, ALFRED THOMPSON, of 50 Old Broad Street, in the City of London, and JOHN
HUBERT DAVIES, of 14 Augustus Road, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineers, 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 :-
Our invention relates to improvements in lamps for burning mineral and other oils
without the use of a wick at the flame.
We are aware that attempts have been made to produce a lamp in which the
mineral oil is first vaporised and afterwards burnt at the orifices of a burner; but
none of these are of such a construction or provided with such easy arrangements for
lighting and extinguishing as to make them suitable for ordinary lighting purposes.
The present invention has for its object the economic production of light and heat
by the burning of the vapour of mineral oils with such arrangements that the lighting
and extinguishing of the lamp and its general manipulation is extremely easy.
We so arrange the lamp that the oil is supplied from a reservoir to a closed
chamber or tube where it is heated and boiled and its vapour carried from this
chamber or tube to a burner where it is ignited by a small flame which is kept
constantly burning. This small flame may either be the main flame burning low
by reason of the supply of vapour being almost cut off or it may be a separate
flame. The vapour before being burnt may be mixed with a certain quantity of air or
otherwise.
The said chamber or tube which is herein after called the converter may be heated
directly or through metallic attachments, adjustable or otherwise, by the flame of the
lamp or partly by the flame of the lamp and partly by a second flame produced by
part of the vapour from the converter or by vapour from a second converter or by a
wick burner or it may be heated entirely by the second flame. The converter may

page_text: be a cylindrical vessel with a number of metallic partitions inside, or containing a roll
of copper gauze, a bundle of copper wires or other material for forming a large
heating surface. The mass of metal of good heat conductivity in the converter
appears to be of advantage as it ensures a large reserve of heat for effecting the
iimmediate volatilisation of larger qauntities of oil which may be admitted when the
flame is to be increased in size. In one arrangement the oil from a reservoir, where
it is kept at a constant level by a bird fountain supply or equivalent arrangement, is
admitted to the lower end of the converter and attains a level therein dependent upon
the pressure of the vapour formed in the upper part of the converter. In another
arrangement the oil is admitted at a regulated rate to the upper end of the converter
and becomes vapourised as it passes downwards and is carried to the burner from the
lower end of converter; this arrangement prevents any accumulation of less easily
volatilisable oils in the converter. We also construct the converter so that the oil is
admitted to it in regulated quantities at the lower end, the vapour passing out from
above to the burner; or modified arrangements may be equivalently employed.
We prefer particularly with the constant level converter to construct the orifice or
orifices through which the vapours pass from the converter of a very small size so
that a good pressure of vapour has to be produced in the converter; with this
arrangement any differences in pressure due to the ebullition of the oil or to changes
in the height of the liquid in reservoir produce little effect on the rate of flow of
vapour to the burner.
In those converters where the oil is supplied in regulated quantities by the
adjustment of a valve or the like it is better to have the orifice for vapour of
comparatively large area so that the vapour is kept at an extremely low pressure this
prevents any driving back of the oil by any sudden abnormal ebullition which may
accidentally take place.
It is advisable to arrange the orifice from the converter at a higher level than that
of the oil in reservoir to prevent possible overflow.
In using that form of converter in which the oil is kept at an approximately
constant level it should be so arranged as to be uninfluenced by the air entering the
lamp; otherwise, as the lamp after starting gradually gets hotter and the incoming
air also hotter the converter is subjected to increasing temperatures with the result of
producing a larger quantity of vapour. With the other form of converter, however,
this is not so important as the supply of vapour mainly depends upon the regulated
supply of oil.
It is intended that the second or smaller flame, which may be called the "starter"
or "pilot" light, should be always kept burning so that the converter may be always
in a condition to supply oil vapour the smaller total heating power of the "starter"
being sufficient to keep the converter at the same temperature as the large flame
owing to the arrangements made for the greater concentration of the "starter" onto
the converter. If however the "starter 92
is allowed to go out it may be reignited by
heating the converter with an external flame, and an arrangement for this purpose
may be supplied with the lamp. Or a small quantity of oil may be allowed to run
into a suitable receptacle or burner with wick or otherwise and there ignited so as to
warm up the converter and start the lamp working in the ordinary way.
"
With
The method of lighting or turning up the main flame when the lamp is in working
condition with the starter alight varies with the form of converter used.
that in which the oil is kept at a constant level the main flame may be started or
turned up by opening a valve which admits the vapour from the converter into the
burner, the "pilot" flame igniting the issuing vapour. On closing the valve the
main flame goes out or goes down low if a bye pass is provided and the oil in
converter is temporarily or permanently depressed; the amount of metallic surface in
contact with oil in converter may be reduced at the lower end so that when the level
of the oil is depressed there is less tendency to vaporisation. This can be done by
making the lower surface of the metal where the vaporisation takes place of a slightly
conical form but if this surface is quite flat there is less variation in the level of oil in
converter as a slight depression in the oil takes it away from the heated metal. With
;

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 show a lamp in which oil is supplied to converter in regulated
quantities. Figure 1 being a vertical section and Figure 2 a sectional plan
through X X Figure 1.
The mineral oil is admitted to the lamp from a reservoir which is not shown through
the pipe A and the rate of flow is regulated by an adjustable valve preferably fixed at
the reservoir end of this supply tube. This valve is conveniently in the form of a
conical plug with a very long cone adjustable in a conical hole. The oil enters the
cylindrical converter C at its lower end and is vapourised at the lower surface of a flat
bottomed roll of copper gauze filling the space C by the heat conveyed to the
converter through the circular copper converter top D into which is screwed ; the
vapour passes upwards through the pipe E into the cap H and thence outwards
through the four branch tubes F to the argand G where it mixes with air admitted
through four segmental slots J in the top plate of the argand, the mixture passing
downwards and burning at the burner holes B.
If the slots J are omitted and no air allowed to mix with the vapour the burner
holes B must be made much smaller than indicated in the drawing. Air to feed the
flame enters the lamp under the hood O and passes inwards between the vertical
tubes M and then downwards, as shown by the dotted arrows, through different
passages and the perforated diaphragms to the upper side and through the passage
inside the argand to the lower side of the flame issuing from B, and also into the
argand as hereinbefore stated. The products of combustion pass under the deflector V
and upwards inside the reflector W through the body of the lamp N and vertical
tubes M into the chimney P. A few holes Y are drilled round the glass supporting
plate on lamp body N to admit a little air directly into the glass globe S. The glass
is supported on a ring R which is conveniently hinged and held up by a catch as

page_text: shown. The lamp is first started by the wick burner L preferably, in this case, filled
with methylated spirit; it is better to burn this for a few minutes with the glass
opened down so that the spirit flame passes upwards inside and around argand and
thoroughly warms this and the body of lamp as well as the converter. After this has
been burning for a few minutes the glass is shut up and by slightly opening valve oil
is admitted very slowly to converter and the sliding cylindrical shield Q dropped into
the position shown by dotted lines, this being effected by a lever attached to the fork
at the top of the rods X and moved from outside the lamp. The vapour of the oil is
ignited by the spirit lamp flame and burns downwards at the burner B between the
shield and the converter top D. A very small flame only is required with the shield
down for this "starter" 66
or pilot to keep the converter at a temperature sufficiently
high. As soon as the spirit lamp burns out the lamp may be started with full size
flame by raising the shield Q into the position shown in Figure 1 and opening the oil
valve to the required extent and the flame may be reduced to "starter" or "pilot"
size by simply reversing these operations. These two motions are generally produced
by one handle the lever which raises and lowers the shield opening and closing the
oil supply valve to the required extent as may be easily understood without further
description. When the full size flame is burning the converter is mainly heated by
radiation from this onto the copper converter top D.
22
כי
The exact vertical distance required between the surface where vaporisation takes
place in the converter and the point where heat is received depends, in this form as
in others, on the boiling temperature of the oil; the length shown in the figure is
intended for a paraffin oil with a moderately high boiling point.
This lamp may be used with a free passage for oil from reservoir into converter, the
level of oil in converter being kept at its normal position by the pressure of the vapour
produced by making the opening at the top of the tube E into the chamber H of a
small area.
This opening would be closed by a valve cover as hereinbefore described
when the starter
*
or pilot" was only left going, sufficient vapour for this being
supplied through a bye-pass as shown in Figure 7.
The converter in this form of lamp is by its position very little influenced by the
temperature of the incoming air, but it may be further protected by the top surface of
the converter top D being lowered inch and a deflector being fixed above it in the
same position and of the same shape as the upper surface shown in the Figure with a
small air space between the deflector and converter top.
Figure 3 shows a vertical section, and
Figure 4a half sectional plan on the line y, y, and a half sectional plan on the
line 2,2,
Figure 3, of a lamp in which a separate "starter" flame is employed. As
the lamp itself is similar in construction to that shown in Figures 1 and 2 it will only
be necessary to describe the converter and "starter" arrangement.
a is the tube by which the oil is supplied to the converter c shown more in detail
in Figure 5. As is shown this consists of an inclined cylinder which contains a roll
of wire gauze c¹ with some asbestos fibre c² loosely packed above it-a is another
tube filled with broken glass for part of its length which supplies oil to the "starter"²
which consists of a Bunsen burner covered at its upper end with a wire gauze cap in
the usual manner. The oil descending by the pipe a¹ is boiled by the Hame of this
burner when once started, and its vapour escapes at the jet beneath the burner and
só maintains itself as well as keeps the converter c hot. "e is a pipe leading from the
bottom of the converter e to supply vapour to the main argand burner: it passes up
through the centre of the burner and communicates with branch pipes at the top as
shown.
C
The "starter" is kept constantly alight and the main flame is produced by opening
the oil supply valve; the oil thus admitted is vaporised in the converter and the
vapour issuing from the burner holes bis ignited by the "starter.". A small quantity
of oil may be constantly admitted to the main converter so as to maintain a small
flame at the burner for the purpose of keeping this warm.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a third form of lamp. a is the tube supplying oil
to the converter c, which is heated through the metal block d. The tube a is protected

page_text: by the casing tube a¹ which also supports the converter and burner. The vapour
generated in the converter passes through the holes e into the mixing chamber g
around the circular block d and thence escapes mixed with air through the burner
holes . Air to support combustion is admitted under the hood o and through the
tube o at the bottom of the globe. In this lamp there is no separate "starter" flame,
the main flame turned low serving to keep the converter heated. In order to deflect
the main flame when turned low downwards around the block d we provide means
which are not shown in the drawings for closing the opening o' at the bottom of the
globe. is a cup containing asbestos wick into which a little oil is allowed to run
through the tube a and converter e when it is first desired to start the lamp; this is
ignited and as it burns up the converter becomes sufficiently heated to keep oil
vapourising.
Alternatively to admitting air to the underside of the flame through the tube o¹
we may provide a number of holes y round the glass supporting plate which allow
air to flow downwards just inside the glass, these air currents curving upwards and
meeting the underside of flame. In this case the flame would, when turned low,
be somewhat deflected downwards against the sides of the block d by closing the
holes y.
In both these methods the starter or "pilot" flame is sufficient to keep
the converter hot by reason of its being concentrated on to the converter base.
Figure 7 is a section of one form of vapour valve; it consists of a valve cover c
in the shape of a ball attached to the valve rod and sliding vertically onto one or
other of the valve seats at top or bottom. P is a bye-pass for vapour to keep the
smaller or
starter flame going. H is the cap, E the central vapour tube, and F the
branch tubes shown in Figure 1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:
1. The combination with a lamp supplied with the vapour of mineral or like
oils from a heated converter, of a "starter" or "pilot" flame so arranged that such
converter is thereby kept heated when the lamp is not in use substantially as
described.
2. A lamp in which there is a separate "starter" flame by which the converter is
kept heated and which is so situated that it lights the vapour when turned on to the
main burner substantially as described.
3. In regenerative lamps of this class, protecting the converter from the heated
incoming air substantially as described.
4. The lamp substantially as described and shown in Figures 1 and 2.
5. The lamp substantially as described and shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5.
6. The lamp substantially as described and shown in Figure 6.
Dated this 20th day or August 1000.
CARPMAEL &
Agents.