IMPROVEMENTS IN GASELIERS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Potts, of Handsworth, in the County
of Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GASELIERS."
Sealed the 4th April 1868, and dated the 9th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Potts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th October
1867.
I, WILLIAM POTTS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GASELIERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the superseding of the ordinary sliding
gaselier, in which the moveable or sliding part is supported by chains and
balance weights, and constructing a gaselier in which the rising and falling is
produced without the risk of accident from the breaking of the balance chains
to which ordinary gaseliers are liable. Gaseliers constructed according to
my Invention do not require the water cup which is the source of frequent
accident in ordinary gaseliers.

page_text: In making a gaselier according to my Invention, I construct and arrange
the parts in the following manner :-The fixed pipe or tube by which the gas
is conveyed to the gaselier, and which is secured at its upper end to the
ceiling of the room, has a quick threaded screw formed on its lower part, the
said screw extending up the said tube a distance equal to the range of motion
which the gaselier is required to have. The said screw, besides being very
oblique or quick- threaded, may have two or more threads; upon the said
screw a screw nut or screw box works, which screw nut or screw box is fixed
on the top of a tube, the lower end of which is secured to the body carrying
the branches of the gaselier. An ornamental outer casing surrounds the fixed
tube, the said outer casing being of sufficient diameter to permit the screw
nut or screw box to work between it and the fixed tube, and an ornamental
easing surrounds the tube fixed to the screw nut or screw box, the last named
casing being of sufficient diameter to permit the first named casing to pass
between it and the tube fixed to the screw nut or screw box. The lower end
of the fixed tube has a flange which prevents the screw nut or screw box from
passing off the said tube. A vulcanized india-rubber or flexible tube situated
within the tube connected with the screw nut or screw box is securely fitted
at its upper end to the bottom of the fixed tube, and is also securely fitted at
its lower end to the body of the gaselier from which the brauches are supplied
with gas. This india-rubber or flexible tube is sufficiently long to permit the
lower part of the gaselier to descend to the greatest required extent without
stretching, and when the gaselier is in its raised or collapsed condition the
said india-rubber or flexible tube coils up within the body of the gaselier. In
order to raise the moveable part of the gaselier, it is only necessary to give it
à rotatory motion in the direction proper to raise the screw nut or screw box
upon the screw, and in order to lower the moveable part of the gaselier it is
turned in the opposite direction. To prevent the moveable part of the gaselier
running down upon the screw a series of depressions is made in the screw,
and a spring catch passing through the screw nut is made to engage in one of
these depressions and fix the gaselier in the required position. The upper
part of the india-rubber or flexible tube is not secured directly to the lower
part of the fixed tube but to a case or collar turning gas-tight upon the lower
end of the said fixed tube. A pin on the outside of the case or collar engages
in a vertical slot in the tube connected with the screw nut or screw box, so
that when the said tube rotates it gives a rotatory motion to the said case or
collar, and prevents the twisting of the india-rubber or flexible tube during
the rising or falling of the moveable part of the gaselier.

page_text: In place of the flexible tube described, the fixed and moveable parts of the
gaselier may be connected by means of a tube working through a stuffing
box in conjunction with the raising and lowering by means of a screw, as
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Potts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
POTTS, of Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Potts, Her special licence that I, the said William Potts, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Potts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GASELIERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Potts, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
per-
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Potts, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following'
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has for its object the suspending of the ordinary gaselier
(which generally has the moveable or sliding part supported by chains and
balance weights) by so constructing the gaselier that the rising and falling
is produced without the risk of accident from the breaking of the balance

page_text: chains to which the ordinary gaseliers are liable, gaseliers constructed
according to my Invention do not require the water cup which is the source
of frequent accident in ordinary gaseliers.
In making a gaselier according to my Invention I construct and arrange
the parts substantially in the manner herein-after described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in elevation the internal mechanism of a gaselier
constructed according to my Invention, the fixed and moveable outer casings
being indicated in dotted lines. The other Figures represent detached parts
of the same on a larger scale as herein-after explained. The same letters
of reference are employed to indicate the same parts in the several Figures
of the Drawing.
a is the fixed pipe or tube for conveying the gas to the gaselier, the said
pipe being connected to the ceiling of the room by the ball-and-socket
joint b, c. The ball-and-socket joint and a portion of the pipo a
are shown separately in elevation and vertical section in Figure 2, and in
plan and horizontal section in Figure 3. The ball-and-socket joint is
provided with stop pins d, e, for the purpose herein-after explained. At
the bottom of the pipe a is a stuffing box f, the construction of which will
be best seen by referring to the elevation and section Figure 4. To the
said stuffing box the stationary outer casing 9 of the gaselier is fixed, and on
the bottom of the said casing g is a screw box or collar k; h is the moveable
part or body of the gaselier carrying the arms or branches i. In the interior
of and covered by the said part or body h is a quick threaded screw Z which
is capable of working through the fixed screw box or collar k. This screw
is hollow or tubular, and has connected to its upper end a small pipe m which
works through the stuffing box f (see Figure 1); the screw nut k and a
portion of the screw Z and pipe m are represented in elevation and section in
Figure 5; the base of the screw has fixed in it the plug p on which the
gas box or chamber n works; the said plug p is ground air-tight into the
gas chamber n.
A side elevation and vertical section of the gas chamber n
and plug p are represented in Figure 6, and a plan and horizontal section
of the said parts are represented in Figure 7. A series of holes q is made
in the plug p through which the gas passes to the chamber n, and from the
said chamber to the pipes r passing through the arms i of the gaselier. On
the lower part of the plug p on which the gas chamber n and parts connected
therewith are supported are fixed a washer and a screwed collar p. By the
arrangement of the parts it will be seen that the gas entering the pipe a by

page_text: the ball-and-socket joint (b, c, passes down the small pipe m and hollow
screw and plug p to the gas chamber n, and from thence by the pipes r
to the branches or arms of the gaselier. By means of the stuffing box f
the escape of gas between the pipes m and a is prevented, and by means of
the ground plug p-the escape of gas on its passing from the hollow screw?
to the gas chamber n is prevented'; at the bottom of the ornamental body
and fixed to the bottom of the plug p of the gas chamber n, in the manner
represented in Figure 6, is an ornamental termination or handles to be used
for raising or lowering the sliding part of the gaselier. When it is wished
to raise the moveable body h, i, of the gaselier, a rotatory motion in a
direction proper to make the screw
to the terminal ornament or knob
hand thereto or by the insertion of a
ornament or knob s; by giving motion to
one hand and holding one of the branches
hollow screw is raised through the screw
moveable lower part of the gaselier, the part of the said gaselier sliding
over the part g. As the screw / rises the small pipe m also rises through
the stuffing box f; by giving the terminal ornament or knobs a rotatory
motion in the contrary direction, the screw / descends in the screw box k,
and the pipe m descends in the stuffing box f and the moveable parts h, i,
of the gaselier are lowered. After the height of the gaselier has been
adjusted the lever t is removed. When the rotation of the screw 1 first
commences the casing 9, pipe a, and lower part 6 of the ball-and-socket
joint are carried with it. When however the said parts g, a, b, have moved
through about half a circle the stop pins e on the said part 6 come against
the cross screws d, on the fixed part c of the joint, when their further motion
is arrested, and by the continued rotation of the screw the moveable part
of the gaselier is raised or lowered as herein-before described. My improve-
ments may be applied to gaseliers without ball-and-socket connections at
the ceiling of the room.
advance in the screw box k is given
either by the direct application of the
cranked lever tin a hole in the said
the said ornament or knobs with
by means of the other hand the
box or collar k, and with it the
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention,
but I claim as my Invention the improvements in gascliers herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say:-The
combination of a hollow screw and stuffing box and the parts connected

page_text: therewith substantially as described and illustrated, whereby on the rotation
of the said screw the moveable part of the gaselier is raised or lowered
without the arms and body of the lamp moving round with the screw.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Potts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
. H. H. MURDOCH,.
7, Staple: Inn.
WILLIAM POTTS. (L.S.)