IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Crossley, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND CONNECTED WITH MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Crossley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th December 1880.
"
WILLIAM CROSSLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS."
This Invention has for its object to construct a miner's safety lamp, and to
construct or arrange parts in connection therewith, so that the flame cannot
communicate with the air or gases surrounding the lamp, and so that such gases
cannot be ignited by it however inflammable they may be."
The improved lamp is entirely closed excepting an outlet at the top for the
products of combustion, and the air required for combustion is supplied independently
of the air or gas immediately surrounding the lamp. An ordinary or any suitable
oil vessel and wick, or a candle and holder, are employed for producing the light,
and a closed vessel or reservoir forming part of the lamp is used for containing a
supply of fresh air under pressure to keep up combustion whilst the lamp is being
carried from the surface or from a lighting station to the coal face. For the
further supply of air to the several lamps used in a mine, according to one
modification piping is to be led down from the surface or other suitable station,
and to have branch pipes connected to it as may be required; and such branch
pipes are to be connected to the several lamps by flexible tubing. The air to be
forced through the piping by suitable pumping apparatus, and if such air is forced
with considerable pressure sufficient quantities of it can be passed through small
pipes and through small passages connected with the lamps.
Each lamp is by preference made with two glass cylinders placed concentrically
and with a small space between them; and air is led into the space between the
cylinders for the purpose of keeping the outer cylinder cool, this air being admitted
at the bottom, and being at the top led amongst the products of combustion so as
to mix with and pass out with the latter, and thereby reduce their temperature.
The inner cylinder is fitted with a perforated metal cap, and a larger metal cup

page_text: with one or more outlets covers the outer cylinder, and is connected by tie rods to
the metal base, which last contains the reservoir for compressed air and the oil and
wick vessel or candle holder. The inlet air passages are fitted with suitable stop-
cocks or valves and with couplings for attachment to the air supplying pipes or
tubes.
Flexible bags and portable receivers, of various sizes, for containing air may be
provided for attachment to the lamps, and to be carried about with them; or
receivers of considerable size may be mounted on trucks and be moved to convenient
positions in a mine where the reservoirs or lamps may be filled up; or a group
of lamps may be supplied by means of flexible tubes from such a mounted receiver.
When the portable or movable truck receivers or compressed-air vessels are used a
compressed-air vessel in the base of the lamp itself may be dispensed with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Crossley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd June
1881.
WILLIAM CROSSLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH MINERS' SAFETY LAMPS."
My said Invention has for its object to construct a miner's safety lamp, and to
construct or arrange parts in connection therewith so that the flame cannot com-
municate with the air or gases surrounding the lamp, and so that such gases cannot
be ignited by it however inflammable they may be.
My improved lamp is entirely closed, excepting an outlet, or a number of very
small outlets at the top for the products of combustion, and the air required for
combustion is supplied independently of the air or gas immediately surrounding
the lamp. An ordinary, or any suitable oil vessel and wick, or a candle and
holder, are employed for producing the light, and a closed vessel or reservoir is
in one modification used for containing a supply of fresh air under pressure to keep
up combustion whilst the lamp is being carried from the surface or from a lighting
station to the coal face. For the further supply of air to the several lamps used
in a mine piping is, according to one modification, to be led down from the surface
or from any suitable station, and to have branch pipes connected to it as may be
required; and such branch pipes are to be connected to the several lamps by
flexible tubing. The air is to be forced through the piping by suitable pumping
apparatus, and if such air is forced with considerable pressure sufficient quantities
of it can be passed through small pipes and through small passages formed in the
lamps. Vessels for compressed-air in the bases of the lamps themselves may be
dispensed with when the air is supplied to the lamps by piping or by means of
portable receivers or holders, as hereinafter explained.
I prefer to construct each lamp as hereinafter particularly described and as
shown on the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings, on which Figure 1 is
a plan, and Figure 2 is an elevation; Figure 3 is an inverted sectional plan of the
top or cap of the lamp, and Figure 4 is a sectional plan, as with the top or cap cut
away, whilst Figure 5 is a vertical section. In these Figures the same reference,
numerals, are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The lamp is constructed with two glass cylinders 11, 12, placed concentrically,
and with a small space 13 between them, and air is led into the space 13 between
the cylinders for the purpose of keeping the outer cylinder 11 cool, this air being
admitted at the bottom, and being at the top led amongst the products of com-
bustion so as to mix with and pass out with the latter, and thereby reduce their
temperature. The cap of the lamp is made with a hollow chamber 14, and with
cylindrical flanges 15, 16, for being jointed or cemented to the tops of the glass
cylinders 11, 12, and the bottom cap or chamber 14 is made with perforations 17
communicating with the interior of the inner glass cylinder 12 and with other
perforations 18 communicating with the annular space 13 between the two glass
cylinders. The products of combustion entering by the perforations 17, and the
air passing up the space 13 entering by the perforations 18 become mixed in the
hollow cap 14 and pass off together through a series of small perforations 19
made in the top of the cap. The cap is connected by screw nuts and tie rods 20
to a metal plate 21 which is formed with flanges 22, 23, for being jointed or
cemented to the bottoms of the glass cylinders 11, 12, aud this plate 21 is hinged
to the base 24 of the lamp, to which base it can be secured by a button or catch 25
made with a hole for a padlock. The base 24 is in a cylindrical form, and is made
with an inner cylindrical case 26 so fixed to the top of the base or outer case 24

page_text: as to leave a space 27 between it and the latter, round it and beneath it. The
inner case 26 is the oil vessel, and is fitted with a wick tube 28 and wick-raising
pinion 29, the spindle 30 of which last passes through to the outside of the outer
case 24, and the vessel is also provided with a filling inlet and screw plug 31.
A three-way stopcock 32 is fixed to the base or case 24, this stopcock being formed
with two nozzles for the attachment of flexible tubing, and being in communication
with the air space 27 within the case. Tubes 33 fixed from the bottom to the top
of the oil vessel 26 allow air from the space 27 to pass up into the space 13
between the two glass cylinders 11, 12, and similar tubes 34 allow air to pass from
the space 27 up into the space within the inner glass cylinder 12 to supply the
burner. Small open ended caps 35 are placed over the tops of the tubes 34 to
distribute the air, and a wire-gauze dome 36 is added for further equalising the
distribution. In some cases a shell of brass or other metal may be placed so as to
cover the upper half of the glass cylinder 11, or the glass cylinders 11, 12, may be
made of about half the height shown in the Drawing, and the part above that be
entirely of metal.
Flexible bags and portable receivers, of various sizes, for containing air may be
provided for attachment to the lamps, and to be carried about with them when the
lamps are of a kind like that shown in the Drawing, which is not constructed for
containing a supply of compressed air in itself. Or receivers of considerable size
may be mounted on trucks and be moved to convenient positions in a mine, and
a group of lamps may be supplied by means of flexible tubes from such a mounted
receiver, or more portable vessels may be filled from it.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The constructing of a miner's safety lamp with two glass cylinders, and so
that fresh air may pass up between them into a hollow cap, into which also the
products of combustion pass substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
2. The arranging or combining together of the parts of a miner's safety lamp,"
substantially in the improved manner and for the purposes herein before described
with reference to the Figures on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
3. The combination, consisting of the lamp with its improved constructive
details, and of piping and vessels or reservoirs for supplying air to the lamp indé-
pendently of the atmosphere immediately surrounding it, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Crossley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM CROSSLEY. (L.S.)