IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS LAMPS
Year: 1853

page_text: time prescribed by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Stephen Norris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1853.
STEPHEN NORRIS, of New Peter Street, Horseferry Road, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS LAMPS" to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in constructing the bottoms of gas
lamps with a hinged piece of glass, to enable instruments to be intro-
duced into the interior of the lamp for lighting and extinguishing the
gas in the burner; and, secondly, in the use and employment of an
improved portable instrument, in which a lighted lamp is placed, and
the use thereof in combination with certain parts which are attached
to the gas burner which is inside the lamp, for the purpose of
enabling the gas to be lighted and extinguished more readily and effec-

page_text: the
tively than by the means hitherto employed for those purposes; and
peculiar feature in this Invention consists in attaching to the gas
burner a piece of metal, in which holes are formed for inserting a stoj
pin into one or other of such said holes, for the purpose of regulating
and adjusting the extent to which the cock shall be opened, and thereby
insuring the proper action thereof and quantity of gas passing through
the same; the turning of the cock is eflected by aflixing a lever upon
e square part of the cock, so that by first pushing up the hinged piece
of glass with an instrument covered with some soft substance or mate-
rial, to prevent breaking of the glass, and by-afterwards introducing
the gas lighting instrument into the lamp and pushing. the end thereof
against the lever on the cock in one direction, the cock will be opened
and the gas thereby allowed to escape; and by applying the openings
in the upper part of the portable gas lighting instrument the gas will
be ignited by coming into contact with the flame from the lamp
attached thereto. The construction of this instrument is somewhat
similar to that hitherto employed for lighting gas lamps, excepting that
according to this Invention the arrangement and construction of the
instrument is much simplified and improved, and the extinguishing of
the gas may be effected by pushing the lever upon the cock in an oppo-
site direction. Or instead of the foregoing mode of extinguishing the
gas in lamps, the same may be effected in the following manner, that
is to say, by placing within that part of the gas burner which is near
to the cork thereof a wheel constructed with vanes, so that as the gas
comes into contact with such said vanes it will impart rotary motion to
such said wheel; and to the outer end of the axis of this wheel a small
drum is fixed, to which one end of a cord or chain is fixed, the other
end of such said cord or chain being fixed to another similar drum
placed below the other one, and when the gas is first lighted the cord
or chain is all wound upon the lower drum, and as the gas passes
through the burner to supply the place of that which is consumed the
upper drum receives rotary motion and unwinds the cord or chain from
the lower drum on to the upper one. And, assuming that it is required
to burn the gas for eight hours or any other determined length of time,
the speed of the upper drum is so arranged and adjusted as that by the

page_text: time the cord or chain is all wound thereon it engages a piece of
mechanism which operates upon the cock so as to shut it off, and then
by means of a spring or other suitable contrivance the lever upon the
cock is again placed in the proper position for the cock to be again
opened for lighting the gas, as before stated. Thus it will be seen that
by rendering the operation of extinguishing the gas self-acting, the
time required for performing that operation by hand is saved, and thus
considerable economy in inbor is effected. It is to be understood that
as this mode of extinguishing gas lamps is dependent upon the motive
power of the gas, no claim therefore is made to the precise mode herein
set forth and described for effecting the same, but any other suitable
arrangement may be employed for that purpose, as the peculiar feature
in this part of the Invention consists in rendering such extinguishing
operation self-acting.