IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Curtis, of Boston, in the County of
Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, of the United States of
America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS."-A com-
munication from Thomas Scott Williams and Phillip Sidney
Page, residents at Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 9th June 1874, and dated the 2nd January 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Frederick Curtis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 2nd January 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CURTIS, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts,
of the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria
to grant unto me my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
it is a communication to me from Thomas Scott Williams and Phillip

page_text: Sidney Page, both of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, of the United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Curtis, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention to be as follows, reference being had to
the Drawings accompanying this explanation, in which Figure 1 is a
vertical section of the first portion of this Invention taken in the
line x, x, Figure 2; Figure 2 being an external view of the same.
°
The object of the first portion of this Invention is to obtain a lamp
for railroad cars, steamboats, etc., etc., which will prevent the escape or
overflow of oil, which may be readily removed for the purpose of
cleaning, filling, etc., and which will be firmly retained in position
while in use. And the first portion of the Invention consists in the
employment or use of a socket or case which receives the fountain or
reservoir of the lamp, the fountain or reservoir being retained properly
in the socket by means of springs or guides, and the bottom of the
fountain or reservoir resting on projections so as to admit of the oil
which overflows from the lamp passing down into the bottom of the
socket or case.
A represents a case or socket which may be constructed of metal and
of cylindrical form, and having brackets a attached to it by which it is
secured to the fixture designed to support it. The bottom a¹ of this
case or socket is of concave form, as shown in Figure 1, and at the edge
of the bottom a there is a horizontal ledge 6 which extends all around
it and has projections c attached to it, three or more of the latter being
used and placed at any convenient distances apart.
In the upper part of the case or socket A there are attached springs
or guides B which may be simply elastic or fixed plates attached to the
inner side of the socket or outer side of the fountain, or both. These
springs are bent or curved so as to project outward a short distance from
the inner socket, as shown clearly in Figure 1, or fixed guides may be
used instead of springs.
C represents the fountain of the lamp which may be of glass, metal, or
other suitable material or materials. This fountain is of cylindrical form
or of a form corresponding to that of the case or socket A, and of such
diameter as to press snugly against the springs B when fitted in the socket,
or to be held by fixed guides or supports on the socket or fountain. The

page_text: lower end of the fountain rests on the projections c, and the upper
of the fountain is about flush with the top of the socket. The fountain
may be provided with the usual coal oil or any other suitable burner D.
Instead of the springs B fixed guides or bearings may be used. These
however would be equivalents of the springs and may be attached to the
socket or the fountain or to both. The springs B or guides retain or
hold the fountain C snugly within the case or socket A, preventing it.
from rattling or jarring therein, while the oil that overflows from the
fountain is allowed to pass down the space d between the fountains and
the case and underneath the fountain into the receptacle e formed by
the concave bottom a. The projections c admit of the oil passing
underneath the fountain as they keep it a little distance up from the
ledge b. If the fountain rested directly upon the said ledge the oil
could not pass down into the chamber below it.
The fountain it will be seen may be readily fitted into and removed
from the case or socket A for the purpose of filling, cleaning, etc., etc.,
and no drip oil will be drawn out from the case or socket A, as the
former will all settle down into the chamber formed by the concave
bottom a', and a person sitting underneath the lamp will be perfectly
protected from drip oil, as none can pass the upper edge of the case
or socket.
The second portion of these improvements are shown in vertical section
in Figure 3, and in horizontal section in Figure 4.
The Drawings accompanying this explanation represent at A¹ the
the receiver or case which contains and supports the oil reservoir of the
lamp which is shown at B³, this receiver constituting the prominent
feature of the Invention comprising the first portion of these improve-
ments above-named, and being composed, in the present instance, of a
metallic cup C₁ and two enclosing rings E¹, E³, which stiffen and
strengthen it, and to which the arms or brackets are attached by which
the lamp is supported in position from the ceiling or wall of a car or
apartment.
F¹ in the Drawing represents an annular frame with peripherial
openings of sufficient size to admit the requisite amount of air to the
burner, which is shown at A³, this frame serving to support the globe of
the lamp which is shown in part at J¹, and being hinged upon one side
to the edge of the ring E', the openings of said frame F¹ before-named.

page_text: serving, in addition to their functions of admitting air to the burner, to
fulfil important purposes to be herein-after explained.
The ring E¹ is formed with an internal concentric rebate or shelf L'
upon which the bottom of the globe J¹ rests, a circular or bow-shaped
spring N¹ being hinged at its middle to the rear side of the ring and
enclosing the lower part or periphery of such globe, as shown in the
Drawings, the free ends of the spring N¹ latching into a double notched
opening O¹ formed in the front of the ring, in which aperture they
lock themselves by their own inherent elasticity, thereby confining
the globe securely in place upon or within the ring.
The frame F¹ is hinged to the ring E' or the top of the receiver, as
shown at K³ in the Drawings, or in any suitable manner which permits
the ring and with it the globe to be swung away from over the burner
and to one side of the latter when trimming, filling, or lighting the lamp
is necessary, this mode of attaching the globe to the lamp by means of
the ring or its equivalent being seized of very important advantages in
that it is very cheap of manufacture, being cast in one piece, allows
instant and ready access to the lamp burner, is very strong and durable,
does not intercept the rays of light, and leaves the burner unobstructed.
"
Heretofore in the construction of kerosene lamp burners in general
the attachment of the globe or chimney to the lamp has been effected by
securing it to the " cone or other prominent and important part of the
burner which is removed with the chimney or globe in lighting or
trimming the wick, while in the present device the support of the globe
is entirely separate and independent from the burner, and if removed
altogether from the lamp the burner would be efficient with an ordinary
chimney. The wick elevating shaft and button have heretofore in
kerosene lamps in general been placed below the chimney support.
Heretofore the perforated metallic shield which supports the globe
has been formed with a narrow notch to enclose the wick elevating
shaft while the lamp reservoir has not been placed in the receiver in any
particular position as it has no guides to determine its position, and it
has been found after much practical experience with these lamps that
as the perforated shield or globe support is lowered into place over the
wick tube after trimming or lighting the wick the shaft is often struck
and bent out of place and the burner disabled, and the shield and globe
will not drop to their proper position unless the shaft should coincide

page_text: FREDERICK CURTIS. (L.S.)