Safety Lock with Pneumatic Release for Miners' Lamps.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 16th Mar..
1895
Safety Lock with Pneumatic Release for Miners' Lamps.
1, ALBERT FRANÇOIS, Manufacturer, of Seraing, Belgium, 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 :--
This invention relates to a safety lock for miners lamps, and consists of a
fastening device which can be released only by the aid of pneumatic pressure.
On the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a lamp to which my safety lock is applied shewn
in the closed position.
Figure 2 is a similar view of the locking device shewn in the unlocked
position.
Figure 3 a sectional elevation through line A-B.
Figure 4 a plan of the part of the lamp where the lock is secured.
On Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 is represented a modification of the stop of the
locking pin.
Figure 5 being a vertical section of the lamp through line C. D.
Figure 6 a vertical section through E-F. of Figure 8.
Figure 7, a horizontal section through G-H. of Figure 5.
Figures 8 and 9 are plan views of the fastening of the lock.
n
In the oil reservoir bis arranged a cylinder a enclosing the mechanism of the
lock. Within this cylinder is placed a piston e pressed upwards by a spring d, and
having a rod i working through the cover of the cylinder a for the purpose of
securing the locking by entering the flange of the lamp. Communication is
established between the inside of the cylinder and the outer air by means of a
passage o which is preferably made zigzag in order to prevent the insertion of any
tool in the cylinder. A spring-catch with its upper part n' bent at a right angle
is secured on the outer side of the oil reservoir and serves to keep the locking
apparatus in the position shewn on Figure 2, i.e. when the lamp is open.
The beut
part of the spring-catch enters the side of the lamp and comes directly over the
rod i, when the piston c is pressed down as shewn on Figure 2. The spiral spring d
may be made sufficiently strong to secure the lock of the lamp from being opened
except by high pneumatic pressure on the piston, and thus to prevent the workmen
from opening their lamps by means of hand air-pumps.
In use, the lamp being closed, if a sufficiently strong pneumatic pressure is
applied through the passage o to depress the piston c against the resistance of the
spiral spring d, the rod i descending with the piston passes completely out of the
flange / of the lamp. As soon as the rod i has passed the end n' of the spring
catch n, this end n slides over the rod and keeps it in the position shewn on
Figure 2. The safety lock is thus released and the lamp can be opened and
attended to as required.
When it is desired to again secure the lock, the two parts of the lamp are
screwed up, the spring catch n is pushed aside, and its end n' being withdrawn
releases the pin i which, by the reaction of the spiral spring d against the piston c,
is projected into a corresponding cavity formed to receive it in the flange h of the
lamp by which means the locking is effected.
In the modification shewn on Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, the spring catch n n' in
the previously described construction is replaced by a pivoted plate or catch s

page_text: arranged horizontally in a small recess in the top of the oil reservoir, and provided
with a beak s. This catch s turns around its pivot t, and by the arrangement of a
coil-spring having one end, 4, (Figs. 6 and 8) fixed to the catch s, and the other
end, (Fig. 6) fixed on the lamp, tends always to bring the beak s¹ over the hole
formed for the passage of the pin .
In this modification the operation is the same as in the arrangement shewn on
Figures 1 to 4. When the piston c is depressed, as soon as the pin i has passed
below the catch the beak slides over the pin i and holds it down, as shewn on
Figures 6 and 8; the pin is thus disengaged from the flange of the upper part
of the lamp which can then be unscrewed and opened. After the lamp has been
attended to, and before the two parts are again screwed together, the pin i must be
released by removing the catch s from the position shewn on Figure 8 to the
position shewn on Figure 9. Then the pin i projects above the edge p of the
lamp, but the extent of this projection is such that it is only at the last turn of
the screw, that it will enter and engage the flange of the upper part of the
lamp.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed i declare that what I
claim is :-
In miners' lamps, a safety lock capable of being opened only by pneumatic
pressure consisting of a pin i, forming the rod of a piston e impelled upwards by
a spring d, said piston being movable in a cylinder communicating with the
outer air, in combination with a spring n n¹ or a pivoted spring catch & s
forming a stop for the pin i when depressed, as and for the purposes specified.
Dated this Twenty-ninth day of January 1895