IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Henry Emmens, of 8, Old Jewry, in the
City of London, Scientific Referee, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT."
Sealed the 12th August 1873, and dated the 15th February 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Henry Emmens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, on
the 15th February 1873.
I, STEPHEN HENRY EMMENS, of 8, Old Jewry, in the City of London,
; Scientific Referee, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT," to be as
follows:-
This my present Invention relates to further improvements in Letters
Patent granted to me on the 16th day of August 1872, No. 2453, the
novelty of which consisted, first, in the employment as fuel of the
vapours or spray of inflamable liquids or viscid substances combined
with atmospheric air or other oxodizing gas in such a manner that no

page_text: explosive mixture is formed until the moment of combustion; secondly,
the employment of the same vapours or sprays as illuminating agents.
As this my present Invention is designed to embrace the further
developement of the Letters Patent herein-before recited, I will proceed
to describe the same in combination with the principle of the Invention 5
previously described, so that the essential features of the whole of the
apparatus both as to heat and light may be presented in their entirety,
first, in their application (as an example) to an ordinary steam boiler as
a heating medium for generating steam; and secondly, to portable or
fixed lamps as a medium for illuminating or lighting.
]
The liquid or substance to be employed as fuel, I place in the closed
receptacle or fuel tank, as previously described in my former Patent,
such tank being provided as therein described with the inlet and outlet
pipes for air or gases. The inlet pipe of this vessel is provided with a
gauze vent or rose terminating below the level of the liquid. The vapour
or spray is produced by means of a current of the waste gases intercepted
at some convenient place during their exit from the furnace, and
conveyed by the inlet pipe into the fuel tank, where they become
impregnated with the petroleum or hydrocarbon contained therein.
In some cases a jet of steam of carbonic acid or other supporter of
combustion may be added to or substituted for this current of waste
gases, as also may a current of atmospheric air where there is no danger
of explosion resulting from the premature mixture of air and vapour or
spray. The vapour or spray thus produced is then passed by the vapour
tube to the mouth of the furnace, during which a separate pipe is
passing air or other oxidizing agent to the same point; but instead of
the air and vapour proceeding direct into the furnace, as previously
described in my former Patent, I cause them to terminate in a novel
description of apparatus fitting air-tight in the entrance of the fire-
chamber of the furnace. This apparatus consists of a hollow structure
which is divided into two chambers by a diaphragm, which together
with the inside wall or plate of the structure is provided with tubes or
perforations in such a manner that the two compartments communicate
with each other direct into the furnace. To the outer chamber of the
fire-door the vapour tube is attached, and to the inner the air tube, sọ
that when the apparatus is set to work a blast of air and vapour may be
directed into the furnace mixed in any desired proportions by a suitable

page_text: arrangement of regulating valves which may be actuated by hand or
automatically by a throttle valve and lever in connection with a pressure
guage or safety valve fixed to the boiler, by which means the pressure in
the boiler will be the medium for governing and regulating the admission
of the gases of combustion to the furnace, so as to diminish or increase
the flow of the same thereto in accordance with the pressure of steam
the boiler is designed to carry. Where, however, the supply thus
produced is insufficient for the full working of the furnace, it may be
aided by mechanical means being used to draw a current of waste gases
from the exit, and to propel the same through the fuel tank and vapour
tube. This may be effected by a jet of steam direct from the boiler or
the exhaust of the engine being conducted into the exit of the furnace
through a turbine or similar apparatus, by means of which it is made
to turn a fan or other equivalent for the purpose of creating the desired

page_text: through the central or smaller pipe from the automatic supply of the
same from below; the two gases thus emitted when ignited produce a
brilliant flame.
Third. The lamp designed for burning spirit consists in constructing
an outer chamber in] the base of the lamp for containing spirit. Tho
interior of this basement is provided with an outer and inner chamber,
to each of which the air has free access. The spirit chamber is supplied
with induction pipes containing absorbant material, which extend in tho
form of a perforated disc over the annular space of the outer air chamber.
The absorbtion of spirit by the wick causes air passing through the wick
to become impregnated with hydrocarbon. The central air tube or
chamber conveys the air to a point above the saturated wick. The
burner of the lamp from its base, which embraces the two air spaces,
projects upwards in the form of a cone, the apex of which terminates
in a burner of the argand type; within the conical space formed by this
burner the central air tube projects. Thus at the time of using the
lamp the air of combustion rushes up the central tube into the
conical space of the burner to its narrowest point, and the air in the
annular space rushes up through the perforated tubes containing the
absorbant material saturated with hydrocarbon spirit, which being
impregnated thereby when passing the apex of the burner before being
ejected therefrom becomes commingled with the gases of combustion
in a manner similar to the steam and water of a "Giffard" injector; the
two gases from this point pass through the burner where combustion
takes place and a brilliant flame when ignited results,
3rd. For purposes of signal lights and occasions where great brilliancy
of illuminating power is required I cither employ a vaporizing current of
oxygen in the manner explained respecting heavy hydrocarbon lamps,
or I use a vapour and air tube and direct the two jets upon a picce of
lime or "dolonate," when if a light be applied very intense combustion
ensues and an illumination comparable to that of the oxyhydrogen light
is produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Henry Emmens in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
HENRY EMMENS, of 8, Old Jewry, in the City of London, Scientific
Referee, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Henry Emmens, Her special
licence that I, the said Stephen Henry Emmens, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Henry Emmens,
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 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Henry Emmens, my exe-
cutors 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stephen Henry Emmens, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say :-
The further improvements upon the grant of Letters Patent to me on
the 16th day of August 1872, No. 2453, mentioned in my Provisional
Specification of this present Patent, and which formed the first part
thereof, relating to the employment as fuel of the vapours or spray of

page_text: inflammable liquids or viscid substances I have found are sufficiently
described and set forth in the final Specification of the former herein-
before recited Patent No. 2453, therefore I will proceed to describe more
fully the second portion of the present Invention relating to the pro-
duction of gas to be employed as an illuminating agent in connection
with self-generating lamps or otherwise. For this purpose I employ
apparatus similar in principle to that for heating, but it is not 'so
necessary to keep the air and vapour currents separate, as there are many
well known burners which can be employed to obviate the danger of
explosion. Thore are, however, various modifications of detail required,
and which in the following description I place under three heads, which
will be more clearly understood and explained on reference to the
accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 represents an improved tank or receptacle for containing hydro-
carbon oils or spirits, the arrangement of which is such that air or gases
passing through the same will become impregnated with hydrocarbon
oil or spirits, receiving thereby illuminating properties.
The construction of apparatus is more particularly applicable for
ordinary gas lighting, and consists in the employment of a series of
fuel tanks a, a, fixed near the respective points of combustion in such a
manner that the mixture of air and vapour shall only be formed as
required for use, instead of being stored in gas holders, and shall have
a very short distance to traverse before being consumed. Each of these
said tanks a consists preferably of a cylindrical vessel with a tube
passing through the centre, and furnished with a series of lateral per-
forations, the tube being filled with sponge, cotton, or other absorbent
material, and the annular space c surrounding it with petroleum or
other illuminating liquid. The central tube 6 at one end is connected
with the service pipes, from which air or gas under pressure is passed
through the absorbent material saturated with petroleum contained
therein. During such passage the air or gas receives illuminating
properties, and escapes by the outlet into the pipes conveying it to the
burners.

page_text: three onlowing:
First, the lamp shown in Fig. 2, which is capable of burning oil or
spirit.
Secondly, the lamp shown in Fig. 3, to be employed for burning
heavy oils.
And thirdly, the lamp shewn in Fig. 4, which is designed for con-
suming spirit as the illuminating medium.
According to Fig. 2 of these arrangements I construct the lamp with
a chamber a containing oil and a little spirit supported above the flamo,
the outer surface of which is provided with a heat regulator b, which is
caused, when the chamber a is exposed to external heat, to raise or lower
by the expansion of the gases in the closed chamber acting upon the
flexible disc c, so as to expose more or less of the same to the action of
the flame. The burner d of this lamp, where combustion takes place, is
provided with a central or interior compartment e embraced by the
closed space of the outer burner. This interior chamber e communicates
by means of the pipef direct with the outer atmosphere, and the enclosed
space of the burner surrounding the same communicates, by means of
the tube g extending above the liquor, direct with the chamber a con-
taining the inflammable substance. Thus, when first igniting the lamp,
a slight heat is applied to the chamber containing the oil and spirit
which causes the spirit soon to vaporize, and is by this means conveyed
direct into the chambers of the burner & surrounding the interior air
compartment e, from whence the vapour and air issue from perforations
formed in the outer ring thereof in such a manner as to impinge and
mingle with each other, which, when ignited, produces a hollow seg-
mental flame which, whilst giving light, forms the medium of con-
tinuously generating vapour in the oil chamber so long as oil is contained
therein.
The second construction of lamp, Fig. 3, is designed for burning heavy
oils, and consists of an enclosed under chamber or receptacle a for con-
taining oil. Through the centre of this chamber two tubes 6, 6¹, are
passed, one inside the other, from a fan or blower c below to an argand
burner & above. The outer or larger tube 6 above the oil chamber is
provided with branch pipes d, d, extending downwards into the oil a.

page_text: Each pipe is provided with wick or other absorbant material which, in
the annular space between the two pipes at the point e, form a disc
which by capillary attraction is constantly saturated with oil, so that
the air driven up such annular space to the burner in its passage to the
same becomes thoroughly impregnated with oil which, when issuing
from the circular burner, is fed with the gas of combustion through the
central or smaller pipe from the automatic supply of the same from
below. The two gases thus emitted when ignited produce a brilliant
flame.
Third. The lamp designed for burning spirit (Fig 4) consists in
constructing an outer chamber a in the base of the lamp, for containing
spirit. The interior of this basement is provided with an outer and
inner chamber b and c, to each of which the air has free access. The
spirit chamber is supplied with induction pipes d, d, containing
absorbant material, and these extend in the form of a perforated disc
over the annular space of the outer air chamber b. The absorption of
spirit by the wick causes air passing through the wick to become
impregnated with hydrocarbon. The central air chamber or tube c
conveys the air to a point above the saturated wick. The burner of
the lamp e from its base, which embraces the two air spaces 6 and c,
projects upwards in the form of a cone, the apex of which terminates
in a burner of the argand type. Within the conical space formed by
this burner the central air tube projects. Thus at the time of using the
lamp the air of combustion rushes up the central tube c into the conical
space of the burner to its narrowest point, and the air in the annular
space rushes up through the perforated tubes containing the absorbent
material saturated with hydrocarbon spirit, which being impregnated
thereby when passing the apex of the burner before being ejected
therefrom becomes commingled with the gases of combustion in a
manner similar to the steam and water of a "Giffard" injector; the
two gases
from this point pass through the burner where combustion
takes place, and a brilliant flame when ignited results.
Lastly. For purposes of signal lights and occasions where great
brilliancy of illuminating power is required I either employ a vaporizing
current of oxygen, in the manner explained respecting heavy hydro-
carbon lamps, or I use a vapour and air tube, and direct the two jets
upon a piece of lime or "dolonate," when if a light be applied very

page_text: intense combustion ensues, and an illumination comparable to that of
the oxyhydrogen light is produced.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood in conclusion that although I have shown various modi-
fications of the application of my Invention for the purposes of lighting
such modifications are shewn as examples of the various ways in which
I produce a flame having illuminating properties, therefore what I
claim as my herein-before recited Invention is, the construction and
employment of apparatus for heating and lighting in the manner and
for the purpose as herein-before described, set forth, and fully stated
herein, and in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
C. J. POWER,
8, Old Jewry.
STEPHEN H. EMMENS. (L.S.)