IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1852

page_text: MORTIMER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HART MORTIMER, of Hill Street, Peckham, in the County of Surrey, .send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and: successors; give, and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Hart Mortimer, my exors,, adiñors, and assigns;
Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I; the
said Joseph Hart Mortimer, my exors, admors, and assigns; or such others
as I, the said Joseph Hart Mortimer, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with; and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed,, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England; Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS;" in which said Letters Patent -is
contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph Hart Mortimer, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention; and, in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as. in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Hart Mortimer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say: -
My Invention has for its object,―
First, improvements in lamps used for burning solid tallow or fat, which, if
moulded, is not provided with a wick, and the same is consumed by means of
a short wick applied to a suitable holder; and these improvements consist
in arranging the parts that the wick may be carried by a non-conducting or
only slowly conducting matter, in place of metal, which has heretofore been
employed in such lamps. And,
Secondly, my Invention consists of the application of a float to lamps
suitable for burning tallow and other fatty matters, where the same has to be
melted and kept melted by the burning of the materials.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews the section of so much of a lamp for burning moulded
lumps of tallow or fat without wicks, which description of lamps have before
been made, but I believe not with any degree of success, and I am induced
from my experiments to think that the failure has been by reason of the
instrument which has been used to carry the wick being of metal, and in
connection with the nozel, by which the great heat of the burning wick has
been readily transmitted to the fatty matter below the wick holder; and the
peculiarity of this part of my Invention consists of forming the wick holder
of a non-conducting or slow conducting material, so as to intercept the heat
of the burning wick from the fatty matter below. a is the nozel having
projections 6 for the wick holder. c is the wick holder, which I prefer to be
of wood with metal points, as shewn by this arrangement. The holder of
the wick is not in metallic connection with the nozel, and the heat of the
wick is partially as it were cut off from the fatty matter below. I would
remark that the form of the wick holder and the means of connecting it with
the nozel may be varied, so long as non-conducting material is interposed.
Figure 2 shows a section of a lamp for burning tallow or fatty matters
which requires to be melted and kept melted when burning. e is the vessel
to receive fatty matter, which is to be melted and poured, through the

page_text: strainer f, which has a cover g with an air hole in it. When in use, the heat
of the lamp keeps the matter melted, and a constant supply passes down the
tube h to the vessel i, wherein there is a float j, to which is fixed a valve, as
shewn. This float prevents too large a supply coming down from above, and
regulates the level at which the melted fatty matter shall stand. And it will
readily be understood that so soon as the proper level of fatty matter is arrived
at, the valve will be closed by the float, and as the matter is consumed the
float will descend, and a quantity will flow in, and thus will a constant
regulation be obtained.
Figure 3 shows the section of another lamp, which differs from that above
described in having the float and float vessel closed within the other vessel
of the lamp; the parts, however, act in the same manner to what has been
just described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details herein described, so long as the peculiar character of any part
of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is,―
First, the improvement herein described in lamps, where the wicks are
carried by the nozels, as herein explained. And,
Secondly, I claim the applying floats in constructing lamps for burning
tallow or fatty matters which require to be kept fluid by the heat of the
lamp.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hart Mortimer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.