IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS SIGNAL LANTERNS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Guy Proger, of Trinity Street, Cardiff, Signal
Lamp Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS
SIGNAL LANTERNS."
Sealed the 7th December 1855, and dated the 12th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Guy Proger at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Qetition,
12th September 1855.
I, JOHN GUY PROGER, of Trinity Street, Cardiff, Signal Lamp Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS'
SIGNAL LANTERNS " to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ships' signal lanterns, and
the improvements are as follows:-The two sides of the lantern are preferred
to be inclined to each other, the back and front being parallel. In the front is
fixed a lense, and there is also a lense fixed on each side. The three lenses are
on the same level, and show the light of one lamp or burner through them; on
the outside of the lantern there is a concave reflector around each of the lenses.
Each of the side lenses is arranged to have a frame slided between it and the
burner. The door of the lantern is fastened by an inclined sliding bolt. These
frames are glazed with green or red glass, so that when the colored glass is
down or between the light and the lense a colored light will be shown through

page_text: the lense. The glazed frames to the side lenses, slide in suitable guides, and
are moved up and down by chains, cords, or straps, and are retained either up
or down, as occasion may require. The lamp or burner has a tubular projec-
tion at its under side, which fits on to a similar fixed projection at the bottom
of the lantern; and in order to prevent the oil which may escape being thrown
on to the bottom of the lantern, a tray is placed around the fixed part on to
which the lamp or burner is placed. This tray is readily removed, by lifting it
off the fixed projection on the bottom of the lantern, and the oil saved.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Guy Proger in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GUY PROGER, of Trinity Street, Cardiff, Signal Lamp Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Guy Proger, Her special licence that I, the said John Guy
Proger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Guy Proger, 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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SHIPS SIGNAL LANTERNS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Guy Proger, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Guy Proger, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in ships' signal lanterns, and
the improvements are as follows:-The two sides of the lantern are preferred
to be inclined to each other, the back and front being parallel. In the front is
fixed a lense, and there is also a lense fixed on each side. The three lenses
are on the same level, and show the light of one lamp or burner through them.
On the outside of the lantern there is a concave reflector around each of the
lenses. Each of the side lenses is arranged to have a frame slided between it
and the burner. The door of the lantern is fastened by an inclined sliding
bolt. These frames are glazed with green or red glass, so that when the
colored glass is down or between the light and the lense a colored light will be
shown through the lense. The glazed frames to the side lenses slide in suitable
guides, and are moved up and down by chains, cords, or straps, and are re-
tained either up or down, as occasion may require. The lamp or burner has a
tubular projection at its under side, which fits on to a similar fixed projection
at the bottom of the lantern. And in order to prevent the oil which may escape
being thrown on to the bottom of the lantern, a tray is placed around the fixed
part on to which the lamp or burner is placed. This tray is readily removed
by lifting it off the fixed projection on the bottom of the lantern, and the
oil saved.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a section, taken through the centre of the two side lenses;
Figure 2 is another section, taken through the dotted line A, B, (Figure 1).
a is the burner of the lamp b; c, c, c, are the lenses; d, d, d, are the concave
reflectors, around the outside of the lenses c; e, e, are the slides, glazed with
coloured glass, which slide between the burner and the lenses in the guides f,f,
fixed to the sides of the lantern. The slides e are capable of being moved up
and down by chains or cords g, passing over the rollers h; the slides e, e, when
between the burner and the lenses, rest on the projection i, fixed to the sides of
the lantern, and when drawn up they are held in that position by a ring at the
end of the chain or cord passing over pins j, fixed on the outside of the lantern.
On the door there is a reflector 1, to reflect the light through the front lense;
the door is fastened by an ordinary sliding bolt. m is a tube, fixed on the
bottom of the lamp b, which fits in a similar projection n, fixed on the bottom
of the lantern; o is a tray, which fits on the projection n, and catches any oil
which may escape from the burner tubes a, a. Around the burner tubes a, a,

page_text: there is a conical tube of tin p, which prevents the oil splashing against the
burner tubes, and so putting out the light.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts separately; but what I claim is, the combination herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Guy Proger, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN GUY PROGER. (L.S.)