IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND LAMPS, BICYCLE
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Henry Bulpitt, trading as Bulpitt and Sons, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Lamp Manufacturer and Tin Plate
' Worker, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND LAMPS, BICYCLE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Henry Bulpitt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st February 1881.
WALTER HENRY BULPITT, trading as Bulpitt and Sons, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Lamp Manufacturer and Tin Plate Worker. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HAND LAMPS, BICYCLE AND TRICYCLE LAMPS, AND OTHER LAMPS."
My Invention has reference to hand lamps, bicycle and tricycle lamps, and other
lamps burning petroleum oil or other volatile oils, and my said Invention consists
of the construction and combination of parts hereinafter described for supplying
air to the burners of the said lamps, for ensuring perfect combustion of the oil used
in the lamps, the said construction and combination of parts while supplying a
copious quantity of air for combustion, protecting the flames from violent currents
of air to which the lamps may be exposed.
In addition to the lamps enumerated, my Invention may be applied to other
lamps which are exposed to violent currents of air, such as carriage, railway, and
ship's lamps.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a hand lamp.
I perforate the bottom and sides of the foot of the lamp case or body with a
large number of holes, and I construct above the said foot in the interior of the
lamp body a ring like horizontal air passage, made by fixing at a short distance
apart two parallel rings of different diameters, the upper ring being of larger
diameter than the lower ring. Perforations made in the sides of the lamp body
open into the said ring like air passage. The oil reservoir of the lamp is supported
upon the upper ring of the air passage described, a portion of the said oil reservoir
projecting into the perforated foot part of the lamp body. Upon the dome shaped

page_text: upper half of the oil reservoir a covering or casing is fixed at a short distance from
the said oil reservoir, thereby forming a tubular passage between the said upper
part of the oil reservoir and its covering or casing. The upper part of this tubular
passage opens under the burner of the lamp, and the lower part when the oil
reservoir is supported in its place in the body, rests upon the edge of the ring like
air passage described, and is open to the said ring like passage and perforated foot
of the lamp. Air supplied to the foot of the lamp by the perforations therein, and
also to the ring like air passage in the said foot, passes into and traverses the
tubular passage surrounding the upper part of the oil reservoir, and escaping at the
upper part of the said tubular passage is supplied to the burner. A copious supply
of air is thereby delivered to the burner, and perfect combustion of the volatile oil
used is secured. The flame is protected from the violent currents of air to which
the lamp is exposed, and flickering or unsteadiness in the flame prevented by the
arrangement described of the perforated foot, and the air passages by which air is
supplied to the burner for supporting combustion.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Walter Henry Bulpitt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th July 1881.
WALTER HENRY BULPITT, trading as Bulpitt and Sons, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Lamp Manufacturer and Tin Plate Worker. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HAND LAMPS, BICYCLE AND TRICYCLE LAMPS, AND OTHER LAMPS."
My Invention has reference to hand lamps, bicycle and tricycle and other lamps
burning petroleum oil or other volatile oils; and my said Invention consists of the
construction and combination of parts bereinafter described for supplying air to
the burners of the said lamps for ensuring more perfect combustion of the oil used
in the lamps; the said construction and combination of parts while supplying a
copious quantity of air for combustion, protecting the flames from violent currents
of air to which the lamps may be exposed.
In addition to the lamps enumerated my Invention may be applied to other
lamps which are exposed to violent currents of air, such as carriage, railway, and
ship's lamps.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a hand lamp. I perforate the bottom
and sides of the foot of the lamp case or body with a large number of holes, and
I construct above the said foot in the interior of the lamp body a ring like hori-
zontal air passage, made by fixing at a short distance apart two parallel rings of
different diameters, the upper ring being of larger diameter than the lower ring.
Perforations made in the sides of the lamp body open into the said ring like air
passage.
The oil reservoir of the lamp is supported upon the upper ring of the air passage
described, a portion of the said oil reservoir projecting into the perforated foot
part of the lamp body. Upon the dome shaped upper half of the oil reservoir a
covering or casing is fixed at a short distance from the said oil reservoir, thereby
forming a tubular passage between the said upper part of the oil reservoir and its
covering or casing. The upper part of this tubular passage opens under the burner
of the lamp, and the lower part when the oil reservoir is supported in its place in
the body, rests upon the edge of the ring like air passage described, and is open to
the said ring like passage and perforated foot of the lamp. Air supplied to the
foot of the lamp by the perforations therein, and also to the ring like air passage in
the said foot, passes into and traverses the tubular passage surrounding the upper
part of the oil reservoir, and escaping at the upper part of the said tubular passage
is supplied to the burner.
I will describe my Invention first as applied to a band lamp, having reference.
to the Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, which illustrate a hand lamp
suitable for railway and other similar purposes.
Figure 1 illustrates the hand lamp with the upper part in elevation and the
lower and centre part in sectional elevation, while Figure 2 shows the same lamp in
sectional plan on line A, B, the left hand half being an inverted plan of the
bottom.
I perforate the bottom of the lamp foot with holes such as those shown by e, e,
on the inverted plan, Figure 2. I also perforate the outside of the foot with holes
such as shown by ff. Figures 1 and 2, which ensures a large supply of air, but
these holes also provide sufficient air to the lamp when it is standing on the ground
because at such times the bottom holes e, e, are practically stopped up, and this is
very often the case with railway hand lamps, and there should therefore be
sufficient facility for the ingress of air when the bottom holes are covered up, at

page_text: least so that the lamp will keep burning; then immediately the lamp is lifted up
the extra provisions of holes at bottom is brought into effect, which ensures a
large supply of air at the bottom part of the lamp. Above the holes f, f, I construct
the ring like horizontal air passage or chamber g, which is made by fixing to the
lamp foot the parallel ring h, and the parallel ring i being of larger diameter than
the lower ring h. The air passages j, j, communicate air to this horizontal
chamber g. The lower ring his also supplied with the perforations k, k, for the
transmission of the air received by the holes f, f, and e, e, in the foot of the lamp.
The space l, l, formed between the edge of the lower ring h, and the oil reservoir M
provides facility for the passage of some of the air admitted by the bottom,
perforations e and f.
P
The oil reservoir M of the lamp is supported upon the upper ring i by the
flange n, which is formed on the outside casing p above the oil reservoir, which is
fixed to the said oil reservoir M by several feathers g or by other convenient means,
so that a space is left between the casing p and the reservoir M for a current of air
to pass between and to issue at the top spacer, as indicated by the top arrows. The
air which is necessary for combustion passes through holes under, the burner, as
indicated by the top arrows on the sectional elevation, Figure 1. Any surplus air
is at liberty to pass up the sides of the burner, or it may pass through the holes o
and up between the body of the lamp and the burner, and not between the casing ?
and the reservoir M. The quantity of air thus passing through the holes o will
depend upon the quantity of air required at any given time for combustion by the
burner wick. Thus the air for combustion is admitted to the lamp by the holes
f, e, and j, and the air admitted by any one of the three series of holes has
intercourse with the bottom of the burner,.either through the space r, as indicated
by the top arrows, or through the holes o. Likewise the air may be delivered
between the sides of the burner and the body without passing through the burner,
which is self regulating according to the amount of air required at the wick for
combustion at any particular time. By fixing feet on the hand lamp similar to the
ones shown in Figure 3 the holes f may be dispensed with. By these means the
combustion is sufficiently perfect in the hand lamps without the use of a chimney,
as shown on the Drawing.
In the construction of side lamps, head lamps, and tail lamps for railway work
the design and arrangement of the parts for the purpose of my Invention are
somewhat varied, as is naturally the case in applying my improvements to other
lamps, but the principle is the same, and will be easily adapted from the examples
given.
Figures 3 and 4 show my improvements applied to the side lamp of a railway
train. Figure 3 is a part side elevation and a part elevational section, while
Figure 4 is a half sectional plan with reflectors and chimney removed on the
line C, D, and a half plan of the lamp inverted. This lamp is shown with a
chimney S, in which is inserted the glass T, because this class of lamp burns
steadier with a chimney in addition to the arrangement for ventilation shown, and
which I will now describe :-U is the oil reservoir with the socket V for receiving
the burner; the oil communicates with this socket through the holes v. This oil
reservoir is covered by a casing a somewhat as explained for the hand lamp, but in
this case the carrying base plate w is attached to the edge of the outside casing a.
In this class of lamps the.ring like chamber 3 is formed between the plate w and
the bottom of the oil reservoir. This outside casing x extends to about the same
position under the burner as in the case of the hand lamp, leaving the opening y
through which the air issues through the lower part of the burner to the top of the
wick in the direction of the top arrows. The air may also issue at the holes y¹,
and it may either take the direction of the wick and chimney, or it is free to pass
around between the inside of the lamp body and the outside of the reflectors and
chimney S. The quantity of air passing outside will be regulated by the rate of
combustion at the wick at any particular time. The ingress of, the air for this

page_text: class of lamps is entirely through the holes z in the bottom of the lamp, and thence
through the holes in the carrying plate which is fast to the outside casing x of
the oil reservoir U. The feet 2, 2, at the bottom of the lamp serve to ensure a
supply of air when the lamp is placed on a flat surface, such as a railway
platform.
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation showing the top of Figure 3 in the form I have
found to be best for that class of lamp in conjunction with the arrangement already
explained, but other forms will also answer for the top. Various modifications of
my Invention may be applied to lamps of various construction, such as ships' lamps,
railway carriage roof lamps, and other lamps, without departing from the principle
of my Invention.
Having now described my before in part recited Invention of improvements in
hand lamps, bicycle and tricycle lamps, and other lamps, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the two classes of lamps shown as the improvements
are applicable to other lamps, but what I do clain as my Invention is,―
First. The improved mode of supplying air to and for ventilating lamps from the
bottom in conjunction with the chamber and outer casing p for more effectively
burning petroleum or other volatile oils, substantially as herein set forth and
illustrated by Figures 1 and 2.
Second. The modifications shown by Figures 3 and 4 as adapted to other kinds
of lamps, such as side, head, tail, gauge, carriage, bicycle, tricycle, fire engine,
omnibus, ships, stable, hand, and other lamps, and as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Henry Bulpitt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty second day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and eighty one.
WALTER HENRY BULPITT. (L.S.)