IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND OTHER APPARATUS USED FOR ILLUMINATION
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Beckett Johnson, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HAD
17
Sealed the 27th March 1855, and dated the 28th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Beckett Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th September 1854.
I, the said WILLIAM BECKETT JOHNSON, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS AND OTHER APPARATUS USED FOR ILLUMINATION" to be
as follows:-
My improvements relate to such lamps or other illuminating apparatus as
are provided with a chimney and shade, or with one of them, and consist in so
adapting those parts that they may be raised with the gallery or other part
which supports them, in order to expose the wick or other illuminating
medium, and thereby enable it to be lighted without lifting off the glass or
glasses. I vary the mechanical means for effecting this object, but to illus-
trate my Invention I will suppose a lamp on the "moderator" principle to be
used. The shade and chimney I place upon one support, and extend down-

page_text: wards therefrom into the body of the lamp a toothed rack provided with a
pinion, by turning which the whole may be raised. I also effect the same
object by providing the support for the glasses with a hinge joint, so as to
render it capable of being turned over to expose the wick.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Beckett Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BECKETT JOHNSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Beckett Johnson, Her special license that I, the said William
Beckett Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Beckett Johnson, 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 "In-
IN LAMPS AND OTHER APPARATUS USED FOR ILLUMINATION," upon
the condition, amongst others, that I, the said William Beckett Johnson,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
PROVEMENTS
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Beckett Johnson, 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:-
My Invention relates to such lamps or other illuminating apparatus as are
provided with a chimney and shade, or with one of them, and consists in so
adapting those parts that they may be raised with the gallery or other part

page_text: which supports them, in order to expose the wick or other illuminating
medium. The mechanical method for effecting this object may be varied to a
considerable extent, according to desire, or in order to meet particular cases';
but the Invention will be fully understood by an example I shall select, and
which is illustrated by the Drawing accompanying this my Specification...
Fig. 1 is a view of a "moderator" lamp in section; Fig. 2 is a view of the
exterior; and Fig. 3, a plan view, in section. To the ordinary upper part of:
the lamp is attached a vertical tube, perforated at its lower part b, for the
admission of air as in the ordinary lamps, and through this part also the
spindles extend by which motion is communicated to the wick holder and to
the pump. On the outside of the tube a is placed loosly a tube c, so as to be
capable of sliding upward and downward; on its outward periphery is formed
a ledge d for carring the shade e, and within it is placed the chimney, sup-
ported by a projecting part g. The sliding tube c is cut away for a portion of
its circumference, so as to form two openings h, h, the upper and lower parts of
the tube being merely connected together by pillers i, i. When it is desired
to gain access to the wick, the tube c is to be raised, by which means the shade
and chimney carried by it will be lifted above the wick, and the openings h, h,
When this
will be brought level therewith, as shewn by red lines in Fig. 2.
shall have been done, a spring catch will be at liberty to pass through the
fixed tube a, and by projecting under the moveable part c, will maintain it in
its elevated position; the wick is now exposed, and may therefore be lighted
without handling the glasses, or a light may be thus taken from a burning
lamp; the wick may also be cut, and, if desired, the openings may be of suffi-
cient height to admit of the application of a new one. When it is desired to
restore the glasses to their former position, the catch k is to be pressed inward,
and the tube c lowered. According to the construction shewn, the oil may be
poured through the perforations of the lower part of the tube a, but, if desired,
it may be loose, so as to move upward with or independently of the tube c, and
the support for the stationary part may be obtained from the ordinary wick
holder . The above is a simple method of carrying out my Invention; but it
will be evident that other plans may be adopted; for instance, a toothed rack
or racks may be made to carry the glasses, and motion imparted thereto by a
pinion. In order to vary the design, a shell may be adapted outside the tubes
of any
desired form. I have above alluded to an oil lamp, but it will be evident
that my Invention is equally applicable to candle lamps, gas burners, or other
illuminating apparatus, in which it is desirable to gain occasional access to the
wick or other illuminating medium, whether the same be enclosed by one or
more glasses.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
so adapting the glass or glasses of lamps or other apparatus for illumination,
that they may be raised without being removed from the part or parts which
support them, in order to expose the wick or other illuminating medium.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Beckett Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.