AN INSTRUMENT OR MACHINE FOR PREVENTING THE IMPROPER ESCAPE OF GAS, AND THE DANGER AND NUISANCE CONSEQUENT THEREON
Year: 1823

page_text: JENNING'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CONSTANTINE JENNINGS, of Devonshire Street, Mary-le-bone, in the County
of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Fourteenth day of August, in the fourth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, my exors, adññors, and
assigins, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Henry Constantine Jennings, my exors, adññors, and assigns, during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN INSTRUMENT OR MACHINE FOR PREVENTING
THE IMPROPER ESCAPE OF GAS, AND THE DANGER AND NUISANCE CONSEQUENT
THEREON;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if
I, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain 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,
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High-Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void;.as in and by the same, relation 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
Henry Constantine Jennings, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My said Invention consists of an improvement on the machines or apparatus
known by the name of gas burners, and I shall proceed to shew how I prevent
the improper escape of the gas therefrom, and the consequent danger and
nuisance thereof, by a reference to and a description of the Drawing, which,
as aforesaid, is affixed to this Specification, and in which said Drawing
Fig. 1 is an enlarged view of one of my improved gas burners; Figs. 2 & 3
vertical sections thereof; Figs. 4 and 5, horizontal sections taken at the
dotted line A, A in Fig. 2; and Figs. 6 and 7, detached parts thereof. In
all of which said Figures the same letters of reference apply to similar parts
of the apparatus. B, B, is the piece which is to be screwed upon the gas
pipe leading from the main. It has two channels or passages C and D
formed in it, which can be made to communicate with each other or be shut off
occasionally, in the following manner:-E, E, is a socket or tube, having a
cylindrical hole through the middle of it, which accurately fits upon the
cylindrical part of the piece B, B, and has liberty to make a quarter of a
turn upon it. In the inside of the socket E, E, an excavation is made,
extending from F to G, as shewn in Figs. 2 and 3, and at F, in Figs. 4 and 5.
In Figs. 2, 3, and 4, this excavation is shewn as in connexion with the
channels C&D, and as forming a communication between them, but in Fig. 5
the tube E, E, is shewn as having been turned a quarter round, and thereby
shut off or stopped the communication between the said channels. In Figs.
2, 3, 4, and 5, H shews a circular gap or recess, made on the lower part of
the outside of the socket E, E, and extending rather more than a quarter of
a circle round it. The point of a screw I, which is affixed in the cap or
ferril J, J, protrudes into the recess H and limits the action of the socket
E, E, to a quarter of a turn, as aforesaid. The cylindrical cap or ferril J, J,
is firmly affixed at its lower part upon the piece B, B, by means of screws or
otherwise, and it has an internal projection at its upper part at K. The
cylindrical part of the tube E, E, is reduced at L, L, small enough to pass
through the internal projection K of the cap J, whilst its lower part is made
to fit the wider part of the cap. Between the shoulder M, formed by the
reduction of the tube E, E, and the projection of the cap J, is made a circular
recess to receive the helical spring N, which tends by its action to depress or
push down the tube E, E, to the stop or adjusting screw O, which is screwed

page_text: into the piece B, B, but it can be raised up also to a certain extent, as shewn
in Fig. 2. I have thus described the means of producing limited circular
and up and down movements of the socket E, E, upon the piece B, B, but
the effects of these motions will be shewn hereafter. Upon the upper part
of the tube E, E, is firmly affixed the hollow cone P, P, which is closed at
its upper end. Q, Q, are two hollow side branches or tubes, which lead or
conduct the gas from the passage D, when it is open, into the interval
formed between the two exterior cones R & S, which constitute the gas
burner, and which said cones are also affixed to and supported by the two
branches Q, Q. The inner upper rims or borders of the two cones R and S
are lined with rings of steel as usual, and they are united at their lower parts
to a circular ring T, through which the upper ends of the branches Q, Q
pass. Near the top of the cone P, P, and on one side of it, is affixed, by a
screw passing through the cone, the metal conductor U, which projects hori-
zontally into the circle of flame formed by the burning-gas escaping from the
annular orifice between the two cones R and S, and becomes heated thereby;
the caloric thus acquired is conducted to the compound metal bar V, V, which
is formed of a thin plate of brass and another of steel, rivetted together; the
plate of brass being placed next to the cone, and united with it by means of
the screw formed upon the end of the conductor U. The lower end of this
compound bar is bent horizontally and has a hole made through it; through
this hole passes a screw W, which is affixed in the stem of the sphere X, and
which sphere is allowed to play freely, the hole in the compound bar being madė
wider than the diameter of the neck of the screw for that purpose, and yet
not so wide as to suffer the head of the screw to pass through it, and the neck
of the screw is also made long enough to allow of a motion or play upwards
and downwards. Y is a cylindrical cavity opening into the channel D, and
the upper part of which said cavity Z is formed into a cone.
Having thus described the construction of the various parts of my said
Invention, I shall next proceed to shew the effects thereof. Before the gas
burner or lamp is lighted the sphere X rests within and closes the cone Z by
its weight; in order therefore to permit the flow of gas through the burner,
the upper parts of it must be turned into the position shewn in Figs. 2, 3, and 4,
and be also at the same time raised, whereby the sphere X is lifted up from
its conical seat Z, as shewn in Fig. 2, and the gas is allowed to pass. The
lamp is then to be lighted, and the upper part of it to be kept elevated until
the heat is communicated through the conductor U to the compound bar V, V,
and it is thereby bent or curved into the form shewn by the dotted lines in
Fig. 3, by which action the sphere X becomes permanently raised from its
conical scat Z during the time that the lamp continues burning, even when

page_text: the upper part of it is allowed to descend; but should it be found that on the
descent of the upper part the gas ceases to flow, it must be again raised until
the proper effect is produced. When, however, the burner is properly
adjusted, fifteen seconds is generally time enough to obtain the desired result;
this adjustment is effected by turning the regulating screw O more or less as
required.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent the conductor U, the compound bar V, V, in front
and edgeways, the screw W., and the sphere X, shewn as removed from the
cone P, P. Although; I have described the compound bar V, V, as. being
formed of, brass and steel, yet I do not mean.or, intend thereby to limit myself
to the employment of those metals only, but to avail myself of any other metals
which possess the requisite properties of dissimilar expansion and contraction by
heat and cold. When the lamp is, extinguished and the burner. is become cold,
the compound bar V, V, will, have. assumed its original figure, and the sphere
X have descended and closed the conical, opening, Z, and thus the, farther
flow of the gass through the,burner, and the consequent.nuisance which, would
have arisen therefrom, is entirely prevented..
I do not mean or, intend hereby to claim as my. Inventions any of the. parts
of this burner which are already known or in use; but I do hereby claim the
method of first opening the gas passage by lifting, the upper parts of the
burner, the keeping of the passage open by the action of the compound bar
when heated, and also the closing of the said passage by the straightening of
the compound bar in cooling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this: Fourteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
HENRY "CONSTANTINE (L.s.) JENNINGS.
HENRY "CONSTANTINE (L.s.) JENNINGS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Henry Constantine Jennings
came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of, the Statute made for that purpose..
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.