IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES OR APPARATUS FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF GAS IN COLLIERIES, MINES, AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jones, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of Monmouth,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES OR
APPARATUS FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF GAS IN COLLIERIES, MINES,
AND OTHER PLACES."
ealed the 27th April 1880, and dated the 4th November 1879.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Jones at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th November 1879.
66
JOHN JONES, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of Monmouth. IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES OR APPARATUS FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF
GAS IN COLLIERIES, MINES, AND OTHER PLACES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and appliances or apparatus
for detecting the presence of gas in collieries, mines, and other places.
It is found in mining for coal (et cetera) that gas exists in places where the
ordinary safety lamp cannot be employed to detect it; for instance, a highly
inflamable and dangerous gas may exist at the top of the ordinary "workings" or
drifts" so near to the roof and in so shallow a volume or current that the ordinary
lamp would not be available; gas is also found to exist in cracks and cavities in the
roof into which an ordinary lamp could not be inserted, and in places where it would
be dangerous to insert an ordinary safety lamp.
My Invention consists in the employment of a pump of improved construction
for collecting and storing the gas in conjunction with an ordinary safety lamp
adapted for use with the pump aforesaid, by the use of both of which the presence
of gas can easily be detected.
This Invention can be carried into effect by constructing the pump and safety
lamp according to the following general description, that is to say :-
The pump consists of a barrel, piston, and rod, and valves, the barrel having at
its lower end a valve (or valves) opening inwards, and the piston having a valve
(or valves) also opening inwards or upwards; towards the top of the barrel is a
cock or tap which allows of the escape of the air when the pump is first used, and
D.

page_text: by which the gas is let out after its collection. In the upper part of the pump
suitable packings and glands are employed around the piston rod to make the
barrel air tight and gas tight. The pump constructed on the above principle may
be of any convenient form to make it portable or otherwise.
In adapting a safety lamp of ordinary construction for use with my improved
gas pump the following arrangement may be adopted, that is to say :-
An open metallic flanged or angular ring may be screwed into the base or lower
part of the lamp; this ring will be covered with and secured to a sheet of wire
gauze; the centre of the gauze is cut away to allow a taper wick-holder to protrude
through it, and the gauze is secured to a central ring of angular or other convenient
form which fits tightly on to the said wick-holder.
Through the base of the lamp is an orifice by which the gas enters, and it then
ascends through the gauze (below the lamp wick) into the lamp.
In using my improved apparatus the gas is collected by and in the pump, the tap
on the pump is then connected with the safety lamp, and the said tap is opened
to allow the gas to ascend through the bottom gauze of the lamp, when by its
action on the flame of the lamp wick it is tested. With this construction of
apparatus the flame returns to the wick after the gas is exhausted from the lamp,
which is not frequently the case with lamps of ordinary construction.
The pump aforesaid may be fitted with a handle and ferrule and used as a
walking stick, or with small sized pumps ordinary gas bags or holders may be
employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of an
Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said John Jones in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 8th May 1880.
JOHN JONES, of Ebbw Vale, in the County of Monmouth.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES OR APPARATUS FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF
GAS IN COLLIERIES, MINES, AND OTHER PLACES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and appliances or apparatus,
for detecting the presence of gas in collieries, mines, and other places.
"
It is found in the working of collieries that gas exists in places where the
ordinary safety lamp cannot be employed to detect it, for instance, a highly
inflamable and dangerous gas may exist at the top of the ordinary "workings" or
drifts" so near to the roof and so shallow in volume or current that the ordinary
lamp would not be available; gas is also found to exist in cracks and cavities in
the roof into which an ordinary lamp could not be inserted, and in places where it
would be dangerous to insert an ordinary lamp.
My Invention consists in the employment of a pump of improved construction
for collecting and storing the gas in conjunction with an ordinary safety lamp
adapted for use with the pump aforesaid, by the use of both of which the presence
of gas can easily be detected.
The pump is of the following general description, that is to say :- -It consists of a
barrel, piston, and rod, and valves, the barrel having at its lower end a valve (or.
valves) opening inwards, and the piston having a valve (or valves) also opening
inwards; towards the top of the barrel is a cock or tap which allows of the escape of
the air when the pump is first used, and by which the gas is let out after its
collection. In the upper part of the pump suitable packings and glands are employed.
around the piston rod to make the barrel air tight and gas tight.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional view in elevation of the
pump for collecting or collecting and storing the gas. A is the barrel of the pump;
B is the plunger or rod, and B¹ the handle thereof; C is an india-rubber valve;
D is the valve seat, and E the guard composing the foot valve at the bottom of the
pump barrel, the said valve C opening inwards; F is the india rubber valve; G, the
valve seat, and H, the guard composing the pump plunger or piston and valve; J is
the stuffing box; and K is the gland by which the packing in the stuffing box is.
tightened on to the rod or plunger B for the purpose of making an air tight and gas.
tight joint; L is a cap or cover which is screwed into the bottom of the barrel A to.
protect it when not in use, and which is removed when the pump is used; M is an
ordinary plug tap screwed externally at O for an ordinary gland, by which it will
be connected to the projection N (Fig. 3) of the base of the safety lamp.
Fig. 2 is an outside view in elevation of the pump fitted with a handle P, the
said handle being screwed on to the pump barrel at B (Fig. 1).
Fig. 3 shows the safety lamp with the projection N to which a flexible or other
tube from the tap M (Figs. 1 and 2) can be fixed; the projection N has a passage Q
by which the gas enters a chamber around the wick-holder S through which it
passes to the flame of the lamp; T is an open metallic flanged ring which is screwed
into the base U of the lamp; this ring is covered with and secured to a sheet of
wire gauze V; the centre of the gauze is cut away to allow the tapered wick-holder S
to protrude through it, and the gauze is secured to the central angular ring W
which fits tightly on to the said wick-holder S.
As a modification of the foot valve C, D, E, and the piston valve F, G, H, a
metallic block can be employed, which is pierced with holes (for instance, six or
eight holes); to the top of the block is fitted an india rubber valve, the india rubber
valve of the foot valve (as at E, C, D,) opening for the entrance of the gas when
the piston rod B is raised, and being closed when the said rod descends and the

page_text: india rubber valve of the piston valve (as at F, G, H,) being closed by the upward
stroke of the piston rod B and opened by the downward stroke thereof.
As a modification of the stuffing box J (for ordinary packing) and gland K, two
discs of iron can be employed having between them a layer of india rubber; the
top of the pump barrel would be recessed to receive the said discs, and the barrel
would be chased or screwed internally for an internal gland nut to make an air
tight and gas tight joint; the said gland nut would be screwed into the barrel on
the top of the iron discs and layer of india rubber, by which the india rubber would
be compressed tightly against the rod B.
As a modification of the connection between the tap M and the lamp, the screw O
can be dispensed with and a plain taper cone substituted, and instead of the pro-
jection N a taper hole can be made in the lamp corresponding to the taper cone on
the tap M; the cone would fit tightly into the taper hole in the lamp by pressure
being applied thereto, or the projection N can be screwed or chased externally and
have a taper hole therein, and the tap M (with the cone) be screwed on to the
projection N by an ordinary cone gland.
In using my improved apparatus the gas is collected in the pump by raising the
plunger rod B, by which a vacuum is created in the lower part of the barrel, and
gas enters through the foot valve C; the plunger is then lowered, by which action
the foot valve C is closed, and the gas in the lower part of the barrel is forced
through the plunger valve F to the upper part of the pump barrel, this operation
being repeated until the required quantity of gas is collected; the tap M on the
pump is then connected with the projection N of the safety lamp, and the said
tap M being opened the gas stored in the upper part of the pump barrel flows into
the safety lamp through the passage Q into the chamber around the wick-holder S,
and ascends through the gauze V, and causes the flame to ascend to the top of the
lamp, whence it will return to the wick after the gas in the lamp is exhausted, or
instead of the above result the flame will be extinguished by the gas.
As a modification of the above described pump it can be inade lighter and shorter
so as to be carried in or form only a part of an ordinary walking stick.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
would observe in conclusion that what I consider to novel and original, and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
Improvements in the means and appliances or apparatus for detecting the
presence of gas in collieries, mines, and other places, by the employment of a pump
as hereinbefore described, in conjunction with an ordinary safety lamp adapted for
use with the said pump.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jones, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty.
JOHN JONES. (L.S.)