IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION FOR BURNING PARAPPIN OIL AND OTHER VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hinks, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, and Joseph Hinks, of Birmingham, aforesaid,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hinks and Joseph
Hinks at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 28th October 1865.
We, JAMES HINKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, and JOSEPH HINKS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
FOR BURNING PARAPPIN OIL AND OTHER VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the
burners of lamps for burning paraffin oil and other volatile liquid hydro-
carbons, whereby two or more flat flames or one circular or nearly circular
flame may be produced by the use of two or more single flat wicks. By the use
of our Invention the danger of breaking the chimneys which occurs from the use
of a single flat wick is wholly removed or much diminished, and in the case of
curved wick cases or holders great facility in trimming and placing the wicks
in the said cases or holders is obtained, and a much greater length of the wick
utilized than in ordinary argand or circular burners.

page_text: Our Invention consists in the employment in the same burner of two or
more flat or curved wick cases or holders, in which said cases or holders
single flat wicks are placed; each of the said wick cases is provided with an
axis and pinions for raising and lowering the wick contained therein. The
wick cases or holders are either straight, or slightly curved, or of the figure of
semi-ellipses so as to produce when arranged in the burner flat, or elliptical, or
circular flames. We make the cone or deflector of the burner much flatter
than the cone used with burners for single flat wicks, the said cone or
deflector having two or more straight or curved openings in it through which
the wicks may pass. That portion of the top of the cone between the curved
openings (when curved openings and curved wick holders are employed) serves
as a substitute for the ordinary button used with circular wicks, or a circular
hole may be used in the cone, and the ordinary button employed. When flat
wick cases are employed straight openings are made in the cone. When
it is required to give a tulip shape to the flame the outer portions of the conc
are made lower than the central portion, that is, the cone is made of a dome
shape instead of flat at top.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Hinks and Joseph Hinks in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HINKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and JOSEPH
HINKS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Hinks and Joseph Hinks, Her special licence that
we, the said James Hinks and Joseph Hinks, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Hinks and
Joseph Hinks, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PARAFFIN OIL AND OTHER VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Hinks and
Joseph Hinks, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us or them, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Hinks, on behalf of myself
and the said James Hinks, 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, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the
burners of lamps for burning paraffin oil and other volatile liquid hydrocarbons,
whereby two or more flat flames, or one circular or nearly circular flame may
be produced by the use of two or more single flat wicks. By the use of our
Invention the danger of breaking the chimneys which occurs from the use of
a single-flat wick is wholly removed or much diminished, and in the case of
curved wick cases or holders great facility in trimming and placing the wicks
in the said cases or holders is obtained, and a much greater length of the
wick utilized than in ordinary argand or circular burners.
Our Invention consists in the employment in the same burner of two or
more flat or curved wick cases or holders, in which said cases or holders single
flat wicks are placed. Each of the said wick cases is provided with an axis
and pinions for raising and lowering the wick contained therein. The wick
cases or holders are either straight, or slightly curved, or of the figure of
semi-ellipses or semicircular so as to produce when arranged in the burner
flat, or elliptical, or circular flames. The cone or deflector has two or more
straight or curved openings in it, through which the wicks may pass. That
portion of the top of the cone between the curved openings (when curved
openings and curved wick holders are employed) serves as a substitute for the
ordinary button used with circular wicks; or a circular hole may be used in
the cone, and the ordinary button employed. When flat wick cases are
employed straight openings are made in the cone.
Having explained the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed :-
Figure 1 represents in vertical section the burner of a lamp for burning
paraffin oil and other volatile liquid hydrocarbons, the said burner being
provided with two nearly flat wick cases or holders according to our Inven-

page_text: tion Figures 2 and 3 represent elevations of the compound wick holder,
taken at right angles to one another; Figure 4 is a plan of the wick holder,
the cone and gallery being removed; and Figure 5 is a portion of the burner.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5.
.
a, b, c, is the double or compound wick holder in which two single flat
wicks d, e, are placed, or one double wick, as represented. The said double
or compound wick holder has the form best seen in Figures 1 and 3, that is, the
upper part is provided with two branches or forks, marked respectively a and b,
which open at bottom into the larger tube c, through which portions of the
pinions f, g, for raising and lowering the wicks pass in the usual way. In-
stead of the compound wick case represented two single wick cases may be
used. The pinions f, g, are situated on either side of the wicks d, e, in the
tube c, as represented in Figure 1, and compress the wicks between them, so
that by giving a rotary motion in one or other direction to the pinion to which
the axis his connected, rotation is transmitted through the wicks to the other
pinion, and the two wicks are raised or lowered simultaneously in the cases
or holders a, b. Each pinion f, g, may, however, be provided with an inde-
pendent axis; i is the cone or deflector of the lamp, the said cone i having
two slightly curved openings k, l, in it through which the wicks a, b, may
pass. Instead of employing a single cone or deflector, as represented, a
double cone or deflector may be used, one wick passing through an opening
in one of the cones, and the other through the opening in the other cone.
Across the body of the burner is a perforated disc or plate m (shown separately
in plan in Figure 5) through which the air supplied by the perforated sides n of
the burner passes to the flames. The gallery p is of the ordinary kind. In
placing the two single wicks (or a double wick) d, e, in the case or holder a, b, c,
the ends of the wicks are passed up the tube c and introduced between the
pinions f, g. By rotating the said pinions the two wicks are carried up
the branches or forks a, b, and the burner is ready to be placed in the
lamp. Instead of giving to the compound wick holder the curved figure
represented in the plan, Figure 4, each branch of the wick holder may be
curved of the figure of a semi-ellipse, or the said branches may be straight,
and the compound wick holder may be made to contain more than two flat
wicks, a corresponding number of openings being made in the cone or deflector
for the wicks to pass through. By the use of compound wick holders, or a
series of single wick holders made according to our Invention, two or more
flat flames, or elliptical, or nearly circular flames may be produced by the
employment of two or more single flat wicks, and the danger of breaking the

page_text: chimneys of the lamps, which occurs from the use of a single flat wick is
wholly removed or much diminished.
Figure 6 represents a vertical section of a burner for producing a circular
flame by the use of two single flat wicks constructed according to our Inven-
tion; Figure 7 is a plan of the same; Figure 8 is a section of the wick holder
taken in a plane at right angles to that in which the section Figure 6 is taken;
and Figure 9 is an elevation of one of the halves of the wick holder: The
same letters indicate the same parts in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9.
a, b, is the circular wick holder, which for convenience of manufacture we
prefer to make in halves. The semicircular half a of the holder carries the
concentric tube c, between which and the holder a, b, the two single flat
wicks d, e (or one doubled wick) are placed, as represented in Figures 6
and 8. At the bottom of the inner tube c is a cross tube by which air is
conveyed from the perforated sides of the body of the burner to the interior of
the circular flame produced by the two single flat wicks d, e. The said tube c
also contains a peg 9 upon which the button h is supported. The two wicks d, e
are raised and lowered simultaneously by means of pinions i, k, situated on
either side the wicks, the said pinions being respectively carried in the halves
of the wick holder and worked by the axis l. A circular hole is made in the
cone or deflector m, through which the circular flame passes. The two halves of
the wick holder a, b, are fixed together by soldering. In placing the single flat
wicks d, e in the circular wick holder a, b, the two wicks (or a doubled wick)
are introduced between the pinions i, k, and by turning the said pinions by
the axis in the direction proper to raise the wicks the said wicks are carried
up the annular space between the holder a, b, and tube c, and made to take
the annular figure of the said space, and thereby produce a continuous circular
wick as represented in Figure 6. The burner is now ready to be placed in
the lamp.
Instead of making the wick holder in halves, and soldering the halves
together, as represented in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, the said wick holder may
be made in one piece as represented in section in Figure 10, and plan in
Figure 11, where n is the circular wick holder made in one piece; p, the
central tube between which and the outer holder n the single flat wicks are
placed; is the cross tube for supplying air to the middle of the flame; and
r, s, are the pinions for raising and lowering the circular wick produced by the
two single flat wicks. By constructing burners for the production of a circular
flame from two single flat wicks, as described and represented in Figures
6 to 11, both inclusive, great facility in trimming and placing the wicks in

page_text: the case or holder is obtained, and a much greater length of wick utilized
than in ordinary argand or circular burners.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do
not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied without departing
from the nature of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention of improve-
ments in lamps for burning paraffin oil and other volatile liquid bydrocarbons,
Firstly, constructing the burners of the said lamps substantially in the
manner herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, the employment in the same
burner of two or more flat or curved wick cases or holders in which two or
more flat wicks are placed, so as to produce thereby two or more flat flames
or elliptical or nearly circular flames.
"Secondly, constructing the burners of the said lamps substantially in the
manner herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and
11 of the accompanying Drawings, whereby a circular flame is produced by
the use of two single flat wicks.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hinks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH HINKS. (L.S.)