IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOKING, BOILING, AND HEATING PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lloyd Wise at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th December 1878. (A communi-
cation from abroad by the Firm "G. Meurer," of Dresden, in the Kingdom of
Saxony, German Empire.)
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOKING, BOILING, AND HEATING
PURPOSES." (A communication from abroad by the Firm "G. Meurer," of Dresden,
in the Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire.)
This Invention relates to apparatus in which a petroleum lamp is employed for
generating petroleum vapours by the combustion of which a gas flame is produced
for cooking, boiling, and heating purposes.
The apparatus is of circular form in plan. A vertical section through its centre
is represented in the accompanying Drawing.
The petroleum reservoir a with the wickholder b, wickscrew c, and wick d,
which form the actual lamp with flat burner are well known parts, which the
Drawing does not shew in section.
To the reservoir a three, four, or more supports e are fixed. These supports e
carry a cap tapered towards the top, and having openings g for access of air, and
in its upper surface a slit parallel with the flat burner.
This slit must be of such width that the current of air ascending on both sides of
the flame will not only prevent such flame of the ignited wick from rising beyond
it, but will carry along with it (the air) the unburnt petroleum vapours in the
direction of the arrows g, h.
On the base of the cap f rests the inner casing h, to the inner side of which at i
an inverted truncated cone k is fixed. This cone k is perforated like a sieve; it is
placed on the horizontal surface of the cap f, and is divided by a diaphragmn / into
two compartments, the lower of which may be denoted as a conducting space for
the unburnt petroleum vapours issuing from the lamp, and the upper compartment
as a mingling space for mixing these vapours with air.

page_text: Within the casing h a fine wire sieve m rests on the inverted cone k, and is fixed
to the lower rim of the ring n, whence this sieve is easily removed and again
inserted.
The casing his closed by a lid o, which serves to give form to the gas flame, for
which purpose besides having a central opening p it is furnished with an arched
diaphragm q, which with the exception of its middle part is perforated throughout.
The arch of this diaphragm must be proportioned to the incline of the lid o, as
shewn in the Drawing, but with due regard to the size of the apparatus, so that an
appropriate shape of flame for cooking and heating purposes shall be produced for
the ascending petroleum vapours and their repeated mixture with air.
r is the outer casing resting on the supports e, the upper horizontal gridiron 8
carrying the vessel, the contents of which are to be subjected to heat.
The apparatus works in the following manner :-The outer casing r and the
inner casing h with their attachments k, l, m, n, o, p, q, being removed from the
lamp, the wick d is ignited, and so regulated by the screw c that a small flame as
shewn in the Drawing is produced inside the cap f
Parts h and with their attachments having been replaced in their seats, as
shewn in the Drawing, the heat of the flame will warm all the parts above the
same, the air flowing from the annular space surrounding the lamp towards the
flame as shewn by the arrows, the current of air will carry with it the unburnt
petroleum vapours from d in the direction of the arrows (d, k,); they will be met
inside of h by a current of air t, k, simultaneously induced by the heat, and which
will have been already-warmed by contact with the more or less heated parts of
the apparatus; this current of warm air flows in the same direction as the current
of petroleum vapour (d, k,).
Air and vapours are mingled by penetrating the sieve cone k, and the mixture is
intensified by the currents passing through the fine wire sieves n, so that the gas
might even be ignited on the upper side of the latter, where however it would burn
in an unsteady manner and with a shapeless flame.
The mingled current passing through the sieve-like perforated part of the
diaphragm q is joined by a fresh supply of air promoting combustion and coming
direct from t, the whole mixture of air and gas then passes to the space formed
between o and q, issuing at p, where it is ignited and combustion occurs with an
almost perfect blue flame.
The development of vapours at d and their issue at p take place so rapidly, that
the same match will usually serve both to light the flame at d, and (after replacing
h and r) also the flame at p.
Apparatus of the construction described, besides serving to intimately mix the
petroleum vapours with warmed air, offers this great advantage, that by the flame
at d heating all the parts of the apparatus, condensation of the not easily volatilized
parts of the petroleum vapours is obviated and smearing of the parts, obnoxious
smells and effluvium, and the deposit of lamp black and soot are prevented.