Improvements in or connected with Oil Lamps.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Oil Lamps.
1, ALEXANDER MAGER of Lützowstrasse, Berlin, in the German Empire,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention relates to wicks made of an incombustible porous material through
which, by capillary attraction, the oil is raised from the reservoir to the top of the
wick.
I am aware that prior to my invention incombustible wicks have been made
which consist either in the whole of their length of an incombustible porous
material forming a hollow cylinder or flat strip, or which are composed of the usual
woven wick and of a piece of incombustible material, the latter forming the top
only of the combined wick and resting on the woven main part merely by its own
weight, thus touching but incompletely and on a small surface the woven main part.
In this arrangement the quantity of oil passing from the woven part to the top
piece is insufficient to sustain the flame. The same drawback occurs when using
wicks consisting entirely of incombustible porous material, the capillary action not
being sufficient to supply the oil required for sustaining the flame, and the object
of the invention is to overcome this difficulty. This object is accomplished by
connecting a woven main wick to an upper part of incombustible porous material
in such a way that both parts are in perfect contact over a large surface.
In the drawing, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 are vertical sections of burners
fitted with the improved wick. Fig. 8 is a top view of Figs. 1 to 4. Fig. 9 a
horizontal section on line A-A of Fig. 3. Fig. 11 a top view of Fig. 10.
a horizontal section on line B-B of Fig. 10. a, b, are the wick tubes.
Fig. 12
For Argand burners the upper part c of the wick consists of a hollow cylinder
of incombustible porous material with a downwardly projecting ring or extension
preferably of reduced thickness such as indicated by c', c², c³, c, in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and 7. In Fig. 4 this extension is shewn as consisting of two rings c* with an
intermediate groove.
manner.
To
d is the woven main portion of the wick. It overlaps the reduced ring
parts c, c², c, of Figs. 1 to 5 and 7 or is overlapped by the ring parts c* of Fig. 4.
Thus the upper part c of incombustible material is embedded in the woven main
part d or the latter in the former, the top end of the woven main part being
compressed at a reduced thickness. By these means the wick parts c, d, are in
close contact over a large surface which may be as large as is convenient.
prevent disconnection of these parts when raising or lowering the combined wick,
the surfaces of the ring parts c³, c², c³, c², which are in contact with the part d may
be provided with corrugations or indented or roughened in a convenient and suitable
In the modified form shewn in Fig. 5 the woven main part is composed
of two wicks d', d². In Fig. 7 between the wick d and the wick tube a, there is
inserted a thin tube e fitting on the tube a and bearing by a lateral projection
against part c. The tube e reaches to the oil reservoir and holds on a cross bar y
the rack arranged to engage with the pinion k for raising and lowering the wick.
It is obvious however that this may be effected by a direct engagement of the
pinion with the part d. When using two combined woven wick parts d', d², as
shewn in Fig. 5 I prefer also to reduce the upper end of part in which case
and in consequence thereof the wick tubes a, b, must be bent round at the top as
at l, m, to form a slot equal in width to the thickness of the reduced upper end of
the part c.
In order to insert the combined wick between the wick tubes a, b, the

page_text: bent parts l, m, of said tubes are removable. In the arrangement of Fig. 7 there
is but one removable bent part m.
When using two combined woven wick parts d', d², the reduced projecting
rings c³, c², c³, may be dispensed with as shewn in Fig. 6. In this arrangement the
part c of incombustible material may be of an uniform thickness throughout, the
embedding and the effect being essentially the same as in Fig. 2. It is obvious
that by inverting the wick parts d', d², with each other and locating the part c
closely with tube b, there is effected in an analogous manner a modification of
Fig. 3.
Figs. 10, 11 and 12 shew the improved wick adapted to a flat burner.
modified construction required for this purpose is evident.
The
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An incombustible wick for Argand and other burners of lamps, consisting of
an upper part c of porous incombustible material in combination with a lower part
of woven wick d both parts interlocking with or overlapping each other for a
suitable length, substantially as described and shewn.
2. For Argand burners an incombustible wick of the kind referred to, in
combination with a tube e fitting on the inner wick tube a for the purpose specified,
substantially as described and shewn.
3. In an incombustible wick of the kind referred to, the provision on the upper
part of porous incombustible material, of a reduced extension or of reduced
extensions c¹, c², c³ or c¹ with corrugated or roughened surfaces to interlock with
the lower wick part d, substantially as described and shewn.
Dated this 7th day of May 1894.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
89, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.