Improvements in Extinguishing Apparatus for Hydro-carbon and other Oil Lamps.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 11th July, 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 17th Aug., 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Extinguishing Apparatus for Hydro-carbon and
other Oil Lamps.
I FRANCIS ROBERT BAKER of Snow Hill, Birmingham Engineer do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to extinguishing mechanism for hydrocarbon and other oil
lamps, and has for its object the closing of the extinguishing apparatus over the wick,
by means of a fluid substance, which when moved out of its normal position presses,
by reason of its fluidity against a moveable disc &c., and thus operates the extinguisher ;
and in the arrangement of such apparatus.
What I mean by fluid substance is, such a substance whose cumulative parts or
atoms may easily and readily move and change their relative position by reason of
gravitation, and thereby exert a force horizontally at their sides, such as for instance,
this fluid may consist of small shot, sand, or other granulated bodies, or in some
instances of liquids; generally however I should prefer to use small shot.
The method and arrangement of applying such substances, for the purposes of
carrying out this my invention, may be somewhat varied in detail, as it may be
arranged near to the burner, or in the lower part of the burner.
Assuming it to be near to the burner it would consist generally speaking of a flap
shutter or shutters, attached to the wick or wicks, having extending therefrom rods
passing to or through the bottom of the burner into a chamber or its equivalent,
wherein is situated a disc or plate, the ends of the said rods being connected to such
disc or plate. Below this a space is left between such disc or plate and the bottom of
the chamber, the said disc being made capable of a sliding motion upwards. In this
space I place the fluid substance, that is, the small shot for instance.
When the lamp is in its normal upright position, the slot &c. would lie at their
lowest attainable level upon the bottom of the space or chamber, but when the said
lamp is moved out of the vertical, the shot or grains &c. would commence to change
their position, and fall or roll again to their altered lowest attainable position, until,

page_text: when sufficiently for overturned, their accumulation at the one side, would by their
weight or pressure sideways, push the disc forward, and thereby by means of the
attached rods &c., lift the extinguisher; when its flap would be passed over the top of
the wick, and thus put out the light.
I may provide as is usual, necessary means for extinguishing the lamp at will, by
which the extinguisher may be raised independently of the fluid substance.
One special feature about this my invention is, that I provide and arrange the
mechanism for this my extinguisher near to the burner, or in the burner itself, or it
may be recessed in the upper part or collar of the container, so that I do not require
any special inconvenient alteration to, or kind of container, or mechanism of rods &c.
passing into or through such container, necessitating the adoption of metal containers,
but I may use glass, earthenware, china or metal container as may be desired.
Dated this 10th day of October 1887.
CHARLES T. POWELL,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Extinguishing Apparatus for Hydrocarbon and
other Oil Lamps.
I FRANCIS ROBERT BAKER, of Snow Hill, Birmingham in the county of Warwick,
Engineer 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 extinguishing mechanism for hydrocarbon and other oil
lamps, and has for its object the closing of the extinguishing apparatus over the wick
by means of a fluid substance, which when moved out of its normal position, prosses
by reason of its fluidity against a moveable disc, and thus operates the extinguisher ;
and in the arrangement of such apparatus.
What I mean by fluid substance, is, such a substance whose cumulative parts or
atoms may easily and readily move and change their relative position, by reason of
gravitation, and thereby exert a force horizontally at their sides, such as for instance,
this fluid may consist of small shot, sand, or other granulated bodies; generally
however I should prefer to use small shot.
Assuming it to be near to the burner, it would consist generally speaking of the
following:
Upon the wick tube or tubes, I provide ordinary extinguisher boxes, having a
shutter or shutters, which latter are operated upon by a spring or springs, or other
suitable device for closing them across the top of the wick.
Attached to the extinguisher, upon the wick tube or tubes, and extending therefrom,
is a rod or rods passing to and through the bottom of the burner, into a chamber or its
equivalent, wherein is situated a disc or plate, the ends of the said rod or rods, being
connected to such a disc or plate. Below this, a space is left between such disc or
plate, and the bottom of the chamber, the said disc being made capable of a sliding
motion upwards.
In this space I place the fluid substance, that is, the small shot.
When the lamp is in its normal upright position, the shot &c. would lie at their
lowest attainable level, upon the bottom of the space or chamber, but when the said
lamp is moved out of the vertical, the shot or grains &c., would commence to change
their position, and fall or roll again to their altered lowest attainable position, until
when sufficiently far overturned, their accumulation at the one side, would by their
weight or pressure sideways, push the disc forward, and thereby, by means of the
attached rod or rods &c., lift the extinguisher, when its flap would be passed over
the top of the wick, and thus put out the light.
I may provide as is usual, necessary means for extinguishing the lamp at will, by
which the extinguisher may be raised independently of the fluid substance. One

page_text: special feature about this my invention is, that I provide and arrange the automatic
mechanism for this my extinguisher near to, or in the burner itself, so that I do not
require any special inconvenient alteration to, or kind of container, or mechanism
of rods &c. passing into or through such container, necessitating beyond choice, the
adoption of metal containers, but I may use glass, earthenware, china, or metal
containers, as may be desired.
Having now described the nature of my said invention, I will proceed to explain
more particularly how it may be performed, having reference to the accompanying
illustrative sheet of drawings, upon which are figures and letters of reference, siniilar
letters throughout the several views, referring to the same thing or part, and
in which :-
Fig. 1, shows in sectional elevation an oil lamp burner, with this my improved
method of automatically operating the extinguisher.
Fig. 2, is a section of Fig. 1 upon line A-B shewing plan of moveable pressure
plate.
.
Fig. 3, illustrates the lamp when upset, shewing the forward position of the
moveable pressure plate, the altered position of the fluid substance, and the extinguisher
closed.
Fig. 4 illustrates the extinguisher as when closed by hand.
As will be readily seen the arrangement may be readily attached to lamp burners
having one or more wicks, but for the purposes of illustration I have shown it as
applied to a burner having two wicks.
a, a, are the wick tubes upon which slide the extinguishers b, b, which are further
provided with shutter flaps c, c, for the closing of which, springs d, d, or other
suitable means are provided.
Connected to the extinguishers, and extending downwards is the rod e, passing
through the bottom of the burner, into the chamber g, and there secured to the disc
or plate h.
Suitable holes are provided in this disc or plate, so that it may freely slide up and
down the wick tubes a, a, where such latter pass through the chamber g, to the
reservoir, see Fig. 2, so that the disc h, the rod e, and the extinguishers b, b, &c.,
together are capable of a free up and down sliding motion.
Between this disc or plate h, and the bottom i of the chamber g, a space is left;
in which I place the fluid substance j, consisting preferably of small shot.
It will now be seen that when the lamp is in its normal upright position, as in
Fig. 1, the shots would be at their lowest attainable level upon the bottom of the
chamber g. When the said lamp however, is overturned, or moved out of the vertical,
as seen in Fig. 3, the shots or grains would change their position and roll again to
their altered lowest attainable position, until when sufficiently far overturned, their
accumulation at the one side would, by their weight or pressure sideways against
the disc h, push it forward, and thereby, by reason of the attached rod advance the
extinguisher, when the shutter flaps c, c, would be passed over the top of the wick,
and thus put out the light.
e,
Upon again righting the position of the lamp, the shots would resume their normal
position at the bottom of the chamber g, permitting of the readjustment of the
position of the extinguishers b, b.
Thus it will be seen that by this novel arrangement the operating mechanism is
concealed from view, and protected from damage or interference, and at the same
time does not interfere with the shape or construction of the burner, its adjacent
parts, or with the container.
In order to extinguish it at will I may provide any ordinary suitable device, acting
upon the extinguisher, and operated from the outside, a simple method being shown
in Fig. 4, wherein the arm K is secured to the cross piece (which connects the two
extinguishers) is carried to the exterior of the burner, terminating in a finger lift
piece m, by which the whole may be lifted at will in order to put out the light, a
suitable slot being provided in the side of the burner at n to accomodate the passing
up and down of the said arm k.:
:

page_text: The precise method and arrangement of employing fluid substances, for the
purposes of carrying out this my invention may be somewhat varied in detail
without departing from the nature of my said invention as it may be arranged in
the body of the burner or at its base as shown but the method and arrangement
illustrated, I find to answer very satisfactory.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. Operating the extinguishers of hydrocarbon and other oil lamps by means of a
fluid substance, whose particles readily move and change their relative position, and
in so doing by reason of their weight and impetus, brings the mechanism of the said
extinguishers into operation, substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon
the drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of the parts constituting this my improved
contrivance for the automatically extinguishing of hydro-carbon or other oil lamps
substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings in Figs. 1, 2 & 3.
3. The combination and arrangement of the parts constituting this my improved
contrivance for the extinguishing at will of hydro carbon or other oil lamps
substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings in Fig. 4.
Dated 10th day of my 1000.
0
CHARLES T. POWELL,
12, Cherry Street, Birmingham,
Applicant's Agent.
CHARLES T. POWELL,
12, Cherry Street, Birmingham,
Applicant's Agent.