IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING BY GAS AND ELECTRICITY COMBINED
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Henelade Courtenay, Telephonic Engineer, of
70, Bishopsgate Street Within, London, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LIGHTING BY GAS AND ELECTRICITY COMBINED."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Henelade Courtenay
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th October 1881.
ROBERT HENELADE COURTENAY, Telephonic Engineer, of 70, Bishopsgate Street
Within, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING BY GAS AND ELECTRICITY
COMBINED."
This Invention has for its object to increase the illuminating power of gas
hydrocarbons, methylated spirits of wine, or any fluid or substance from which
artificial light can be obtained by the use of gaseous products therefrom by means
of currents of electricity flowing through suitable media, thereby rendering the
combustion more perfect, and preventing the injurious effects of the imperfect
combustion of gas as used in the ordinary way.
A current of electricity will decompose and precipitate carbon from a flow of
gas, and I have ascertained by experiment that if a flow of gas is regulated to
allow only sufficient to pass through a burner which a current of electricity can
consume, that the whole of the particles of carbon in the gas undergo electrical
change and complete combustion, whereby the ordinary yellow light is converted
into a pleasant white light.
Of the methods by which this Invention can be accomplished I prefer the
following:-
The most simple method is to increase the resistance of iridium, or an alloy of
platinum and iridium, or other metallic or other suitable medium, by rendering the
metallic or other medium incandescent by means of gas or other flame during the
time a current of electricity is flowing through the metallic or other medium,
thereby increasing the electrical resistance of the medium employed to such an
extent that with the combination a white light can be obtained with ten cells of

page_text: an ordinary Bunsen battery, or an equivalent current, from any other source, with
about one foot of gas per hour. Whereas ten cells alone only slightly redden the
resisting medium.
It will be understood there are in the above arrangement two burners, one
supplying a gas or other flame, the second, an incandescent electrical burner
placed in circuit of any source of electrical power, the medium being placed in a
suitable position in the flame, producing the result described.
A second method of combining gas with electrical currents is the forming of
carbon gas and electrical burners combined, the same being perforated through
their length, and thus rendering each electrode a gas burner through which the
gas flows at the same instant as the current; or the insulation between the carbons
can be made with perforations, and the carbons solid, by this arrangement the
gas being in the centre of the arc. The solid carbons with insulation in the centre
I do not claim; but I claim the method of employing the same with perforated
insulation in the centre, or otherwise, for the purpose of combining gas with
electricity.
A third method of constructing gas-electro burners is to affix perforated carbons
to a reservoir or reservoirs of gasoline, or other suitable hydrocarbons or
methylated spirit of wine, or other suitable fluid, and through which the gas flows,
the effect being the prevention of rapid consumption of the carbons or other media
employed.
Any method of conveying a flow of gas between the carbons or electrodes can
be employed other than those specifally referred to above, the object of the
Invention being to combine the effect of a current of electricity with the com-
bustion of a gas flame for the purpose of increasing the illumination thereby,
substantially as described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Henelade Courtenay in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1882.
ROBERT HENELADE COURTENAY, Telephonic Engineer, of 70, Bishopsgate Street
Within, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING BY GAS AND ELECTRICITY
COMBINED."
I combine the heat and light produced by gas with the heat and light produced
by electricity for the purposes of illumination.
The work done by the heat of the gaseous illuminant in producing redness, or
a state approaching incandescence in an electrical conductor, placed within or in
proximity to the gaseous flame, effects a great saving in the work to be done by
the electric current in producing a joint illumination, while the electric current
on its part produces a more perfect combustion and consequently more light from
the gaseous illuminant.
Thus the combination produces a higher degree of luminosity than can be
obtained from the same amounts of gas and electricity if employed independently.
The electrical conductor or conductors where exposed to the effects of the gaseous
flame may be composed of platinum and iridium, or of any suitable metals or
alloys or their equivalents for this purpose, and I have found an alloy of platinum
and iridium very suitable.
I place the electrical conductor or conductors in or in the immediate proximity
of the gaseous flame, or between two flames, or in such position as will cause
the combination to produce the greatest amount of illuminating effect from the
relative consumption of the gaseous medium and of the electric current.
Fig. 1 shows an arrangement by which I accomplish this. a, a¹, are electrical
conductors to b, b, which is also a conductor passing through or just above the
upper fringe of the flame e of gas from an ordinary "fish tail" burner. Where b, b,
passes through or above the flame it is composed of an alloy of platinum and
iridium, or other refractory conducting substance. c is the gas burner, and dan
insulating collar, to which the electrical conductors are attached.
The electrical conductor b, b, where it passes through or above the flame may
be either a wire or curved plate, or spiral, or any other suitable form.
Any form of gasburner may be adapted for this combination of gaseous flame
and electric light, and what is technically known as a Bunsen burner, in which a
considerable amount of air or oxygen is consumed, in combination with a com-
paratively small amount of inflammable gas, may be employed with great
advantage. Fig. 2 shows one mode of applying my Invention to a Bunsen burner.
a, al, electrical conductors; b, b, the part of the electrical conductor which is placed
in the flame e, e, and which is composed of an alloy of platinum and iridium, or
of other suitable refractory material; c, Bunsen burner; and d, collar supporting
glass globe.
In proportion as the heat of the gaseous illuminant is increased in the Bunsen
burner by its more perfect combustion, so proportionately is the luminosity of the
incandescence of the electrical conductor increased. When the combustion of the
gas in the Bunsen burner is so perfect that little if any visible flame is apparent,
the luminosity of the incandescent electrical conductor attains its maximum with
a given electric current.
In applying my Invention to what is technically known as the arc electric light
the gaseous illuminant may be passed either through or between or combined
with the carbons or other electrodes. In Fig. 3 I show one mode of effecting this :---
a, b, are two carbons or other electrodes with a tube c of insulating material, through

page_text: which the gaseous illuminant is conveyed to the point d, where it is ignited and
forms the flame e. The electric current passing through the electrodes a, b,
produces the arc at f, passing through the gaseous flame. The carbons or other
electrodes may be perforated, and the gaseous illuminant passed through them and
ignited at the electric arc.
In Fig. 4 I show another mode of applying my Invention to arc lights :—a, b,
are the carbons or other electrodes, through which the electric current passes,
forming the arc light at f; c is a tube conveying hydro-carbon or other gaseous
illuminant to a burner d supplying the flame e, e, surrounding the end of the
carbon a or other electrode.
The flame from petroleum and other hydro-carbons, which are included in what
I term gaseous illuminants, may be similarly utilised in the various methods by
which the gases from such compounds are produced, and in their combination with
air, oxygen, or its gaseous compounds, whether supplied from a reservoir or under
pressure, as in a blowpipe.
What I claim is,―
1. The combination of ordinary gas or other gaseous illuminant with electricity
for the purpose of producing a joint illumination.
2. The application of gas or any gaseous illuminant in combination with
electricity for the production of incandescent light.
3. The application of gas or any gaseous illuminant in combination with
electricity in the production of the arc light.
4. The particular modes of application and the details specified.
All substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Henelade Courtenay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty fourth day of April, in the year of our