IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PARAFFIN AND OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS
Year: 1873

page_text: ĻETTERS PATENT to Robert Guthrie, at present residing in Edinburgh,
in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of
** IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PARAFFIN AND OTHER HYDROCARBON
OILS."
Sealed the 27th March 1874, and dated the 11th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Guthrie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1873.
I, ROBERT GUTHRIE, at present residing in Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS FOR BURNING PARAFFIN AND OTHER
HYDROCARBON OIs," to be as follows, that is to say :—
:
This Invention, which relates to the arrangement and construction of
lamps for burning paraffin, petroleum, and other hydrocarbon oils with-
out the use of a glass chimney, consists in the employment of two or
more flat, curved, or semicircular wicks for the production of two or
more separate flames by one lamp. The wicks pass up through wick

page_text: holders or cases of the desired shape, whichí holders may either be
arranged in separate divisions or branching out from one common trunk
or tube.
The burner of the lamp is constructed with a globe holder or gallery
having air spaces for the admission of air to the flames; and upon the
gallery are fitted two or more domes or deflectors made in one picce or
separately, the inner one of which having also air spaces for the admission
of air to the flames through the hollow space between the domes.
These domes or deflectors have two or more slits or openings of the
form adapted for the shape of wick used, and the air being admitted to
all sides of the wicks it impinges upon the flames and supports the
combustion steadily in a vertical direction and increases the illuminating
power of the lamp; or, if desired, the separate flames may be caused to
converge together and pass through one orifice or opening in cach dome,
or of one or more domes, as the case may be. The wicks are raised in
the wick holders by pinions in the usual way.
The essential feature of this Invention is, the combination and appli-
cation in one lamp of two or more wicks and two or more deflectors or
domes having separate slits or openings of corresponding form to that of
the wicks used.
It is to be understood that the Invention is equally applicable to
lamps constructed for burning with circular wicks, in which case the
wick holders would be formed tubular, one within the other, and the
orifices in the domos or deflectors cut or formed to correspond therewith.

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
graut unto me, the said Robert Guthrie, Her special license that I, the
said Robert Guthrie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Guthrie, my executors, administrators, or
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 AND OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Guthrie, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Robert Guthrie, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention which relates to the arrangement and construction
of lamps for burning paraffin, petroleum, and other hydrocarbon oils
consists in the employment of a double dome or deflector, or of two or
more domes or deflectors, in conjunction with two or more flat, curved,
or circular wicks, for the production of one, or of two, or more separate
flames by the lamp.
The lamp as constructed under my said Invention is or may be
employed without the addition thereto of the glass chimney ordinarily
used with lamps in which paraffin and other hydrocarbon oils are
burned.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or carried out in practice,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-

page_text: elevation, Figure 2 a vertical section, and Figure 3 a plan of one arrange-
ment of the burner as constructed in accordance with my said Invention.
As shewn by these Figures two flat wicks a and b are employed, and
which pass up through vertical wick holders c and d; the burner is
made with a gallery e to support the usual glass globe; and beneath the
holder or gallery spaces f are formed round the body of the burner
through which atmospheric air passes to the interior of the burner and
impinges on the flames from the wicks a and b at the positions marked
g and m, Figure 2; on the upper side of the gallery e two domes or
deflectors / and i placed one within the other are situate, as shewn; the
inner dome or deflector i being formed with spaces or passages ; made
in the shoulder or flanch / surrounding the dome or deflector, as more
particularly seen in detailed plan at Figure 4, through which spaces air
passes into the hollow space between the domes or deflectors / and i,
in which it circulates upwards and impinges on the flames from the
wicks a, b, at the positions marked m, Figure 2; the domes or deflectors:
7 and i are each formed with two slits or openings n and o on their
upper sides, corresponding to the shape of the wicks a, b, through which
the flames pass upwards, and the said flames being impinged upon at all
sides of the wicks by the atmospheric air admitted, as herein-before
described, the combustion is steadily maintained in a vertical direction
and the illuminating power of the lamp is increased.
Beneath the domes h and i a perforated plate or disc p of metal,
seen more particularly at Figure 5, is preferably placed at the interior
of the burner to prevent particles of dust which may pass into the
burner through the openings f along with the air from reaching the
flames; or in lieu of a perforated metal plate a screen of wire gauze
may be employed for that purpose.
The wicks a and b are raised and lowered as desired by means of
pinions in the ordinary manner.
In lieu of employing two domes or deflectors, as herein-before
described and shown, a greater number of such domes or deflectors may
be used, the atmospheric air at the interior of the burner being allowed.
to pass into the space between each dome or deflector through spaces as
at j, Figure 2, or one dome or deflector only, composed of an inner and
outer casing and with a space extending around the interior between the
casings as at 1, Figure 2, may be used.

page_text: Instead of arranging two separate wick holders at the interior of the
burner when it is desired to produce two separate flames, as herein-
before described, one common trunk or wick holder branching off
into two separate portions at its upper end may be used to contain the
wicks, as shewn in vertical section at a, Figure 6 of the Drawings.
•
Under another arrangement of the burner, shewn in vertical section
at Figure 7, and in plan of the domes or deflectors at Figure 8 of the
Drawings, the two wick holders a and b are made to converge towards'
their upper ends so as to cause the flames from the two wicks c, d, to
mingle and produce one flame, which issues through single and enlarged
openings e made in the upper side of each dome or deflector ƒ and g.
It is to be understood that I do not confine myself to arrangements of
the burners herein-before described and shewn on the Drawings,
wherein two wicks are employed to produce one or two flames, as the
burners may be arranged to produce a greater number of flames, in which
case a correspondingly greater number of wicks are employed, and the
openings in the upper sides of the two or more domes or deflectors are
similarly and correspondingly increased; nor do I confine myself to
employ flat wicks, such as are shewn on the Drawing, as curved, or
circular, or nearly circular wicks may be employed to produce one or
more correspondingly shaped flames, which issue through curved,
circular, or nearly circular openings in the domes or deflectors. When
circular or nearly circular wicks are employed the wick holders are made
annular or partly annular, and they are by preference placed one within
the other..
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the systems or modes in or under which the same is
or may be used or carried out in practice, I would observe in conclusion
that I do not claim the different details constituting my improvements
if used separately; but what I consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, arranging and constructing the burners of
lamps wherein paraffin, petroleum, and other hydrocarbon oils are con-
sumed with a double dome or deflector, or with two or more domes or
deflectors, having each one or more slits or openings for the passage
upwards of one or more flames produced by two or more wicks, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated on the Sheet of

page_text: Drawings hereunto appended, and whereby the use of the glass chimney
ordinarily employed is or may be dispensed with.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Guthrie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.