An Improved Safety Syphon Lamp for Mineral Oils.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 15th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 19th Mar., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Safety Syphon Lamp for Mineral Oils.
I, FREDERICK HORDLE of Hill Road Clevedon in the County of Somerset,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is applicable to all kinds of ordinary lamps used for burning
mineral oils, those having metal containers for oil being necessarily the safest.
Immediately below the burner and attached firmly to the neck of the container
or to the collar of the burner, I place a small tube which is contracted at its lower
end, and which extends downwards in the centre of the container until it reaches
about half an inch from the bottom. I attach a small funnel shaped piece of metal
to the bottom of the container so as to project upwards and enclose the lower end
of the descending tube.
In containers having a drop-piece beneath for attachment to a pillar, the funnel
and drop-piece can be in one. There are a few holes in the lower part of the
funnel so as to allow the oil to enter the funnel slowly.
Outside the descending tube is a horizontal flange which nearly closes the funnel
and makes it a small inner chamber almost entirely divided off from the container.
If a flat wick is used it is by preference stitched at its lower end into a round or
tubular shape so that it can more easily pass into the chamber.
The container can be filled from an outside feeder screw which closes airtight
and which communicates only with a small tube descending into the container or
by pouring the oil down the neck in the usual way.
In the latter case the lamp
must be held in a sloping position during filling.
Should the lamp be overturned none of the oil can be spilled, as the oil will flow
into the air space reserved for it in the upper part of the container, and around
the descending tubes. To ensure this air space the lamp is never filled more than
half or two-thirds.
In some cases for extra safety an additional descending collar or tube may be
placed in the neck of the lamp, inside the first named tube and concentric with
This will catch any stray drops of oil which may pass up the tube in case of
an upset.
it.
Dated this 6th day of January 1892.
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97, Newgate Street, London, E.C., Agent for Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Safety Syphon Lamp for Mineral Oils.
I, FREDERICK HORDLE of Hill Road, Clevedon in the County of Somerset,
Ironmonger, 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 is designed to prevent accidents in burning mineral oils and
similar substances, by preventing the spilling of the oil either when the lamp is
carried carelessly, or when the lamp is accidentally overturned. The invention is
applicable to all kinds of ordinary lamps used for burning such oils, and when
combined with a metal reservoir, or a glass reservoir encased in a wire or per-
forated metal or other enclosure, so as to be protected from fracture; it afford..

page_text: complete security, from the danger and risk ordinarily attending the use of such
lamps.
I will now proceed to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which Figs. 1 and 2 shew sectional elevations of lamp reservoirs without
burners, and with my improvements attached.
it will be seen that the invention consists in suspending within the reservoir,
immediately below the burner, one or more descending tubes, there being by prefer-
ence two of such tubes, a, and b, as shewn. These tubes are firmly attached to the
container or to the collar of the burner g, or one may be attached to the container
and one to the burner, there being an annular air-space between them.
The inner tube b, is the one which might be dispensed with in some cases, its
function being to form the annular space between a, and b, before referred to.
This space is intended, when the lamp is overturned, to receive any small
quantity of oil which may be inside the tube a, and it is because there would
in most cases be little or no oil there, that it can be omitted in small lamps and
in those having shallow reservoirs. In the larger lamps it is desirable to
retain it.
The tube a, descends nearly to the bottom of the container, and is sometimes,
as shewn in Fig. 2, surrounded at its lower end by a funnel e, attached to or
formed on the bottom of the container. In other cases as shewn in Fig. 1, the
end of the tube a, can be carried into the hollow socket pin p.
In small lamps the tube a, is conveniently made taper throughout, but for
the larger class of lamps as shewn in Fig. 1 the tube a, is preferably made
cylindrical at its upper part, and b, is kept parallel to it.
This cylindrical formation of a, and b, allows more room for the wick, and
facilitates filling when this has to be done through the neck of the reservoir.
In order to assist the oil and wick finding their way easily into the lower end
of the tube a', the annular shelf or bottom f, of the cylinder, should slope
towards the centre where a' joins it. In the case of the tapering tube shewn in
Fig. 2, a horizontal flange d, is provided and attached firmly to the exterior of the
tube. This flange is so placed as to fit closely on the top of the funnel.e.
By the foregoing arrangements a chamber is formed around the wick, and to
ensure the wick descending to the lower end of this chamber, and to some extent
filling up the conical end thereof, it is recommended that the end of a flat wick be
stitched together in the form of a cone. As it burns away and becomes shorter
the stitches require to be slightly loosened or removed so that the wick when
saturated with oil shall occupy loosely the lower interior space of the conical tube.
When it so short as to be no longer able to fill this it must be removed and a new
inserted.
To ensure a sufficient supply of oil into the wick chamber, holes are made in the
lower end of the funnel e, as shewn in Fig. 2.
In the case of wick tubes formed as shewn in Fig. 1, the oil enters at the lower
end of the tube a¹. If preferred a perforated flange can be fixed to a', at the
point c.
When a feeding or filling opening is provided as shewn in Fig. 1 at x, it is
necessary to insert a descending tube as shewn, in order to preserve intact the air
chamber above the oil in the reservoir.
When filling the lamp by the neck, it should be held at an angle of about
45° so that sufficient air can escape and the reservoir will then become about half
full. If there is a filling place as at the lamp can be filled while upright.
It will be readily understood that after the reservoir has been filled thus with as
much oil as it will take, there will remain an air chamber above the oil.
It is this air chamber which constitutes the safety of the lamp, because, if it is
overset, the oil cannot overflow at the burner, but merely displaces the position,
and occupies the space of the air cushion in the reservoir which remains above the
oil as heretofore.

page_text: The lamp may therefore be laid on its side and rolled along the table, or reversed
without danger of spilling the oil. In its upright position the oil is syphoned
into the wick tube by the suction of the wick, as needed, but this syphonage does
not take place when the lamp is reversed or overset, because the wick is no longer
in contact with the oil.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
In a lamp for burning mineral oils and for like purposes, the wick chamber
formed by a combination of the descending tube a, and funnel e, or socket p:
with or without the inner tube b, flange d, and feeding tube x, as herein described
and set forth.
Dated this 15th day of ab
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97, Newgate Street, London, Patent Agent.