IMPROVE- MENTS IN: LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM OR OTHER MINERAL OILS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL PECIFICATION left by Gabriel Dümler at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th March
1867.
I, GABRIEL DÜMLER, of Namur, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN: LAMPS FOR BURNING PETROLEUM OR OTHER MINERAL OILS," to be as
follows:-
In lamps for burning fat oils where the oil contained in a lower. chamber,
or reservoir is raised to the wick or burner by mechanical means, as in carcel,
gaigneau, moderator, and other lamps, the oil rises to the point where com
bustion takes place, and sometimes even above that point. Petroleum or
other mineral oils could not with safety be burned in such lamps as the oil
might ignite and cause the lamp to explode.
The object of my Invention is so to arrange and combine the parts of.
mechanical lamps, or lamps in which the oil is raised to the wick or burner
by mechanical means, that petroleum or other mineral oils may with safety be.
burned in them; the level of the said oil being maintained at a certain distance,

page_text: from the flame, to which the said oil rises solely by capillary attraction.
Above the lower oil chamber or reservoir I place a second and smaller
chamber or reservoir to receive the lower part of the wick. I connect the
said upper and lower oil chambers by means of two pipes or tubes, the one to
convey the oil raised by mechanical means from the lower chamber into the
upper chamber, and the second pipe or tube to carry off any oil rising above
the required level in the upper chamber, and to convey the said superfluous oil
to the lower chamber. The oil actuated by the mechanism in the lower
chamber rises into and fills the upper chamber to the level of the mouth of the
discharge pipe or tube, through which the superfluous oil escapes into the
lower chamber; by this means a uniform level is constantly maintained in
the upper chamber, and the oil ascends along the wick to the flame solely by
capillary attraction, causing the wick to burn regularly and to produce a flame
of uniform intensity. When the winding up of the lamp is effected by means
of a rack, as in moderator lamps, I construct the upper oil chamber with a
tube or pipe open at bottom to allow the said rack to pass up and down
in the said tube; and the lower part of the wick may be contained in a tube
either perforated with holes or open at bottom to admit the oil from the upper
oil chamber. I sometimes place wire gauze above the upper chamber and
below the burner. When flat wicks are used I prefer to use ordinary
petroleum burners and glasses.; or the oil may be made to flow directly on to
the wick, and such portions of the said oil as are not absorbed by the capillary
attraction of the said wick to escape to the lower oil chamber through a pipe
connected with the bottom of the upper oil chamber. When circular wicks
are used place round the ordinary wick tube or holder (the bottom of
which is closed, and its external surface perforated with holes) an oil chamber
or reservoir in which are the tubes or pipes for the admission and outlet of the
oil, or I cause the oil to flow directly into the wick tube or holder, and let
off the superfluous oil either through a pipe or pipes situated at any con-
venient point on the said wick holder, or through one or more suitable apertures
into an external oil chamber or reservoir provided with the outlet pipe, as
before-mentioned. With circular wicks I use an improved burner constructed
according to my Invention, and specially adapted to that form of wick. Above
and connected with the inside of the circular wick tube or holder I place a
conical, cylindrical, or flat air conductor, the upper part of which is encircled
by the circular flame from the wick, and I place round the flame and on the
outside thereof a curved or sphero-conical disc, the upper part of which forms
with the interual air piece or disc an annular opening through which the

page_text: flame rises. The base of the external conical disc may be connected with the
glass holder, or may be made independent thereof. Air is admitted to within
the circular flame through the circular wick tube or holder, and to the
outside of the said circular flame through the sphero-conical or curved disc
which encircles the said flame.