IMPROVE- MENTS IN ROOF LAMPS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Hinks and Francis Robert
Baker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th April
1883.
JOHN HINKS of Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturer and
FRANCIS ROBERT BAKER of Birmingham aforesaid Mechanical Engineer "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROOF LAMPS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
In roof lamps of railway carriages as ordinarily constructed great inconvenience
and loss are occasioned by the absence of means in the said lamps of adjusting and
maintaining in their adjusted position the wicks of the said lamps. The wick
cases are rigid and the wick is supported by its lowest end resting on the bottom
of the chamber in which the wick case is fixed. The wicks are in consequence
useless while a considerable part remains unused and are thrown away charged
with oil.
Our improvements have for their object to remedy the defects referred to and
consist of the method hereinafter described of constructing the wick cases of roof
lamps for railway carriages and also the method hereinafter described of altering
wick cases of the ordinary construction so as to convert them into wick cases
having the same or nearly the same action as wick cases made according to our
invention.
In making according to our invention the said wick cases we take a strip of
thin sheet steel or other hard metal or alloy of such size and shape that when
doubled it will form a wick case or flat tube open at top and bottom. By means
of slits or piercings cut in one side of the case we form tongues or springs connected
at their base with the case. These tongues or springs are bent slightly inwards at
top so that when a wick is introduced into the wick case they press the said wick
against the side of the wick case opposite to that in which the springs are formed.
By this arrangement the wick is supported in the position to which it may have
been raised but is prevented from descending.
When for any purpose it may be wished to throw the spring tongues out of
action this may be effected by passing a strip of steel up the wick case between
the wick and that side of the wick case in which the springs are formed. The
wick case made as described is attached to the lamp by being pressed into the slot
in the holder but it does not require to be soldered therein as the ordinary wick
Price d】

page_text: case is inasmuch as we make stops on one or both sides which permit it to descend
only to the required distance and we also make a spring stop or spring stops in
the pierced side of the case which prevent the ascent of the case. By pressing
inwards the said spring stops the wick case can be removed when required.
In altering according to our invention wick cases originally made in the ordinary
way we proceed as follows. We make one or more openings in one side of the
wick case and near the upper end. Upon the lower end of the wick case we place
a spring clip which carries a number of spring tongues equal to the number of
holes in the wick case. The said clip has a stop which determines its position on
the wick case.
By the use of our invention wicks may be employed of much greater length
than those ordinarily employed and nearly the whole of the said wicks may be
utilized. There is consequently great saving in the wick itself as well as in the
oil with which waste wicks are charged.