IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OIL LAMPS AND IN MEANS FOR SUPPLYING OIL TO THE WICKS OR BURNERS THEREOF
Year: 1884

page_text: C
I ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE of the Office for Patents, Bream's
Buildings Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex Patent Agent do hereby
declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF OIL LAMPS AND IN MEANS FOR SUPPLYING OIL TO THE WICKS OR BURNERS
THEREOF" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The present Invention relates to the supply of mineral and vegetable oils to the
wicks of lamps under the influence of pneumatic pressure; the object in view being
to remove the many inconveniences attending the method heretofore employed of
simply drawing up the oil by means of the wick.
In the accompanying Drawing
Fig. 1 is an elevation of à table lamp.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
Fig. 3 shews an arrangement for wall and ceiling lamps, in which both the air
reservoir and also the principal oil reservoir are arranged externally of the lamp,
or at a distance therefrom.
In Fig. 4 the oil reservoir forms part of the ceiling lamp, but the air reservoir
and air pump are separate therefrom.
In Fig. 5 is shewn a ceiling lamp in which are arranged both air pump, and air
and oil reservoirs, as well as a vessel or chamber for containing the overflow oil,
like that in the table lamp Fig. 1.
In Fig. 1, A. is the pedestal or base of the table lamp which contains a small air
pump a and air reservoir b. The latter is in connection, by means of the tube c
with the principal oil reservoir B. A jacket C encloses an annular space i for the
collection of the overflow oil. By means of the cap-piece or cover D which is
divided into the two parts h and g, the vessel B and its surrounding jacket Care
closed in air-tight at top. From the bottom of the oil reservoir B a tube k

page_text: (provided with a regulating cock ) leads into the small oil chamber h; x is a gauge
glass for enabling the amount of oil in the reservoir B to be seen.
The apparatus operates as follows:-
The piston of the air pump (which is provided with a suitable knob or handle)
is set in motion and the air in the reservoir b thereby compressed; this air presses,
through the tube c upon the oil in the reservoir B, a portion of the said oil being
thereby forced through the tube k into the small chamber h, on or above which
a burner is mounted. The wick to be employed may consist either of cotton, or of
cotton mixed with asbestos; the woven or unwoven asbestos wick may also be so
lapped around the cotton wick that the former will somewhat overtop the cotton
wick and take up the oil required for combustion, therefrom; this is so much the
easier in the present construction of lamp, as, by reason of the short wick used,
only a comparatively small degree of suction requires to be exerted either by the
asbestos ring or by the cotton wick.
The surplus oil forced into the space h flows through the tubes m and n into the
collector from which it can be drawn off by the tap o.
The principal reservoir B is filled by the tube p which is fitted with a
screw cap.
In the arrangement shewn at Fig. 3 the principal oil reservoir and also the air
reservoir, are detached from the bracket or hanging lamp as the case may be. To
catch the overflow oil a special exit tube leading into a small reservoir i is provided
for the burner or burners.
Fig. 4 is a modification of the preceding arrangement the principal oil
reservoir B being combined with the ceiling lamp, whilst the air reservoir and air
pump by which the oil is forced under pressure to the burners, are arranged.at
a distance in any convenient part of the room to be lighted, or elsewhere, as desired.
Just as in Figs. 3 and 4 a number of burners of a hanging lamp can be supplied
with oil under the influence of an even pneumatic pressure, so also a number of
lamps situated in different rooms, can be fed or supplied with oil from a central
position. In this case, an apparatus, E, for the storage and uniform discharge of
compressed air is placed between the air pump. a (or air reservoir b) and the
principal oil reservoir B. The piston of this apparatus tends to force the air out
in accordance with its variable weighting, and when arranged as shown in Fig. 3
in combination with the cocks fand r such an exact regulation of the oil delivery
can be effected that the overflow tubé m and reservoir i will scarcely be needed.
In this pneumatic lamp arrangement the thin and small air or oil tubes will be,
for protection, enclosed or cased in either singly or in groups, by stronger tubes.
The advantages which the new system possesses over the old are as follows:-
1. The removal of all danger of explosion, since the principal oil reservoirs may
be located far enough away from the light to render the heating of the oil and the
evolution of explosive gases impossible, and because the constant circulation of
the oil tends to keep the same_cool.
2. The possibility of using various kinds of heavy oils such as Caucasian
mineral oil, in the same lamps as well as "Solar" oil, paraffin oil, &c.
3. The convenience of feeding or supplying an unlimited number of lamps from
any desired central position.
4. The avoidance of the use of shadow-throwing oil reservoirs as in the ordinary
constructions of petroleum and other lamps.
5. The facility afforded for charging the lamps with oil, either by hand, or (in
the case of very extensive plant) by mechanical power.
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
1
1. The construction and arrangement of pneumatic oil lamps described with
reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 5 of the Drawing, whereby oil from a main oil reservoir
at a distance-from-the burner or burners may be delivered to the wicks under the
influence of air pressure, as set forth.

page_text: 2. The combination and arrangement of apparatus described with reference to
Fig. 3 of the Drawing for supplying oil under pressure to the wicks of wall and
ceiling lamps, in which arrangement the oil and air reservoirs and air pump are
arranged at a distance away from the lamp or lamps, the oil being conveyed
thereto and its supply regulated by suitable pipes and cocks, and the lamps
themselves being fitted with a vessel i for the reception of any surplus oil which
may be delivered to the burners.
3. The combination and arrangement of apparatus described with reference to
Fig. 4 of the Drawing, by which arrangement air under pressure is delivered from
a distance and in regulated quantity to one or more hanging lamps the said lamp
or lamps being formed or fitted with a main oil reservoir B, from which oil is
forced pneumatically to the burners, and with a vessel i for the collection of any
surplus oil which may flow from the burners as set forth.
4. The use in combination with one or more burners and oil vessels to which oil
is supplied under pneumatic pressure from a main oil reservoir, of cotton wicks
protected from combustion by a surrounding layer of woven or unwoven asbestos
overtopping the said cotton wick as above set forth.
Dated this 14th day of June 1884.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant,