A New and Improved Wick and Wick-case for Lighting and Heating Lamps.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New and Improved Wick and Wick-case for Lighting and
Heating Lamps.
We GEORGE AITKENS of Foxton in the Provincial District of Wellington in
the Colony of New Zealand Clerk in Holy Orders and JOHN ANDERSON PIKE
of the City of Wellington in the said Colony Merchant do hereby declare the
nature of our invention for A NEW AND IMPROVED WICK AND WICK-CASE FOR
LIGHTING AND HEATING LAMPS and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our invention introduces a new and effective method of supplying a wick for
lamps which consume kerosene or other illuminating oils. In place of the usual
cotton or other material we use a powder consisting of pumice stone ground and
prepared. We prepare the powder by first freeing the pumice stone from salt or
other impurities by bleaching or cleaning in any preferred way afterwards drying
and grinding it quite fine. The powder being then cleared of crystals and other
foreign substances is ready for use. We have found that this powder is possessed
of great power of capillary attraction and that being enclosed in a wick-case with
one end submerged in or in contact with an illuminating oil the other end can
readily be lighted. Used in an ordinary kerosene lamp in substitution for a cotton
wick the powder allows the oil to burn with a steady clear flame. The cotton
wick as now used has disadvantages in that it requires constant adjustment and
frequent renewal while should the oil become exhausted in the lamp the wick
continues to burn for some time giving off a heavy and offensive smoke. It is also
liable to cause explosions or extensive fires in the event of being turned too far
into the lamp or in the event of the lamp being upset. With our wick there are
no such faults. Our wick is not liable to combustion and therefore does not
consume. It remains set at one level in the wick-case and requires no adjustment.
It is everlasting and as the oil becomes exhausted the flame simply diminishes
until it expires without giving off any smoke or smell. In order to apply our
powder to lamps we find it convenient to use a wick-case or tube similar to that
now in use for cotton wicks but longer and closed at the lower end—the said
lower end extending as far as convenient towards the bottom of the oil reservoir.
Adjusting spindle and cog-wheels are not required. The case is also more
conveniently contracted at the upper end to regulate and concentrate the flow of
oil and to retain the powder. This case contains the powder which is filled in by
any preferred method. To admit the oil we perforate to any preferred extent a
portion of the lower end of the case. This perforation must be sufficient to give
free admission for the oil. To prevent the washing out and wasting of the powder
we place in the case in such a way as to cover the perforations cotton or wool or
any similar material which will supply the oil to our powder wick and at the same
time retain the powder. We regulate or extinguish the flame in any preferred
way as by lowering the wick-case within an outer case or by elevating an outer
case or by applying a metal plate to the ignited surface so as to partially or
totally cover the surface as required. We also use our powder in cotton wick
lamps by lowering the cotton wick to any convenient or preferred extent and filling
in our powder until flush with the top. The powder readily continues the supply
of oil from the cotton and will ignite in the same manner as the cotton wick. In
making our special wick-case we find it convenient to make the case slightly wider
in guage than for cotton wicks so as to secure a full flow of oil. We make our
wick-cases in any preferred shape and we make them chiefly flat and circular.

page_text: With the circular form we use a spreader which regulates the flame or which
being lowered by screw or other mechanism may serve to extinguish it. We find
that our wick and wick-case are useful not only for illuminating lamps but also for
cooking and heating lamps. The circular form of wick-case has not hitherto been
used with success for cooking and heating lamps but with our wick it can bo
readily so used and the full benefit of the heat produced applied to the object of
heating.
As compared with other wicks and wick-cases the advantages of our wick and
wick-case lie in greater durability economy cleanliness saving of labour and safety.
We do not confine ourselves to the use of our powder as a wick in any particular
form of wick-case for it is obvious that many such forms may be used to carry our
powder-wick but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
The use of a powder made from pumice stone as a wick for lighting and heating
lamps.
The use of a powder made from pumice stone as a wick in a wick-case or tube
for lighting and heating lamps.
All as set forth in the foregoing Specification.
GEORGE BARKER,
77, Colmore Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.