IMPROVEMENTS IN ADJUSTING THE POSITION OF PENDENT AND OTHER LAMPS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Baptist Smith, of Hockley, near Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ADJUSTING THE POSITION OF PENDENT AND OTHER LAMPS."
Sealed the 5th October 1858, and dated the 20th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Baptist Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
April 1858.
I, JOHN BAPTIST SMITH, of Hockley, near Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ADJUSTING THE POSITION OF PENDENT AND OTHER LAMPS," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
These improvements consist in dispensing with the hydraulic tube and
balance weights employed for adjusting the position of pendent lamps, and
applying in lieu thereof a male screwed tube, which is secured to the ceiling
plate, and works in a female screw box attached to the ordinary sliding tube
of the lamp.
By this arrangement, the usual packing is also dispensed with; the same
or similar apparatus can also be applied to standard lamps and brackets for
the purpose of raising or extending the position of the light.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Baptist Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BAPTIST SMITH, of Hockley, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Baptist Smith, Her special license, that I, the said John Baptist Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Baptist Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ADJUST-
ING THE POSITION OF PENDENT AND OTHER LAMPS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said John Baptist Smith, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Baptist Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed; and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of improved mechanical appliances adapted to the
purpose of adjusting the position of pendent and other lamps, forming apparatus
by means of which the position of the light may be changed to a greater or
less distance from the eye, and these improvements are mainly intended to be
used as a substitute for the hydraulic tubes and balance weights and other
contrivances which have hitherto been employed for the purpose, and which by
their weight or by the repeated breaking of the chains have always been liable
to failure, whilst at the same time such apparatus has usually added con
siderably to the cost of pendent lamps, although generally rendering them

page_text: unsightly; I. propose, therefore, to dispense with all this useless weight and
expensive construction, and the manner in which I effect this will be best
learned from the accompanying Drawings. These represent in (Sheet A) an
elevation, and section and details on Sheet B, a pendent gaselier. I have not
thought it requisite to make Drawings of the other lamps alluded to in my
title, as this one will be sufficient to illustrate the Invention.
(A), Sheet A,) represents the ordinary universal or ball joint of a pendent
gaselier, but as it is requisite for the purpose of my Invention that this joint
should be prevented from revolving, whilst at the same time its swing motion
must be maintained, I modify its action, as will be seen by the enlarged
Drawing (Figure 6, Sheet B), in which the arms (b, b,) embraced by and
working in the slots (c, c,) are provided for the purpose of effecting this object.
This joint is screwed to the inner tube (d); Figure 2 (B) represents the outer
tube of the gaselier, fitted at the top with a cap (E) grooved to allow the
ribs or slides F on the tube (d) to work up and down, but preventing the tube
(d) from turning round. At the foot of the tube (B) is attached a roller pawl
(G), working into a ratchet (G') fixed upon the plate (I), and seen more
clearly in the enlarged Drawing (Figure 4). This pawl and ratchet prevent
the revolution of the body of the gaselier during the action of raising or
depressing the pendent. The tube (d) slides freely within the tube (B). The
interior of the inner tube (d) being tapped with a female screw to receive the
male screwed tube (C), seen more clearly in (Figure 3); through this tube
(C) the gas passes into the plug (D), and thence by the orifices (d') is supplied
to the branches. At the bottom of the external tube (B) is attached a box
(H) secured to the plate (I), upon which the ratchet (G) is fixed. This box
encloses the plug (D) and collar (K), the plug rotating with the screwed tube
(C) and the collar (K) following the box (H), thus allowing the body of the
gaselier to be turned round for the purpose of lighting, whilst the ratchett and
roller pawl, before alluded to, prevent the rotation of the body of the pendent
whilst being raised or lowered. The branches (L, L,) of the gaselier pass
into the cap of the plug (D), and receive the gas from which the burners are
supplied. The details of the box (H), the collar, and plug are shewn in plan
at Figure 5. The knob (M) at the foot of the gaselier is secured to the plug
(D), which again is attached to the screwed tube (C) working in the female
screw (d), so that by turning the knob (M) the operation of raising or lowering
the position of the pendent is performed. (X, Figure 1, Sheet A,) represents
the ordinary water cup attached to the top of the tube B.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be clearly understood that

page_text: that which I claim is, the improved apparatus or combination of mechanical
appliances herein described and shewn in Drawings adapted to the purpose of
changing or adjusting the position of pendent and other lamps, or any mere
modification of the same, as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Baptist Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOHN BAPTIST SMITH. (L.S.)