Improvements in Lamps.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by RICHARD TONKINS BARTON, of No. 402, Crown Street,
New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.]
Improvements in Lamps.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent Agents
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improvement in that class of oil-burning lamps in which
the fount is counterbalanced so as to be raised as the oil is exhausted and thus always
maintain a uniform immersion of the wick in the oil, whereby the amount of il
supplied to the flame is always proportioned to the draft provided to supply air thereto,
the object of this invention being to provide for removing and burning any gases
that may accumulate in the fount or about the wick, for indicating the position of the
fount at any time and therefore the amount of oil in it, and for filling the fount
without removing the cover of the lamp-body. Further objects of my invention are
to improve, cheapen and simplify the construction of lamps of the type above
described.
With these ends in view, my invention consists in certain details of construction
and combination of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the
claims.
As herein shown the sectional lamp-body is composed of a removable top or cover A,
a bearing-ring B, an upper band C, a porcelain shell D, a lower band E, a standard F,
and a lining-cup G, the said parts being held together, with the exception of the top
or cover which is removable, by means of a clamp H and a screw I, as will be further
described. I would have it understood, however, that I do not limit myself to the
use of my improvements with a lamp-body constructed as shown and described, but
hold myself at liberty to apply them to any lamp-body which may be adapted to
receive them.
The said cover is formed higher at its center than at its edge, and provided with a
suitable threaded collar J for the attachn ent of the burner which is not shown, and
with a
depending stationary perforated wick-containing tube K, located in line with
the said collar, and having its lower end closed. As herein shown the wick-containing
tube is perforated throughout its length. If desired, however, only the lower end of
the tube may be perforated. The said cover is also provided with a short upright
tube S, located upon its outer face and threaded for the attachment of the filling-
cap M, and with a depending filling-tube N of smaller diameter than the cap-tube M
and attached to a shoulder O formed just below the thread thereof, so as to form an
annular space P between the cap-tube and the upper end of the filling-tube. The
said cover is further provided with a small tube Q having a shoulder R at its
upper end, and forming a bearing for a vertically movable indicator consisting of a
rod S having a button T formed at its upper end. By preference the rod is graduated,
but that is not essential. The said indicator-tube is made large enough to permit a
current of air to flow around the indicator and enter the fount, from which it will rise
through the wick-containing tube to the burner, as will be more fully set forth
later on.
The said fount U is located in the chamber V formed by the lining-cup and adapted
to play freely up and down therein. Its top is shaped to conform to the shape of the
cover A, and provided with a central opening W to receive the wick-containing tube,
and with an opening X to receive the filling-tube which plays in a short bearing-
tube Y attached to the top of the fount, and when the same is raised, entering the

page_text: annular space or chamber P formed between the cap-tube and the upper end of the
filling-tube. The said perforated wick-containing and filling tubes are adapted in
length to extend into the fount when the same is in its lowest position, so that the
wick will then be immersed in the oil, and the oil surely carried to the fount. The
extension of the filling-tube into the fount as described, also keeps the fount from
rotating in the lining-cup. By shaping the top of the fount to conform to the shape
of the cover of the lamp-body, economy of vertical space between the flame and
the oil is secured. A guiding action between the fount and the cover is also
obtained.
A bead a thrown out from the side of the fount near the upper edge thereof, engages
with walls of the lining-cup and guides the upper end of the fount and prevents the
same from tipping. The bottom of the fount is provided at its center with a tube b
made open at its lower end and adapted to enter a tube c opening out of the center of
the bottom of the lining-cup and closed at its lower end. These two tubes guide the
lower end of the fount and co-operate with the bead before mentioned in holding it in
place. Under this construction and particularly by means of the bead, the fount is
guided in its vertical movement, but left free enough to act easily and with little
friction. A spiral spring A¹ interposed between the bottom of the fount and the
closed end of the tube c and inclosed by the said tubes, is provided for raising the
fount as the oil is exhausted therefrom, the spring being adapted to be compressed to
permit the fount to sink to its lowest position when full of oil and to lift the
fount at a rate exactly proportional to the rate at which the oil is exhausted
from it.
The removable cover or top A is provided with an ordinary depending flange B¹
which, when the cover is in place, fits into the upper end of the lining-cup as shown.
The edge of the cover rests upon the upper face of an outwardly extending horizontal
flange formed at the upper end of the cup and brazed to a shoulder D₁ formed
upon the inner edge of the bearing-ring B, the outer edge whereof is curved over to
form a lip E under which the upper edge of the upper band C is fastened. By
shaping the ring B as described, it stiffens the lamp-body and enables very nice joints
between it and the lining-cup and the upper band to be secured. A threaded stud F¹
secured to the lower end of the closed tube c receives the screw I passing through
the clamp H which is braced against the interior of the standard, and pulls against
the upper face thereof_through the lining-cup, the bearing-ring B, the band C, the
shell D and the band E.
As the fount is filled it slowly sinks down under the weight of the oil, to the
bottom of the cup, the indicator, the lower end of which rests upon the top of the
fount, falling with it and indicating the filling of the fount and when to stop pouring
in oil. When the fount is in its lowest position, the lower end of the wick-con-
taining tube will be immersed for a predetermined distance in the oil. Now when
the lamp is lighted and the oil burned, the fount being relieved of a part of its burden
will be raised by the spiral spring exactly in harmony with the exhaustion of the oil,
so that the wick-containing tube and hence the wick, will always have the same
immersion in the oil, the level whereof will be constant with respect to the wick-
containing tube, but not to the fount. As the fount is raised, so will the indicator be
raised to indicate the gradual exhaustion of the oil, and finally that it is all gone.
The current of air which as before explained, passes down the indicator-tube, finds
its way over the top of the fount, down into the interior thereof through the opening
therein made for the wick-containing tube through the perforations of which it then
passes, and thence up through the burner to the flame. The draft thus established
carries off any gases which may accumulate in the fount and avoids the danger of
their explosion, and the annoyance of their odor when exhaled into the air. This
draft also tends to keep the lamp cool and promotes the combustion of the oil, and
heightens the brillancy of the flame. It may be added here that after the several
parts of the lamp have been assembled, they will not thereafter be disturbed in any
ordinary use of the lamp.

page_text: It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some slight changes and
alterations in the construction herein shown and described may be made." Thus
the wick-containing tube might be attached to the burner instead of to the top or cover
of the lamp, the requirement being that it shall be stationary with respect to the
fount. Nor is it necessarily made in the form of a perforated tube as a container or
cage adapted to confine the wick and to admit oil and air to it from the fount would
act on the same principle. I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit
myself to the form of lamp represented and described herein, but hold myself at
liberty to make such variations therefrom as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of
my invention
First. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a vertically movable fount, of
a stationary perforated wick-containing tube extending thereinto, and means for
raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion of the oil therefrom, substantially
as described.
Second. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a removable cover or top
having a filling-tube depending from it, a vertically movable fount into which the tube
extends in every position of the fount, and means for lifting the fount conformably
with the exhaustion of oil therefrom, substantially as described.
Third. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a removable cover or cap, of
an indicator mounted therein, a vertically movable fount with which the indicator
rises and falls, and means for raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion of
oil from the fount, substantially as described.
Fourth. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a removable top or cover, of
a cap-tube located upon the outer face thereof and adapted to receive a filling-cap, a
filling-tube depending from the lower face of the top or cover in line with the said
cap-tube, a vertically movable fount into which the filling-tube extends in every
position of the fount, and means for raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion
of oil from it, substantially as described.
Fifth. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a cover or top, of an upright
tube secured thereto, an indicator composed of a rod having a button at its upper end
and mounted in the said tube, a vertically movable fount engaged by the lower end of
the rod, and means for raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion of oil
therefrom, substantially as described.
Sixth. In an oil burning lamp, the combination with a vertically movable fount,
of a stationary wick-containing tube or cage adapted to admit air into its interior
from the fount, an air-passage for admitting a current of air into the fount, and
means for raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion of oil therefrom,
substantially as described.
Seventh. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a vertically movable fount
provided near its upper edge with an outwardly projecting bead, of a lining-cup with
which the said bead engages to guide the fount, and means for raising the fount
conformably with the exhaustion of oil therefrom, substantially as described.
Eighth. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a lining-cup having a tube
opening out of its bottom, of a vertically movable fount having a tube depending from
its bottom and entering the tube of the lining-cup, and means for raising the fount
conformably with the exhaustion of oil therefrom.
Ninth. In an oil-burning lamp, the combination with a vertically movable fount
having a tube depending from its bottom, of a stationary tube to co-operate with
the tube of the fount in guiding the same, and a spring inclosed by the tubes for
raising the fount conformably with the exhaustion of oil therefrom.
Tenth. In a lamp, the combination with a bearing-ring shaped to form a shoulder
upon its inner edge, and a curved lip upon its outer edge, of a lining-cup having an
outwardly projecting flange formed upon its upper edge, and resting upon the said

page_text: shoulder of the ring; and a band having its upper edge inserted under the curved
lip of the said ring, the said lip being closed down upon its outer face, substantially
as described.
Dated this 27th day of January 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.