IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Coleman Defries, of the Firm of Jonas Defries and
Sons, Houndsditch, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Coleman Defries at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
March 1859.
I, COLEMAN DEFRIES, of the Firm of Jonas Defries and Sons, Houndsditch,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAMPS," to be as follows:-
These improvements are intended principally for application to lamps used
on or in railway rolling stock, but are also applicable to signal lamps on
railways or on board ship, and in all cases where lamps are furnished with what
are usually termed "bulls' eyes," or where strong lenses are used in lighting or
signalizing. Lenses or bulls' eyes, when applied to lamps, are usually embedded
in a ring or frame made to suit the form of the lens, which, being enclosed,
the frame or ring is soldered on to the casing of the lamp. By my improve-
ment this operation is avoided. I embed the bull's eye or lens in a dished ring
or frame, on the inner portion of which two (or more) openings are made from
the edge to nearly the centre. From each of these openings a slot is cut, one
trending towards the bottom of the lamp and the other upwards. On the
lamp casing is fixed a projecting ring, on each side of which, about the centre,
a lug is placed. The lens being dropped into the dished ring, the ring is placed

page_text: against the projecting ring, so that the lugs thereon shall enter the openings
in the dished ring, which is then turned round as far as the bayonet joint will
permit, and in this position a hole in the dished ring will be found opposite
one in the projecting ring, these are both screw-threaded, and into them I pass
a screw securing the whole in position. The lugs may be on the dished ring,
and the bayonet joint made on the projecting ring, if preferred. When
the lens is not circular, by modifications in the position of the lugs and
bayonet joints, a square or other framing may be easily and securely fitted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Coleman Defries in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLEMAN
DEFRIES, of the Firm of Jonas Defries and Sons, Houndsditch, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Coleman Defries, Her special licence that I, the said Coleman
Defries, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Coleman Defries, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LAMPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Coleman
Defries, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Coleman Defries, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being bad to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the letters of

page_text: reference marked thereon, similar letters denoting similar parts where such
parts appear or can be seen at each of the Figures respectively.
Figure 1 shewing a side view of my improved lamp complete; Figure 2,
front view of lamp with lens detached; and Figure 3, side view of lens detached.
A, A, slots cut in the dished ring E, in which the lens is placed. B, B, lugs
or pins on the projecting ring D of the casing of the lamp. C, set screw
fixing the whole in position. My improvements are applicable principally to
lamps used on railway rolling stock, whether such lamps be roof or other
carriage lamp, or those used as signals on railways or on board ship, or other,
and in all cases where lamps are furnished or fitted with "bulls' eyes," or where
strong lenses, plate or plain glasses, are used in lighting or signalizing. In
those lamps where "bulls' eyes," lenses, strong plate, or other glasses are used
or fitted, the lens (or other glass) is usually embedded in a ring or frame made
to suit the form thereof (or the lens or glass may be made or cut to the
framing), and then soldered to the casing of the lamp. I dispense with this
operation of soldering by embedding the lens (or other glass) in a dished ring
or frame E, on the inner portion of which two or more openings are made
from the edge to nearly the centre; from each of these openings a slot or
open groove is cut, one groove trending towards the bottom of the lamp,
following the shape of the ring, and the other in like manner upwards, as shewn
at A, A, in the Drawing. On the lamp casing is fixed a projecting circle or
ring D, on each side of which, and about the centre thereof, a lug or projection
B, B, is placed. (If there be more than two slots or grooves, there must be
fitted a lug or projection to take into each extra slot or groove.) The lens
(or other glass) being dropped into the dished ring E, such ring is placed
against the projecting ring D on the casing, so that the lugs B, B, shall enter
the openings in the ring E, which is then turned round as far as the bayonet
joint formed by the slots A, A, will permit; and when the two rings are in this
position, a hole in the ring E will be found opposite to one in the ring D. Both
these holes being screw-threaded, are prepared to receive the screw C, which
firmly secures the whole in position. (If desired several holes may be made in
the rings to receive additional screws.) If preferred, the lugs may be made
in the ring E, and the slots or grooves cut in the projecting ring D; but I
prefer the method firstly herein described and shewn in the annexed Drawing.
When the lens has been manufactured of a square, oblong square, or other form,
or such shaped openings for the light are preferred, my improvements are
easily adapted to the different forms by modifications in the position of the
slots and lugs, which I do not particularize, as any workman accustomed to
the manufacture of lamps will from the directions herein-before given readily

page_text: see what modification may be necessary and easily carry it into effect. Screw
threads may be cut in both the rings, and the ring E (holding the lens) be
screwed round the ring D (projecting from the casing) until fixed. But I
have found the parts securely fixed by fitting them in the manner berein-before
directed, which I have found the simplest and most expedient for carrying
out the main object of my Invention, which is by obviating the necessity of
soldering the lens or other glass to the casing of the lamp to provide for the
withdrawal of one lens from a lamp, and the substitution of another without
difficulty or the necessity of sending the lamp to a workshop for soldering.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the means by
which I carry my improvements in lamps into effect, I would have it distinctly
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts,
as herein described or shewn in the Drawing, for they may be modified
to suit lamps of various forms or dimensions; nor do I claim any of the
parts of lamps, such as rings, lenses, or other, taken as parts, and not used in
combination, for the purposes of my Invention, but I claim the exclusive use
of the arrangements or means herein described and shewn of securing lenses
or other descriptions of glass used for lighting or signalizing on or in lamps,
and forming by their use "Improvements in Lamps."
In witness whereof, I the said Coleman Defries, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
W. E. GEDGE,
4, Danes Inn,
Strand.
COLEMAN DEFRIES. (L.s.)