Improvements in and relating to Devices for Automatically Lighting Gas.
Year: 1896

page_text: This print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 11 of the Patents, &c., Act, 1883) as required
by the decision of the Comptroller General of the 4th day of April 1898.
Date of Application, 24th July, 1896-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by WILHELM BOIм, of Oranienburgerstrasse 64,
Berlin, Chemist, and Max STERNBERG, of Ulmenplatz Gross-Lichterfelde
bei, Berlin, Gentleman, both in the Empire of Germany.]
Improvements in and relating to Devices for Automatically
Lighting Gas.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 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:-
My invention relates to the automatic lighting of gases by means of the ethiops
of metals of the platinum group.
The mole of using this agent as heretofore practised, according to which the
same is presented to the current of gas in the form of a thicker or thinner layer,
has the inconvenience that after using the same for some time its physical condition
us ethiops becomes deteriorated by the melting together of particles, and
consequently becomes ineffective.
To prevent this is the object of my aforesaid invention; and I expose the
ethiops, in as fiuely divided a state as practicable, in a refractory support to the
current of gas.
For the purpose of accelerating the lighting I may sink into the mixture of
refractory dividing material and ethiops a platinum wire in such a manner that it is
touched by the current of gas; by the rapidly increasing heat of the ethiops this
wire becomes incandescent in a very short time.
As agents for dividing the ethiops I may use any refractory oxides of the
alkaline, earthy alkaline, earth and heavy metals. They are made in the form
of porous bodies, such as small cylinders, tubes, balls, plates, grates, fabrics, or
the like which are impregnated with the salt of one or more metals of the platinum
group, whereupon the salt or mixture of salt is converted into ethiops in the well-
known manner. Or the impregnation is effected by the forcing in of ethiops
previously obtained for instance by precipitation.
When employing my invention with the split burner I furnish the latter with a
refractory head of the aforesaid substance, such head being impregnated wholly or
partly with ethiops, and I sink into the impregnated part a platinum wire which
projects above the discharge slit. Or I use a small body of the said substance, for
example a small ball, providel with ethiops according to the before-mentioned
method, and fasten it by means of a wire, preferably platinum wire. to the head in
such a manner that the current of gas will impinge against the same.

page_text: With an Argand burner I may make the arrangement in a similar or suitably
modified manner, the most appropriate place being found in the interior of the
annular flame by a proper support; or I make the burner, or a portion of the same,
of the said substance and impregnate it with ethiops.
With gas incandescent light several modes of carrying my invention into effect
may be adopted. For instance I produce the mantle holder with a porous structure
of the described refractory substance, and impregnate it at one or more places with
ethiops, a platinum wire being inserted as set forth. Or I produce small tubes of
the said substances, such tubes being impregnated with ethiops and, having been
furnished with the platinum wire, slid upon the holder which in this instance may
consist of metal. Or I furnish the point of the holder with ethiops, making use of
a small impregnated tube as such, or producing the same from a refractory substance
impregnated with ethiops; in the latter case the platinum wire may be dispensed
with, inasmuch as the adjoining head part of the mantle is heated to such a degree
that it will light the gas; the lighting may however be accelerated by furnishing
the mantle head at the point of contact with finely divided refractory metal (by
soaking with the solution of a salt, such as platinum chloride, ferric chloride or the
like, which leaves a refractory metal behind). Or else I form, according to the
methods used for the mantle, a body of refractory oxide which I impregnate with
ethiops and which I either suspend above in the interior of the incandescence body,
in the form of a cylinder, cone, bridge piece or the like, or which I place interiorly
on the top of the same in the form of a ring. In this case, too, it is expedient to
provide the incandescence body with finely divided refractory metal in the vicinity
of the body consisting of ethiops. Or lastly I impregnate the mantle itself with
ethiops at one or more appropriate points, either on the exterior side or on the
interior side, but preferably on the latter. For this purpose I prefer to proceed in
such a manner that the chosen place of the mantle is coated or soaked, either before
or after the burning of the latter, with the solution of a salt of a metal of the
platinum group, such as will be reduced to metal in the heat, or with the solution
of a mixture of several like metallic salts. I prefer to choose the head of the
mantle, as this gives little light here in any case, therefore its effect will not
be diminished by the small emission of light at the place furnished with ethiops.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as commnunicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I wish it to be understood that I am aware of the
Specification of John Frederick Duke No. 909 of 1895, and I make no claim to
anything described and claimed therein but I declare that what I claim is:-
1. Automatic lighters for gases acting through the ethiops of one or more
metals of the platinum group, characterized by the feature that the ethiops,
to prevent the melting together, is finely divided in a support consisting of a
refractory oxide of an alkaline, earthy alkaline, earthy or heavy metal, substan-
tially as described.
2. The method of manufacturing the lighter described in the first claim, by
impregnating a fabric and burning, substantially as and for the purpose described.
3. For use in incandescence gas lighting a lighter as described in Claim 1, con-
sisting in a rod furnished with the ethiops in the manner described and serving
simultaneously as the holder of the incandescence body which latter may be provided
with finely divided refractory metal in proximity to the lighter, as and for the
purpose specified.
4. For use in incandescence gas lighting a lighter consisting in a body formed of
an intimate mixture of ethiops and a refractory oxide and arranged at the top on
the inside or the outside of the incandescence body which latter may be provided
with finely divided refractory metal in proximity to the lighter, as and for the
purpose specified.

page_text: 5. An incandeseing body for gas lighting a portion of which is impregnated
with ethiops, as and for the purpose stated.
Dated this 24th day of July 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.