IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING GAS BY ELECTRICITY
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Banton Burr, of Walthamstowe, in the County
of Essex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING
GAS BY ELECTRICITY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Banton Burr at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th July 1881.
EBENEZER BANTON BURR, of Walthamstowe, in the County of Essex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING GAS BY ELECTRICITY."
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for lighting gas by
electricity.
For this purpose, according to my Invention, I employ a portable galvanic
battery which I combine with a pole or holder having the ordinary gas torch
attached thereto, in which the two poles of the battery are connected by any
suitable substance which can be rendered sufficiently incandescent by the action of
the electric current to ignite the gas.
The galvanic battery brought into and thrown out of action by a spring, or
otherwise, under the control of the user.
A galvanic battery of any suitable construction may be employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Ebenezer Banton Burr in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th January 1882.
EBENEZER BANTON BURR, of Walthamstowe, in the County of Essex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING GAS BY ELECTRICITY."
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for lighting gas by
electricity.
My improved apparatus consists of a box of convenient form from which at the
side an arm extends to a convenient length.
I make this box of wood, papier maché, glass, or nonconducting material, and
render it watertight. A battery is formed within the box. A platinum filament
is mounted at the outer end of the arm and enclosed with a perforated guard or
casing. The battery can be applied at pleasure to render the filament incandescent.
The battery is composed of a graphite or carbon disc or negative element fixed
within the box and a positive element of zinc.
Between the two there is a pad of asbestos fibre or like inert material, which is
moistened with a mixture of phosphoric acid and bichromate of potash. The zinc
element is mounted on a metal stem passing through the closely fitting cover of
the box, and a spring holds the stem in such a position that the zinc is not
normally in contact with the pad, but contact can be established at pleasure by
pressure upon the outer end of the stem.
The arm is formed of a metal tube closed at the outer end by a plug of wood or
other insulating material.
The carbon element has a platinum wire attached to it which is connected with
another wire passing through the interior of the tubular arm and through the plug
at its end. Care is taken to prevent this wire coming into contact with the metal
composing the tubular arm, either by employing a wire covered with insulating
material or otherwise. Another wire also passes through the plug at the end of
the arm, and this is by soldering or in any convenient manner placed in good
-electrical.connection_with_the_metal tube.constituting the arm, whilst care is taken
to avoid contact with the other wire. The spring which operates upon the stem
carrying the zinc or positive element is in metallic connection with the arin; thus
when pressure is applied to the stem and the zinc is brought into contact with
the moistened pad an electric circle is established and a current passes from the
zinc by the stem and spring to the arm, thence by the connecting wire to the
platinum filament (which thereby is heated to redness), and the return is by
the wire within the arm to the graphite disc.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus; Figure 2 is also a plan, but with the cover
removed and without the moistened pad.
Figure 3 is an underside view of the cover with the parts mounted upon it.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section. a is the box; it is of hard wood and is water
proofed internally with a bituminous varnish, which also attaches the graphite
disc b to the bottom; b¹ is a platinum wire embedded at one end in the graphite;
it passes out through the side of the box and is attached in another wire c; d is a
wooden block fixed by screws to the side of the box; e is a brass tube constituting
the arm of the apparatus; it fits at one end upon the block d and is there secured

page_text: by the collar and binding screw f; g is a wooden plug inserted into and fixed in
the other end of the tube e. The wire c is covered, except at the ends, with
insulating material, and it passes along the tube e through both the block & and
the plug g; h is the second wire which is in metallic connection with the tube o;
it is sufficient to turn its end. round and insert it between the plug g and
tube e.
i, i, are two tubular sliders of brass which are slipped over the ends of the
wires c and h, which they fit tightly; j is the filament of very thin platinum foil;
it is secured to the wires by the sliders i, i; the filament is threaded through these
before they are placed on the wires; k is a clip which holds the. sliders in place.
The sliders are lapped with asbestos or simply with paper where the clip is applied
to prevent electrical communication through the clip; is a guard of perforated
brass sewing to protect the ends of the wires and the filament from injury, but
allowing free passage to the gas when the apparatus is placed near a gas burner
from which gas is issuing; m is the cover of the box; it is also of wood, and is
held in place by the two screw studs m¹, m', the heads of which are received into
a groove a¹ cut within the mouth of the box. The lid is put on in a position such
that the studs enter the groove by notches a³, a³, and it is then turned partly
round; n is the zinc plate serving as the positive element; it is fixed upon the
metal stem o; p is a spring operating beneath the head o' of the stem. The spring
also passes to the binding screw f to establish an electrical connection with the
tube ; q is the pad of asbestos fibre with which the positive element n is brought
into contact when the stem o is pressed inwards.
The arm may be made telescopic with two metal tubes sliding the one on the
other. The wire c is then coiled in a spiral form within the tubes.
Where a very long arm is required I employ a wooden pole with two wires led
along it.
It is essential that the exciting liquid should be absorbed in a pad of inert
material, for otherwise it would spill and slop about whilst the apparatus is carried
from place to place.
To saturate this pad I make a mixture of equal parts by weight of bichromate
of potash and a solution of phosphoric acid containing 10 or 12 per cent. of real
acid. The pad when saturated with this mixture is very energetic in its action;
it remains for a long time moist and in working order; no other preparation known
to me presents these advantages.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would state that I am aware that it is not new to make
use of a platinum wire ignited by a galvanic battery in gas lighting apparatus,
and I do not claim this; but I claim my improved apparatus for lighting gas by
electricity, substantially as described and shewn in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Banton Burr, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
E. B. BURR. (L.S.)