Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Lighting and Extinguishing Gas.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Feb., 1899-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Lighting and
Extinguishing Gas.
I, CARL SAVELSBERG, Director of Water-works, of 16, Scheibenstrasse,
Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 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:-
-
The present invention relates to apparatus for lighting and extinguishing gas.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a side view,
Figure 2 a front view and
Figure 3 a plan view on an enlarged scale of a preferred form of the
apparatus, the casing being shown in section.
Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the circuit, and
Figure 5 is a rear view of the valve lever arrangement shown separately.
In the valve chamber I is a diaphragm 2, the edge of which is tightly secured
between the casing and the lid, and attached in its centre to a valve rod 3. In
its lowest position the diaphragm closes the orifice 4, of the gas pipe at the same
time shutting off the gas from the annular gas chamber 5 and the pipe
(Figure 2) leading from it to the gas burners or installation; whereas by lifting
the diaphragm, gas will enter the space 5 and thence pass to the burners through
the pipe 6.
The valve rod 3 is firmly connected with an angular iron plate 7 provided at
its central part with a slot for a shaft or pin 8 on which are mounted a wheel 9
and a ratchet wheel 10 both firmly connected together.
At its upper end the metal plate 7 is provided with a piu 11 which rests,
when the gas valve is open, in a recess in the edge of one of the teeth of the
wheel 9, whilst it lies in the space between two teeth, when the valve is closed.
The shaft 8 is permanently fixed in a bracket 12 mounted on a plate 13.
Between this plate and the valve chamber is a horse-shoe magnet 14 in an up-
right position.
Above the pole bars an anchor 15 is pivotted about a pin fixed in the rod 16,
the anchor carrying a projection to which is secured a spring pawl 17 adapted
to interlock with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 10.
Whenever the anchor 15 is drawn to the electro-magnets the ratchet 17, parti-
cipating in this movement, turns the ratchet wheel 10 the distance of one tooth,
when the anchor 15 is released it rises, actuated by the flat spring 18, to its
normal position, lifting the ratchet 17 which then engages in the next tooth of
the ratchet-wheel 10. By repeatedly closing and interrupting an electric current
part of the circuit of which is formed by the wire forming the coil of the electro-
magnet, the anchor is alternately drawn to the magnet and liberated, turning the
ratchet wheel in one direction, each time, to the extent of a tooth.
In this movement of the ratchet wheel 10 the lifting wheel 9. being firmly
connected with it, participates, and as the latter is provided with out half the

page_text: number of teeth, as compared with the former, it follows that the pin 11 engages
with a tooth or lies between two teeth of the wheel 9, the diaphragm valve being
open in the first case and remains so as long as the wheel 9 remains stationary in
that position.
If the electric circuit is closed, the ratchet wheel 10 will be turned another
tooth and the pin 11 will come to lie in the space between two teeth, whereby
the supply of gas to the burners is interrupted.
In order to facilitate the lifting of the valve rod 3 a small roller 19 may be
provided at the back of the plate 7, against which presses one arm of a two-armed
lever 20, while the other arm is actuated by a pin 21, projecting laterally from the
projection of the anchor, drawing down the said second arm, whereby the other
arm is caused to press upwards against the roller 19 thus raising the plate. 7
and with it the valve rod.
To ensure a reliable closing of the valve 2 a lever 22 provided with an ad-
justable weight is caused to press on the roller 19 from above. Of course, it is
possible to so design the teeth of the wheel 9 as to avoid the necessity of any
special device for facilitating the opening and closing of the valve, or the weighted
lever may be replaced by a spring to assist in closing the valve.
The anchor, when locked to the electromagnet also establishes a contact
between the pin 21 projecting from the anchor and a spring plate 23. By this
means part of the electric current is branched off and passes through the casing
to the pin 24 connected with the casing, on the one hand, and through the pin 25
which is insulated from the casing. The pins or terminals are connected, in
close proximity to the burner, by a thin platinum wire, which becomes in-
candescent whenever the circuit is closed, and serves for igniting the issuing gas.
The wire will remain incandescent as long as the current is kept on, and this
will be the case as long as the contact button, or whatever device is used, in
substitution for it is kept in the corresponding position, so that the lighting
of the gas must necessarily take place. The extinguishing of the flame is, on the
other hand, a sure indication that a reliable closing of the valve has been effected.
The whole of the apparatus is enclosed in a metallic box or case 26 and thereby
protected against dust and injury from the outside.
To actuate the apparatus all that is needed is: a battery of the necessary
strength and a circuit breaker. The apparatus may be used both for single
burners or for a series of burners or installations.
The battery is permanently connected on the one hand with the case 26 of the
apparatus and through it with the pin 24 by means of one end of the coil wire
of the electro-magnet, while the other end passes through the contact pin 21 to
the terminal 27 Figure 4 which is insulated from every other part of the
apparatus.
All the movable parts of the apparatus with the exception of the diaphragin
are outside the chamber to which the gas has access, and hence are not exposed to
any harmful effects which it might otherwise cause.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. Apparatus for lighting and extinguishing gas comprising a gas valve
which is opened and closed by a valve rod provided with an extension which is
lodged on the top of one of the teeth of a toothed wheel or in the space between
two adjacent teeth of said wheel, according to the movement of a ratchet wheel
connected with it and mounted on the same shaft and provided with double the
number of teeth, said ratchet wheel being actuated by an electromagnet in such
a manner that by the movement of the " anchor" when the electric circuit is
closed said ratchet wheel will be turned one tooth by means of a pawl connected
to the "anchor" the lighting of the gas jet being produced by means of a
branch current which branch current becomes effective when the "anchor" is

page_text: attached to the electromagnet, the branch current passing through a thin
platinum wire which thereupon becomes incandescent situate in close proximity
to the burner substantially as described.
2. In apparatus of the kind described means for lifting the valve rod com-
prising a lever, as 20, actuated by the "anchor "of the electromagnet by which
the valve rod is held high and free of the teeth of the lifting wheel to keep the
gas valve open, substantially as described.
3. The complete apparatus for lighting and extinguishing gas substantially
as described, or illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 21st day of February 1899.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.