AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LAMP
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LAMP."-A
communication from abroad by William Henry Racey, of St. Augustine,
St. John's County, State of Florida, in the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LAMP," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improvement in lamps for burning, for illumi-
nating purposes, hydrocarbons that require an excess of oxygen to support a
proper combustion.
The object of the Invention is to supply the flame with the necessary
amount of oxygen without the aid of the usual glass chimney, and at the same
time obtain a lamp that will admit of being used as a hand or portable lamp,
without having its flame affected while being moved through the air.
Surrounding the wick tube, which projects through the cap of the lamp

page_text: and is raised and lowered by a toothed wheel as usual,) is a jacket supported
by the cap, and communicating at its lower end, by small openings, with the
external air. To the upper part of the cap a cup-shaped projection or flanch
is secured, and in the cup an annular pierced plate or support is placed to
receive a cap or hollow cone which covers the wick tube, but is slotted at its
apex to allow the flame to pass through. The perforations in the plate (which
is sunk about half way between the lip and bottom of the cup) form a com-
munication between the interior of the cap or cone and the external air.
Within this cone two concentric pierced cones are placed, each of which,
like the outer cone, has a slot in its apex to permit the flame to pass through.
The internal cones should be of copper, or other metal which is a good con-
ductor of heat.
The operation is as follows:-When the wick is lighted the flame heats the
cones, and the air within them being rarefied, a powerful indraught is induced
to support combustion. The upper ends of the several cones serve as deflectors,
to impinge the air on the flame at different points from its base upwards, as
high as may be desirable, while, by means of the cup-shaped projection that
carries the cones, the flame will not be affected by the sudden raising or
lowering of the lamp, a result due to the fluctuation of the draught produced
by such movements.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an In-
vention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF LAMP," being a communication
from William Henry Racey, of St. Augustine, St. John's County, State of
Florida, in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to an improvement in lamps for burning, for illuminating purposes, those
hydrocarbons that require an excess of oxygen to support a proper combustion.
The object of the Invention is to supply the flame with the requisite amount
of oxygen without the aid of the usual glass chimney, and at the same time
obtain a lamp that will admit of being used as a hand or portable lamp with-
out having its flame affected while being moved through the air.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a vertical central section of the improved lamp; Figure 2 is a
plan or top view of the same; and Figures 3 and 4 are Diagrams elucidating
the principle of this Invention. A represents the cap of a lamp, which may
be screwed into the top of the fountain or body of the lamp, or otherwise
secured in it. Within the cap A, a wick tube B is secured; this wick tube is
of the usual form, and the wick C within it is raised and lowered by the
ordinary toothed wheel a, attached to a shaft b, as shewn clearly in Figure 1.
The wick tube B above the cap A is encompassed by a jacket D, the lower
end of which communicates with the external air openings c.
To the upper
part of the cap A is secured a cup-shaped projection or flanch E, which extends
upwards about half the height of the wick tube B, as shown clearly in Figure 1.
To the inner side of the projection or flanch E, an annular plate or support F
is placed to receive a cap or hollow cone G. This cap or cone encompasses the
tube B, and it is slotted at its apex as shown at d, to allow the flame e to pass
through, the slot d being in line with the upper end of the wick tube B. The
plate or support F is about half way between the top and bottom of the

page_text: flanch E, and it is provided with perforations f, which form a communication
between the interior of the cap or cone G, and the external air. Within the
cap or cone G, two concentric caps or cones G", G', are placed, which like G
are severally slotted (as at d¹, d",) at their apex to permit the flame to pass
through, as shewn clearly in Figure 1. The inner caps or cones G¹, G¹¹,
should be of copper or other good conductor of heat.
The operation of the lamp is as follows:-When the wick C is lighted, the
flame e heats the caps or cones G, G¹, and G", and the air within them being
thereby rarified, a powerful indraught is induced to support combustion, the
air taking the direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 1. The inner caps
or cones G¹, G¹¹, serve as conductors, and to more effectually rarify the air
within the cone G, which is, in fact, a draught tube, and supplies the flame e
with oxygen. By means of the conductors G¹, G", a glass chimney is dispensed
with, as a strong draught is obtained in G, and the upper ends of the several
caps or cones also serve as deflectors to impinge the air on the flame at
different points from its base upwards as high as may be desirable. By means
of the cup-shaped projection or flanch E, the flame will not be affected by the
sudden raising or lowering of the lamp, a result due to the fluctuation of the
draught produced by said movements. If, for instance, the lamp is suddenly
raised, the air that impinges against the flame will be counterpoised or resisted
by the air that enters through the slots f, the flame being in a state of
equipoise. This will be fully understood by referring to Figure 4, in which it
will be seen that if the parts be moved upward in the direction indicated by the
arrows, the air will enter both ends of the bent tube a', and keep the flame
at b¹ in equipoise. The same result is obtained by depressing or moving
downward the lamp, the air cannot act unequally on the flame, if there is any
appreciable change at all it is in favor of an increased draught. By referring
to Figure 3, which represents a tube c¹ slightly curved, and shows the direction
of the draught of an ordinary lamp, it will be seen that if the lamp be
suddenly raised, the air will impinge on the flame, and in consequence of
there being an elevation or escape orifice below, the flame will be extinguished;
this contingency is prevented by the present improvement.
The Invention is not confined to the exact description herein shown and
described as regards the construction of the parts, for conductors of various forms
may be placed within a draught tube for the purpose of rarifying to a greater
degree than usual the air within. For instance, solid metal may be used, or
wires or plates extending down within the draught tube; neither is the
Invention confined to the arrangement of the cup-shaped projection or flanch,
for the purpose of keeping the flame in equipoise, for this plan may be modified

page_text: in various ways; but what I claim as the Invention secured to me by the
above in part recited Letters Patent is, the application to lamps of a cap tube
or cone so arranged with respect to the illuminating flame as to form a draught
tube for the flame when the draught tube is provided with one or more con-
ductors so placed within it as effectually to rarify the air within, and supply
the illuminating flame with a requisite amount of oxygen without the aid of a
glass chimney, such draught tube being connected with any suitable deflector,
vessel, or flanch, which will elevate the lower orifice of the draught tube, in the
manner and for the purpose above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)