AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING INSTANTANEOUS LIGHT, AND THE MEANS AND MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS, SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer and Mechanical Draftsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two, in the third year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Newton, His especial
licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Williamı
Newton, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; and
all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING INSTANTANEOUS LIGHT, AND THE MEANS AND
MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME," communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said William Newton, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This improved apparatus for producing instantaneous light consists of two
parts,―
First, a peculiar construction of valve or plug to be inserted into the neck
of a bottle containing sulphuric acid, or other chemical liquor capable of
igniting any combustible matter attached to the end of a match.
Secondly, a peculiar mode of manufacturing matches to be ignited by the
chemical action of sulphuric acid, or by any other chemical or mechanical
agents.
The means and machinery to be employed in the manufacture of the same
will be described after the peculiarities of the chemical bottle and igniting
matches have been explained. The bottles which I employ I prefer to be
made of glass, and they may be of any form and dimensions which convenience
or taste shall dictate. The chemical agent to be contained in the bottle for
igniting the matches may be sulphuric acid, or any other liquid that would
effect the purpose.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents the section of a bottle
with the improved-plug or valve a inserted in its neck. Fig. 2 is the plug
itself detached from the bottle shewn in two views. These may be supposed
to be represented of the real size; I prefer to make this plug of lead, and I
form it by means of a stamping press with dies, capable of giving it a cup
shape or recess on the upper surface and a convexity on the lower surface,
the sides being as the frustrum of a cone slightly tapering downwards. One
or more very fine holes are to be pierced through the plug to allow the.
chemical liquor within the bottle to pass through into the cup. The leaden
plug being formed and pierced as described, and the neck of the bottle at
the inside ground to the proper-shape, that is; slightly conical and left rough,
the proper quantity of chemical liquor is put into the bottle, and then the
plug is inserted at its mouth, and being pressed down into its neck by force,
it will be found. to adhere firmly to the neck of the bottle as a stopper and
prevent the liquor from flowing out. In employing this apparatus the bottle
is to be first slightly shaken, when a small quantity of the chemical liquor

page_text: will hang as a globule to the convex under part of the plug, a portion of
which globule of liquor by capillary attraction will pass upwards through the
small holes of the plug into the cup or concavity above, and this effect will
be promoted or expedited by the warmth of the hand holding the bottle, which
will expand the air within and tend to force the liquor up through the small
holes into the concavity of the plug. The small quantity of chemical liquor
thus obtained in the cup will be sufficient to ignite a match, the end of which
has been prepared in the usual way with one of those chemical compositions
(as chlorate of potash and sulphur) that produces combustion as soon as acted
upon by sulphuric acid or other chemical liquor, the nature and properties
of which chemical agents are well known, and therefore need not be parti-
cularly described, as they are not to be considered as forming any part of the
present Invention. A ground glass stopper may be inserted into the mouth.
of the bottle above the plug to prevent the atmosphere from acting upon the
acid, or a cap may be placed over the mouth of the bottle with an elastic
pad made of glue and treacle, or any suitable matter which shall keep the
bottle air-tight. I do not however claim this as part of the Invention, as it
may have been employed before for a similar purpose, nor do I consider
such a stopper altogether essential, as the fineness of the holes in the plug
(which will be generally filled with the liquor) will in a great measure, if not
completely, preclude the passage of atmospheric moisture to the interior of
the bottle; but the small quantity of acid retained in the cup of the plug in
the bottle's neck may become diluted by moisture from the atmosphere, and
will in that event perhaps be required to be occasionally wiped out before the
ignition of the matches could be effected. !
The matches to be employed in connection with these bottles may be either
such as will produce a flame for lighting a candle or a slow fire for smokers.
The first of these I make from thin waxed tapers by the following means:-
I combine about six or eight threads of fine cotton yarn slightly twisted, and
draw them through melted wax in a pan or vessel exactly in the way that
wax tapers are usually made; that is, I wind a considerable length of these
combined yarns upon a reel, and then pass the ends of the yarns into the pan
or vessel containing melted wax under a rod placed across the pan, for the
purpose of keeping the yarns immersed. The fluid wax adhering to the com-
bined
forms the taper. And in order to render it' smooth and equal in
thickness, the taper is conducted through a small hole in a metal plate, whichi
acts as a drawplate, scraping off the superfluous wax as the taper is drawn
through by the rotation of a receiving drum. Passing the taper about three
times through the melted wax and drawplate will be sufficient" to make it
of the proper substance, but the taper should be pressed by a wet cloth as it
yarns

page_text: proceeds from the drawplate the last time for the purpose of giving it a
polish previously to cutting it into lengths for matches. There may be other
compounds besides wax used for making these tapers, such as rosin and tallow;
and if it should be required the matches may be made to give out fragrant
perfumes while burning, by the introduction of essential oils or other perfumes
into the melted material of which the tapers are made. In order to cut these
tapers into suitable lengths for matches, they are to be first wound upon reels
or bobbins of large diameter, and these reels or bobbins being placed in con-
venient situations, the tapers are progressively drawn off by the operations of
the cutting machine placed near to the reels.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the cutting machine and the frame holding
the reels.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section and Fig. 5 is a plan or horizontal view of
the same.
a, a, a, are the side frames in which the reels or bobbins b, b, b, b,
carrying the lengths of taper are mounted. c, c, c, c, are four axles, on each
of which twenty or any other desirable number of bobbins turn loosely, and
from the respective bobbins the lengths of taper are led off to the cutting
machine. When any of the bobbins require to be recharged, all the bobbins
on one axle are to be raised by means of blocks or wedges d, d, d, d, brought
against their peripheries, so as to support them free of their axes; the axes
c, c, c, c, may then be drawn out, and the situation of the empty bobbin
replaced by a full one, and the axle being again introduced and the blocks
lowered, the bobbins will be free to turn as before and give out the length of
taper. All the tapers from the four set of reels are brought forward to the
cutting apparatus, as shewn in Fig. 3, 4, and 5, and are respectively passed
through small holes in two perforated plates f. f, placed upon the table g for
the purpose of straightening the length of taper previously to their being cut
into matches.
For the more perfect illustration of the construction and operation of the
cutting machine, its principal parts are shewn on an enlarged scale in the two
sectional views, Fig. 6 and 7. The ends of all the tapers having been brought
forward through the plates f. f, they are then conducted through the perfo-
rated guide blocks h and guide rack i, shewn partially in the two detached front
views at Figs. 8 and 9. The guide blocks h and guide rack i are stationary
during the working of the machine, and are in connection with a pair of
clamps or holders k and mounted in the adjustable frame m, which frame is
held fast to the standard of the machine by the screws n working in collar
boxes o, o. The situations of the clams or holders will therefore depend upon
this screw n, which may be turned by a key placed upon the end of a shaft p,
carrying endless screws that work into oblique toothed wheels fixed upon

page_text: the heads of the screws n.
rises and falls in the frame m.
The upper chap k of the clamps or holders
It is supported by a pin in the right-angle
lever ?, 9, which is connected by a joint to the bent counter lever r, r.
These parts are best seen in the front view of the machine at Fig. 10.
By means of the bent counter lever r the upper chap of the cramps is raised
as at Fig. 6, and it is kept in this elevated position by a bolt passed through
a hole in this lever q, shewn at s in the side view Fig. 3. When the
bolts is withdrawn from the lever q a weighted rod t causes the lever
with the upper chap to fall and pinch all the taper between the clamps k
and I, as shewn in the section at Fig. 7. This falling of the upper chap
not only holds firmly all the tapers that have been passed through the.
guides h and i, but also bruises them for a purpose which will be ex-
plained. Before commencing the operation of cutting the taper, their ends
are all brought forward beyond the cutter which is mounted in the sliding
frame u, u.
A guide plate v, Fig. 6 and 7 (shewn also in the partial front
view Fig. 11), is affixed to the sliding frame, and all the tapers pass through it
and extend over the bed or block w. The piece is a bar of iron extending
across the machine, which is intended to move up and down in the frame u.
At the lower part of this bar a the toothed plate y is fixed, which toothed
plate is shewn in its partial front view at Fig. 12. The bottom edge of this
bar x is slightly bevilled, as also is the top of the block w in the opposite
direction, the objects of which is to cause the tapers to be pinched and held
firmly between the two surfaces in order that they may by that means be all
drawn forward when the sliding frame u advances. Another bar z, contiguous
to x, also slides up and down in the frame u, and to the lower part of this bar
a steel blade or cutter a is affixed, by the operation of which against a pro-
jecting edge of the block w the required length of tapers are cut off for
matches. The bar a which slides in the frame u is moved up and down by a
lever b, b, to which its upper part is attached by a pin or joint, the other bar z
sliding also up and down in the frame u in a similar manner by the agency
of the lever c, c, to which it is likewise attached by a pin or joint. The
fulcrums of both these levers are pins passed through ears on the top of the
frame u, and the lever c has a logger head or weight to balance it and keep up
the cutter. A rack d is secured to the sliding frame u, and by means of a
pinion e on the shaft f the sliding frame u is moved to and fro. The parts of
the machinery being situated as. represented in Fig. 6, that is, the sliding
frame u being brought up as near to the frame m as the end of the adjusting
screw n (which acts as a stop) will allow, the operation may commence. The
first movement of the machinery is to depress the lever 6 (see Fig. 5 and 10);

page_text: which may be done by the hand of the workman. This brings down the
bar x and causes all the tapers to be pinched between the two bevel edges of
x and w. By now turning the winch 9 a pinion on its axle taking into a
toothed wheel on the shaft f of the pinion e moves the rack d, and thereby
draws back the sliding frame u until it is stopped. by the piece i at the under
part of the frame, striking against the adjusting screw k which regulates the
distance that the sliding carriage shall run out. Before, however, that the
sliding frame has reached the ends of its journey, a pin 7 in the side of the
disc fixed upon the shaft ƒ passes under the horizontal arm of the double
lever n and raises it, and the reverse end of this double lever being attached
by a clutch to the bolts, the bolt is by these means drawn back out of the
hole in the bent lever q, when the upper clamp k immediately falls and takes
fast hold of the tapers. Immediately after the falling of the clamp the
workman depresses the lever c by a smart stroke of the hand, which causes
the cutter a to cut off all the ends of the tapers projecting beyond the cutter,
and this being the first stroke of the machine, these ends fall as waste. The
futher progress of the rack and sliding frame which brings it up to the stop i
causes the bevel edges of the holder x, w, to scrape off that small portion of
wax which covers the ends of the tapers, and which should have been
previously bruised by the falling of the upper chap k of the clamps k and l,
thereby exposing the fibres of cotton and spreading the wick out flat. The
narrow apertures, however, of the toothed plate y through which the ends of
the tapers pass bring the fibres of the wick again together into a round form,
and hence prepare them to receive the inflammable composition into which
the ends of all the matches must be dipped to render them capable of ignition.
One stroke of the machine being now. complete, the bars x and must be
raised, and the winch g being then turned the reverse way to its former move-
ment, the sliding frame with the cutter will be carried back to the situation
shewn at Fig. 6. The upper chap x of the pincers is now depressed as
before, and the tapers are consequently taken fast hold between the two
surfaces and w. The workman then raises the lever z until the hole in that
lever comes opposite to the bolt s, when the weight at the end of the lever n
projects the bolt into the hole, and the upper clamp k is thereby held up, as in
Fig. 6. Now by turning the winch g, as first described, the sliding frame
moves forward as before, drawing out the lengths of taper for the matches,
until the elamp k has again fallen and stopped the further progress of the
tapers. Then before the cutter is depressed, a pair of portable spring clamps.
or holders are brought into the situation shewn by dots at A in Fig. 7, for
the purpose of receiving the matches, and being pressed together they take.

page_text: 9.
hold of all the ends of the tapers which, when cut off by the depression of the
cutters, as before directed, are by the clamps prevented from falling. The
whole range of matches across the machine being thus held securely between
the clams, they are thence removed to have their ends dipped in the inflamma-
ble composition, and are afterwards hung up to dry in suitable racks or frames.
To bring forward another length of tapers and to cut off another series of
matches, precisely the same operation is to be repeated and continued until
the working is stopped. Should the guide pieces and i and the lower piece /
of the clamps require cleaning from the wax which becomes scraped off as
the tapers pass through them, they may be moved back from out of the
frame m by means of the racks o, o, and pinions p, p, upon the shaft
The
construction of the portable spring, clamps, or dipping holders is shewn at
Figs, 13 to 18. The straight bars of wood or metal a, a, equal in length to
the width of the machine, are covered on their inner edges with leather or
other soft material. They are connected together by two pins b, b. The
upper bar slides from the lower one upon these pins, and they are kept
asunder by a slight helical spring twisted round each pin, and acting between
the bars. When about to be applied to the machine to take hold of the
matches, the bars are open as at Fig. 13. The holders are then brought into
that situation before the machine which allows the ends of the tapers to
project between the bars, and being then pressed together by the fingers of the
person holding them, they close and take hold of the tapers, a little catch
c, c, at each end stopping against a ledge under the head of each pin, as
shewn at Fig. 14. Fig 15 is a top view of the holder; Fig. 16 one of the
bars detached, and Figs. 17 and 18, are transverse sections of the holder. The
materials for making the inflammable composition being mixed up with water
into a fluid state, this fluid is placed in a shallow flat dish, and the holders.
being brought over the dish, the ends of the matches are dipped in, and then
the holders are hung up for the dipped matches to dry. When the com-
position has become hard and dry, the matches may be let fall from the holders
by pressing the nibs e, e, of the sliding bolts d, d, between the finger and
thumb, whith compresses the spring f between the sliding bolts and dis-
engages the catchers c, c, from under the heads of the pins b, b, when the
bars are immediately thrown open. Altho' I have described that the lever b
used for closing the pieces x and w for pinching and drawing the tapers into
the machine, together with the lever c used for depressing the cutter piece z,
and effecting the separating of the lengths of taper, and also the moving to
and fro of the frames u, are to be worked by hand, it is obvious to all com-
petent mechanics that they may be actuated by other power than manual

page_text: labour with good effect, as the duty they have to perform comes in regular
periods with regard to the other operations of machine, and that the lever
of the clamps k and for holding and stopping the further progress of the
taper may also be raised by any convenient mechanism. In fact, the whole
of the operations of the machine may be performed without the attendance
of a workman except for the purpose of applying the portable dipping holders
to the machine to receive the matches as they are cut off from the strands of
paper and removing them to be dipped; but I have not thought it necessary
to describe particularly such machinery, as it may be effected by cranks, rods,
levers, and cams.or other means in various ways, the effective working of the
several operative parts being exactly the same as the machine herein described.
It will also. be evident from the foregoing description that the machine is
capable of adjustment to suit any convenient sized matches in various ways.
Should it be thought desirable to effect the cutting off the lengths of taper to
form the matches, and the scraping off the composition by hand instead of
using the machine, it may be done by a peculiar formed pair of pincers
capable of cutting one or more lengths at a time, as thought desirable.
Fig. 19 is a side view of a pair of pincers capable of cutting off five lengths
of the taper, and shewing their chaps open and the length of taper introduced
into them. Fig. 20 is a similar view shewing the chaps of the pincers closed
and the lengths of taper cut off. Fig. 21 is a front view of the mouth of the
pincers; and Fig. 22. is an inside or horizontal view of one of the chaps. In
using these pincers the ends of the tapers a, a, a, are introduced through the
guide holes b, b, in part of the chaps, as shewn in the Figures, their ends
bearing against the stop piece cupon the upper chap of the pincers; this stop
piece is adjustable to suit several different lengths of matches by moving it
along the upper chap. d, d, are the cutters which separate the lengths of
tapers; e, e, are two projecting edges which press upon the taper as the
cutters d, d, are effecting their operation, and as the pincers are drawn by the
workman from the ends of the tapers, these projecting pieces scrape 'off
the superfluous wax from the end of the lengths of tapers, as described in the
operation of the machine, ready to form the dipped ends of the next match,
thereby cutting off one set of matches and scraping off the wax from the end
of the, next, the guide holes.b, b, again rounding the taper after it has been
pressed flat. The tapers may be led through a guide plate fixed upon a table, s
and project out so that the workman may close the pincers upon them and
cut off rapidly, there being a small lever and pair of clamps to hold the tapers
and answer the purpose of the clamps k and l in the machine...
For manufacturing matches which are to burn as fuzees or slow fires for

page_text: smelters, I prepare the wicks by dipping them in a combustible material, as a
solution of saltpetre with paste, and having obtained lengths of the wicks, I cut
them into matches, receive them into holders, and dip their ends into the com-
bustible composition for priming in the way described above. Matches made
from tapers in the way and by the same machinery, may also be prepared
with priming of composition at their ends which will ignite by friction; the
ends of these matches, however, I prefer to leave flat as they are delivered
from the scrapers x and w, as with flatted ends they will be better suited to be
drawn between the rough surfaces which produce ignition; but I wish it to be
particularly observed that I do not claim any of the combination of com-
bustible materials applied for priming as new or forming any part of this
Invention, but the application to these improved taper matches of such
materials or compositions capable of igniting by friction I do consider to be
new. And,
are,
Lastly, my claim of improvements under the above recited Letters Patent
First, the peculiar construction of plugs or stoppers for chemical bottles
used for producing instantaneous light. And,
Secondly, the peculiar method or methods above described of making matches
for the same purpose. And,
Thirdly, the machinery or apparatus employed in their manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newton, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
WILLIAM (L.S.) NEWTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of February, in
the third year of the reign of His present Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said William Newton came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His Late Majesty King George the
Third