IMPROVEMENTS .IN THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isham Baggs, of 54, Chancery Lane, in the County.
of Middlesex, Electrical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
.IN THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 2nd January 1866, and dated the 8th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isham Baggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 8th
July 1865.
119
I... ISHAM BAGGS, of 54, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, AND IN THE APPARATUB
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in charging air or gas with inflammable vapours or
gases capable when burning of producing a luminous flame, or of increasing
the luminosity of other flames. In order to prevent condensation in the
pipes employed suitable liquids are used which are easily volatilized, and
whose boiling points are low, or the vapours are maintained in a state of sus-
pension by artificial heat applied in any convénient manner, the various pipes
which convey the gases or vapours being protected from the cooling effects of
the atmosphere by surrounding them with non-conducting materials of any
description. The artificial beat and the non-conducting coating effectually
prevent condensation in the pipes..

page_text: A further portion of this Invention consists in producing for purposes
of combustion inflammable gases or vapours given off, evaporated, or
volatilized by contact or proximity with other bodies hotter than the
materials from which they are generated. As an example of such substances
so employed methylated ether may be particularized. For a fixed light,
or a series of fixed lights, a vessel of brass or iron or other suitable
material is employed to hold the ether, the same being provided with a suitable
opening for the introduction thereof, and so constituted as when closed to be
perfectly air-tight. The reservoir is placed in an elevated position, and is
furnished with a pipe for the supply of the various burners with the vapour,
which is evaporated from the liquid ether at the ordinary temperature of the
atmosphere, and which, by reason of its density, will readily flow through the
pipes. The reservoir containing the ether may be allowed to remain at the
ordinary temperature, or it may be warmed or heated by means of warm water,
or by any other convenient means, and the vapour evolved may pass through
a box in which it is exposed to the influence of benzole, and by means of
which the vapour is carburetted, and the illuminating power of the light
greatly increased. The supply pipes are provided with proper stop-cocks. In
cases in which it is desired to apply this Invention to portable lights the ether
or other volatile substance may be vaporized in a close tube or other vessel,
either at the ordinary temperature, or if the atmosphere is at a low temperature,
by heating it by means of hot water or other substance protected externally
from the cooling effect of the air by non-conductors. The vapour may be
burned in any description of gas jet, and turned on or shut off by a tap or
other contrivance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isham Baggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th
January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISHAM
BAGGS, of 54, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Isham Baggs, Her special licence that I, the said Isham

page_text: Baggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Isham Baggs, 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 Great Britain.
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, 'an Invention. for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND IN THE APPARATUS;
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Isham Baggs, my executors or administrators, by an instrument:
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Isham Baggs, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:
My said Invention consists in cliarging air or gas with inflammable vapours
or gases derived from any suitable hydrocarbon capable when burning of
producing a luminous flame, or of increasing the luminosity of other flames.
When atmospheric air is employed for this purpose it is supplied from a
reservoir filled by means of a pump or any convenient mechanical contrivance,
or the system of pipes supplying the air for such purposes may be connected
directly with a fan, bellows, or other such contrivance, the action of which is
maintained while the light is required, the necessary pressure being kept up
either by such continuity of action, or if'there be any cessation of motion; as,
for instance, when the Invention is used for lighting a railway train or a
manufactory, from the occasional stoppage of the train or the machinery
employed in the manufactory, the supply and elasticity of the air may be
-maintained by using in addition a small auxiliary reservoir during the period
of such stoppage. When a common gas holder is employed it may be filled
either by pumping, or by decreasing the internal pressure, and sucking the
air in either by direct labour, or by the temporary preponderance of counter-
balance weights, or by any of the well-known means for effecting such object.
Instead of atmospheric air, gases, such as hydrogen, carbonic oxide, or carbonic
acid, or any gas capable of acting as a carrier of inflammable vapour, however
employed or obtained, may be used in accordance with my said Invention,
inflammable gases best answering the purpose. Common coal gas may thus

page_text: be greatly improved in its illuminating power, and the addition of the necessary
quantity of the illuminating hydrocarbon may be regulated to the greatest
nicety in this and other cases in which my said Invention is applied. In
order to prevent condensation in the pipes employed suitable liquids are
used which are easily volatilized and whose boiling points are low, or the
vapours are maintained in a state of suspension by artificial heat applied thereto
in any convenient manner, either before or after carburization, or both; the
various pipes which convey the gases or vapours being protected from the
cooling effects of the atmosphere by surrounding them with nou-conducting
materials of any description. A very convenient mode of using the air or gas
employed consists in causing it to heat itself in transitu by one or more buruers
supplied by the general source of supply or otherwise, the same being placed
under a part of the supply pipe, or under any vessel or reservoir through which
the air or gas passes.. The heating flame or flames may be regulated at
pleasure by cocks according to the distance of flame or supply of air. By
preference, however, I turn on only a portion of the air or gas through the
heated pipes, and cause it to meet the remainder of the supply further on. In
this way it matters little if the pipes be overheated, the chief point to be
attended to being that they are sufficiently heated. The artificial heat and
the non-conducting coating effectually prevent condensation in the pipes.
For the purposes of my said Invention any convenient and suitable naptha-
lizing or carburetting box or apparatus will suffice to produce the inflammable
mixture, but I prefer that the air or gas loaded with inflammable vapour
shall not be passed through the liquid itself so as to cause a backward pressure,
as this detracts materially from the steadiness of the flame. Benzole,rock oil,
petroleum, or any other analogous material may be employed for carburetting
the air or gas as before mentioned.
A further portion of this Invention consists in producing for purposes of
combustion inflammable gases or vapours given off, evaporated, or volatilized
by contact or proximity with other bodies hotter than the material from which
they are generated. As an example of such substances so employed methy-
lated either maybe particularized. For a fixed light, or a series of fixed lights,
a vessel of brass or iron or other suitable material is employed to hold the
ether, the same being provided with a suitable opening for theintroduction of
the material, and so constructed as when closed to be perfectly air-tight. The
reservoir is placed in an elevated position, and is furnished with a pipe for the
supply of the various burners with the vapour, which is evaporated from the
, liquid ether at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, and which, by
ereason of its density, will readily flow through the pipes. The reservoir con

page_text: may
taining the ether may be allowed to remain at the ordinary temperature, or it
be warmed or heated by means of warm water, or by any other convenient
means, and the vapour evolved may pass through a box in which it is exposed
to the influence of benzole or other analogous hydrocarbon, and by means of
which the vapour is carburretted, and the illuminating power of the light.
greatly increased. The supply pipes are provided with suitable stop-cocks.
In cases in which it is desired to apply this Invention to portable lights the
ether or other volatile substance may be vaporized in a close tube or other
vessel, either at the ordinary temperature, or if the atmosphere is at a low
temperature by heating it by means of hot water or other substance protected
externally from the cooling effect of the air by non-conducting materials.
The vapour may be burned in any description of gas jet, and turned on or
shut off by a tap or other contrivance.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe that what I
consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the said in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First, the methods herein-before described and set forth of heating the air
or gas prepared for the purposes of illumination as aforesaid, and of preventing
the condensation thereof.
And, secondly, the general combination and arrangement of processes and
apparatus for effecting the purposes aforesaid, as substantially herein-before
set forth and described, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isham Baggs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ISHAM BAGGS. (L.B.)