IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS
BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY." A communication from abroad by George
D. Bancroft, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th November 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY." [A commu-
nication from abroad by George D. Bancroft, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America.]
The object of this Invention is to provide means for simultaneously turning on
and lighting the gas at a large number of burners by employing electrical mechanism
under the control of an operator at a distant office or place, and also to turn off
the gas by the same electrical mechanism.
The said Invention consists broadly in controlling the cocks of a group of gas
burners in a single electrical circuit by suitable mechanism operated by the same
electrical current which is used to light the gas at all the burners simultaneously.
The said Invention consists further in certain details of construction hereinafter
described.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide a ratchet wheel which is
rigidly secured to the valve or cock of the burner, and a pawl which is pivotted to
an angle iron screwed to the lid of a cylindrical box cast of soft iron and having a
hollow core around which is wound a wire. The said hollow core has within it
two screw threads, one of which at the bottom screws upon the gas pipe, while the
other at the top receives the gas burner. This box with its coil thus becomes an
electro-magnet of which the lid is the armature, the said lid having a hole through
its centre to permit of the passage of the burner. This lid or armature is hinged
to a metal block screwed to the outside of the cylinder. A spring tends to keep
the armature apart from its electro-magnet. This spring works in a pair of
U-shaped arms projecting from a block screwed to the cylinder, and exerts its force
[Price 6dl

page_text: against a small projection from the armature, the said projection also working
between said arms. Behind the pawl above mentioned is a spring pinned to
the armature and pressing against the pawl to cause it to work with the ratchet
wheel in the ordinary manner, that is to say, it slips over a tooth of the ratchet wheel
at each upward movement of the armature, and engages with a tooth and turns
the ratchet wheel, and consequently the cock, a certain definite length at each
downward movement of the armature, when the latter is attracted to the electro-
magnet. The cock or valve may have one or more ports through which the gas
may flow.
It is obvious that it turns in but one direction, and that the gas may
be turned on or off at will by sending electrical impulses through the electro-
-magnet.
Rising from the aforesaid cylinder are two stiff wires carrying at their upper
ends two small binding screws which are electrically connected by a platinum wire,
a portion of which lies in close proximity to the orifice of the gas tip. A wooden
block is screwed to the gas burner to give support to the two stiff wires. These
wires are covered with insulating material, and have a passage through suitable
bushings in the armature and cylinder; one wire is connected with one end of the
coil of the electro-magnet, the other end of the coil being connected with the line
wire, while the other wire passes to ground.
I also provide a make and break circuit wheel having its axle journalled in
standards upon a wooden table, and being turned by a crank. This wheel is of
metal, but in its periphery are set plugs of india rubber numbered in order from
1 to 8. There is a metal spring attached to the table and pressing constantly
against the side of the wheel, and a similar spring presses constantly against the
periphery of the wheel. This device is suitably connected in the circuit.
To turn on and light the gas a current is generated in the magneto machine,
and the numbered wheel is turned until the spring presses against the india rubber
plug No. 1. Whenever in course of the revolution of the wheel the other spring
presses against the metal of the wheel an electrical circuit is established, and the
armature is attached to its electro-magnet, so that the pawl moves the ratchet
wheel one tooth. Whenever the circuit is broken by a plug the armature flies up
and the pawl goes up to engage with the next tooth. It follows that when tho
last plug, No. 8, has passed from under the spring the current will have been
established four times, the ratchet wheel moved a distance of four teeth, and the
cock or valve will have been opened. The gas has been turned on and escaping
in the immediate neighbourhood of the platinum wire. Now it is evident that
after the plug 8 leaves the spring the current will be established until the plug 1
comes round to the spring; and the electrical current when established passes
through the platinum wire. The magneto generator is of sufficient power to so
heat this wire during the long interval while the wheel is turning from plug 8 to 1
that it sets fire to the escaping gas. The armature rises when plug 1 comes round,
so that the spring presses against it, but the gas has been turned on and is
burning.
To turn off the gas a magneto-current is generated in the magneto machine, and
the wheel turned until plug 5 again comes in contact with the spring. The plugs
1 and 5 may be formed with depressions into which the spring falls to lock the
apparatus at these points for obvious reasons; and it is obvious that clock
mechanism with proper locks might be employed for turning the wheels.
And
although great care would be required on the part of the operator, a simple make-
and break circuit key might be substituted for the automatic mechanism above
described, and the gas turned on and lighted, or turned off when lighted.
A distinguishing feature of this Invention is that the circuit is broken only at
the central or operating station, and is not broken in the apparatus connected with
the distant burner. It therefore becomes possible to place a large number of
burners in a single circuit and work them all simultaneously provided each burner,
with the mechanism and apparatus attached, is a duplicate of every other burner,
mechanism, and apparatus.

page_text: It is obvious that any continuous wire of sufficiently high resistance might be
substituted for the platinum wire between the stiff copper wires without departing
from my Invention.
The pawl and ratchet mechanism above described, and similar mechanism in
which the cock is directly turned by the movement of the armature, the cock and
armature moving together, requires a very strong battery, and accordingly I employ
an apparatus designed to overcome the difficulty, subordinate to the main Inven-
tion, but itself forming an important part thereof.
The main feature of this subordinate branch of the said Invention consists in
furnishing each burner with a spring attached to the gas cock and controlled by
the armature of the electro-magnet, but exerting its force in one direction or the
other according to its temperature, as will appear in the following description. This
spring I term a thermo-spring.
In applying this part of my Invention the cock or valve is operated by a
sector screwed to the same and turning with it to open or close the passage through
the valve in the ordinary manner.
A bracket is screwed to the cylindrical box, supporting at its outer end the
aforesaid thermo-spring which is there held by a set screw. This thermo-spring is
bent over the gas burner and its free end passes through a slot in a metal block
upon a rod.
A tightening screw prevents the thermo-spring from slipping in the
slot. The block has a hole through it by means of which it slides freely upon
the rod, its range of motion being limited by two nuts. This rod carries also two
other nuts, and is cut with a screw-thread throughout its length, so that the nuts
may occupy any required position. Its inner end is attached to a crank pin on the
sector; another bracket is screwed to the box, an upright arm of which has a slot
through which the aforesaid rod has its longitudinal movement limited by the nuts.
The armature is hinged to a block, and works in connection with a spring upon
another block. It has a second projection, against which the shoulders of the sector
catch at times. In this apparatus, as in the apparatus first herein described, there
are two stiff wires, two binding screws, and a platinum wire, a portion of which
lies in close proximity to the gas tip, and there is a wooden block giving support
to the wires.
The thermo-spring is made of two kinds of metal, brass and steel, a thin strip
of steel extending the whole length, while the thicker strip of brass is somewhat
shorter. In its normal condition the thermo-spring directs its force towards the
burner, but when sufficiently heated, owing to the expansion of the metal, it presses
outwards away from the burner. In its normal condition the shoulder of the
sector is caught upon the projection of the armature, which is apart from its electro-
magnet; one wire is connected with a suitable battery having a make and break
circuit key.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th May 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS For
LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY."-
nication from abroad by George D. Bancroft, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America.
A commu-
This Invention relates to improved mechanism for lighting and extinguishing
gas by means of electricity, and comprises the employment of a group of gas
burners, each of which is furnished with a platinum-wire for lighting the gas by
its incandescence, and also with an electro-magnet and with a spring, which is
located within reach of the flame of the burner, connected with the gas-cock and
under the control of the armature of the said electro-magnet, exerts its force at
ordinary temperatures to open the cock, but when heated by the gas-flame closes
the said cock, all of the said platinum wires and electro-magnets being in one and
the same electric circuit.
In the accompanying Drawing,-
Figure 1 is a front view of a burner and the apparatus which is immediately
attached to each burner in the circuit.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same with the spring broken away..
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same with a portion of the stiff arm of the
said spring broken away.
Figure 4 is a vertical section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a diagram shewing the electrical connections.
A is a gas-burner, having the tip a. B is the cock to which is screwed a sector
or segmental arm C by which the said 'cock is turned. D is a cylindrical or round
box formed of iron and having a hollow core d, around which is wound a coil of
wire, the box, coil, and core forming an electro-magnet. The core d is screw
threaded at its upper end to receive the gas-burner, and at the lower end to screw
upon the gas pipe H is an armature hinged at h to a metal block F which is
screwed to the box D as shewn. A spring s working in a pair of U shaped arms of
a similar block F³ presses against a projection upon the armature also lying between
the said arms and raises the armature, when the electro-magnet is demagnetized.
G is a spring which I term a thermo-spring exposed to the heat of the gas-flame as
shewn, and secured at one end by a set screw e to a bracket F upon the box D,
while its other end passes through a slot in the metal block f upon a rod g, in
which block it is kept from slipping by a tightening screw. This block f slides
freely upon the rod g, but its range of motion is limited by two nuts n¹, n³.
inner end of the rod g is attached to a crank-pin on the segmental arm C, and the
rod has a longitudinal motion in a slot t in the bracket F, which motion is limited
by nuts n³, n³, as shown. The segmental arm C has two shoulders c, c', and the
armature H has a projection ? as shown.
The
Behind the burner are two stiff heavy wires w₁ and w³, as shewn, the former
connected with one end of the coil of the electro-magnet, and the latter with the
line wire 12. These wires w¹ and w² are properly insulated and pass through
suitable bushings in the armature H, and the wire w² passes through the box D.
Above the said armature they pass through a block g secured to the burner and
end in two small binding screws m', m², which are connected by a platinum wire p
near the tip a. The line wire is connected with the coil of the electro-magnet.
It is also connected with a suitable battery, and a make and break circuit key at the

page_text: operating station.
The thermo-spring is formed of two kinds of metal, brass and
steel, the steel being the long thin strip shewn and the brass the stouter short
strip. In its normal condition this thermo-spring exerts its force inward towards
the burner, but when subjected to heat the expansion of the metal causes it to
press outwards away from the burner. In the normal condition of the apparatus
the shoulder c of the segmental arm C is caught upon the projection
armature H.
of the
The operation of the apparatus at the single burner above described is as follows,
that is to say-To light the gas the operator sends a current over the line wire U.
The electro-magnet overcoming the force of the spring s pulls down the armature H
and releases the shoulder c from the projection ; the spring G being at the
temperature of the atmosphere forces inward the segmental arm C, thereby opening
the cock. At the same time the current passing through the platinum wire ? so
heats the same that it ignites the escaping gas; when the operator then breaks his
circuit at his distant station the projection flies up against the shoulder c¹.
After the gas has continued to burn a few minutes the thermo-spring G will
become so heated by the gas flame as to exert its force in the opposite direction,
and a single impulse of the electric current then sent over the line will release the
shoulder c¹ and close the cock.
When the thermo-spring becomes sufficiently cool the operation may be repeated.
In the diagram shown in Figure 5 the thermo-spring apparatus is represented as
applied to a circuit containing two burners, "No. 1" and "No. 2." A magneto-
generator is shewn at M. The circuit in the diagram is as follows, that is to say :-
From the ground by the wire 1, through a coil of the magneto-generator over the
wire 2 through the coil E of the electro-magnet at the burner "No. 1," the wire 3,
the platinum wire p, the wire 4, the coil E of the electro-magnet at burner "No. 2,"
the wire 5, the platinum wire 2, and the wire 6 to the ground. It is obvious that
when the thermo-springs are at their normal temperature a current generated by
the magneto machine will turn on and ignite the gas simultaneously at both
stations, and that if the gas has been burning for some minutes at both stations, a
current generated in the magneto machine will turn the gas off simultaneously at
both stations.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
A group of gas-burners in an electric circuit each provided with a cock which is
opened and closed by an electro-magnet and a thermo-spring under the control of
the armature of the said magnet and with a wire to light the gas by incandescence,
the said electro-magnets and wires being all in one and the same circuit,
substantially as above set forth and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.