IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMP WICKS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th March 1871.-A communication from abroad by Henry
Orrin Whipple, of the City of New York, in the United States
of America.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the naturo of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMP WICKS," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention which constitutes the subject-matter of
this Patent is the production of a lamp wick which will cost a materially
less sum than the wicks of woven or plaited yarns heretofore used, and
which is at the same time better fitted for the purpose required. To
this end the Invention consists of a composite wick, produced by the
combination of recomposed vegetable fibre and prepared bobbinet, or
equivalent material sufficiently tenacious to hold the vegetable fibre
together under the action of the wick raising mechanism. By recom-
posed vegetable fibre is meant vegetable fibre prepared and agglomerated
by a process similar to that used in the manufacture of paper from

page_text: vegetable material, and by prepared bobbinet or its equivalent is meant
bobbinet or equivalent fabric, prepared by dipping it in a solution of
silicate of potassa, or of soda, or other equivalent material, which tends
to prevent the incrustation of the wick while burning.
The composite wick may be manufactured in several modes. The
vegetable fibro which is employed for the purpose is paper pulp, made
from wood or any other suitable material, such as straw, cotton, or linen
rags and paper clippings. This pulp is employed in the wet state in
which it is used for the manufacture of paper; and in order to recom-
pose it a quantity of it is spread evenly upon a sheet of metallic gauze,
in the same manner as is practised in the manufacture of paper by hand,
the metallic gauze being sustained by a frame of wood, or in any other
suitable manner. If flat wicks for kerosene lamps are required the
quantity of pulp employed should be sufficient to produce (when drained
and dried) a sheet of a thickness of about half of that of the wick to
be made, say, of one-sixteenth of an inch, more or less. When the sheet
of pulp is drained of water and while it is wet it is covered with a sheet
of thin bobbinct, or similar gauze made of cotton, and this gauze is
covered with an additional quantity of pulp equal to the first deposit,
so as to form a composite sheet of pulp and gauze, the latter within the
former. The composite sheet when thoroughly drained of water is
permitted to dry without pressure, and is then cut into strips of the
required length and breadths for wicks. Before applying the bobbinet
to tho pulp it is dipped by preference into a saturated solution of
silicate of potassa or of silicate of soda, and is permitted to dry, after
which it is sized with starch in the manner commonly practiced in
sizing bobbinet for the market. The bobbinet thus prepared is ready
for use in the manufacture of the composite wicks; or in place of
preparing the bobbinet before it is combined with the pulp, it may
be prepared after the composite sheets are cut into strips, by dipping the
strips in the solution of the silicate or its equivalent for the purpose
specified, and permitting them to dry, in which case the fibrous pulp
as well as the bobbinet is suitably prepared for burning. This latter
mode of preparation is not however preferred.
It is expedient to combine silicious matter with the vegetable fibre,
the effect of which is to lessen the formation of a crust while burning.
The silicious matter may be combined with the wick in the process of

page_text: manufacture by mixing powdered asbestos with the fibre in the pulp
state before it is spread upon the wire gauze, in the proportion of about
one or two per cent. of the weight of the fibre when dried. Powdered
charcoal may also be combined with the wicking, the effect of which is
to make the light more brilliant when the wick is employed in kerosene
lamps. The powdered charcoal may be combined with the wicks by
dusting the wet sheet of recomposed fibre with the powdered charcoal
before the bobbinet is applied to it, and when charcoal is used it should
be applied in such manner that it is within the wick, which may be done
by making the wicks of two thicknesses in the mode above described,
and dusting the first thickness of fibre with the charcoal before or after
the bobbinet is applied, and before the second thickness of pulp is
applied to the first.
Another mode of manufacturing the composite wicks is to first form,
in the manner before described, a sheet of recomposed vegetable fibre
of the thickness of the required wick, say of about one-eighth of an incli
more or less in thickness. The sheet of wet fibre is drained of water,
and is permitted to dry without pressure; it is then cut into strips of
the required length and breadth for wicks. The strips are then enveloped
with prepared bobbinet or similar gauze made of cotton, by cutting
the bobbinct into strips of sufficient breadth to encircle the strips of
fibre, and permit their edges to be slightly overlapped, dampening the
strips of bobbinet, wraping the strips of recomposed fibre in them and
permitting the wicks thus produced to dry, or the strips of recomposed
fibres may be dampened and enveloped in the bobbinet; and the wicks
so produced may be permitted to dry, or the damp sheets of recomposed
fibre may be cut into strips as soon as the strips are sufficiently dry to
permit this operation, and the strips may be enveloped in the bobbinet
and permitted to dry. The gum or starch with which the bobbinet
is dressed is sufficient to cause the wicks and the bobbinet to adhere
to each other.
Wicks or wicking made substantially as above set forth may be used
for lamps, or for any other purpose to which they are applicable, and
as they are not solidified by pressure nor filled with glutinous sizing
their highly porous and open structure adapts them admirably to the
transmission of the burning fluid from the reservoir to the aperture of
the wick tube where the burning takes place, while the chemical with

page_text: which they are prepared tends to prevent the. incrustation of the wick
during burning. The form of the wick may be varied to suit the
particular purpose required. As the wicks are composed of paper stock,
the cost of which is greatly less than that of a fibrous material which
is suitable for spinning and weaving, the cost of the article is considerably a
less than a plaited or woven wick of the same size.