IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING LAMPS AND TRIMMING LAMP WICKS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Washington Smiley of 6 Upper Woburn Place,
Tavistock Square, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING LAMPS AND TRIMMING LAMP WICKS
communicated to him from abroad by Thomas John Loud Smiley and Charles
H Stombs, both of San Francisco, State of California, United States of
America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Washington Smiley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd October 1883.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SMILEY, of 6 Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square in
the County of Middlesex, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING
LAMPS AND TRIMMING LAMP WICKS" [communicated to him from abroad by Thomas
John Loud Smiley and Charles H Stombs, both of San Francisco, State of
California, United States of America]
This Invention relates to an improved automatic lamp extinguisher and wick
trimmer applicable to any form of flatwick burner now in use and more especially
intended for lamps burning kerosene or other mineral oil. This device consists of a
pair of pivoted plates which meet edge to edge in the plane of the wick when closed
and are capable of moving apart to permit the passage of the wick up and down
between them. These plates are pivoted near their outer edges between side
cheeks of a metal box or frame carried by a sleeve adapted to fit removably on the
top of the wick tube by which the whole device is carried and the plates are so
pivoted and arranged as to tend to close together by their own gravity and to meet
at such an angle that on the wick being moved down by any of the ordinary
appliances the edges of the said plates will be caused to close together and act as
nipping jaws whereby the charred portion of the wick will be evenly clipped off
thus trimming the same, and on the wick being further moved down the plates
will be quite closed together thus making an air tight closure and effectually
smothering the flame or partly extinguished wick and preventing the escape of
fumes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Washington Smiley in the Patent Office on the 18th April
1884.
"
GEORGE WASHINGTON SMILEY of 6 Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square in
the County of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING
LAMPS AND TRIMMING LAMP WICKS A communication to me from abroad by
Thomas John Loud Smiley and Charles H. Stombs both of San Francisco, State
of California, United States of America
This Invention relates to an improved automatic lamp extinguisher and wick
trimmer applicable to any form of flat wick burner now in use and more especially
intended for lamps burning kerosene or other mineral oil. In order that the
invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated it in the accompanying
drawings. Figure 1 represents a transverse vertical section of the extinguisher and
trimmer and of the burner to which it is applied and figure 2 is a plan of the same.
Figure 3 is an enlarged section similar to figure 1 of the extinguisher and trimmer
open as when the lamp is burning, and Figure 4 is a similar view of the same
closed. Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
This device consists of a pair of pivoted plates a which meet edge to edge at a¹
in the plane of the wick when closed and are capable of moving apart as
represented in dotted lines in figure 1 and in figure 3 to permit the passage of
the wick g up and down between them. These plates are pivoted at 6 near their
outer edges between side cheeks c' of a metal box or frame C carried by a sleeve d
adapted to fit removably on the top of the wick tube e by which the whole device
is carried.
The plates a tend to close together by their own gravity and they are so pivoted
and arranged relatively to the top of the wick tube as to be at such an angle that
on the wick being moved down by the toothed wheel for any of the ordinary
appliances the edges a¹ of the said plates will be drawn down by the wick and
caused to close together and act as nipping jaws whereby the charred portion of the
wick will be forcibly and evenly clipped off, and on the wick being further moved
down the plates a will be quite closed together and come down on the top of the
wick tube as shown in full lines in figures 1 and 4 thus making a sufficiently air
tight closure to effectually smother the incandescent or ignited wick and prevent
the escape of fumes.
Having described the nature of the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is :
1st An automatic lamp extinguisher and wick trimmer, consisting essentially of a
pair of nipping plates or jaws pivoted at opposite sides of the wick and adapted to
be closed together and meet edge to edge in the central plane of the wick by the
act of drawing the latter downwards substantially as herein described.
2nd The automatic lamp extinguisher and wick trimmer constructed of a pair of
nipping plates pivoted between the cheeks of a supporting box or frame attached to
a sleeve adapted to fit on the wick tube of a lamp for operation substantially as
herein shown and described.
In witness whereof I the said George Washington Smiley have hereunto set my
hand and seal this sixteenth day of April A.D. 1884.