CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I JONATHAN
BLAKE, of Mount Pleasant, Eaton, in the City and County' of Norwicli,
Surgeon, send greeting:
WHEREAS' Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland; bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; in the thirteenth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jonathan Blake, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, "full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I; the said Jonathan Blake, niy
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jonathan Blake,
my exors, admors, 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 expressed;
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England;
Wales; and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of """" CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a provisó
that I, the said Jonathan Blake, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and-seal, to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonathan Blake,-hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and fully described and ascertained;
in and the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Firstly, my said Invention consists of certain improvements in spirit lamps,
more particularly those in which camphine, naptha, and other like spirits are
burned, and have for their object to obviate, more effectually than has been
hitherto donc, the smoke and sooty exhalations called "blacks" with which
the burning of such lamps is commonly accompanied, as also to render them
perfectly safe from explosion. Figure 1 is an external elevation; Figure 2,
a sectional elevation; and Figure 3, a plan of a spirit lamp constructed
according to these improvements. The lamp is represented as having four
burners, but the number may be increased or diminished at pleasure, accord-
ing to circumstances. In general I find that it is preferable to use a number
of small burners to produce any required amount of light than it is to produce
the same amount of light by a single burner of larger size, and that the best
size for a single burner is about half an inch, that is to say, that it should be
no larger than to allow of the ring of wick being about from three eighths to
half an inch in diameter. The reservoir A, A, for containing the spirit to be
burned, is divided into as many compartments as there are burners, in order
to prevent the wicks of the different burners from becoming entangled or the
fluid from being shaken about in moving the lamp from place to place. Tho
partitions between these compartments have holes in them to allow of tho
flow of the fluid from, the one to the other, so that it may stand at the same
level in all. The spirit is introduced into the reservoir through a screw
plug B, and there is a small float c by which the state of the supply can be
ascertained at any time by mere inspection. The basement of the burner
communicates by a tubular neck C with the reservoir A; the junction of the
two being effected by means of a ring D and three small screws s, s, s, which
are screwed through the ring and press firmly against the sides of the tubular
-neck, as-separately shewn in the cross section of the neck on the line a, b,
given in Figure 4. The annular space within the ring is afterwards covered
over with a loose flat disc D', which prevents any escape of the fluid at that
part, and, as only the metallic connections between the burner and reservoir
are the points of the three small screws, the risk of the heat being commu-
nicated from the one to the other is extremely small. The tubular neck C
is covered in at top, with the exception of a lunette-shaped opening, through
which the wick passes up into the burner E. Externally the burner is of a

page_text: conical shape, with an opening F on one side through which the air is
admitted into the internal air tube G. The wick most suitable for a lamp
of this construction, consists of a flat band of cotton of a breadth about three
times the diameter of the burner, so that it may form a complete circle a top.
Figure 5 is a plan of the opening into the reservoir immediately under
the lower part of the neck of the burner, which together with Figure 3
shews the way the wick is made to pass from the reservoir to the burner..
His a piece of metal with a slot in it, which is just of sufficient size to allow
the wick to be drawn through it, and when it is so fitted on the wick it is
screwed down upon its place on the reservoir. The pressure which the wick
sustains by the edges of the slotted piece of metal H regulates in a great
degree the ascent of the spirit into the burner, while at the same time it
prevents not only any overflow of the spirit in the event of the lamp being
upset from carelessness, but any passage of flame from the burner to the
reservoir, and admits of replenishing the reservoir with spirit without danger
of explosion. The raising of the wick when trimming is effected by introduc-
ing a pin successively into the holes 0, 0, 0, on the side of the burner, and the
wick, when once trimmed, will last for eight or ten hours burning without
requiring to be retouched; and, when the spirit is of ordinary purity, a wick
of moderate length will last from six to twelve months without requiring
renewal. The holes o, o, o, which have been described as used for raising the
wick, serve also as escape valves for any vaporized spirit, whereby all risk of
its accumulating in the interior of the burner, and either exploding or blowing
out the light is completely obviated. I is a head piece to the burner, which
serves as a gallery for supporting the glass, and also to sustain other arrange-
ments for regulating the quantity of air to be admitted to the flame from
the outside... An elevation and plan of the burner are given separately in
Figures 6 and 7. The air to. the exterior of the flame is supplied through
an aperture below the ring d, whence it passes up between the flame and the
glass cylinder K, which rests upon the ring d. The glass cylinder K is made
of a length corresponding with the greatest height of flame which it is desired
the lamp shall produce, and it carrys upon its upper end a ring of metal L,
which forms a flange projecting inwards partly over the flame, by which the
air is arrested in its assent and deflected inwards upon the flame. On the
action of this deflecting ring, the height and smokelessness and freedom from
smell of the flame in a great measure depend. The necessity for the ring
may be superseded by making the top of the glass cylinder in the first
instance of a conical shape, or with a projecting flange of glass, but I greatly
prefer the metal ring on account of its not being liable to break, and admitting

page_text: of greater nicety in the fitting; the admission of air to the interior of the flame
isradjusted by means of a slide valve L', which covers the opening M.in the
head I. The opening Min' the head exactly corresponds to the position of
the opening F in the side of the burner, so that when M is closed by this
slide valve very little.air can enter into the internal air tube G. N is a
spindle to the slide valve, which is passed through a hole formed in a pro-
jecting pin O, in which the spindle is free to be moved when acted upon by
hand. By morei or less closing the aperture M, the flame can be regulated
with great accuracy. Instead of the slide valve for regulating the current
P is the
of.air, a conical or any other suitable form of valve may be used.
glass chimney which. has a fine wire-gauze cylinder.R fitted upon its upper
end, and:should the flame occasionally.rise too high and produce blacks, these
as generated will adhere to ithe interior of the wire gauze, the imeshes of which
are too small to allow them to pass through. When the wire gauze becomes
completely covered and. the meshes closed the flame will,..from want of air,
become extinguished, and thus..the evil. produced: be. ithe, means...of its own
cure Eigure 8 is an external elevation, vand Figure:9 top plan of a lamp
with a single burner, constructed on the same plan as, the preceding, but in
which the arrangenients for regulating the height of the cylinder K and of the
deflecting flange L are somewhat different. The glass cylinder rests on the
the top of the screws e, e, e, which are screwed into apertures in the gallery I.
As these screws are raised higher up or lower down (by.being turned round),
they cause the glass cylinder: also to be 'raised up. from or ibrought closer to
the top. surface of the head piece I;iso that the flange may be adjusted with
the utmost exactness to the most proper height for producing a clear and
inodorous flame.
Secondly, my Invention consists of certain improvements in. candle. lamps,
having for their object to ensure an adequate and well-regulated supply of air
to the flame, and also such a supply of air to the nozzle of the lamp as may
keep it cool, and prevent it from melting the body of the candle with which
it is in contact. Figure 10 is an external elevation of a lamp embodying
this branch of my-improvements; Figure 11 is another elevation of it partly
in section; and Figure 12 is a plan lon the line a, b. AA, is a case or
holder which.contains a helical spring B, similar to those, ordinarily used in
candle lamps, which is surmounted by a disc on which the bottom of the
candle rests, C.is a tube which fits by a bayonet joint on the case A, and
serves to hold the candle as it is pushed up by the spring B terminating at
top in a nozzle of a conical form. D.js aniouter..tube. concentric to C, and
soldered to the case A. Dis a scap which is curved inwards at top towards

page_text: the apex of the nozzle. b, b, are apertures in the cap D, by which air is
admitted from the external atmosphere into the space between the tube C
and cap D, and passing up which the said air which goes first to keep the
nozzle cool, and thence to feed the flame, the curved lip of the cap serving to
deflect the current inwards., c, c, are apertures in the curved lip of the cap,
through which a portion of the air which ascends between the tube C and
cap D finds its way (as indicated by the arrows) to the outside of the top of
the column of flame, and which has the effect of keeping the wicks of the
candle from bending over the cap and overheating.it. The. other portion of
air admitted by the openings b, b, escapes by the opening d, d, between the
top of the nozzle and lip of the cap, and goes to support the combustion of
the interior of the flame, and prevents the candle from melting too fast. G is
a slotted ring, by the turning round of which the apertures b, b, can at any
time be more or less opened for regulating the quantity of air. K is a glass
cone, which is brought down considerably below the top of the nozzle in order
to concentrate the three currents of air, indicated by the arrows upon the
flame. These different currents of air passing as described, keep the nozzle,
the cap, and glass cone cool, and enable the outer glass chimney to be
brought down considerably below the point of ignition, and thereby produces
a more perfect combustion. I is a glass chimney, and H a gallery, which
supports the cone K and chimney I.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which
I claim as constituting my said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the mode of diminishing the metallic connections between
the reservoir and burner of spirit lamps before described, that is to say, by
the combination in manner aforesaid of the tubular neck C, ring D, and
screws 8, 8, 8.
Second, I claim the limitation of the flow of spirit from the reservoir to the
burner, by the slot in the plate H through which the wick is passed, whereby
all risk of spilling the fluid or of flame passing from the burner to the reservoir
is obviated.
Third, I claim the regulating of the supply of air to the burners of spirit
lamps by means of valves, as before described.
Fourth, I claim the employment in spirit lamps of wire gauze hoods, con-
structed and applied as before described. And,
Fifth, I claim the construction of candle lamps in the manner before
described, that is to say, in so far as regards the combination of the tube C

page_text: and cap D², with the apertures b, b, and c, c, and the glass cone and chimney
descending below the nozzle or top of the interior tube C.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Blake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.