AN IMPROVED LAMP BURNER
Year: 1800

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WHITE, of the Parish of Saint Paul, Covent Garden, in the County of
Middlesex, Tin Plate Worker, and JAMES SMETHURST, of Saint Margaret's Hill,
Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Tin Plate Worker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, in and
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of November, in the forty-first year
of His reign, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto
us, the said John White and James Smethurst, his especial licence, full power,
sole priviledge and authority, that we, the said John White and James
Smethurst, our executors, administrators, or assigns, by ourselves or them-
selves, or by our or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such
others as we, the said John White and James Smethurst, our executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter 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, our Invention of
"AN IMPROVED LAMP BURNER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging us, the said John White and James Smethurst, or one of
us, in and by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John White and James Smethurst, do hereby describe and ascertain the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
as follows; that is to say:-
Our said Invention consists in an improvement of the burner of a lamp,
commonly called Argand's Patent Lamp, for which lamp His present Majesty
granted His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date on or about the Fifteenth
day of March, in the Twenty-fourth year of His reign, to Ami Argand, of
Great Marlborough Street, Soho, Gentleman, as described in his Specification,
inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery, on or about the Third day of July, One thousand seven hundred
and eighty-four, our said improvement consisting in giving or causing a more
free and plentiful supply of oil to the ignited part of the wick, by which
contrivance it burns better, requires snuffing less frequently, and burns well
with oil of an inferior quality; and has this further advantage, that the burner
can be more easily cleaned out than burners of the common contrivance.
These advantages are obtained by leaving more room or space between the
two tubes where the cotton or wick is usually placed than hitherto. It will.
be necessary in this case to reduce this space at the top, by putting on a
ring or piece, conically or otherwise formed, that the crust or cinder may be
conveniently brushed or otherwise taken off, or the same effects may be
produced by a crease or enlargement of the space near the top, beginning
at or below the place to which the oil flows, and so formed as to reduce the
space at the upper extremity to the usual dimensions. Nearly the same effects
may be produced by supporting a ring or rings upon pillars or bars, or by
making slits or openings in the sides of the tubes, or by causing flutes or.
creases to be made in the surface of the tubes, or otherwise rendering the
surface irregular or discontinious, so as by any means to lessen the points of.
contact between the cotton and the surface of the tubes, and thus assist the
ascent of the oil by capillary attraction.
In witness whereof, we, the said John White and James Smethurst, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of December, in
the forty-first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the
Third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland
King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred.
JOHN WHITE. (L.S.) JAMES SMETHURST. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifteenth day of December,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John White and James Smethurst
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fifteenth day of December, in the year above written.