IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SAFETY LAMPS FOR USE IN MINES to be as follows:-
Year: 1886

page_text: I MILES SETTLE of Darcy Lever near Bolton in the County of Lancaster Colliery
Proprietor do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC SAFETY LAMPS FOR USE IN MINES to be as follows:-
"
My invention relates to the construction of that class of electric safety lamps for
miners use wherein the lamp is entirely surrounded by water the object of the said
invention being to cause the lamp to be instantly and infallibly extinguished
whenever the outer glass is broken, or from leakage or any other cause the water
escapes from the outer casing.
Above the lamp and in communication with the space between the inner and
outer glass casings I employ a vessel or reservoir containing water, which water
also fills the space between the two glasses surrounding the lamp.
In this reservoir I place a float (preferably of hollow metal) and to this float
attach a lever or levers, connected with a contact piece in such a manner that so
long as the water remains in the vessel or reservoir and the float is sustained at its
proper level, the communication between the conducting wires is kept constant and
the lamp continues burning; but if owing to the breakage of the outer glass, or
from leakage, or other cause the level of the water falls below its normal position,
the float falls with it, and by means of the lever, or levers, breaks the contact
or communication between the conducting wires, and the lamp is immediately
extinguished.
As a further safe-guard, and in order to prevent the possibility of danger from
sparking on the breakage of the outer glass casing I provide the same with an
inner flange touching the globe of the lamp, and it will be evident that in the event
of the former becoming broken (either accidentally or otherwise) this flange will
cause the simultaneous breakage of the inner glass also, with which it is in contact
and the water immediately enters and cools the incandescent wire or carbon,
or other substance, and extinguishes any spark that may by any possibility be
present.

page_text: The flange is by preference made of glass, but a metal flange, or pegs, ribs or
other projections may be employed so long as they are in such absolute contact
with both glasses that it would not be possible to break the outer glass without at
the same time breaking the inner glass also.
In some cases an intermediate glass or bell is placed between the outer glass
casing and the globe of the lamp, in which case the said flange or other equivalent
arrangement is duplicated so that the breakage of the outer glass shall also cause
the destruction of the intermediate and inner glasses simultaneously.
Dated this 20th day of Tu 1006
GEORGE DAVIES,
Agent for the Applicant,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.

page_text: I MILES SETTLE of Darcy Lever near Bolton in the County of Lancaster Mining
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC SAFETY LAMPS FOR USE IN MINES and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention relates to the construction of that class of electric safety lumps for
use in mines wherein the lamp is entirely surrounded by water, the object of the
said invention being to cause the lamp to be instantly and infallibly extinguished
whenever the outer glass is broken or (from leakage or any other cause) the water
escapes from the outer casing.
The nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to be put into
practical operation will be readily understood on reference to the two sheets of
drawings hereunto annexed and the following explanation thereof.
On Sheet 1. of the drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the centre of an
electric safety lamp constructed according to my invention and Fig. 2, is a partial
half and half horizontal section of the same following the line A-B in Fig. 1.
I employ a vessel or reservoir a, a, containing water, which water also fills the
space between the outer and inner glass casings b, b, and c, c, surrounding the
"Swan" or other electric lamp d, d.
In this reservoir a, a, I place a float e, e, (preferably. of hollow metal) and to this
float I attach a lever or levers f, f, the inner ends of which are connected by a
link g, g, and connecting rod g¹ to a contact lever h, h, provided with platinum
points acting against two contact pieces i, i, which are in electric connection by
means of the wires k, k, with the lamp d, d, and the line wires l, l.
It will be seen on reference to the drawings that this connection is made in such
a manner that so long as the water remains in the vessel or reservoir a, a, and the
float e, e, is thereby sustained at its proper level the communication between the
conducting wires is kept constant and the lamp d, d, continues burning, but if,
owing to the breakage of the outer glass b, b, or from leakage or other cause, the
level of the water in the reservoir a, a, falls below its normal position, the float e, e,
falls with it, and by means of the levers ff link g, g, connecting rod gl g¹ and
contact lever h, h, breaks the contact or communication between the conducting
wires and the lamp d, d, becomes immediately extinguished. As a further safe
guard and in order to prevent the possibility of danger from "sparking" on the
breakage of the outer glass casing b, b, I sometimes provide the same with an inner
flange m, m, touching the inner glass casing c, c, and I provide the latter also with
a similar flange n, n, touching the globe of the lamp d, d, and it will be evident that
in the event of the outer glass b, b, becoming broken (either accidentally or
otherwise) these flanges m and n will cause the simultaneous breakage of the
intermediate glass c, c, and of the globe d, d, of the lamp also, with which they are
in contact, and the water immediately enters and cools the incandescent wire, or
carbon, or other substance and effectually extinguishes any spark that may by any
possibility be present.

page_text: The flanges m, m, and n, m, are by preference made of glass, but a metal flange,
or pegs, ribs or other projections may be employed for this purpose so long as they
are in such absolute contact with both glasses that it would not be possible to
break the outer glass without at the same time breaking the intermediate glass and
the globe of the lamp.
On sheet 2 of the drawings Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the line A, B,
Fig. 4 which is a plan or horizontal section of a modification of this improved
safety lamp and Fig. 5 is a detached sectional view through C, D, Fig. 4 of the
contact breaking mechanism thereof.
The principal parts are marked with the same letters of reference as on sheet 1,
the chief difference being that instead of the levers f f I have a cross bar f¹ƒ¹
which rises and falls with the float e, e, and is connected by a link g' g' to a contact
breaker h¹, h, provided with platinum points acting against the two contact
screws ¹¹forming the communication between the line wires 1, 1, and the
wires k, k, of the lamp.
I provide an opening o in the outer glass b to be fitted with a tap for emptying
the water when it becomes discolored or otherwise contaminated.
A reflector p, p,
may also be applied to the lamp-Also a suitable funnel q for filling the glass casing
with water and overflow pipes r, r, for allowing surplus water to escape.
In a modified form of this lamp I propose to dispense with the intermediate
glass c, c, in which case the water will fill the space between the outer glass casing
and the globe of the lamp and there will only require to be one flange or equivalent
device to cause the fracture of the outer glass to break the globe of the lamp also.
The electric contact breaking arrangement will be the same as in the previously
described cases.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First. The use in electric safety lamps (of that class wherein the lamp is entirely
surrounded by water) of a float so connected to a "contact breaker" that upon the
escape of the water the float falls and breaks the electric contact so as to extinguish
the light substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the annexed
drawing.
Secondly. The use in connection with the glasses of such lamps of an inner
flange (or its equivalent) in absolute contact with both glasses so that on the
breakage of the outer glass, the inner glass becomes fractured also, and the water
is admitted to the interior of the lamp so as to extinguish and cool the incandescent
carbon, wire, or other light producing substance, substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the drawings annexed.
Chan 100R