IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Tahourdin White, of King Edward Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-LIGHTERS."
Sealed the 31st July 1868, and dated the 6th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Tahourdin White
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th February 1868.
I, JOHN TAHOURDIN WHITE, of King Edward Street, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS," to be as follows, that is
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of combining or arranging
fire wood with a view to its more rapid and perfect combustion, and
consists essentially in so combining or arranging any convenient number
of separate pieces of fire wood, as that the whole shall form a hollow
cone or pyramid to be used with the apex upwards.

page_text: In practice I propose to construct my improved fire-lighters by con-
necting together a number of pieces of fire wood of a length of, say,
6 inches by 1 inches in breadth and tinch in thickness (which dimensions
may however be varied as desired) at their upper ends by having a hole
drilled through each piccc, and passing a wooden pin or holder through
the series. The several pieces are then opened out in equal numbers, or
nearly so, on cach side to form the sides of the cone or pyramid, and
are maintained in their respective places by a cross bar at each side at
the base, secured by other pins passing through the ends of such cross
bars, and through the lower ends of the several pieces of fire wood
forming the sides of the cone or pyramid. The whole or a part may
or may not be dipped in resin or other inflammable material,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Tahourdin White in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JoшLN
TAHOURDIN WHITE, of King Edward Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Tahourdin White, Her
special license that I, the John Tahourdin White, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Tahourdin White, my 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 therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Tahourdin White, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,

page_text: and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Tahourdin White, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of combining or
arranging fire wood with a view to its more rapid and perfect com-
bustion, and consists essentially in so combining or arranging any
convenient number of separate pieces of fire wood as that the whole
shall form a species of hollow cone, wedge, or pyramid to be used with
the apex upwards.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation, full size, of a
fire lighter constructed according to my said Invention; Figure 2 is a
corresponding end view of the same, and Figure 3 is a plan of the
upper surface corresponding to Figure 1.
In constructing my improved fire-lighters I connect together at their
upper ends any convenient number of pieces of fire wood A, A, sufficient
to light an ordinary fire, such pieces being of a length of, say, six inches
by one and a quarter inch in breadth and a quarter inch in thickness,
I do not confine myself however to these dimensions, as they may be
varied if desired; I effect this connecting together of the pieces A by
having a hole drilled through cach piece, and passing a wooden pin
or holder B through the series. A piece of thin cane or willow will
answer well as the pin or holder. The several pieces A are then
opened out in equal numbers, or nearly so, on each side of the pin B
to form the two inclined sides of the pyramid or wedge, and are main-
tained in their respective places by a cross bar C, C, at each side at
or near the base, such cross bars being secured by other pins D, D,

page_text: like the first one, passing through the ends of the cross bars C, and
through the lower ends of the several pieces of fire wood A. The
whole or a part may or may not be dipped in resin or other inflam-
mable material, and, if desired, a few shavings, as shown at E in the
Drawings, may be introduced into the hollow of the cone, wedge, or
pyramid, and maintained in place by passing a piece of string round
the whole, as shewn more clearly in Figure 1.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The pecular mode of arranging or disposing and securing
together pieces of wood or other like combustible material intended]
for lighting fires so as to form a hollow conc, wedge, or pyramid to
be used with the apex upwards, substantially as hercin-before described
and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second. The combination of the pieces of wood or other like
combustible material A forming the sloping or inclined sides of the said
hollow conc, wedge, or pyramid with the side pieces or stretchers C,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by my
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tahourdin White, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the First day
of August, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.