IM- PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR GLASSES FOR GAS AND OTHER LAMPS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rice Williams Harris, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Glass Manufacturer, and Thomas Patstone, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Warchouse Clerk, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
Sealed the 16th May 1854, and dated the 17th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rice Williams Harris
and Thomas Patstone at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th March 1854.
We, RICE WILLIAMS HARRIS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Glass Manufacturer, and THOMAS PATSTONE, of Birmingham aforesaid, Ware-
house Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR GLASSES FOR GAS AND OTHER LAMPS" to
be as follows:-
. Our Invention consists in covering the tops of shades or glasses of gas
and other lamps with a cap or dome of glass, china, or other substance
not injuriously affected by the heat of the said lamps, the said cap or cover-
ing fitting on the ordinary shade or glass, and being provided at or near
its lower edge with lateral openings through which the heated air and pro-
ducts of combustion escape during the use of the lamp. Figures 1 and 2
illustrate our Invention. a, a, are the ordinary shades; b, b, are the caps or
domes which constitute our Invention; c, c, are the openings through which
the heated air and products of combustion escape.
These holes may

page_text: either be made in the dome itself or in a metallic or other ring interposed
between the shade and dome. The said cap or dome prevents the discoloration
of the ceiling of the room in which the lamp is used, and gives great steadiness
to the flame, whereby its full illuminating power is obtained and economy
effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rice Williams Harris and Thomas Patstone in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICE
WILLIAMS HARRIS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Glass Manu-
facturer, and THOMAS PATSTONE, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Warehouse Clerk,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Rice Williams Harris and Thomas Patstone, Her special licence
that we, the said Rice Williams Harris and Thomas Patstone, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Rice Williams
Harris and Thomas Patstone, our executors, administrators, and 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SHADES OR GLASSES FOR GAS AND OTHER
LAMPS," upon the condition. (amongst others) that we, the said Rice Williams
Harris and Thomas Patstone, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, 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 Rice Williams Harris, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say -

page_text: Our Invention consists in covering the tops of shades or glasses of gas and
other lamps with a cap or dome of glass, china, or other substance not inju-
riously affected by the heat of the said lamps, the said cap or dome being
provided at or near, its lower edge with lateral openings or indentations through
which the heated air and products of combustion escape during the use of the
lamp. Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing illustrates one method of
carrying our Invention into effect; a is the ordinary gas. shade; 6 is a cap or
dome resting thereon in the manner represented; c, c, are openings or indenta-
tions in the dome b, through which said openings or indentations the heated
air and products of combustion escape. Any suitable ornamental figure may
be given to the openings or indentations c, c. Instead of making indentations.
in the edge of the dome b, we sometimes make the edge of the said dome plain,
and make indentations in the top edge of the glass a, but we prefer the method
represented in Figure 1. We sometimes carry our Invention into effect in
the manner illustrated in section in Figure 2; that is to say, we sometimes
connect the dome d with the shade e by means of a gallery f of metal or other
suitable material. The said galleryf rests upon the shade e, and the dome d rests
upon the gallery f as represented; g, g, are holes in the gallery f, through which
the heated air and products of combustion escape. The gallery f and the holes
g, g, made therein may be variously ornamented. We sometimes also carry
our Invention into effect in the manner illustrated in Figure 3; that is to say,
instead of making the lamp glass and dome in separate pieces, we form the
same in one piece, as illustrated by the sphere h, and form a series of holes i, i,
for the purpose of permitting the escape of the heated air and products of com-
bustion. The said holes i, i, may be formed by the well-known process of glass
cutting or otherwise. We prefer to carry our Invention into effect in the
manner herein described with reference to Figure 1.
We form the lamp
glasses a, Figure 1, and e, Figure 2, by the process called "blowing," and we
form the domes b, Figure 1, and d, Figure 2, by the processes called
"pressing," which said processes of "blowing" and "pressing" we do not think
it necessary to describe, as the same are well known and commonly practised,
and constitute no part of our Invention.
We prefer to make the domes b, Figure 1, and d, Figure 2, of glass, con-
taining a larger proportion of oxide of lead than ordinary flint glass, as glass
so constructed is less brittle and less liable to fracture by sudden changes of
temperature than ordinary flint glass; but we do not confine ourselves to any
particular method of making the domes, nor to any particular composition of
glass. The said domes may be made of colorless or colored glass, and may
be variously ornamented, or the said domes may be made of enamel, porcelain,

page_text: or any other material not liable to injury by the heat of the lamp or the pro-
ducts of combustion. The use of a cap or dome surmounting lamp glasses
prevents the discoloration of the ceiling of the room in which the lamp is used;
the said cap or dome by preventing the rapid upward current of air which
usually occurs in ordinary gas shades, produces great steadiness in the flame,
and thereby increases its illuminating power. Another advantage arising from
the use of our Invention is as follows:-In a room lighted by a lamp provided
with the ordinary lamp shade there is an accumulation of highly heated air in
contact with the ceiling of the said room, whereby the said ceiling becomes
heated, and radiates its heat into the room by the use of our Invention. The
current of heated air which with the ordinary shade passes directly to the ceiling
of the room is deflected into a horizontal position and divided into a number of
small currents, whereby it becomes largely mixed with cooler air, and the
accumulation of hot air and the heating of the ceiling of the room is avoided.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise methods herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our
Invention covering the tops of shades or glasses of gas and other lamps with a
cap or dome, through lateral perforations or indentations in which, or in the
shade or glass, the heated air and products of combustion are allowed to escape,
as herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rice Williams Harris, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,.
RICHARD SKERRETT.
RICE WILLIAMS HARRIS. (L.S.)