US1070522A - Electric safety-lamp. - Google Patents

Description

J. G. PATTERSON.

ELECTRIC SAFETY LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 25, 1910.

1,070,522. Patented Aug. 19, 1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIGE.

JOHN GEORGE PATTERSON, OF DARLINGTON, ENGLAND.

ELECTRIC SAFETY-LAMP.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN GEORGE PArrnR- SON, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and resident of Darlington, in. the county of Durham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Electric Safety- Lamps for Use in Mines or other Like Places, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric safety lamps for use in mines or other like places and specially refers to the combination therewith of an improved means for detecting or indicating the presence of gas or fire-damp.

There are several known methods of electrically testing forthe presence of gas such as the Liveing |firedamp indicator, with plattinum wires in separate chambers; or the diffusion of gas through a porous plate to work a switch to cut out the light when in the presence of gas or fire damp, but many of these tests are not practicable or reliable for use in coal mines.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved electric safety lamp with means combined therewith for indicating the presence of gas or fire-damp in a way that can be used by any official or ordinary miner.

My invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of an electric safety lamp provided with an additional lamp for detecting the presence of gas or fire-damp; Fig. 1 is a section on line g Fig. 1 of a detail part. Fig. 2 is an elevation taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation and Fig. 4 is a plan of the gauze or gauzes and a bonnet gallery made integral therewith for the oil lamp; Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sections in planes at right angles to each other of the body part of the testing lamp and Fig. 7 is a sectional plan of Fig. 6 on line aa-00 of Fig. 6.

According to my invention, I provide a portable electric lamp such as a which may have either a primary or secondary battery, with a miners oil safety lamp 6 permanently attached to it or part of the case containing the electric lamp and battery; and as the oil lamp 6 is not intended to give light but only a glimmer at the flame when testing for gas, the lamp is made in a pe- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 25, 1910.

Patented Aug. 19,1913.

Serial No. 568,848.

culiar form, being much smaller than usual, weighing in fact only a few ounces and owing to its construction it is considerably safer than any now in use. The main body I) of the testing lamp which may be made of aluminium or other suitable material and having an opening for the lamp glass is attached by means of screws 6 to one side of the case containing the battery of the electric lamp. A removable gallery or socket piece 6 that is formed in one width or permanently secured to the gauze shield b is adapted to be screwed or otherwise fixed to the top of the part Z) and to receive the lower end of the shield or bonnet 5 see Figs. 1 and 2. Admission openings 0 are made in the gallery 5 and exit openings (Z are provided in the shield or bonnet 6*. The exit openings in the shield may be closed to extinguish any gas burning in the lamp by means of an inner perforated adjustable ring 6 having an outwardly flanged cover.

At the upper end of the shield If I provide a dovetail shaped or like key piece f see Fig. 1 that is adapted to engage a correspondingly shaped groove provided in a member 9 on the adjacent side of the lamp casing a. The oil vessel or reservoir of the testing lamp, which may contain oil, alcohol, hydrogen, benzolinor the like is adapted to be screwed into the lower open end of the main body of the lamp and to be held against backward rotation by means of a sliding bolt or pillar it that engages with a lug 6. When assembling the parts of the testing lamp the reservoir If is first screwed into place and the bolt 72 shot down into its locked position. At its upper end It this bolt h is suitably shaped for engaging under the flange of the gallery or socket piece 5 so that when this is screwed into position the bolt cannot be raised and the reservoir cannot be removed. Also as the gauze cover 6 is formed integrally with the gallery .72 it is necessary when assembling the parts to put the gallery on before the shield 5 can be put in correct position. The shield b can only be slid vertically into or out of position and it is therefore prevented from being re moved as long as the cap or cover a of the electric lamp a is in place as the overhanging flange of such cover projects over the top 6 of the said shield Z). The cap or cover a is locked or sealed by a lead plug, or by a spring locking bolt, unlocked magnetically.

Inside the box or case Z) of the testing lamp I provide a switch see Fig. 5, which is so constructed and mounted that in one position it completes the circuit of the electric lamp (4 through the medium of contacts 71;, Z and mechanically extinguishes the oil lamp 6 by means of a cover plate or member m. When it is desired to test for gas, the switch is operated to break the electric lamp circuit and expose the wick of the oil lamp. This wick is then ignited by the pressing of a spring-controlled push button a that closes by means of contacts 0, 79 an electric circuit which causes a platinum wire 9 to glow in proximity to the burner wick or the like. The wick or the like being now ignited the presence of gas or fire-damp in the lamp which is indicated by a blue cap above the flame may be seen in the ordinary way through the lamp glass but with more certainty owing to the smallness of the lamp or the relatively confined area in which the gas is tested. The switch terminals being inclosed in the case or box I) are perfectly safe in the presence of gas. The glass 9" which is opposite the flame of the oil lamp or the like may be a lens to magnify the flame to enable gas if present to be seen more readily. In some cases the switch may serve also for completing the electric circuit for making the platinum glow, but to avoid the too rapid exhaustion of the battery it is preferred to use a separate switch.

lVhat I claim is:-

1. In combination, a miners safety lamp comprising a casing having a removable cover, a flame chamber secured to one side of said casing, a small testing lamp secured. to said flame chamber so that the flame of said lamp may project within said chamber, a glazed opening for said chamber, a gallery resting on said chamber, agauze cone on said gallery, a shield for said cone, and means on the cover of the safety lamp for locking said shield over said cone, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a miners electric safety lamp of an independent testing lamp, comprising a burner, gallery, bonnet and gauze cap, and adapted to give only a small flame, means for securing the testing lamp to the casing of the electric lamp, means within the testing lamp for lighting the testing lamp by a current from the electric lamp and means within the testing lamp for breaking the circuit of the electric lamp when the testing lamp is lighted as set forth.

3. The combination with a miners safety lamp of an independent testing lamp, means for securing the testing lamp to the casing of the safety lamp, and said safety lamp having a cover which at one part overhangs the testing lamp and normally prevents the dis-assemblage of the testing lamp, as set forth.

l. A testing lamp adapted for attachment to a safety lamp and comprising a gauze cap, a gallery, and an outer shield for said gauze cap, said gauze cap being formed in one with the said gallery, so that the outer shield cannot be fixed in its proper place until the gauze cap has been put in its place, as set forth.

5. In combination a miners safety lamp, a miniature testing oil lamp or fuel burner exterior and secured to the safety lamp, and comprising an open. ended body part, an oil container fitting the bottom end of the said body, a lens in one of the vertical sides of the body part, a gallery fitting the upper end of the body part, a gauze integral with the gallery, a shield supported by the gallery, a dovetail shaped block on the shield and a block with dovetail recess on the safety lamp which the block fits, and the top of the shield when on the gallery lying immediately below the cover of the safety lamp, substantially as herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN GEORGE PATTERSON. lVitnesses JOHN CAMP, FRED. J. MEREDITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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