US1174036A - Acetylene-lamp. - Google Patents

Description

F. E. BALDWIN.

ACETYLENE LAMP. 7

APPLICATION FILED NOV-7.1913.

1,174,036. V Patented Mar. 7,1916.

THB COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50-. WASHlNGTON, D. C.

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FREDERIC BALDWIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ACETYLENE-LAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 7,1916.

Application filed November 7, 1913. Serial No. 799,654.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnnonmo E. BALDWIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Acetylene- Lamps, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in acetylene lamps, and particularly small portable acetylene lamps, such as are usually employed by miners.

Owing to the fact that miners lamps must be light and small, many devices which are capable of employment in lamps of larger size for the purpose of conducing to the satisfactory operation of an acetylene lamp cannot be employed in connection with a miners acetylene lamp. This is particularly true of devices for washing, filtering or otherwise purifying the gas prior to the arrival of the gas at the burner. In large generators connected with lighting systems, for houses and the like, and also in large lamps, the burner is usually sufliciently remote from the carbid-receptacle which constitutes the gas-generating-chamber to permit the introduction of satisfactory washing, filtering, or similar purifying devices, into the path of the gas. In a miners lamp, however, the burner is so close to the carbid-chamber or generator-chamber that it has been found to be diflicult to provide devices which will satisfactorily hold back from the burner the fine particles of calcium-carbid or lime which tend to follow the gas as it leaves the carbid-chamber. In lamps of this type, where the burner-tube extends directly from the generating or carbid chamber, it has been the usual practice to provide a filtering device at the inner end of said burner-tube. Probably the most satisfactory filtering device heretofore employed in practice is a mass of fibrous material, such for example as cotton or felt. Such devices, however, although entirely satisfactory when new, are open to the serious defects that after a short use they become clogged, not only on the exterior but in the interior of the mass, with fine particles of lime or carbid, so that the passage of the gas through such a clogged mass of material is very slow. Furthermore, if, by

accidental flooding of the carbid-chamber, the said mass of fibrous material is wetted, the pores thereby become clogged with water and, for this reason, the passage of the gas through such filtering material is very slow. As a consequence of this, it is generally the case under such conditions that some delay arises after charging the lamp and admitting the water to the carbid-chamber before the burner can be lighted; also, a considerable pressure is necessary to drive the gas through such a filterand hence the pressureon the burner is reduced. Furthermore, with such a gas-purifying-device, it becomes necessary, at frequent intervals, to remove the filtering material and dry it or otherwise endeavor to clean it to free it from the clogging matter. In addition to the above objections, it has been found that such a filtering device will not entirely purlfy the gas, and the burner-orifice frequently becomes clogged with particles of llme or carbid, which having passed the filter come in contact with the inner end of the burner at the orifice. Even when the partlcles are precipitated in the burner-tube without reaching the burnerorifice, such particles are likely to be shaken forward against the burner-orifice when the lamp is severely jarred or shaken, as for example by the accidental knocking over or drop ping of the same, as frequently occurs with a miners lamp.

It is the object ofthe present invention to provide means for preventing the clogging of the burner, which will not become inoperative in practice, and which can readily be kept in a clean condition.

With the above general object in view and some others which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the description hereinafter, this invention consists in the features, details of construction and combinations of parts which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then particularly pointed out.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical central section of a miners lamp embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the slime and dust arresting-device removed from the generating-chamber; and Fig. 3 is a similar view of the spring-clip.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the upper part of a common type of acetylene miners lamp having a partition 2 forming the bottom of a water-chamber. The lower part of the lamp body indicated at a, and arranged to contain calcium carbid, is secured to the upper part in any suitable way, as for example by a screw thread connection, as will be clear from Fig. 1, a gasket being provided between the two parts in order to make a gastight connection as indicated at 5.

The partition 2, forming the bottom of the water-chamber is provided with a centrally arranged depression or cup indicated at 6, whose bottom is deflected upward to form a recess beneath the said bottom for a purpose hereinafter explained. Through the bottom of the cup extends a water-supply pipe 7, which has its lower end extended downward and arranged to be embedded in the carbid. The upper end of the watersupply tube is arranged to project into the cupped portion 6, this pipe projecting through the upwardly deflected bottom of the cup.

In the best embodiment of the invention, the upper end of the water-supply tube terminates considerably below the partition 2 for a reason hereinafter pointed out. The water-supply tube 7 is securely fastened in place by filling the recess in the bottomv of the cup with solder as indicated at 8. By this means, a long bearing for the tube and also a relatively long soldered connection is provided. For the purpose of closing the upper end of the water-supply tube so that water cannot pass through it from the water-chamber to the carbid-chamber, a longitudinally movable valve-tube 9 is provided, this tube projecting downward through a downwardly flanged opening in the top of the lamp and being arranged to make a sliding fit with the upper end of the water-supply pipe 7 The tube 9 has its end outside the lamp arranged to serve as a handle and for this purpose it may conveniently be bent at an angle as shown. Further, the outer end of said valve tube 9 is flattened or pinched down so as to nearly, but not quite, close the end of the tube, for a purpose hereinafter explained. Within the water-supply tube 7 is secured a controlling and stirring rod 10, which is of such length as to project through the water-supply tube 7 and below the lower end of the same. For the purpose of securing the rod 10 in place, it may be bent at its upper end and extended into the bent portion of the tube 9, the latter being somewhat flattened at the bend so as to hold the rod 10, while at the same time allowing the passage of gas through the tube 9 at each side ofsaid rod, for a purpose hereinafter explained.

The lamp is provided with a suitable burner-tube as indicated at 11, which in the best embodiment of the invention is arranged to project radially from the upper part 1 of the lamp-body, its inner end terminating a short distance inside the lamp body. For the purpose of rigidly securing the burner tube, it is located immediately beneath and contacts with the bottom surface of the partition 2.

In the best embodiment of the invention, the burner-tube 11 is threaded and on this is mounted a nut 12 to which is secured a reflector 13, the end of the burner-tube projecting beyond the reflector and-carrying a burner 14: which fits tightly onto the end of the burner tube, being held in place by friction only. The burner has a suitable gasorifice and is flanged outwardly at its inner margin so as to be engaged by the nut as the same is moved outward in unscrewing. In the present embodiment of the invention, the reflector serves as a leverage device for rotating the nut.

In order to firmly brace the reflector, a supporting device is arranged between the reflector and the lamp body, this consisting, in the best embodiment of the invention, of a hollow sheetmetal casing indicated at 15, whose outer surface engages the back of the reflector and whose inner wall rests against and preferably is soldered to the upper portion of the lamp body 1.

The lamp is provided with a filling open ing, whereby the water-chamber may be filled. This opening is closed by a suitable lid or cap as indicated at 16.

For the purpose of preventing the calcium carbid from reaching the inner end of the burner tube, a baflie device is provided, this comprising a means for compelling the gas to be deflected at some part of its path from. the generating chamber to the inner end of the burner-tube. The reason for this is that, as the gas leaves the carbid it generally carries with it fine particles of carbid or lime. By deflecting the gas, these particles, by virtue of their momentum, are unable to quickly change their direction, while the gas by its deflection leaves the particles and passes to the burner-tube free from the said solid particles.

For the purpose of obtaining the maximum angle of deflection of the gas in a small space, the baflie device, employed in the best embodiment of my invention, comprises a flanged tray 17 which incloses the inner end of the burner-tube and rests against the lower face of the bottom of the cup, this tray having a central opening through which the water-supply pipe passes, and a notch in one side of its flange through which the inner end of the burnerube passes. The periphery of the flanged edge of the tray 17 is within and only slightly removed from the depending circular flange forming a continuation of the outer wall of the water container and arranged so that it will not make a gas-tight connection with the lower face of the partition 2, but will permit the gas to pass from the gas generatingchamber to the interior of the tray. In the present embodiment of the invention, this gas-passage is obtained all around the tray by making the inside depth of the flanged edge of the tray slightly less than the height of the cup 6 so that when the bottom of the tray rests against the outside of the bottom of the cup, the upper edge of the flange will not reach to the partition 2.

For the purpose of holding the tray 17 in place, any suitable means may be provided, but in the best embodiment of the invention this means is of such a nature that the tray may be readily removed and replaced for the purpose of allowing the tray to be cleaned if necessary. In the present example, the tray is retained in position by a spring clip 18, consisting of a flat strip of spring-metal bent so as to form a central, nearly circular portion and flat portions extending in each direction therefrom. The central. portion is perforated with a hole about the size of the water-supply pipe, so that when the clip is forced upward on the outside of the tube, it will clamp said tube and will thus hold itself and the tray 17 with which its flat portions contact firmly in place. At the same time, by pulling the spring-clip downward by grasping the said central portion, the clip may be withdrawn and the tray then will drop down and may be removed from the lamp.

The ba-file device constitutes a primary strainer device which serves to keep back from the burner-tube all slime, sludge or carbid, which might otherwise serve to clog said burner-tube due to the jarring of the lamp, and at the same time compels the gas to take a strongly deflected path whereby all fine particles accompanying the gas are separated therefrom. Furthermore, in case by any means any small particles should enter the tray, they will tend to deposit at the bottom of the tray, which may be removed from time to time to clean it. From the interior of the tray, the gas then passes to the burner-tube.

Since in practice it is not possible to absolutely remove all the solid particles by a primary baffle or strainer device, it becomes important to avoid the clogging of the burner-orifice by-any such particles as may.

pass the primary strainer device or baffle. There are several ways in which this result may be accomplished. According to one form of the invention, the burner itself is rounded, or coned inward, on its inner surface and the burner-orifice is placed at the highest point, as will be clear from Fig. 1, so that only those particles which are projected directly to the orifice itself and Whichare larger than said orifice can clog the same, while all particles which strike at either side of the orifice will slide forward on the sloping inside surface of the burner and will be deposited in the angle between the front and sides of the burner, from whence they may be removed from time to time by removing the burner, cleaning and replacing it. v s

. Another means for preventing the particles which pass the primary strainer device, and which are larger than the burnerorifice, from clogging it, comprises a screen placed in the path of the gas from the primary strainer device to the burner-orifice, so that all the gas to the burner-orifice is compelled to pass through the meshes of this screen before reaching the orifice, the meshes of the screen being of such a size as to stop all particles which are too large to pass through the burner-orifice. screen may be located at various points in the path of the gas beyond the primary strainer device, between the latter and the burner-orifice.

In the best embodiment of the invention,

the screen indicated at 19 is bent to a cup-l shape and inserted in the burner-tube close to its outside end. The elasticity of the wire from which the screen-cloth is made serves to hold the screen with suflicient firmness to prevent it from being accidentally jarred out of the burner-tube. At the same time, by removing the burner, the screen may be readily withdrawn from the outer end of theburner-tube for purposes of cleaning or replacing it.

The operation of the lamp may be briefly described as follows: When the valve-tube 9 is down and in surrounding engagement with the end of the water-supply tube 7, the Water in the water-chamber cannot pass to the carbid in the lower portion of the lamp. By lifting the valve tube 9, water is permitted to have access to the upper end of said water-supply tube and will tend to flow down the water-supply tube in the space around the rod 10. This space is such as to allow the water to escape from the lower end of the tube only in drops. As will be seen from the drawings, the watersupply tube 7 extends down so that it will be embedded in the carbid, and the rod 10 projects still farther downward so that the water as it escapes will tend to be distributed by the lower end of the rod 10. The

gas as it is generated from the carb-id first passes upward, until it strikes the bottom of the baffle 17, whereupon it is deflected substantially at right angles toward the outer Wall of the lamp, this deflection of the gas tending to cause it to drop any solid particles which might be carried with it. The gas then flows first in a radial direction and then upward around the flanged edge of the baffle 17, until the gas strikes the bottom of This the partition 2, whereupon it is again deflected and turns inward over the upper edge of the baffle 17. This second deflection of the gas again tends to cause it to drop any solid particles which it might be carrying at that time. Vhen the gas enters the space within the flanged edges of the battle 17, it is freed from substantially all the solid material and particularly solid particles of a size large enough to clog the burner-orifice. Any particles not this large may pass with the gas through the openings of the screen 19 and thence through the burner-orifice. Particles larger than this size which may still be retained by the gas will encounter the screen 19 and will be held back by it. If, as is frequently the case, these particles should be damp, they may cling to the screen, for the time being, but owing to the fact that the screen is in heat-receiving relation to the burner and soon becomes quite hot, any particles which at first cling to the said screen will be dried out and afterward will be jarred from the screen by the ordinary shocks which occur in handling, such particles dropping to the bottom of the burner-tube. Owing to the fact that the cross sectional area of the burner-tube is far greater than that of the burner-orifice and since the wire screen extends completely across said burner-tube, the clogging of a part of the screen 19 will not prevent a suflicient supply of gas from passing into the burnerorifice. In this way, clogging of the orifice is practically overcome, while at the same time the full pres sure of the gas is maintained in the burnertube, which would not be the case with a strainer such as the felt device heretofore used. Where the screen 19 is not employed, any solid particles passing the battle and large enough to clog the burner-orifice have but little chance to do this because of the reentrant form of the inside wall of the burner, since only those particles which 7 hit directly at the burner-orifice can clog it,

all other particles which hit to either side of said orifice sliding forward and being caught in the space between the front and side walls of the burner. By the removal of the burner, it may be readily cleaned and, by blowing through the burner-tube, any particles lodged therein may be blown back into the baffle. The baffle may be readily cleaned at any time by drawing down the spri.ngclip 18 from the water-supply tube 7, thus allowing the baffle 17 to drop down and be removed. The battle may then be quickly dropped into place and the springelip slid up the tube behind it in order to hold the baflie. It will be noted that the space between the upper edge of the baffleflange .and the bottom of the partition 2 may be made as fine as necessary to hold back the particles of solid material. At the same time, this space should not be too fine because it would soon be clogged by the accumulation of solid particles on the bottom of the partition 2 and the outside walls of the flange. The formation of the partition 2 with a cupped portion serves to strengthen said partition very materially and at the same time permits the upper end of the water-supply tube 7 to be kept below the plane through the upper surface of the partition 2, thus allowing substantially all of the water in the water-chamber to be used, which is not the case where the tube projects above the bottom of the waterchamber. Furthermore, the cup will catch and hold any dirt, such as coal-dust, which frequently exists in the water, this dirt being trapped away from the mouth of the water-supply tube and thereby kept from clogging the same. When the valve-tube 9 is down, the interior of the carbid-chamber is in communication with the outer air through the tube 7 and the interior of the valve-tube 9. This, however, is a'very restricted communication owing to the flattening of the free end of the tube 9. As a result of this, in case of a very excessive pressure being generated in the generatingchamber, the gas can blow off through the interior of the valve-tube 9, before an explosion of the lamp can occur.

The feature of the telescoping valve tube and rod carried thereby are broadly claimed in my pending application Serial No. 768,775, filed May 20, 1913.

\Vhat I claim is 1. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a water chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a water tube carried by said water chamber and connecting said chambers, a burner tube carried by said water chamber, a burner on said tube, a battle device, having an upwardly extending flange and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said water tube passing through said bafile device and substantially filling the perforation therein and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baflle device in close proximity to the bottom of said water container.

2. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a water chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a water tube carried by said water chamber and connecting said chambers, a burner tube carried by said water chamber, a burner on said tube, a baffle device, having an upwardly extending flange and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said Water tube passing through said battle device and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baflle device in close proximity to the bottom of said water container, said clamp surrounding said tube at a point below and adjacent to said perforation.

3. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a water chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a water tube carried by said water chamber and connecting said chambers, a burner tube carried by said water chamber, a burner on said tube, a baflie device, having an upwardly extending flange and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said water tube passing through said baflie device and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baifle device in close proximity to the bottom of said water container, said flange having a notch and said burner tube extending laterally through said notch.

4C. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a water chamber having a central cup forming a depending boss on the bottom of said chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a water tube carried by said Water chamber and connecting said chambers, a burner tube carried by said Water chamber, a burner on said burner tube, a baflle device, having an upwardly extending flange surrounding said boss and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said water tube passing through said baifle device and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baflle device in close proximity to the bottom of said water container around said boss, and the bottom of said baflie device in close proximity to said boss on the bottom of said water chamber.

5. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a water chamber having a central cup forming a depending boss on the bottom of said chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a water tube carried by said water chamber and connecting said chambers, a

burner tube carried by said water chambers, a burner on said burner tube, a baflle device, having an upwardly extending flange surrounding said boss and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said Water tube passing through said baflle device, and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baflle device in close proximity to the bottom of said Water container around said boss, and the bottom of said baifle device in close proximity to said boss on the bottom of said water chamber said clamp surrounding said tube at a point below and adjacent to said perforation.

6. In an acetylene lamp, the combination of a Water chamber, a carbid container detachably secured thereto so as to form a generating chamber, a Water tube carried by said water chamber and connecting said chambers, a burner tube carried by said water chamber, a burner on said burner tube, a baflie device, having an upwardly extending substantially vertical flange and a central perforation and covering the internal end of said burner tube, said water tube passing through said bafiie device and a clamp engaging said tube and holding the flange of said baflle device in close proximity to the bottom of said water container, the bottom of said water chamber being provided with a circular depending substan tially vertical flange forming a circular cavity and said baflle device having a diameter slightly less than the diameter of said cavity so as to form a constricted passage be tween the depending flange of the water container and the upwardly extending flange of the baflie device.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERIC E. BALDWIN. Witnesses:

A. WHITE, T. F. Knrron.

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

Washington, D. C. i

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