US203971A - Improvement in lamps - Google Patents

Description

l 3 SheetSL-ShetB. D. WHITEFORD.`

' Lamp. l "Patented May 21, 187s.

. INVENTQB: 4

' ldtarney.

N-PETERS. PHOTO-LITHUGRAFHER. wAsvuNmoN. o C.

-UNITED PATENT- OFFICE.

DAVID WHITEFORD, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs.`

|M PRvov'EM ENT |N v LAM Ps.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0.f 203,971, dated May 21, 1878; application filed l November 24,1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID WHITEFORD, of

the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, together with means for supplying the oil and for controlling the flow; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chandelier embodying certain of my improvements, and capable of being raised and lowered, Figs. 2,. 3, and 4, enlarged detail views of the device by means of which the raising and lowering are effected; Fig. 5, a vertical section, showing the interior construction of the lamp in Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a bottom view of the oil-fount of the lamp in Fig. 1; Fig. 7, a top view of the oil-cup; Figs. 8 and 9, detail views of the Ycut-olf; Fig. 10, the distributing apparatus,

v showing the siphondevices for conveying the oil from a common reservoir to bracket-lamps at various levels; Fig. 1l, an` enlarged vertical section of the wick-cup, showing thefcutolf for excluding oil from'the same, when ldesired; Fig. 12, two modifications of the cutoff and filling device between they oil-fountain and cup in the lamp, Fig. 1, or between the upper and lower compartments o f the oil-reservoir, Fig. 1 0, Fig. 13, atop view of the bracket-fountain, designed for a level lower than that of the reservoir, and in which the terminus of the siphon is providedwithy a float-valve to regulate the flow automatically 5 Fig. 14:, a vertical section of the same; Fig. 15, a vertical section of the bracket-fountain and terminus of the supply-Siphon,:designed for a level equal to that of the reservoir.

My present invention relates chiefly to an amplification of the principles and mechanism involved in my invention in atmospheric lamps, for which Letters Patent vof the United States No. 188,199 were granted to me March 27, 1877, and a reissue whereof is now pending, by which amplification or improvement not only may the oil be carried from the fountain to the burners through bent or curved. arms, as in that patent provided, but may also, by means of Siphon-tubes, be conveyed` from a common reservoir, analogous in character and construction to the fountain and cup fountain itself is turned by means of an arm,

l in my said atmospheric lamp, or from such fountain and cup itself, to an indenite num ber of other lamps situated at any desired distance from such source, thus obviating the need of filling at more than one point, the obl ject in using siphon in place of other tubes being both to secure the convenience of having them in the top of a room, as along an upper corner and thence branching downward to the lamps, instead of upon or through the floor' and branching upward, and to permit the use of the pivoted bracket-burners,y which also constitute an important feature of this invention, and it relates, subordinately, to a device for raising and lowering the reservoir for convenience of filling, and other purposes hereinafter named, or when applied to a chan delier, as in Fig. 1, for graduating the distance of the light as Well, allas hereinafter more fully set forth. f

In order that my present improvements maybe fully and readily understood, a' description of some of the features set forth in my previ# ous patentis necessary. This I shall give as brieiiy as possible, referring to Figs. 1, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, and 12, some of which figures are simply different forms of device for controlling the ow of oil from the fountain to the burners by way of the cup or intermediate chamber 5 and all these latter differ more or less from those shown'j'in my. said previous patent. The difiiculty,n then, inr using bent or curved arms when connected directly with the sealed founf tain is that atrap is `formed in theV bend or curve, which prevents air from passing into the fountain, and consequently arrests vthe supply of oil to the burner. To remedy this difficulty, permitting the use of arms of any desired form or conguration, I combine with the fountain A a detachable cup, B, carrying the branching arms C lC; or, more strictly speaking, as to the present forms shown, the made detachable from the rest.

` Communication between the fountain and the intermediate chamber is controlled by means of a rotary valye or cock,D, having a central passage, and either operatedin the manner'described in my former patent, or elsej a, projecting out beyond the edge of the fountain. .Thus,whenthe val ve is turned to a given degree, the orices in the valve and seat coincide, and oil flows into the lower chamber or cup through the lower orifice, the flow continuing until the level of the oil in the cup or lower chamber rises above the top of this lower orifice, when it ceases, and the fountain is sealed, and thenceforth oil will ilow therefrom only in proportion as it is drawn from the lower chamber B; and, the arms C being attached to the chamber B at points below the lower orifice in the valve l), the oil in the wickcups E is maintained at very nearly a uniform level. This construction permits the use of arms quite straight, or nearly so, as represented in Fig. 1, or curved or bent to any desired degree, as indicated by the broken lines.

It is obvious that the fountain or upper chamber must be closed air-tight at every part save only at the aperture through which oil escapes into the lower chamber.

My former patent described means for replenishing the fountain from above, the removal of the stopper from the top serving to cut oif communication between the fountain and the cup or lower chamber.

The drawings accompanying the present specification show three different devices for eifectin g substantially the same results with but a single opening, the first of these being the one involving the arm a, before referred to, or its equivalent. It operates as follows:

Uponthe valveD are fburlugs-two,dd,near the top, and two others, d d', near the bottom, in line with the first. At the base of the fountain, and surrounding thevalve-seat, is aflanged collar, e, slotted on opposite sides to permit the entrance of the lugs cl d, and at the bottom of the chamber B, upon the inside of the same,

is a seat for the base of the valve D, consisting of a second dan ged collar, e', with slots on opposite sides for the reception of the lugs d d. These collars may be of like configuration, though not so shown in the drawing; and they are so secured in their separate positions that when the fountain A is in placeA the slots in the upper and lower collars will not be vertically in line, as are the lugs, but about oneeighth of a circumference or so from such line, whereby, when the valve is so turned as to bring the lugs d' d into the vertical slots in the lower collar, so that the valve may be disengaged at its base, the upper lugs d will still be held 'by the flange of the upper collar. Moreover, the orifice in the upper part of the valve is directly above one of the lugs d but the orifice in the seat is not in line with either of the slots in the collar, but above a point about midway between the two, measured on the circumference. Thus, when the two orices co' incide, permitting the oil to ow into the chamber B, the fountain A is necessarily firmly attached to the said chamber B; and when the lugs d are (bythe turning of the arm a) brought into the vertical slots of the lower collar, permitting the removal of the fountain, the valve is necessarily sealed, and the lugs d still held by the flange of the upper collar.

t Therefore, when it becomes necessary to replenish the fountain,the arm or handle a is first turned about one-eighth of the way around, or until it is stopped by the contact of theklugs d with the sides of the slots, or any other stop that may be provided, when the valve is shut and the lugs d disengaged. The fountain A is then lifted off (of course carrying the valve with it) and inverted. The handle a is then turned still farther, disengaging the lugs d from the flanges of the collar e by bringing them into the slots, and the valve withdrawn.

` After filling the fountain the valve is reinserted, the fountain replaced in position, and communication between the chambers A and B reestablished, all by the reversal of the preceding operation. It will be seen from the foregoing description that this valve device is, in a limited sense, automatic in its operation, for, in order that the lugs d may be brought into the slots, so as to permit the removal of the fountain, the valve is necessarily turned off or shut; and, moreover, the handle a cannot be turnedsufciently to allow the valve to be disengaged at the top until it has iirst been disengaged at the bottom by lifting off the fountain. This avoids all possibility of, an escape of oil from the upper chamber at the wrong time.

Similar automatic effects are produced by one ofthe modifications shown in Fig. 12, as follows: The key or handle a' has a flattened shank, j'. In the edge of the chamber B is a slot, g, so narrow at the top as only to admit the shank f egdewise,but wide enough below to allow the key to be turned flat, in the manner indicated by the dotted lines. The valve is shut when the flattened part (and likewise the ring) is vertical, and open when it is horizontal. Therefore, when it becomes necessary to replenish the fountain, the ring is first turned to a vertical position, which renders it disengageable, and atthe same time shuts the valve. The fountain is then lifted off and inverted as before, the handle swung round until the lugs d reach the slots in the collar e, as indicated by the second dotted lines, when they may bring up against a suitable stop, the plug withdrawn, the fountain lled, and then the whole operation reversed. f

The second form (shown in Fig. 12, and shown also in Fig. 10) is not automatic in its action, but may yet answer sufficiently well for large reservoirs. It is simply a detachable faucet, P, with an elongated spout, S, at the side of the fountain near the bottom. `When it becomes necessary to refill, the key a. is turned so as to shut off the ilow, the fountain removed and turned on its side with the faucet upward, the latter twisted round until the lugs d" come into the slots in thecollar c, and then the whole withdrawn. Itis obvious, however, that, if desired, a slotted guard may be placed over the key in such manner that the fountain can be removed only when the fiow is shut 0E.

Figs. 10, 13, 14, and 15 represent the device maori" 'v' wherebythe oil'isdistributed' generally from a single reservoir, by'means of Siphon-tubes, to anydesired number of burners, and also, if necessary, conveyed from one lamp to another; and the purpose instead of the -ordinary tubes designed simply to carry out the principle of hydrostatic pressure, is, as hereinbefore stated, twofold-first, in` order that the saidtubes may run along the upper part ofthe room7 out of the way, and, secondly, in order to permit. the use of .the swinging' or pivoted y'bracket burners, the construction-of which will hereinafter be de- Iii these gures, A'. lis the supply-fountain, B the intermediate chamber, and E E E the siphon. Each siphon may-be curved Aupward, as shown,lat'the end which dipsv into the chamber B, and also at the opposite end, where it dips into ay bracket-cup, either on the same level with the chamber B or on a lower level. These bends or curves form traps h h, which serve toprevent the admission of air to the pipes after it has oncebeen exhausted and the oil passed through, even though the level of the oil in the chamber. B or the bracketcup fall below the mouth of the tube.

I do not, however, limit myself to. the siphons formed with these traps. If desired, such a trap may be employed at only one instead of at both ends 5 or the traps may be wholly dispensed with without departing from the spirit of my invention.

When the siphon supplies a cup, F, at a level below that of the chamber B it becomes necessary to employ the self-acting float-valve G, in order to cut off the ow when the oil has reached a certain level. When desired, the l'loW may be excluded absolutelyfrom the lower bracketcups F by meansof the cocks 'i z', This would be done to prevent loss by evap. eration where the lamps are not in frequent use.

In order that the bracket-burner may be swung from side to side it is constructed as follows: The stem j of the cup F is vhollow for a short distance down, forming a recess, 7c, which the oil enters through ahole in the bottom of the cup, flowing to the wick-cup'through the pipe l. The stem j is pivoted vertically into the bracket-arm H, so that the pipe Zmay be readily turned from side to side, the cup F turning freely with it. It will be seen that this could not be accomplished without the the employment of Siphon-tubes of some form or other, (except where the fountain is immediately above the cup, operating as in Fig. 1,) since it is necessary that the supply-pipe enter the cup F from above and be wholly disconnected from it.

The raising and lowering device serves several purposes, as will hereinafter be explained, and is constructed as follows: I is a shaft, having two longitudinal grooves, m, on opposite sides, and short branch recesses n n, inclining slightly downward from the grooves m, on corresponding sides of the saine. These of employing these siphons,v

recessses may be formed asA close vtogether as desiredalong the length of the shaft I, and

are, of course, formed only along one side of each groove m.

J is a sleeve, within which the shaft I slides;

and o o are lugs on its inner surface, adapted to slide in the grooves m and enter the y recesses n. Thus lthe fountain may be readily raised or lowered to any desired level, it being for this purpose only necessary slightly to lift and turn it, so as to bring the lugs out of the recesses n and into the grooves m, slide it up or down, as requirement shall dictate, and then turn it back, bringing -the lugs into other recesses.

Not only does this arrangement afford facilities for filling, (and, when applied to a chandelier, also for graduating the distance of the light,) but it also affords a simple and spontaneous means for graduating the height of the oil in those cups F which are on an equal level with the chamber B of the reservoir 5 for it is obvious that the surface of the oil in these cups must always be in the same plane with the surface of that in the chamber B', wherefore, (the cups F and the siphons. being fixed',)'V

if the reservoir is llowered and raised within certain narrow limits, the oil will correspondinglyrise and fall in the cups F. This is turned to valuable account in the way of limited loss by evaporation, by having the termini of the siphons sit 10W in the eups, a'nd, when-not in use, lowering the reservoir by means ofthe device above described, when the oil in each cup must, of cou-rse, recede to a level with the mouth of theV trap, when a trap is employed. Thus, if not used fora considerable time, the quantity so lost islimited and ascertained. n Y

Itmay, in vsome cases, become desirable to have other lamps supplied by means of a siphon from a hanging lamp, such as is represented in Fig. l, or to have such a lainp without a fountain, itself supplied. by means ot a siphon leading from a reservoir, while yet, 1n either event, preserving its capability of being raised and lowered. This may readily be accomplished as follows: If the lamp is without afountain of its own, and is to be supplied from elsewhere, (when it is analogous to the bracket-lamps already'described,) the supplypipe may extend down the side of the sliding device, terminating at 'a point where it will dip into the cup when the latter is at its highest level, and provided, as in the case of those which enter the lower bracket-cups, with a cock. Before lowering the lamp the cock is turned off, thus stopping the ow, and as soon as the supply in the cup shows signs of failing, the whole may be raised, replenished, and again lowered. Substantially the same idea is carried out in the first case named above, viz., where the lamp is itself the reservoir; but here the end of the siphon, instead of entering the cup from the top direct, enters through a spout, p, projecting from the side of the cup. The fountain-lamp being lowered,

the supply is, of course, here cut off from the branch lamps; but at proper intervals they may be simultaneously replenished by raising the fountain-lamp for a brief period to the requisite level.

It often becomes desirable to cut oi the supply from the wick-cups K separately. For this purpose I employ the cock q, in the end of the supply-pipe, and operated by means of the handle r, Fig. 11, whereby the drip, if there be any, falls within the cup instead of upon the ioor.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In an atmospheric lamp or oil-reservoir,

l the device for preventing the flow of oil from the fountain to the intermediate chamber or cup during the process of lling, and also for holding the said fountain and cup together when communication has been established between them, consisting of a connecting-valve operated by a key, handle, or any equivalent means, and detachable from both the fountain and cup, but not from both simultaneously, and detachable from the cup, moreover, only when, by the turning of the said key or other agent, the valve has been shut and the flow stopped, and from the fountain only after it has been lifted away from the cup, substantially as specified. p

2. The combination consisting of the valve D, provided with the lugs d d and d',d, slotted and flanged collars e and e', and handle a, constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

3. The oil-distributing device consisting of the combination of the following elements, viz: the upper chamber A', lower chamber B', the said two chambers communicating in the manner described, and Siphon-tubes E, leading from the said lower chamber B' to cups F, substantially as set forth and shown.

4. In'combination with the upper chamber A' and lower chamber B', communicating in the manner described, the Siphon-tubes E, provided, when conveying oil to cups F at a lower level than the chamber B', each with a iioatvalve, G, adapted automatically to prevent the rising of the oil above a given height within such cups F, substantially as described.

5. The combinationof an upper chamber, A', and lower chamber B', communicating as described, and Siphon-tubes E, leading from said lower chamber to cups F, and providedat their extremities with traps h, substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

6. An atmospheric bracket-lamp, in which the intermediate chamber or cup turns on a hinge or pivot, whereby the burner may be swung from side to side, as set forth.

7 The bracket device, consisting of the-cup F, having the partly-hollow stem j, the latter pivoted to the fixed arm H, in combination with the tube l, whereby the burner may be turned or moved from side to side, substantially as described.

8. The device consisting of the sleeve J, provided on its inner surface with the lugs o o, in combination with the shaft I, having the longitudinal grooves fm and branch recesses a, constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described, by means of which the reservoir is raised and lowered and the height of the oil within the cups I1" regulated, as set forth. l

DAVID wHrrEFoRD.

In presence of- J oHN H. BYRNE, JOHN A. STEEN.

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