US38302A - Improvement in adjustable lamp-wicks - Google Patents

Description

G. FINLEY. AdjustablV Lamp Wick.

Patented Ap`ri| 28. 1863.

NA PETERS. Fhcm-umcgmpher. washington D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

GEORGE FINLEY, OF COLLINS TOWNSHIP, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENN- SYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ADJUSTABLE LAMP-WICKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,302, dated April 28, 1863.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE FINLEY, of Collins township, in the county of Allegheny and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Wick-Holders for Lamps andI do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawing forming part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a representation of a lamp such as is ordinarily used for burning coaloil, with my improvements attached to the burner. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation ofthe burner of the lamp, showing the relative position of the parts when the wick-holder and wick are raised to their proper position for burning the lamp to give a full light. Fig. 3 is a similar section to Fig. 2, excepting that the wickholder and wick are lowered for lighting the lamp, trimming the wick, or for burning the lamp without emitting much light. Fig. et is a side view of the adjustable wick-holder detached from the burner, to exhibit more clearly its construction.

In the several figures like letters of referl. ence denote similar parts.

In the use of oil lamps as now ordinarily constructed forburning coal or carbon oil, consisting' of a perforated burner, frame, flat stationaryl wick-holder, andcone or cap, and used with a glass chimney, there are two serious inconveniences, which it is the purpose of my improvement to remove. these is that it is impossible to get at the wick to trimit, or even to light the lamp, with-V out first removing the glass chimney, and as it is sometimes desirable to trim the wick when the lamp has been burning, and the chimney is very hot, and as the frequent removal of the chimney causes them to be often broken, some means of accomplishing these objects without the removal of the glass is very desirable. The other inconvenience is that the wick in coal-oil burners, as ordinarily constructed, cannot be turned down low and left burning with a small ame without its emitting a quantity of smoke and oleaginous vapor, which is very offensive.

My improvement in the construction of the burner by means of which I accomplish the desired result consists in lengthening the The chief of 'l frame of the burner below the level of the base of the cone, and leaving openings in its sides of sufficient size to insert a pair of scissors to trim the wick, or a piece of paper or match to light it, and in so constructing the wick-holder as to slide downward in the burner `so far as to bring the top of the wick-holder a sufficient distance below the level of the base of the cone and in range with the openings in the wick-frame, so as to be easily reached from without, for trimming or lighting. This move- 'ment of the wick-holder is in addition to, and

entirely independent of, the motion of the wick inside of the wick-holder, which is accomplished in the ordinary way by a small spurwheel on a spindle. The wick-holder can be lowered in the burner below the level ofthe base of the cone while the wick is alight, and when thus depressed the flame is removed from the inuence ofthe current of air created by the cone and glass chimney, and on turning down the wick it will burn with a small flame without sensibly emitting smoke or vapor, and giving scarcely any light.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved burner, I will proceed to describe its construction.

In the several ligures of the drawings, a is the burner-frame, which may be of the usual shape, but considerably longer from the crown b to its base c than is usual, and instead of that portion of the burner-frame being perforated with small holes, large openings are left to admit of free access to the wick. The cone or cap d is of the ordinary shape, and placed as usual in the crown of the burner, and the glass chimney is placed in the b, over the base of the cone d.

To the center of the base c of the burnerlike the ordinary wick-holder, and is similarly attached to the burnerframe, but it does not extend so far up into the burner-frame, and ithas a slotin one sideto allow the projection of the rack-work fon the side of the adjustable wickholder g. The wick-holder g is of the usual shape, beinga at tube, and is made to fit accurately in the sleeve e, in which it is made to slide up and down by means of a rack, f, attached to one side of the wick-holder, and a pinion, h, on a shaft, 7c, the bearings i of which are attached to the sleeve e, on either side of the rack f.

The shaft 7c projects through the burnerframe a, and terminates in a button, l, by turning which the wick-holder g is elevated or depressed at pleasure. mis wire-gauze plate, which is in the crown of the burner-frame below the base of the cone d, and has an aperture, a, through which the wiek'holder passes. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) A

On the otherside of the wick-holder g to that on which the rack f is placed is a small spur-wheel, o, on a shaft, p, the teeth of the spurwheel o entering a small slot in the wickholder, so as to elevate or depress the wick in the ordinary way. Thus the wick may be raised or lowered entirely independently of anymovementof the wick-holder, and so, also, the raising or lowering ofthe wick-holder does not in any way affect the relative position of the wick in the holder. To secure the proper height of the Wick-holder relatively to the aperture in the cone d, when the wick-holder is raised, the upper end of the rack j' is so placed as to come in contact with the edge of the wire-gauze plate m, as seen in Fig. '2, and the shaft p of the spur-wheel o comes in conttct with the upper edge of one ot' the open'n gs in the side of the burner-frame a', as seen in Fig. 1.

When it is desiredA to light a lamp having' my improved adjustable wick-holder, the wickliolder is lowered by means of the button tto the position shown in Fig. 3. A taper or match may then be introduced through one of the apertures in the burner-frame, and the wick is lighted. It is turned down by means of the spur-wheel o, so as to reduce the size of the ame, and the wick-holder may then may be raised up to the position shown in Figs. l and 2, and the wick then turned up in its wickholder to give a suiiicient flame.

1t' it is, desired to lower the flame or to trim the wick, the wickvliolder is turned down by the button l until thc top of the wick and holder is below the level of the base of the cone, when it can be reached with a pair of scissors through the apertures in the burnerframe 5 but before raising or depressing the wick-holder the wick should always be turned down in its holder by the spur-wheel o, so as to reduce the edge ot' the ilame, as otherwise the lamp will smoke.

I am aware that wick-holders have been made having a slight up-and-down motion accompanied by a relative motion ef the wick inside of the wick-holders, for .the purpose of regulating the distance of the top of the wick from the aperture of the cone, so as to produce the proper amount of light. I do not therefore claim, broadly, a movable wickholder, nor yet do I claim the use of a rack and pinion for producing the required degree of motion of the wick-holder, as that is an old device, and any other equivalent means of producing the elevation and depression ot' the wick-holder 'may be adopted; but the lowering ofthe wick tube' or holder without any relative motion of the wick inside of its tube, so as to bring the top of the wick below the base of the cone or cap, and out of the influence ot' the current ot' air produced by the cap and chimney, and so constructing the lower part/of the burner-frame that the wick can be reached for lighting or trimming, .without removing the glass chimney, when the wick-holder is thus lowered, I believe to vbe new; and f I therefore claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Constructing and arranging the wick-tube in relation to the burner and cone or cap of lamps, substantially as hereinbefore described, so that the wick-tube may be depressed at pleasure so far as to bring the top ot' the wick below the base ot' the cone or cap, and awa-y from the intluence of the draft produced by the cone, the burneri'rame below the cone being furnished with an opening or openings through which the wick can be lighted or trimmed, for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereot` I, the said GEORGE FINLEY, have hereunto set my hand.

GEO. FINLEY.

Witnesses:

W. BAKEWELL, M. G. CUsHiNG.

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