US702321A - Electric-tube lighting. - Google Patents

Description

No. 702,321. Patented lune lo, 1902.

ff 0.1m. Moons.

ELECTRIC TIIBE LIGHTING.

(Applicationled May 7, 1902.) (No ModeI.)

- UNrrEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIELMCFARLAN MOORE, OF NEWARK, NEV JERSEY.

ELECTRIC-TUBE LIGHTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 702,321, dated J une 10, 1902.

Original application iiled December 18,1901, Serial No. 86,358. Divided and this application filed May 7, 1902. Serial l No.106,322. (No model.)

.To LZ/f wil/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I,"DANIEL MCFARLAN MOORE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Tube Lighting, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to the novel system of electric lighting described in my prior application, `Serial No. 86,358, iiled December 18, 1901, and having forits object the avoidance of electric conductors for distributing the electrical energy to the lamps or light-giving portions of the system, and to thereby permit the illumination of buildings and contained areas without the presence of conducting `wires or circuits of copper distributed through the building or the rooms thereof. 4

In my prior application I have described a system in whicha translucent tube containing a gaseous luminous column or body and provided with proper energy-supplying terminals is distributed or run over the areas, spaces, or rooms to be lighted, the terminals of said tube being Abrought to the source of energy outside of said areas or spaces or in a location where the said terminals may be suit--V ably protected against danger of contact or accidental interference, said tube containing a gas which is of such character or degree of rarefaction that by the application of electric energy or current to the terminals of the tube it will be rendered luminous by the transfer of the energy from one terminal or electrode to the other.

My present invention relates to the prac- In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates in skeleton perspective a system of lighting heretofore employed by me and shows a room or space of considerable area illuminated by a number of lighting-tubes. Fig. 2 illustrates in skeleton my improved system of illumination to which my present invention is applicable.

Referring to Fig. 1, the area to be lighted is shown as illuminated by means of twentylive tubes, the visible or illuminating portion of each of which is indicated by the numeral 2, while 3 indicates the conducting caps or terminals, (shown in dotted lines,) which with lamps of the particular kind heretofore invented byme are applied to the exterior of the tube at the ends thereof and furnish to the gaseous contentselectric energy for causing the same to emit luminous radiations. The said tubes are supplied with energy by means of distributing-wires 1l, which extend over the area to be lighted and are connected through suitable iixtures 30 with the conducting caps or electrodes at the terminals of said tubes.

As will be obvious, in this system there are a large number of terminal xtures and of individual lighting devices, each of which has'a number of terminal electrodes consuming electrical energy in the work of transferring energy to the gaseous contents to be rendered luminous. Moreover, in such a system a large portion of the total gaseous column is inclosed in the conducting cap or electrode, so that its luminosity is obscured and is not available for any useful purpose.

The system ras shown has other advantages in respect to the large number of xtures necessary, which add to the cost and also in the fact that the voltage for exciting the tubes is distributed through the room or apartment to be illuminated, which is objectionable, particularly with highvoltages, on account of fire risks and for other lreasons, as well understood in the art of electric lighting.

In my improved system I take advantage of the fact that an increase of the length of the visible luminous column in a lamp wherein the illumination is produced by exciting through electric energy the gaseous contents of a tube gives a practically corresponding increase in the efficiency of the lamp, or, in other words, secures a very greatly-increased total illuminating capacity for practically the same total expenditure of electrical energy.

Fig. 2 shows in skeleton an apartment or interior illuminated by such a tube extending around the sides thereof and terminating at 5 in a suitable Wall pocket or box, where it is provided with conducting caps or terminals of sufficient size to supply the requisite amount of energy required for giving a density of light of the desired amount and where it is in direct connection with the source of energy-supply.. The source of energy-supply is here shown as the secondary of a suitable static transformer 6, the primary of which is supplied from mains 7, which may be street-mains extending from a su'itable power-house and there connected with a source of alternating currents.

By means of the transformer a voltage of any desired amount may be obtained for the excitation of the tubes, suchvoltage being dependent upon the density of illumination required for each unit of length of the tube, the size of the conducting-caps, the nature of the gaseous contents, and other factors.

In installing the ligh t-giving device lengths of glass tubing of such dimensions longitudinally as will permit the same to be readily handled are joined together end to end, by fusing or otherwise, in the position which the illu minating-tube is to occupy when installed. In other words, said tube is built up, installed, and distributed through the spaces to be illuminated in much the same manner as a distributing-wire would be installed for the purpose of supplying the tubes of Fig. l, the only difference being that on account of the size, fragility, and want of flexibility in the glass tube it is necessary to construct it in sections and n situ. A flexible translucent tube of such construction that could be coiled and strung in position throughout the spaces to be illuminated would serve fully the purpose of my invention; but for present commercial practice it is best to use rigid lengths of tube and to fuse them together end to' end. They may, however, be joined end to end in other ways.

When the tube contains a gas or vapor whose tension requires to be artificially modiiied, or, in other words, a gas which may need to have a particular degree of rarefaction or gaseous tension, it may be provided at some portion of its length convenient of access with a nipple, such as indicated at 10, for the application of a proper exhaust-pump; also,if desirable, such nipples may be located at other pointsfor the use of an exhaust-pump or for the introduction of desired materials into the tubes. They afford means whereby also the contents of the tube maybe renewed as desired or the desired tension of vapor within the same restablished in case it should depart from the normal or critical density or tension best suited for the production of light. After the installation of the tube in the manner described the materials to be introduced into the tube and from which the gaseous column is produced are injected at the nipples l0 at various points. A suitable exhaust-pump is then applied to one end of the tube and the materials caused to distribute themselves by the suction thereof, or in some cases I may proceed by exhausting the tube and then injecting the material, which will automatically distribute itself throughout the same by the suction.

In a lamp of the construction wherein the energy is supplied by exterior caps or terminals the major portion of the consumption of energy takes place in the transfer of energy from the cap through the sealing glass wall of the contents. It is, however, desirable for obvious reasons to use glass tubing` of considerable thickness for those portions of the tube which are exposed.

In the foregoing description I have assumed that the lamp is one wherein the gaseous column is excited to luminosity by energy sup-v plied through exterior caps or conductors, this being the form which it is preferable to employ, inasmuch as no interior pieces of metal exist which are liable in use to give od occluded gases, and to thus interfere with the proper operation of the lamp. My invention, however, is not confined to this class of lamp, and the system may evidently be realized with lamps having other kinds of terminals.

By my improved system of lighting I am enabled to dispense with the use of distributing-Wiring through buildings or rooms, to install the light at much less cost than by the present incandescent system, to dispense with the use of armored piping or conduit and junction boxes or moldings, fixtures, porcelain fuse cut-outs, fiexible cords, sockets, and other lighting appliances now used for incandescent house-lighting. Moreover, as compared with the system before used by me, wherein tubes of, say, seven to eight feet in length are employed, at least forty per cent. less tubing is required, owing to the fact that a great total length ot' conducting-caps or other metals or parts obscuring the illuminating-column is dispensed with. For example, if a given illumination in a room emanates from twenty-five tubes the electricity is transferred to and from the gas at fifty places, while if one long tube is used it is transferred at only two places. The absence of caps and fixtures is also of l advantage from artistic standpoint, because it permits a practically unbroken or continuous line of light around the area to be lighted, thus realizing the object sought for in electric illuminationnamely, a perfect diffusion of light.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The herein-described improvement in electric-tube lighting, consisting in installing a translucent tube and then introducing into the same while in place the gaseous agent which is to be rendered luminous and then IOO IIO

exhausting the tube to secure the desired rarefaction of its contents.

2. The herein-described improvement in treating a translucent tube designed to contain a luminous gas rendered luminous by electric currents, consisting in introducing the desired chemicals at diierent points along the tube and exhausting at the end to secure a thorough and uniform distribution of Ithe chemical, as and for the purpose described.

3. The herein-described improvement in electric-tube lighting, consisting in installing a translucent tube, exhausting the tube and then introducing into the samethe material from which the gaseous agent is evolved.

4. The herein-described improvement in electrictube lighting, consisting in iirst installing a translucent tube, then exhausting the tube, and finally admitting the gaseous agent.

5. The herein-described improvement in electric-tube lighting, consisting in building up a length of tubing in sections with airtight joints and distributed over the areas to be lighted the end sections of said tube being provided with suitable conducting-terminals, and after the building up of said tube in place, suitably exhaustingjor treating the same so that the gaseous contents may .be rendered luminous by the application of electrical energy to the caps or terminals.

6. The herein-describedimprovement in electric-tube lighting, consisting in rstinstalling a translucent tube in sections connected by air-tight joints andnally exhausting the tube in place, as and for the purpose set forth. p

Signed at Neur York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this Gth day of May, A. D. 1902.

DANIEL MCFARLAN MOORE.

Witnesses:

J. GALLWITZ, i E. L. LAWLER.

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