US794297A

US794297A - Lantern.

Info

Publication number: US794297A
Application number: US22680604A
Authority: US
Inventors: William S Hamm
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1904-10-01
Filing date: 1904-10-01
Publication date: 1905-07-11
Anticipated expiration: 1922-07-11

Description

PATENTED JULY 11, 1905. W S. HAMM.

LANTERN.

APPLIUATION FILED 001'. 1,1904.

UNTTED STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

PATENT @EEicE;

LANTERN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,297, dated July 11, 1905.

Application filed October 1,1904, Serial No. 226,806.

To (til whom it may concern:

Be it know n that I, VVILLIAM S. I-IAMM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lakeside, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lanterns, of which the following is a specification and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to and is adapted for use in connection more particularly with that class of lanterns used by trainmen; and its purpose is to provide for the use of a lantern for signaling purposes without inclining its body as it is raised or swung to and fro.

Trainmens lanterns have not been successfully adapted for the use of kerosene or any illuminant giving a strong flame, for the reason that when the body of the lamp is inclined, as it must be in the giving of signals, the flame is directed to and impinges against the walls of the globe and deposits carbon thereon, resulting in the clouding of the globe to such an extent at times as to practically obscure the light, and thus giving rise to serious risk of accidents due to failure to observe signals. Indeed, this difficulty is present to some extent in connection with any illuminant capable of giving a sufficicntly-strong flame to adaptit to this kind of service. A further disadvantage arising from the inclining of the body of the lantern is that the draft is checked and the flame immediately and increasingly dimmed as the signal is given and prolonged. These difficulties are obviated by this invention, which consists in giving the bail of the lantern such form that it will not readily turn in the hand as thelantern is raised, and hence there will be a flexure of the joints, so as to permit the body of the lantern to retain its upright position at all times.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a trainmans lantern, the bail being shown in perspective. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lantern, showing a modification of the bail.

The body of the lantern is shown at 10, having the bail-lugs 11 11. The bail 12 in the preferred form of construction is of wire,

and its two arms are twisted together just above the dome 13 of the lantern, as shown at 14:, forming a loop 15 above this twist, which is set in a plane perpendicular to that of the portion of the bail below the point 14. The loop 15 is preferably made large enough to allow the user to thrust his arm through it in order that thelantern may be suspended from the shoulder and carried against the breast, leaving the hand free, as it is the practice of train conductors to carry the lanterns when collecting fares.

The loop 15 forms, in effect, a cross-bar for the bail, and as the lantern is swung outwardly from the body of the user this crossbar will not turn in the hand, and hence there will be a fiexure at the bail-lugs, and the body of the lamp will remain in a vertical position.

The bail may, if desired, be provided with a rigid cross-bar of suificient size to be firmly grasped, as shown at 16 in Fig. 3. In this instance the bail is shown as made of a single piece of wire coiled midway between its ends to form a handpiece transverse to the plane of the bail. Such handpiece or grip member constitutes a cross-bar in the same sense as the loop 15, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) and it might obviously be employed in connection with either of the forms of bail shown. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the body of the bail will constitute the arm-receiving loop.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination,a lantern, and a rigid bail hinged thereto and having a grip member transverse to the plane of its body portion.

2. In combination, a lantern, and a bail hinged thereto and having its upper portion formed into a loop disposed transverse to its body portion.

3. In combination, a lantern, and a bail hinged thereto and having a rigid transverse grip member intermediate of its ends.

4. In combination, a lantern, a rigid bail pivoted to the lantern and having a grip member disposed transversely to the line of the pivot.

WILLIAM S. HAMM. Witnesses:

LoUIs K. GILLsON, CHARLES B. GILLsoN.