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Perkins and House's Non-Explosive Kerosene Lamp

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Any device, any plan of lamp, or any method of management that can render the form of hydrocarbon known as kerosene non-explosive,and insure safety to life and property,is certainly worthy attention and deserving of general adoption. The design of the style of lamp of which the accompanying illustration is a representation, is to provide a perfectly safe means of utilizing the light-giving qualities of kerosene. The lamp may be of any style of form or decoration desired, the essentials of the improvement not interfering with these qualities. The globe, A, is of metal, therefore proof against breaking. It contains the oil, which is fed into a central tube, B, that holds the wick. The connection between the reservoir and the tube, B, or [the wick, is made by pipes (shown where the shell of the lamp is represented as broken away),toosmall to permit flame to pass to ignite the oil in the globe, on the principle of the Davy and other gas safety-lamps. The air (oxygen) necessary to combustion, instead of being taken in near the flame, just below the cone, as usual, passes in, as shown by the arrows, through apertures at the bottom of the lamp,enveloping the central tube and keeping it and the oil it contains as cool as the surrounding atmosphere, thus preventing the generation of explosive gas by a higher temperature. It is claimed that this lamp is absolutely safe, gives a supe- rior light, and is economical in oil; results assured by the following facts: Safety by conducting the oil from the reservoir, or body of the lamp, to the wick by tubes impassable to flame ; in case of overturning all the oil that can be spilled is that contained in the wick tube. By the reception of the air at the bottom of the lamp, the combustion of the oil is more perfect than in lamps in general use, according to experiments made by Prof. E4 S. Snell of Amherst College, who ascertained that the amount of light obtained from this lamp is f roinf orty to fifty per cent greater than from others using the same quantity and quality of oil. Its economy of oil is showp. not only by the foregoing, but by the fact that only the amount necessary for the flame is taken up by the wick. Patented December 11, 1866. For agencies, information, etc., address Votaw Montgomery, at Springfield, Mass., or Cleveland, Ohio.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 20 Issue 18This article was published with the title “Perkins and House's Non-Explosive Kerosene Lamp” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 20 No. 18 (), p. 276
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican05011869-276a

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