US761379A - Electric-arc lamp. - Google Patents

Description

' No. 761,379. P'ATENTED YMAYSI, 1904.-

J A HEANY.

ELECTRIC ARC LAMP. APPLICATION FILED DEG. 4, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED ST TES Patented. May 31, 1904;

PATENT OFF CE.

- JOHN ALLEN HEANY, or YORK, PENNSYLVANIA,.Assieuon TO THE '-TETER-HEANY DEVELOPINGSCOMPANY, OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ELECTRIC-ARC LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,379, dated May 31, 1904. Application filed December 4,1903. SerialNo. 183,703. (No model.)

To all whom. it may concern.-

, Be it known that I, J OHN AL EN HEANY, a citizen of'the United States, residingat York,

in the county of York and State of Pennsyle vania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Arc Lamps, of which the following is aspecification.

, .My invention has relation to an electric-arc lamp wherein electrodes are formed of nia- To those skilled in the art it is well known that certain substances-such as metallicoxids,

metallic-salts, &c.-are normally non-arcing when used as the electrodes or terminalsfor the current. While such substances with currents of high tension may perhaps when brought close together discharge the current in disrupted arcs or sparks, yet such disrupted arcing or sparking is not useful in the production of a light such as is emitted from the ordinary arc-lamp having carbon electrodes. 5 I

. have discovered how these normally non-arcing materials may be brought to a-condition wherein an arc of appreciable size and continuity can be formed and maintained between electrodes composed of these materials, so that alight of greater luminosity and sharpness can be obtained at much less amperage than the amperage required in either the ordinary incandescent or arc lamp.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide an electric-arc lamp having electrodes connected directly With the terminals of the current and normally non-arcing combined with means whereby an arc may be produced and maintained. between the electrodes under alow amperage.

The nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure l is a sectional View illustrating diagrammatlcally an arc-lamp embodying main z with one terminal of the circuit.

, the circuit.

features of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of a modified, form of electrodes.

resents a hollow plug of, dielectric material,

.surrounded by a screw-cap 7), of metal, having a downwardly-projecting. flange 6', into I -which a globe d is fitted. Within the hollow of the plug a is secured a carbon or graphite resistance 6, connected by a metallic plug 0' The screwcap 6 is connected with the other terminal of The electrodes ff of the lamp are respectively connected with the resistance 0 by a divided wire g, the ends of which are Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, a repconnected by a thermostat it and a continuous wire c, depending from the screw-cap 6. So faras described the parts and the1r arrange ment are comparatively unlmportant and embody merely one of many forms of lamps in which my present invention may be embodied or carried out.

In Fig. 1 the electrodes ff 7 are spherical, or substantially so, in shape. In

Fig. 2 the electrodes f f are pencils of the'mamay be used alone; otherwise a binding agent such as a borate, carbonate, phosphate, sulfate, or even boracic acid. should be used. When the electrodes are formed of such nonarcing materials, no appreciable continuous or luminous arc will be produced at ordinary temperatures of the'electrodes with a current of even a high or relatively high tension, When, however, the electrodes of non-arcing materials are first heated to redness or sub,

stantially to incandescence, an arc of appreciable size and continuitywill be formed and maintained between the electrodes when the tension of the current is relatively low and the amperage much less than is required in the ordinary incandescent or filament lamp. Not only is such a continuous are formed or maintained, but the luminosity and sharpness of the light is materially greater than that which the incandescent lamp gives under greater consumption of current. One means of initially heating the electrodes f f or f f may be a spirit-lamp or Bunsen burner m, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Another which is not extraneous to the lamp, and therefore preferable, is to incorporate in the electrodes a highly conductive materialsuch, for instance, as platinum, gold, iridium,&c.-whieh, as is well known, are good conductors within ordinary temperatures. The effect of combining or incorporating such a good conductor with the non-arcing material or. materials is to render suchmaterialor materials a partial conductor or conductor of high resistance. When the electrodes f f or f f touch, as illustrated in the drawings, the passage of the current through the electrodes f f and f f of high resistance serves almost instantaneously toheat the electrodes to redness or incandescence. By including a resistancee, of graphite or similar material, in the circuit the fioW of current to the electrodes will be regulated inversely to the distance the electrodes are separated from each other to form the arc. The inclusion of a thermostat 72, or equivalent arc-adjusting means in the circuit renders the regulation of the size of the are automatic.

Having thus described thenature and'obj'ect of my invention, what I-claim, broadly, as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1; In an electric arc lamp, an electrode formed of normally non-arcing material, in combination with an electric circuit, one terminalof which is connected directly with said electrode, and means for forming and maintaining an are upon said electrode during the passage of the current therethrough.

2. Inan electric-arc lamp,an electrode forming a terminaljfor the current and consisting of material non-arcing at normal temperatures, combined Withmeans for heating said electrode to a temperature at which an are may be formed and maintained upon said electrode during the passage of the current therethroughv 3. In an electric-arc lamp, two electrodes each formed of normally non-arcing material and each forming a terminal for the current combined with means for forming and maintaining an are between said electrodes during the passage of current through said electrodes. 4. In an electric-arc lamp, two electrodes each formed of material non-arcing at normal temperatures and each forming a terminal for the current, combined with means for heating said electrodes to a temperature at which an arc may be formed and maintained between said electrodes during the passage of the current therethrough.

5. In an electric-are lamp,an electrode forming a terminal for the current and consisting of an oxid or oxids of the rare metals, combined with means for heating said electrode, whereby an arc may be formed and maintained thereon during the passage of'the current therethrough.

7 6'. In an electric-arc lamp,an electrode forming a terminal for the current and consisting of a material non-arcing at normal temperatures, combined with a good conductor arranged to form with the non-arcing material an electrode of high resistance at normal teming witnesses.

JOHN ALLEN HEANY. Witnesses:

J. WALTER DOUGLASS, THOMAS M. SMITH.

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