The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (July 1892)

84 convince any novice that Mr. Scott’s claim, as he puts it in your paper, is absurd. Not only that he goes so far as to imply that he has the exclusive right to using a stuffed chamber, whereas he recites in his patent so much of the .fnown methods simply to make it clear how the | thing can be done by any person who understands such matters, which is one of the conditions upon which a patent is granted, not that he has a right to all that is mentioned in the patent. There are many ways in which a saturator can be warmed so as to give off the vapour, which are quite clear in Mr. Scott’s patent, such as heating the air before it enters the vapouriser, enclosing the saturator in a non-conducting bag, with a hot bottle or brick above the saturator, the use of a current of warin water or steam enclosing or inside the air tube. My own feeling is, that the day of saturators passed away with the introduction of compressed gases. ; A saturator will save a few pence where gas cannot be bought, and is of use where compressed gases are not at hand; but if I were obliged to use one, it would not be Scott’s, as, in my opinion, it is quite the wrong shape, and I have found it fail to give a constant supply of saturated vapour in consequence. I trust no one will be prevented from making any experiments they incline to in consequence of the absurd claims of Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott’s patent can be had from the Patent Office for eightpence by any one, and readers can judge for themselves whether Mr. Lawson’s design is at all like what Mr. Scott claims “as described with reference to drawing in the patent.’’ Herewith is an extract from Mr. Scott's The Optical Magio Lantern Journal and Photographio Enlarger. specification; but, with reference to the cut, I should be inclined tothink that when the stuffing had subsided a little, the gas that came in at B could go out at A without making the circuit:— “No. 17,378, 1889.—The cylinder A closed at both ends is tightly packed or stuffed internally with wool or other suitable material capable of absorbing a large amount of hydrocarbon. In the upper part of the stuffed cylinder A is arranged a sinuous tube B, either perforated, as shown, or formed of a coil of wire provided with a jacket or covering consisting of tubular cotton wick. Pipes C and D are connected respectively to the ends of the tube B, the pipe D being connected to one end of a T-shaped pipe, E, having stop-cocks F and H on its other two ends. A third pipe L is connected to the cylinder A, at | or near its bottom, and is provided with a screw cap M at its free end, the other end being connected to a short length of perforated pipe to conduct fluid readily to the stuffing. The stop-cocks F and H are provided with suitable shaped nozzles O and P for connecting to flexible tubing. “When required to saturate gas with hydrocarbon vapour, the cap M is removed, and hydrocarbon fluid is poured in through the’pipe L, and rises in the stuffing by capillary attraction, the surplus fluid being run back into the bottle through the pipe L. The screw cap M, which is provided with a leather or other washer, is then screwed on to the pipe L, to prevent leakage. This arrangement for introducing the hydrocarbon keeps the tube B in the upper part of the apparatus clear and open to the passage of the gas, consequently preventing bubbling and unsteadiness of the light. “The pipe C is connected bya short rubber tube to the usual coal-gas or hydrogen nozzle of the jet or dissolving tap; the nozzle P is connected by a rubber tubing toa cylinder of compressed oxygen ; and the nozzle O to the oxygen nozzle of the jet or dissolving tap. The stopcocks in the pipes F and H are shut off and a cork put inthe pipe C, when the apparatus is not in use, to prevent evaporation of the fluid. During usz, the cork is removed, the cocks opened full, a portion of the oxygen going direct to the jet through the stop-cock F and a portion passing through the tube B, where it is saturated with hydrocarbon and passes thence to the jet, where it burns similarly to hydrogen or coal as. “The vessel A is partially surrounded bya second vessel N, through which the pipes C, D, and L, pass, provided with openings at Rand S. In the opening S is screwed a short tube T, closed at its outer end. A box W, removably attached to the cylinder N, covers the tube T, and also serves to contain a night-light X, or