Oil lamp

“ Plate XLIX.—Whale Oil Lamps with Wicks; Mantel Lamps, 1815; Paul and Virginia Candelabra.
The earliest lamp was a saucer filled with oil, and having in the center a twisted rag. This rude form of wick was used for over a century. Then came the Betty lamp, a shallow receptacle, in form either circular, oval, or triangular, and made of pewter, iron, or brass. Filled with oil, it had for a wick the twisted rag, which was stuck into the oil and left protruding at one side. ”

“ Third, a student oil-lamp gives the most satisfactory illumination, if kept in good order. The wick should be kept free from excrescences, so that it always gives its proper, steady, mellow, yellow light. The ordinary gas burner nickers too much, the electric light is steadier but can not be regulated, the Welsbach-mantle light is too brilliant if turned on full and too variable if turned down. ”

“ A lamp "smokes" when the air which reaches the wick is insufficient to burn the rapidly formed carbon particles; this explains the danger of turning a lamp wick too high and producing more carbon particles than can be oxidized by the air admitted through the lamp chimney.
One great disadvantage of oil lamps and oil stoves is that they cannot be carried safely from place to place. It is almost impossible to carry a lamp without spilling the oil. The flame soon spreads from the wick to the overflowing oil and in consequence the lamp blazes and an explosion may result. ”

“ Although such primitive light-sources as the flaming splinter and the glowing ember have survived until the present age, lamps consisting of a wick dipped into a receptacle containing animal and vegetable oils have been in use among the more advanced peoples since prehistoric times. Oil-lamps are to be seen in the earliest Roman illustrations. During the height of ancient civilization along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, elaborate lighting was effected by means of the shallow grease-or oil-lamp. ”

“ If the brass catches of a burner are too tight, the chimney will break as it expands [Pg 64] with the heat. These catches are easily loosened without injuring the lamp.
Alcohol lamps for kettles and chafing-dishes must be kept perfectly clean. The wicks must sometimes be renewed before they are burned out. The question, What is the matter with the lamp? may often be solved by putting a fresh wick in the place of one that has become clogged.
This is very often true of oil lamps. There is more or less paraffine in oil, which fills the wick and prevents combustion. ”

“ Find out the general period of the room and the color scheme so the lamp will be in keeping with the surroundings and provide the proper accent. Impress the customer with the necessity of a lamp for every grouping, and with the importance of good lighting.
Oil lamps for farm use have been styled to resemble electric lamps and have enameled bases, diffused reflectors and attractive shades. All lamps regardless of the source of light have been materially improved and there is no need for any person to have poor lighting in the home today. ”

“ Notwithstanding there are some points in favor of the old reliable kerosene lamp, even when put in the scale with other illuminants, few people of the younger generation regard it as other than something to be endured. In view of the facts that an oil lamp requires a great deal of attention, usually leaves its trail of oil and smoke, is ill-smelling, disagreeably hot in summer, and always somewhat dangerous, it is strange that those who cling to it as to a fetich are usually the ones who have longest struggled with its imperfections. ”

“ The fire that cooks our food gives off a quantity of useless light-waves; the oil-lamp that brightens one’s rooms gives off a quantity of useless, often obnoxious, heat.
The ideal illuminant and the ideal heating agent must be one in which the required waves are in a great majority. Unfortunately, even with our most [Pg 343] perfected methods, the production of light is accompanied by the exertion of a disproportionate amount of wasted energy. In the ordinary incandescent lamp, to take an instance, only 5 or 6 per cent. of the energy put into it as electricity results in light. ”

“ It was a long step from the smoky and ill-smelling whale-oil lamp to the clear and brilliant kerosene burner. At the present time the best illumination is furnished by gas and electricity, but in the country and to a large extent in the cities the kerosene lamp is still in common use, and doubtless will remain so for a long time to come. This lamp with its recent important improvements is mainly of American origin and development. ”

“ The admirable invention which bears his name is, as everybody knows, an oil lamp with a tubular wick, which occupies the annular space between two metallic tubes, in such a manner that a current of air rises through the inner tube, and thus reaches the interior of the flame. ”

“ If in a modern lamp of proper construction a close-fitting wick is used and the lamp is extinguished by turning down and blowing across the chimney, there is little danger in its use excepting accidental breakage or overturning.
In oil-lamps at the present time mineral oils are used which possess flashing-points above 75°F. The highly volatile components of petroleum are dangerous because they form very explosive mixtures with air at ordinary temperatures. A mineral oil like kerosene, to be used with safety in lamps, should not be too volatile. ”

“ Lamps of all constructions have some drawbacks, they must always be cleaned, and losses of oil occur in filling. These defects are obviated when, instead of providing each lamp with its own reservoir, a single one is used for a large number of lamps, which are automatically fed from it. In this case the attendant has only to regulate the air supply to the lamps, and to see that the mechanical arrangement by which the oil flows to the different lamps is working properly. ”

“ All have got one—petroleum is cheap and gives much more light and heat than the old-fashioned oil lamp. In the long winter afternoons, when one must have light for work of any kind, the petroleum lamp is a godsend. ”

“ Other approved lamps are the Deflector and those of Marsaut and Mueseler when specially bonneted to resist extra high-speed currents. The illuminant now generally used in Great Britain is a mixture of rape oil with half its volume or more of petroleum, which is more suitable than vegetable or animal oil alone. ”

“ We have constructed a very powerful reflecting lamp from a large sheet of tin, nearly two feet in height, curved round so as to form half a cylinder, six or eight inches in diameter; about eight inches from its base, we made a shelf to sustain the oil lamp, and a socket to contain the candle if we should be fortunate enough to have one, and behind this we arranged a couple of sixpenny trade looking-glasses at an angle of 90° with each other, and by the light thus thrown forward we were able to write or sketch with facility during many hours of the weary night. ”

“ It was only necessary, in fact, that the wick, which was made of asbestos threads or gold wire, should be kept intact, and that the body of the lamp should communicate with a reservoir placed in a neighboring apartment in such a way that the level of the oil should remain constant. Heron and Philo have left us descriptions of a certain number of arrangements that permitted of accomplishing such an object.
The same authors likewise point out different processes for manufacturing portable lamps in which the oil rises automatically. ”

“ The invention of this type of lamp was a relatively easy task—a simple transition and adaptation as processes of refining the oil were perfected. The principle of combustion was, of course, the same as in the Argand type of lamps burning animal and vegetable oils; but mineral oils are of such consistency that capillarity causes an abundant supply of oil to rise in the wick, so that clockwork and spring devices, such as were used in the Carcel lamps, could be dispensed with. ”

“ A very ingenious little lamp may be constructed which lights of itself without the help of a flame. It contains a bell of glass, which is filled with hydrogen gas, produced by the action exercised by a foundation of zinc on acidulated water. If the knob on the upper part of the apparatus is pressed, the hydrogen escapes, and comes in contact with a piece of spongy platinum, which, acting by oxidation, becomes ignited. The flame produced sets fire to a small oil lamp, which is opposite the jet of gas. This very ingenious lamp is known under the name of Gay-Lussac’s lamp. ”

“ The kerosene or mineral-oil lamp was a boon to lighting in the nineteenth century and even to-day it is a blessing in many homes, especially in villages, in the country, and in the remote districts of civilization. Its extensive use at the present time is shown by the fact that about eight million lamp-chimneys are now being manufactured yearly in this country. It is convenient and safe when carelessness is avoided, and is fairly free from odor. ”

“ The dangers of the mineral oil lamp, which were a grave drawback in the past, have been very much reduced by improvements in construction and quality, and if it were possible to abolish the cheap and dangerous rubbish sold in poor neighbourhoods, and to prevent the use of side-fillers and glass reservoirs in lamps of better quality, a still larger reduction in the number of accidents would take place. ”

“ Only, every lighthouse does not [80] employ the same kind of lamp. In one, we meet with the Carcel lamp, where the oil is elevated to the wick by a clock-work mechanism. In another, it is the Moderator, in which the same function is discharged by a heavy weight surrounding a roller. In others, whose range is limited, it is the Permanent-level lamp, where the reservoir of oil is placed by the side and on the level of the burner, which possesses the power of regulating the supply. ”

“ The perfect petroleum incandescent lamp has not yet been made, but the results thus obtained show that when the right system has been found a very great increase in the amount of light developed from the petroleum may be expected. In one lamp experimented with for some time it was easy to obtain 3500 candle hours per gallon of oil, or three times the amount of light obtainable from the oil when burnt under ordinary conditions. ”

“ The light requires little or no attention on the part of stewards, for it is only requisite that a man be sent round once a day to see whether any of the lamps require renewal, and the renewal of a lamp is performed as simply as trimming the wick of an oil lamp or placing a fresh candle into a candlestick. The danger, annoyance and time, formerly spent in storing up and dealing out large quantities of paraffin or other oils, are completely obviated. The lamps are as easily subject to the control of the passenger as ordinary gas jets. ”

“ An Incandescent Oil Lamp.—Ever since the successful introduction of the incandescent mantle in gas lamps, inventors have been hard at work trying to construct an oil lamp which could be used to replace the gas in heating the mantle. ”

“ Hundreds and thousands of tons of this and of olive oil have been annually consumed for the lubrication of our steam engines and other machines. A better time is approaching now that paraffin lamps are so rapidly becoming the chief illuminators of the whole civilized world, superseding the crude tallow candle and the antique olive-oil lamp, while, at the same time, the tallow candle is71 gradually being replaced by the beautiful sperm-like paraffin candle ”

“ If the favor in which the electric light is held, and the great extent of its use, rested solely on the question of cheapness of production, such question would give rise to interesting debate. And, indeed, the debate would continue, if the question were the superior fitness of electric lighting for lighthouses and like service, where extreme brilliancy does not seem to penetrate a thick atmosphere as effectively as the more subdued glow of the oil lamp. ”

“ They should be kept full of oil for two reasons. One is, that if we then happen to use them for an unusually long time they will not burn out; the other, is, that if a lamp is full of oil no space is left for vapours rising from the oil, which otherwise may become compressed in the bowl and ignite when a match is applied to the wick. If there is a little screw-topped opening in the lamp where it can be filled without unscrewing the burner, use that opening for filling it. The burner should not be unscrewed unless it must be. Great care should be taken not to fill lamps too full ”

“ Those lamps which fill in the front like a bird-fountain, must be reclined on the back to fill, and this should be done gently, that the oil in the burner may return into the body when so placed and filled; if, by being too full, any oil appear above the guard, only move the lamp a little, and the oil will disappear; the lamp may then be placed erect, and the oil will flow to its proper level. ”

“ Section 17 If a pottery oil lamp [that apparently has an open bowl] is used one night it is considered unsightly and fouled for use on another night. One should rather use a new one each night. If one has no other to use he should burn this one out every night by flame and in that way it will be considered new. ”

“ The lamp is mounted on a standard on which it can be raised or lowered at will, and fixed by a thumb screw. The oil reservoir is in two parts, the upper ac being an inverted flask which fits into bb, from which the burner is directly fed through the tube d; h is an overflow cup for any oil that escapes at the burner, and it is pierced with air-holes for admitting the current of air to the centre tube of the Argand burner. The lamp is filled with oil by withdrawing the flask ac, filling it, and inverting it into its place. ”