Coal Oil Lamps History

Old oil lamps can be a fun addition to your home or a source of a profit depending on the condition and age of your lamps.

Coal oil lamps history.

Cleaner burning whale oil was used in indoor lamps. In 1846 abraham pineo gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting distilled from coal. Oil wick cap lamps were shaped like small kettles a small font that contained oil fueled a wick that was stuffed into the spout. Coal and natural gas lamps were also becoming wide spread.

Rock oil had been patented in 1854 by a canadian physician and geologist abraham gesner who named his lamp fuel kerosene. By the 1800 s paraffin oil which is inexpensive and smokeless became the lamp oil of choice. At the city gas works in dorset street blackfriars three chaldrons of coal were carbonized each day providing the gas equivalent of 9 000 argand lamps. Coal miners were frequently at danger from explosive mixtures of methane gas in the atmosphere of the mine.

An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil based fuel source. Most people called it coal oil. At the beginning of the nineteenth century pressure mounted to find an alternative to naked flames that would provide adequate and safe light to enable miners to work underground. Coal gas was first used as a lighting fuel as early as 1784.

However kerosene or coal oil gave off an unpleasant odor and smoke. Oil lamps are a form of lighting and were used as an alternative to candles before the use of electric lights. In 1859 drilling for petroleum oil began and the kerosene a petroleum derivative lamp grew popular first introduced in 1853 in germany. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day although their use is less common in modern times.

The best way to get an exact date of manufacture is by having an. So 28 chaldrons of coal were carbonized daily and 84 000 lights supplied by those two companies. The oil wick cap lamp issued a bare flame giving off enough light for miners to see what was in front of their face but not much further. History the first description of a simple lamp using crude mineral oil was provided by persian alchemist al razi rhazes in 9th century baghdad who referred to it as the naffatah in his kitab al asrar book of secrets.

This supplied gas lamps equal to 75 000 argand lamps each yielding the light of six candles. Coal oil that burned cleanly enough to compete with whale oil as an indoor illuminant was first produced in 1850 on the union canal in scotland by james young who patented the process. Around 1850 the oil wick cap lamp was invented in scotland. Production thrived in scotland.

The newer lamps ultimately used kerosene. A factory in long island new york soon began producing and selling gesner s new product. While you can tell what shape the lamp is in by looking at it you probably won t be able to find much manufacturing information on antique oil lamps.