Kerosene lamp

History

In 1813, John Tilley invented the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe. In 1818, William Henry Tilley, gas fitters, was manufacturing gas lamps in Stoke Newington.*Tilley lamp Company

• Principles of Tilley lamp operation
• Tilley lamps

In 1846, Abraham Pineo Gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. Later made from petroleum, kerosene became a popular lighting fuel. Modern and most popular versions of the paraffin lamp were later constructed by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv in 1853.{{Cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828103133/http://www.beskidniski.org.pl/szlaki/naftowy/szlak_naftowy.htm |archive-date=2009-08-28 |access-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609140011/https://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/pharmacist-introduces-kerosene-lamp-saves-whales/ |url-status=dead

In 1914, the Coleman Lantern pressure lamp was introduced by the Coleman Company.

In 1919, Tilley High-Pressure Gas Company started using kerosene as a fuel for lamps.

Types

Flat-wick lamp

A kerosene lantern, also known as a "barn lantern" or "hurricane lantern", is a flat-wick lamp made for portable and outdoor use. They are made of soldered or crimped-together sheet-metal stampings, with tin-plated sheet steel being the most common material, followed by brass and copper. There are three types: dead-flame, hot-blast, and cold-blast. Both hot-blast and cold-blast designs are called tubular lanterns and are safer than dead-flame lamps, as tipping over a tubular lantern cuts off the oxygen flow to the burner and will extinguish the flame within seconds.

The earliest portable kerosene "glass globe" lanterns, of the 1850s and 1860s, were of the dead-flame type, meaning that it had an open wick, but the airflow to the flame was strictly controlled in an upward motion by a combination of vents at the bottom of the burner and an open topped chimney. This had the effect of removing side-to-side drafts and thus significantly reducing or even eliminating the flickering that can occur with an exposed flame.

Later lanterns, such as the hot-blast and cold-blast lanterns, took this airflow control even further by partially or fully enclosing the wick in a "deflector" or "burner cone" and then channeling the air to be supplied for combustion at the wick while at the same time pre-heating the air for combustion.

The hot-blast design, also known as a "tubular lantern" due to the metal tubes used in its construction, was invented by John H. Irwin and was . As noted in the patent, the "novel mode of constructing a lantern whereby the wind, instead of acting upon the flame in such a manner as to extinguish it, serves to support or sustain and prevent the extinguishment thereof." This improvement essentially redirected wind which might normally tend to extinguish the flame of an unprotected dead-flame lantern, instead is redirected, slowed, pre-heated, and supplied to the burner to actually support and promote the combustion of the fuel.

Later, Irwin improved upon this design by inventing and . This design is similar to his earlier "hot-blast" design, except that the oxygen-depleted hot combustion byproducts are redirected and prevented from recirculating back to the burner by redesigning the intake products, so that only oxygen-rich, fresh air is drawn from the atmosphere into the lamp ("the inlets for fresh air are placed out of the ascending current of products of combustion, and said products are thereby prevented from entering [the air intake]"). The primary benefit of this design compared to the earlier "hot-blast" design was to maximize the amount of oxygen available for combustion by ensuring that only fresh air is supplied to the burner, thereby increasing the brightness and stability of the flame.

Safety

Combustion

Contamination of lamp fuel with even a small amount of gasoline results in a lower flash point and higher vapor pressure for the fuel, with potentially dangerous consequences. Vapors from spilled fuel may ignite; vapor trapped above liquid fuel may lead to excess pressure and fires. Kerosene lamps are still extensively used in areas without electrical lighting; the cost and dangers of combustion lighting are a continuing concern in many countries.

Inhalation

The World Health Organization considers kerosene to be a polluting fuel and recommends that "governments and practitioners immediately stop promoting its household use". Kerosene smoke contains high levels of harmful particulate matter, and household use of kerosene is associated with higher risks of cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, tuberculosis, cataract, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Performance

Flat-wick lamps have the lowest light output, center-draft round-wick lamps have three to four times the output of flat-wick lamps, and pressurized lamps have bright light outputs ; the range is from 8 to 100 lumens. A kerosene lamp producing 37 lumens for 4 hours per day for a month (120 hours) consumes about 3 L of kerosene.

12.57 lumens = 1 CP

Notes

References

| issue-date = 1873-05-06

References

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