Talk:Kerosene lamp

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[edit] Methanol

Question: Can't methanol also be burned in these things? If not, why not? User:Mordac 21:18 5 April, 2006

  • According the information I could find, a flame produced from burning alcohol is a very dim and blue in color. In fact, it is so dim that under normal lighting conditions the flame is almost invisable. Alcohol more useful as a cooking fuel. See sterno. Bige1977 04:39, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
  • User:Bart J. Meijer In some of them, alcohol could be burned, there has been a mantle lamp produced by the Germans that could burn it. Also pressure lamps like the Petromax have been made to run on Alcohol, Petrol and Kerosene.
  • There even have been very succesfull Wick Fed Vapour Lamps been build by Tito Landi, The LampeTitus could safely run on Naphta as well as Alcohol.

[edit] Other oils

No reason that other oils couldn't be used, I'm sure. I think vegetable and whale oils were widely used prior to the 20th century. A history section, or links to appropriate articles, would be useful.

I'm curious whether other oils (vegetable oil) would have the same health impact? I suspect there would be only a partial improvement. --Singkong2005 (t - c - WPID) 09:23, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

  • User:Bart J. Meijer In most cases vegetable oil can not be used, or only a very short ime. With wick lamps, the top of the wick gets so hot that the fuel will undergo a breaking process, leaving hard carbon at the top of the wick. That will cause the lamp to stop burning in minutes. The viscosity also is a problem, the vegetable oil doesn't run well in a normal wick, so the lamp will starve when the fuel level drops.
  • In pressure lamps it has been tried to burn vegetable oil, however the same breaking process will cause the vapourizer to clog very fast with hard carbon crystels. The lamp will damage beyond use in a matter of hours.

[edit] Health risks

Any health risks (apart from fire) to burning "generic" lamp oil in a kerosene lamp in a tent all night long, while camping?

Michael

Soot is, of course, an irritant. In a tent, carbon monoxide poisoning is unlikely, but keep it in mind. And, as you point out, fire and burns are, of course, always a hazard with any combustion lamp.
Atlant 18:53, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Greenhouse impact?

Below is an extract from Light Up the World Foundation and is also relevant here - can anyone add more info? I'd like to see the claims backed up by more than just the one person in one paper. --Singkong2005 (t - c - WPID) 09:25, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

The LUTW website cites a Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory paper, which argues that replacing kerosene lamps with LED lights helps reduce greenhouse gases. The paper says:
The single-greatest way to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with lighting energy use is to replace kerosene lamps with white-LED electric lighting systems in developing countries; this can be accomplished even while dramatically increasing currently deficient lighting service levels. - Mills, 2002[1]
However it should be noted that Mills does not discuss the one-off contribution to greenhouse gas emissions from the production of components such as solar panels.

[edit] Merging Petromax with Kerosene Lamp

Hi All,

I would like to ask not to combine Petromax with Kerosene. We have added a lot to the Petromax article.

A group of historic kerosene lamp collectors, are working on adding a lot of articles to make a complete vieuw on the time that Kerosene, Petrol and Alcohol lamps were used. We are going to add in the future:

  • Aladdin Mantle Lamps
  • Pigeon Lamp
  • Vapalux Pressure Lamp
  • Famos Mantle Lamps

If someone wants to join this group of Historic Lamp Collectors, they are more then welcome to. Please send a note to me

With Regards, Bart J. Meijer 21:54, 1 January 2007 (UTC)Bart J. Meijer

Hi all,

We’ve being updating the Petromax section so I have to agree with Bart on this, the Petromax section is in realty a huge German company that really need to be updated with lots of other information.

Skeeves 22:12, 1 January 2007 (UTC)David

Yes, certainly it is possible to complete this article. The Petromax is not the only pressure lantern in the world. Someone will probably write about the excellent British Tilley or Bialaddin/Vapalux, or about the American Coleman kerosene/gas lantern, present all over the world since the beginning of the XXe century ! (Gerard : Pressure lanterns) Camulogene 11:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I think Petromax should keep its own page. Tilley lamp and Coleman Company have their own pages so why not Petromax? Biscuittin 15:27, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] John Irwin

Shouldn't somebody write about John Irwin's contribution to the development of the kerosene lamp? I'm no expert, but I heard he invented the tubular lamp design.

[edit] Social History

How does a section get added? I think a social history section would be useful, especially for writers and people who do reenactments.

For example: "By 1856 Kerosene was used to light homes in New York (gas came to that city in 1864.)" http://www.mts.net/~william5/history/hol.htm —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kim333 (talk • contribs) 19:30, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] british english

this subject deals with a number of phenomena which expose differences between british and american (and other) english language and culture. this article has a particularly british sound to it and i think some work needs to be done to provide local equivalents for specific vocabulary relating to the nomenclature for the oils and distilled fuel products and the manufacturers and resultant regional colloquialisms. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miltonhowe (talk • contribs) 04:02, 28 January 2008 (UTC)