The kerosene lamp (widely known in Britain as a paraffin lamp) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (British "paraffin", as distinct from paraffin wax) as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included, here, as well. There are three types of kerosene lamp: traditional flat wick, central draught (tubular round wick), and mantle lamp. There are three types of kerosene lantern: Dead flame, hot blast, and cold blast.
The first description of a simple lamp using crude mineral oil was provided by al-Razi (Rhazes) in 9th century Baghdad, who referred to it as the "naffatah" in his Kitab al-Asrar (Book of Secrets).[1] Modern versions of the kerosene lamp were later constructed by the Polish inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz in 1853 Lviv, and by Robert Edwin Dietz of the United States at about the same time.[2] The question regarding the primacy of these two inventors' versions of the lamp remains unresolved.[3]
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A flat-wick lamp is a simple type of kerosene lamp, which works in a similar way to a candle. This lamp is also very dangerous because if it is broken it can easily start a fire. This type of lamp is also known as a "paraffin lamp" in the United kingdom. A flat-wick lamp has a fuel tank (fount), with the lamp burner attached. Attached to the fuel tank, 4 prongs hold the glass chimney, which acts to prevent the flame from being blown out and enhances a thermally induced draft. The glass chimney needs a "throat," or slight constriction, to create the proper draft for complete combustion of the fuel; the draft carries more air (oxygen) past the flame, helping to produce a brighter, smokeless light than an open flame would produce.
The lamp burner has a flat wick, usually made of cotton. The lower part of the wick dips into the fount and absorbs the kerosene; the top part of the wick extends out of the wick tube of the lamp burner, which includes a wick-adjustment mechanism. Adjusting how much of the wick extends above the wick tube controls the flame. The wick tube surrounds the wick, and ensures that the correct amount of air reaches the lamp burner. Adjustment is usually done by means of a small knob operating a cric, which is a toothed, metal sprocket bearing against the wick. If the wick is too high, and extends beyond the burner cone at the top of the wick tube, the lamp will produce smoke and soot (unburned carbon). When the lamp is lit, the kerosene that the wick has absorbed burns and produces a clear, bright, yellow flame. As the kerosene burns, capillary action in the wick draws more kerosene up from the fuel tank. All kerosene flat wick lamps use the dead flame burner design, where the flame is fed cold air from below and hot air exits above.
A central draught lamp, or Argand lamp, works in the same manner as the flat wick lamp. The burner is equipped with a tall glass chimney, of around 12 inches tall or taller, to provide the powerful draft this lamp requires to burn properly. The burner uses a wick, usually made of cotton, that is made of a wide, flat wick rolled into a tube, the seam of which is then stitched together to form the complete wick. The tubular wick is then mounted into a "carrier," which is some form of a toothed rack that engages into the gears of the wick-raising machanism of the burner and allows the wick to be raised and lowered. The wick rides in between the inner and outer wick tubes; the inner wick tube (central draft tube) provides the "central draught" or draft that supplies air to the flame spreader. When the lamp is lit, the central draft tube supplies air to the flame spreader that spreads out the flame into a ring of fire and allows the lamp to burn cleanly.
A variation on the "central draught" lamp is the mantle lamp. The mantle is a roughly pear-shaped silk-fabric net that contains thorium or other rare-earth salts that will be converted to oxides, which incandescence (glow brightly) upon combustion of fuel. As mantle lamps are considerably brighter than flat- or round-wick lamps, and produce a whiter light, a lamp shade is often desirable. They also consume fuel at a greater rate than simple wick lamps, and produce large amounts of heat. A few operating mantle lamps can serve to heat a small building in cold weather. Mantle lamps, because of the higher temperature at which they operate, do not produce much of an odor, except when they are first ignited or extinguished. Like flat- and round-wick lamps, they can be adjusted for brightness, and can also be adjusted too high, which will cause the lamp chimney and the mantle to soot up. If a too high adjusted lamp is caught promptly, it can simply be adjusted down, and the small amount of soot on the mantle will soon be burned off. If it is not caught soon enough, a "runaway lamp" condition can result.
A kerosene lantern, also known as a "barn lantern" or "hurricane lantern," is a flat-wick lamp made portable and for 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.
The earliest portable kerosene "glass globe" lanterns, of the 1850s and 60s, were of the dead-flame type. Another early kerosene lantern was a flat-wick lamp installed in a metal box, with glass panes. It was made to be a stationary outdoor lamp, and was not intended to be portable. A dead-flame lantern works by drawing in fresh air directly below the burner, while the hot exhaust air is exhausted out of the top of the lantern.
The hot-blast design, also known as a "tubular lantern" due to the round metal tubes used in its construction, was invented by John Irwin and patented on January 12, 1868. The hot-blast design collected hot (exhaust) air from above the globe and fed it through metal side tubes to the burner, to make the flame burn brighter.
The cold-blast design is similar to the hot-blast, except that cold fresh air is drawn in from around the top of the globe and is then fed though the metal side tubes to the flame, making it burn brighter. This design produces a brighter light than the hot blast design, because the fresh air that is fed to the flame has plenty of oxygen to support the combustion process.
The operation of a kerosene lamp is quite simple. To light a flat-wick lamp, first fill the fuel tank (fount) with a fresh approved fuel, such as kerosene, then let the lamp sit for approximately 15 minutes (an hour or more for tubular wick burners) to allow the wick to absorb the fuel. The wick should first be trimmed straight across with a pair of sharp scissors before lighting. Then lift the glass chimney off the lamp, turn up the wick slightly, and light the wick with a match or butane lighter. If it smokes, turn the wick down a little, and then put the glass chimney back on the lamp and turn up the wick to a low flame. Allow the lamp to warm up for a few minutes before turning the lamp up to full brightness, as turning up the flame too soon can crack a cold chimney. To extinguish the lamp, turn down the flame and then blow across the chimney to put out the flame. One can also extinguish a lamp by quickly turning down the wick below the top of the wick tube.
Mantle lamps, and other lamps that use the "central-draught" tubular wick burner, light up in the same manner, except that the chimney and gallery on "central-draught" lamps also include the mantle on mantle lamps (the gallery is a removable base that fits on top of the burner, which the chimney and mantle is mounted on). It is removed as a unit. The wick is lit, and then the chimney and gallery is placed back on the lamp. The wick on a mantle lamp or "central-draught" tubular wick lamp should never be trimmed with scissors or any sharp instrument; the use of a special wick cleaner is required to remove the carbon off the top of the wick and to leave a smooth surface on the top of it.
Kerosene wick lamps should only be operated with kerosene or lamp oil, but alternative fuels may be used in an emergency.
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