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oil fueled lighting appliances?


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Ive seen a few pictures of some pre-electricity/kerosene lighting appliances in books and occasionally online but never have seen anywhere where they specify how theyre made or show them in use.
the things I'm talking about specifically are betty lamps, and the similar simple oil lamps that preceded them, as well as things such as "gallows lamps" which have a small iron "pot" suspended on a pivoting stand to keep them level and a tube up the center to hold the wick.
Another thing that i haven't been able to find much about is the rushes for rushlights, when i make them for demonstrations it'd be nice to have a way to show people how they were used.

any information would be greatly appreciated and if there are any books on the subject or of iron housewares in general id love to know

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"Iron and Brass Implements of the English House" Seymour Lindsay has 44 pages on "Artificial Light"  20 of text and 24 of items. It includes many varieties of grease lamps, rush holders of at least 3 or 4 different types; several pans designed to hold molten tallow while you soaked the rushes etc. It also had an excerpt from a letter written in 1775 advocating the use of rush lights that goes into details on selecting rushes preparing them and using them.

 

As to how they were made you would really need to go and handle the originals (wear your white cotton gloves) and look for tooling marks and things like forge welds, forge brazing or simple soldering.

 

Looking through the above book I thought how to make most of the examples was obvious---take your sheetmetal and bend it appropriately.

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I did a search a few weeks ago on oil lamps, particularly crusies, one of the sites i was on showed rush light holders, something like the two piece cranes used to hold cook pots/ meat over a camp fire. Some even had candle holders as well.
Try an Image search, you have to wade threw the movie fluff, but the Wikipedia article shows o rush light holder, Betty lamps and cruise lamps also yield good results. Often images work better than text for obscure things, or things hidden behind tons of fluff (like the German heavy metal band "Anvil" or the movie "Rushlights")

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Oil lamps probably go back to neanderthals a trough in a rock with a lump of fat in a wide spot. Light the narrow end, the flame melts the fat which runs down the trough to feed the flame and that's it. Aladin's Lamp was a fancier version (maybe) probably looked something like a tea pot with a shallowly sloped spout.

 

I could make a functional oil/fat lamp from a 2" sq. piece of scrap metal in maybe around 3-4 minutes. A ball pein hammer to make the reservoir and something to make the trough to the wick. I did a quick Google search for Betty lamp and scanned maybe 40-50 pics. There are so many different shapes I have to think it was up to the person who made them as long as they followed the basic rules of what makes them work.

 

Really, some were cast some carved from stone, some sunk or raised by tin knockers or silver/gold smiths, some forged by blacksmiths. Some were fancy can's with soldered spouts, some just knocked into a piece of sheet. Most had tabs to hang them but some were obviously on stands, some float on water.

 

Gallows lamps are hangers for lamps however they work.

 

Good question I'd never thought about looking and I have a head full of mental images to draw on now. Thanks.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Rushes for rush light are, literally, rushes - a marshy plant kind of like a cattail.  You dry them out, cut them to length, and they wick up the oil in the lamp.  I've also seen folks using splinters of soft wood, but they don't wick oil very well and rely more on the burning of the splinter.

 

Betty lamps and such are just a container for oil.  The wick is anything soft and absorbent that will move the oil.  I've used cotton clothesline (easy to get), moss, poplar bark rope, sisal rope, hemp rope, etc.  If you don't have anything thick enough, it's an easy thing to twine up cotton butcher's twine to make a thicker bit for a wick.

 

The oil you use will determine the quality of the light and the amount of soot.  Lard or drippings will do the job, but the impurities give you a lot of soot and a weak flame/light.  Olive oil is primo stuff, but you're going to pay for it.  There's a reason why it was so valuable back in the Roman times!

 

Whale oil was the go-to oil of the day because it burned clean and bright, and was relatively inexpensive.

 

The lamps all work on the same principle as a kerosene lamp - the more wick you have showing, the dirtier the flame and the faster you'll run out of oil in the reservoir.  It's a balancing act and the only way to learn is to experiment with the gear you have on hand.

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Hwoolridge i actually have that book (only book i ever spent.over a hundred bucks on actually!) And i use it as a go-to for hinges, latches, and the like but there's hardly any household items beyond door/structure hardware.

Thomas, that's the kind of thing I'm looking for! Thanks for the suggestion, i need to hit the library or just order it if i can

Charles ill definitely keep that in mind, the internet can be a difficult place to navigate and i definitely need all the advice i can get to make it a bit easier!

Thanks for the link John there's some awesome stuff there

Frosty, yeah the basic lamp is extremely old and so far as I've seen there's dozens of different forms in every culture. i remember seeing ones made of pottery at some point which were smaller than i expected but short of that I've never seen one in person.
betty lamps as i understand are an improved design over the previous form. the simple oil lamp was like a lead ladle with a small point that held the wick and a basin for the fuel whereas the betty lamp had a small strip of metal under the wick that heated the oil a bit more effectively as well as a hinged cover to keep the oil from splashing around so much. Actually i believe "betty"is a corruption of the german word "besse" meaning better. That's about the extent of my knowledge on the subject though at the moment. And I'm glad i could stimulate some ideas!

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Hi Ed Rush lights as I know them are as follows, Firstly rushes, what type is not really important as long as they have a good pith (spongy looking stuff inside) Cut them about 12 inches long and while still green peel off all the outer bark except a narrow strip about 1/8th of an inch wide to support the pith, this is the fiddly bit. Once you have peeled the rushes set them to one side to dry. When they are dry you are ready make the lights, for this you will need fat of some sort - cooking lard, bacon fat, dripping of the sunday joint etc. Place the fat in a wide shallow pan and melt it down - originaly there were purpose made pots for this called grissets if I remember correctly. Lay the lengths of rush in the melted fat so it soaks up as much as it will hold. The aim is to load up the rush but not build it up like a candle as it will not support the weight.When they are fully coated lay them aside to cool and set. You should end up with lengths of rush that are waxy on the outside. To use they have to be held at an angle of about 45 degrees, they will not burn if they are vertical like a candle. Light the top end of the rush and you are away, if you need more light then light the other end this gives you more light but less burn time - hence the saying 'burning the candle at both ends' WARNING - because you are using fat/lard you cannot leave rush lights laying around as they will go rancid in hot weather and also attract mice so wrap the in cling film or foil and keep in the fridge. Traditionaly they were stored in bran tubs as were early candles which were also made from rendered fat/Tallow. So if you read about folks eating candles to survive it is tallow candles being talked about not wax ones. Sorry for the long missive, hope it helps Wayne

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Hi Ed
Rush lights as I know them are as follows..............hope it helps
Wayne



wow! thank you for that information, for some reason i always thought there was more too it than that!
Might have to try my hand at making a couple to make those rush holders in the corner seem like they're actually going to be put to use!

Rushlights are pretty interesting, hardly anyone knows about them as classical lighting implements these days. everyone thinks all they had were candles but really rushlights and oil lamps were surely quite a bit more common.

I've actually noticed that most rushlights have a provision on the moving arm for holding a candle.
Though many I've seen have also had just a welded ball as weight.
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Well in medieval times the beekeeping practices often resulted in the death of the hive when they collected the honey; hence all the emphasis spent on how to attract and capture swarms in medieval beekeeping literature. As a side effect it made the production of beeswax more difficult and so wax candles were quite expensive.  Even tallow candles were expensive as far a food goes and so most folks went to bed when it got dark or sat around the fire and lamps/tallow candles/etc were pretty much for emergency needs

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Here are a few references for cruzies and rush light holders :

  1. Plummer, "Colonial Wrought Iron", page 82 on has a section on lighting.
  2. Also, the Schiffer family's "Antique Iron" has quite a few lamps starting on page 268.
  3. There are quite a few rush light holders in Brears' "The Olds Devon Farmhouse", page 114 and, on page 116 there are some oil lamps and a particularly interesting one at number 281.
  4. I might also mention that in Lecoq's "Les objets de la vie domestique", the last chapter is devoted to lighting and there are to be found all manners of such lamps as you are interested in.
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Also try Fire and light in the home pre-1820 by John Caspell ISBN 1-85149-021-3 Covers fire starting, fire steels, strika a lights, tinder boxes, candle moulds, candle snuffers, candle boxes, grissets, brass candle sticks, Iron candle holders, oil lamps, chandeliers, rush lights, Lanterns. How about a sheet brass soap holder with candle holder to hang on the side of your bath?

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Dont forget the hanging rack for burning fatwood/pine knots or birch bark. Think small hanging camp grill.
If you want to experiment with a cruise lamp, find an old serving spoon and bend it so the handlu curves back over th bowl. I use cotton knitting yarn from wall mart. But butcher twine works, twist it untile it doubles back and makes a two strand wick. Soking in a borax and salt solution and dring makes a brighter light. (Google making candle wicks) olive oil works well for low oder but lard, bacon grease and renderd beef fat (tallow) work well as dose fish oil (not low oder, lol. Unlike parafin and kerosene lamp oils it dosnt burn with out the wick, so droping or knocking over the lamp makes a mess but little fire hazard (carpet and rushes on the floor not withstanding, tho its still likely the wick will go out before igniting the fuel on its new "wick")'
I showed my girl friend this with a tablespoon, but it'ts a little bit small. It went over better than the flaming corn chip (crisp)

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Charles the more you post the more I feel that you are a kindred spirit!  

 

I remember taking my Wife to Be to the knifemaker's Guild Show---back in KC days on the grounds that if she couldn't take the crowd of knife waving crazies we wouldn't suit.  In less than an hour she was dragging me from table to table to see things she liked and she ended up buying a blade...

 

now have you shown her how coffee creamer is an explosive?

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If you are really into rushlights then try to find a copy of 'The rushlight and related holders; a regional view' by Robert Ashley ISBN 0954009002 This is a big A4 size book studying all the different types of rushlight and cresset light in Britain. It looks at the types found in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and also the individual styles found from county to county. The only down side is that only 1000 copies were printed so you may have to search for a copy or go through the library system. There is a copy on ABEbooks in a shop in Georgia but you are looking about £120 for it.

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Na, TP, she uses the liquid. But i did inteaduce her to the MRE cookie.
But the woman has spunk. She isnt sure I can teach her to smoth it with or with out a pack horse, but she is eying my smaller forging setup and smaller forgings. Her first exposierto me and the forge was tooling out of heavy guage sucker rod.

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If memory serves, I saw a die sinking set for making the lamp vessel at Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan. The bottom hollow was of a lamp shape out of thick, rectangular cross-sectioned iron, carefully made and finished. The negative space would receive the cut-to-shape sheet stock when driven in hot by a male block of steel, also carefully shaped to match and having been made to allow for the material thickness.

 

They also had on display a small wrought iron shovel maybe 8 or 9 inches long, very well made, and it was labeled "Grease Lamp Primer."

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Well it looks like I've got quite a few books to find and add to my collection!
I've actually looked through the book on the sorber collection, actually that's where i saw many of the examples i mentioned before.
mtmetal, that's pretty fantastic work! and very faithful to the originals to boot. I've wondered what the flame height/etc. was supposed to look like in practice. I never even gave a thought that The "candle socket" on the rushlight might actually be a snuffer, though it does make quite a bit of sense, it'd be a bad idea in a finished home to go blowing melted grease and ash around when its time to put out the light afterall.


One of the intriguing things about grease/oil lamps is that their fuel isn't by itself flammable (unlike the aforementioned cornchips!) And without a wick its pretty safe, albeit messy, in the case of it being dropped or tipped over.

F. Turley: I've actually seen one of those forms in a swage block before, something said it was for making ladles, but it was actually a lamp form. The point was far deeper and longer than would be practical for a ladle mould. Had i known about those type of lamps years ago, id have carved such a depression into my swageblock form before i had it cast! Itd simplify both crussie making and making lead ladles as well!

Thanks everyone for the amazing wealth of information on the subject, I've learned more from this post than i have from untold amounts of time searching the web.

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I'm surprised Frosty or one of the Alaskan mob hasn't managed to acquire a supply of fresh whale oil from their neighbors yet and posted it. Maybe they are still working on forging up harpoons to trade for some.   LOL :P

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If you are really into rushlights then try to find a copy of 'The rushlight and related holders; a regional view' by Robert Ashley ISBN 0954009002 This is a big A4 size book studying all the different types of rushlight and cresset light in Britain. It looks at the types found in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and also the individual styles found from county to county. The only down side is that only 1000 copies were printed so you may have to search for a copy or go through the library system. There is a copy on ABEbooks in a shop in Georgia but you are looking about £120 for it.

I hadn't heard of this book before. It came today and has got to be the best book on rushlights I've seen. And I have a few of them.

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