The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-06-26
The Lamp.

From the Boston Globe.
Lamps, derived from the Latin lampus,
has been defined, until within few years,
as a receptacle for oil with wick for illu-
mination; but the inventions of the past
generation have made it impossible to dis
tinguish between the lamp proper and any
other artificial means of giving light. As
used by the Egyptians, Greeks and He
brews, lamps were simply fiat vessels,
round or oblong in shape, at one end of
which was small handle, at the other
nozzle, and with large opening in the
center, into which the oil was poured.
The oil commonly used was vegetable, but,
according to Pliny, sometimes of liquid
bitumen. These lamps, many of very
elegant form and ornamented with fanciful
designs, were hung by the chains to bronze
candelabra. Tarentum and Kgina were
especially famed for making them of great
elegance.
Among the Canadian French the same
low, oval metallic vessels, furnished as in
early days with a handle at one end and
nozzle at the other, may still be seen.
Some are made to be carried in the
hand, while others are suspended by
chains in the middle of the room. The
Hebrews kept their lamps burning all
night, and this custom is still in vogue in
Aleppo and Egypt. From the earliest
times until within about century the
lamp remained much the same, consisting
simply of oil and wick in some kind of a
vessel. A complete revolution in artificial
light was caused by the invention by M.
Ami Argand, in 1884, of burner with
a circular wick. The fame was thus sup
piled with an outer and inner current of
air Argand was also the inventor of the
glass chimney, as applied to his and other
lamps. The so-called astral lamps were
provided with these circular wicks, the res
ervoir for the oil being arranged in the
form of hollow ring, enveloping the CEN
trail stand that supported the burner. In
consequence of the peculiar shape given to
the ring the lamp cast no shadow at alittle
distance off. An ingenious piece of clock
work machinery was devised by Carel, in
1900, for pumping the oil from the reser-
voir at the foot of the lamp up to the
burner, and thus supplying it always from
the same point. This lamp, afterward-
slightly improved by others, was in many
respects the most perfect of these contri
vances, but its great cost prevented its
general adoption. 1t was, furthermore, so
large and heavy that it could be moved
only with difficulty, and the very compi-
Gated nature of its mechanism required ac-
cess to skilled workmen to keep it in re-
pair. A modification of the Carel lamp,
known as the Diacon, was long popular in
this country.
In 1877 Peter Keir made the great in
vention-since fully developed by Aronson
of raising the supply of oil by means of
another fluid with specific gravity greater
than oil. This fluid was generally mix
ture of salt and water.
The "automation," invented by Porter
in 1904, was very ingenious. The lamp
was suspended on an axis, counterbalanced
by weight, so that it hung level when
full, but at an angel of 45 degrees when
empty, thus being fed evenly by the gradual
ascent of the burners.
In 1922 Samuel Parker, Jr., made an
important Improvement: the fixing of
French chimneys upon burners by means
of metal support.
The difficulty of distinguishing between
the countless inventions relative to lamps
and those referring to general illumination
does not appear great prior to 1865, when
the production Of petroleum greatly stimu-
lated the study of practical methods of
generating light.
1t is remarkable that the invention of
Hero of Alexandria, in which the oil was
raised by water, involves the pressure prin-
ciple, since developed in nearly hundred
forms. 1t is adapted to any kind of in
fammable fluid, and while burning may be
rolled on the ground, upset, or reversed
for any time without danger. 1t is inter
esting to note that the most important re-
cent inventions in lamps are chiefly Amer
ican. A full description of them all would
occupy volumes.