Coal Oil Lamps History

Using key objects from the collection mark carlyle curator of industry at the national coal mining museum for england offers a visual history of the miners safety lamp.

Coal oil lamps history. The term was in use by the late 18th century for oil produced as a by product of the production of coal gas and coal tar. Lamps may be used. A flammable hydrocarbon oil that is distilled from bituminous coal and is used as a fuel for lamps. By the 1800 s paraffin oil which is inexpensive and smokeless became the lamp oil of choice.

While you can tell what shape the lamp is in by looking at it you probably won t be able to find much manufacturing information on antique oil lamps. As you may know early lamps used animal fats olive oil beeswax or whale oil. Coal oil is a shale oil obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal mineral wax or bituminous shale once used widely for illumination. Coal and natural gas lamps were also becoming wide spread.

However kerosene or coal oil gave off an unpleasant odor and smoke. The candles were set into spiked metal candle holders and either hammered into the framing timbers or precariously attached to a miner s hat. Cleaner burning whale oil was used in indoor lamps. Old oil lamps can be a fun addition to your home or a source of a profit depending on the condition and age of your lamps.

An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil based fuel source. Coal gas was first used as a lighting fuel as early as 1784. Coal miners were frequently at danger from explosive mixtures of methane gas in the atmosphere of the mine. Before oil wick lamps were popularized candles were the main source of illumination in the mine.

Coal oil synonyms coal oil pronunciation coal oil translation english dictionary definition of coal oil. The oil wick lamp first came into use in scotland around 1850 and remained in use until the 1920 s. The lamp sat in a bracket at the front of the helmet with the cord running along the helmet s crown guided by a cord holder in the back of the helmet to route the cable directly to the battery pack worn on the miner s belt. In 1859 drilling for petroleum oil began and the kerosene a petroleum derivative lamp grew popular first introduced in 1853 in germany.

Oil lamps are a form of lighting and were used as an alternative to candles before the use of electric lights. In the early 19th century it was discovered that coal oil distilled from cannel coal could be used in lamps as an illuminant although the early coal oil burned with a smokey flame so that it was used only for outdoor lamps. Gradually the lamp fuel also evolved. Just like the soft mining caps that were used to hold oil wick or carbide mining lamps mining helmets were used to hold the new electric cap lamp.