Wikipedia

Argand lamp: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Bio2935c (talk | contribs)
43 edits
mNo edit summary
Improved clarity by rephrasing well-to-do to 'wealthy' and changed spelling of "centre" since we also used "center" elsewhere in the article and it should probably be consistent.
 
(One intermediate revision by one other user not shown)
Line 14:
A disadvantage of the original Argand arrangement was that the oil reservoir needed to be above the level of the burner because the heavy, sticky vegetable oil would not rise far up the wick. This made the lamps top heavy and cast a shadow in one direction away from the lamp's flame. The [[Carcel lamp]] of 1800, which used a clockwork pump to allow the reservoir to sit beneath the burner, and Franchot's spring-driven [[Moderator lamp]] of 1836 avoided these problems.
 
The same principle was also used for cooking and boiling water due to its 'affording much the strongest heat without smoke'.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdgITBE0-6YC&q=argand+lamp+cooking&pg=PA840|title=An Encyclopędia of Domestic Economy:Comprising Such Subjects As Are Most Immediately Connected with Housekeeping|page=841|year=1844|isbn=9781402194382|last1=Webster|first1=Thomas|publisher=Adegi Graphics LLC }}</ref>
 
==History==
Line 20:
The Argand lamp was introduced to [[Thomas Jefferson]] in Paris in 1784 and according to him gave off "a light equal to six or eight candles."<ref>Crowley, John E. ''The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities & Design in Early Modern Britain & Early America''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2000. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Igomu7mUbIC&pg=PA193 Web.] 5 December 2011</ref>
 
These new lamps, much more complex and costly than the previous primitive oil lamps, were first adopted by the well-to-dowealthy, but soon spread to the [[middle class]]es and eventually the less well-off as well. Argand lamps were manufactured in a great variety of decorative forms and quickly became popular in America.<ref>McCullough, Hollis Koons. ''Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights.'' McCullough, Hollis Koons. Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights. Savannah, GA: Telfair Museum of Art, 2005.[https://books.google.com/books?id=V9hntB4BJzIC&pg=PA289 Web.] 5 December 2011</ref> They were much used as theatrical footlights.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Banham|first=Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ubr35UeE-UQC&q=argand+footlight&pg=PA350|title=The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre|date=1996-03-07|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44654-9|language=en}}</ref>
 
It was the lamp of choice until about 1850 when [[kerosene lamp]]s were introduced. [[Kerosene]] was cheaper than vegetable oil, it produced a whiter [[flame]], and as a liquid of low [[viscosity]] it could easily travel up a wick eliminating the need for complicated mechanisms to feed the fuel to the burner.
 
== See also ==
* [[Bude-Light]]: a very bright vegetable oil lamp that works by introducing oxygen into the centrecenter of an Argand burner.
* [[Lewis lamp]]
 
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argand_lamp"