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An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times.
Gas lamps gradually started replacing oil street lamps in the United States, beginning in the first quarter of the 19th century. [3] The first street in the world to be illuminated by gaslight was Pall Mall in London, starting in 1807. [1] [5] The first US city to use gas street lights was Baltimore, starting in 1817. [4]
A kerosene lamp produced by the factory of Karlskrona Lampfabrik in Sweden c. 1890s Swiss flat-wick kerosene lamp. The knob protruding to the right adjusts the wick, and hence the flame size. A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel.
The source of illumination had generally been wood pyres or burning coal, but this was expensive; some lighthouses consumed 400 tons of coal a year. Candles or oil lamps backed by concave mirrors were used, often in large banks. The French conducted a series of tests between 1783 and 1788, with varying results.
The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas , brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent trimming of the wick.
A moderator lamp provides a pressurized supply of oil to the lamp wick by use of a spiral spring-loaded piston operating on a cylindrical oil reservoir. A regulating mechanism, the "moderator", compensates for the varying force of the spring as the piston descends. The moderator is a wire that runs through a tube in the center of the piston.