This is a Pearl Light table lamp. It consists of an Australian-made Pearl Light hollow-wire burner especially mounted on a French Lilor heater tank. This lamp looks like it came out of the same lamp manufacturing environment as the Australian-made Gloria table lamps that used the Gloria No. 20 hollow-wire burner. The craftwork makes me sure that this was factory produced and not a home-made job. The burner is that of a 1933 Australian Patent application by Joseph Swanson Doughty and Thomas William Sands (of TW Sands) shown here: https://classicpressurelamps.com/th...or-improved-burner-australia-no-11-427.11513/ While it looks like a Gloria (and much of it is a copy of the Gloria No. 20 burner), it is a very interesting development of that technology. Below, I will post the parts against the Patent. I will discuss some of the features of the lamp and patent below. "PEARL LIGHT" "PAT. No. 11427" Here is the Patent drawing with burner parts as a guide to the photos below: The rectangular cut out is the portal for pre-heating the lamp. The patent says that the lamp is lit with a "taper". The burner casting below is very heavy nickel plated brass. The grate on the burner cap is ceramic. The Pearl Light hinged hood cover is heavy cast brass, unlike the Gloria that is made of brass sheet. The Coleman-like filler cap and check valve. The Lilor pressure gauge was pretty corroded, but I cleaned it up. It has a plastic "glass". I have a watch glass on order. The "P" is my mark on a repair I had to make to the pressure gauge. As it came: Up and running: Studio shot at 15 psi. Full crank in the shed at 25 psi: The Patent One of the features of the Patent is the inclusion of two generators. The first (top) one is filled with asbestos fibre and it feeds the second (lower) generator: "Briefly stated the improvements comprise the employment of two generators resulting in improved vaporization of the hydrocarbon oil ... the generator pipe 2 is provided with a suitable packing 20 to increase the heating surface and prevent boiling of the oil. It will be understood by the foregoing description of one form of the invention that when a mantle M is fitted to the burner B and the latter lit, the heat plays on both generator pipes 2 and 5 and so ensures perfect vaporization of the oil. By means of this invention the generator can be set in operation by primarily heating same with a lighted taper subsequently used for lighting the burner so that the use of methylated spirits which is dangerous is avoided" (from the patent). The drawing above also shows the pricker needle and rod (17) that also acts as a dimmer for the light: "..the generator pipe adjacent the burner is provided with a needle valve for regulating the combustible vapour". Parts 8, 9 and 10 are simplified in my lamp (see photo above). TW Sands sold Pearl Light in the 1930s. The Pearl Light Co also sold this patent in hollow-wire in the 1930s and 40s. Doughty went in and out of various partnerships and periods of insolvency during this time. I understand (from a personal communication) that the company name was bought in the 1950s, but that piece of research is still in the pipeline. I will post a separate thread on the fettle. It wasn't too difficult, but the many parts required patience and concentration. Conclusion This is one hell of a good lamp! As far as I know, there are no other extant examples. The burners, of course, were sold as hollow-wire. Cheers Tony
Excellent post Tony and a rare piece of the Australian story. Not forgetting it's a beautiful lamp Congratulations
@Tony Press As always, a great fettle and a good read. I enjoyed your presentation and marvel at your fettling skills. Well done. Cheers Pete
The earliest advertisement I can find (so far) for Pearl Light is 23 June 1934. The Patent application was made in March 1933; the full acceptance of the Patent was February 1934. Tony Edit: The advertisement is here: https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/tw-sands-pearl-light-1934.14997/
There's an earlier mention of the Pearl Light in a TW Sands advertisement from 23 November 1933, here: https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/tw-sands-including-pearl-light-1933.14999/ The interesting thing about this particular advertisement is that it was published after the Pearl Light Patent application (February 1933); and after the Provisional Specification was accepted (March 1933); but before the Complete Specification was accepted in February 1934. Thank you, @Anthony. Cheers Tony
I have just finished looking at Pearl Light to list the company in the PLC. The last advert for the Pearl lighting system is 12th July 1952 so these were presumably on sale from 1933 to at least then which is a pretty good run for an old fashioned looking lamp for the period. It does however mean we can't really date any of them unless they are marked as Doughty's Pearl Light since that company name dates from 1943 when Pearl Lighting went into receivership and was re-named by the new owners Joseph Doughty and Frederick Bastian. ::Neil::
A beautiful and interesting lamp. Well done on a good fettle and thank you for such a well documented post. Top job James
This illustration is from a TW Sands catalogue. The 1933 Pearl Light Burner Patent shown here. This catalogue was still current in at least 1941 as an old address for TW Sands of 372 Lonsdale Street has been crossed out and there is a faint stamp on the catalogue showing the address as 399 Elizabeth St. TW Sands moved to Elizabeth St in 1941 or thereabouts. Cheers Tony
And Doughty's Pearl Light Company, partnership between Doughty and Bastian ended on 28 Feb 1945 when the company was dissolved and just Doughty continued on with same company name and business. I wrote about an iron in 2015 which frequently was advertised as "Kayen'. In fact it was 'The Pearl' made by Doughty who had a patent on it. Interestingly the ads for the iron stop in 1952 as per @Mackburner 's post.
Iain I have one of those Pearl irons that I will eventually get around to fettling and posting. And there’s a rather testy thread here from a few years ago about the Kayen/Pearl iron. I’ve also got some information somewhere about who bought out the business in the early 1950s. I’ll tag you when I post the full TW Sands catalogue later in the week. Cheers Tony @Sedgman
Whoever made that lamp, I certainly like the looks of it. To me it has the appeal of a 19th century device although it might not be that old. Great fettle indeed.
