Hi everyone. I found this in a box with an old brass samovar tea urn. I was told it could be a lamp of some sort. Thought you lot would be the people to ask about it. Thank you
Yes, it has all the looks of a carbide lamp of the drip system in a crude way (no dripping needle). Just with very odd water container(s). The burner is an acetyleneburner, but it seems fixed to the riser tube, so no safety popping out there! And there are no real seal betwen the lower container and the presumptive water ditto. The threads are to low to reach up and seat agains any seal that might have been up there. Could be a home made thing. It sure looks like it. Do you have any vent holes on the water tank lid?
hhhm, how do you fill the "water tanks" and how do they empty? To be able to drip, air has to get into the recevoir. Also I do not see a ceramic burner of some kind.
Burner tips at the end of the inverted horseshoe - arrows Water reservoir filler cap - green arrow Water reservoir ‘U-bend’ connected to valve riser at joint in red
Yes, that's one reason I asked about the vent holes in the water lid. But also because I wanted to see if they were of the appropriate safety size (smaller than 0.8 mm). And Presscall has already highlighted your other concerns And yes, I still think it look like a homemade thing
Thanks guys, all that information much appreciated. After a bit more digging inside the samovar I found a scrap of paper with Arabic text. Once translated it was a receipt for said tea urn and two lamps. After further digging we found the second lamp, similar design. Bought in Iran in March 1978 by my uncle. They must have been knocked up by some enterprising fellas in a workshop. Thanks again
That could well explain the form, incorporating Islamic crescent motifs. It would look quite spectacular with the tips of the top ‘crescent’ projecting acetylene jets, creating an effect not too dissimilar to this on my French carbide lamp.
