G'day all, I came across Petrolite brand of light. I'm not certain it is pressure lamp related. It apparently was used by the Great Western Railway Company of England. It had a porous stone that absorbed the petrol and it ran on the fumes. 1906
Our own Conny C. has one of those. Or atleast a lamp working in that manner. You can read more about this system here at the Lamp Guild.
Christer, you may have to move this to the open forum. I've just found a sketch. It does employ a mantle but probably not pressure related. Sorry for the poor quality upload. I have trouble separating the ads from time to time. 1908
That is a pretty cool lamp that Conny has. I reckon I know another bloke from this forum that will want one.
Hi there, Here are two related patent drawings from Alfred Jarey (1904) and Hugh Marshall/Joseph Maton (1904). I believe there were also several earlier patents, but I think these were the important ones. /Conny
Because these are essentially just grown up wicky crap lamps I will not own up to knowing anything about them. However I have seen one running which is owned by my friend Henry. Not sure if this is his picture or mine but it appears the stone is not natuaral but some form of composite material. ::Neil::
That brass looks quality stuff. I'm a little surprised this system of the porous stone didn't catch on more. Perhaps it has and I just don't know of it. Conny C example looked to run great. Anthony, Here's your chance, tell me you won't want one of these.
Appears to have more in common with a pressure lamp than a wick lamp. It plainly states no wick. So it is a "barely above atmospheric" pressure lamp then? Does it need to be preheated? What stops it emitting vapour if it is fuelled and not in use? If there is no means to do so it would smell and pose a risk of explosion Y/N?
It has a lever valve which shuts off the vapour. These are in no way pressure lamps. Basically they run on the smell and updraught created by the burn. Preheat? Not sure maybe one of the owners of a working example will know. Henry's lamp certainly works and gives a very good light. I can't remember if we ever measured it but I would guess around 60 to 100cp. ::Neil::
Well, there no pressure at all involved here, but only the air draft generated by the chimney. Air also sucks through openings in the sleeve, below the burner and goes into the fount. The inner tube is movable and attached to a lever. When turning the lever you either open or shut off sort of openings to both the compartment with the porous stone (containing gasoline) and the "fresh air" coming in down into the fount to a space outside the inner tube. By turning the lever/inner tube both air and (carburetted air) gasoline fumes/vapor goes into the tube and mixes to a combustible mix for producing a Bunsen flame to the burner. By having the lever in a middle position you get a 50/50 air/vapor mix and at the end lever positions you just get either air or vapor. It obviously works, with no pressure and no generator/jet in place and it´s no need for pre-heating. /Conny
Thanks - much clearer idea now! I have never come across them before. Still wondering about safety given all those air paths. Presumably the valve closes all the openings in the tank.
Jon - the lamp is not in any way closed in either a lighting or a non lighting mode; the lamp is always ventilated. Therefore there is no build up of vapour into a closed compartment which could cause danger. A clarifying of the pre heating - To lit this lamp you have to draw up a gas mix to the burner and you do that by moving aside a slot cover in the lower part of the burner and then lit a match or a something to make a first draught and you then lit the burner. When the burner is lit the process of air draught is then self-sufficing. So no pre-heating for this burner in the way we think of it in pressure lamps. /Conny
I have numerous articles and ads and they state 50cp. It's unlikely that it would be overstated so likely pretty accurate?
