Was watching Young Frankenstein on TV and I noticed this. What do you think, pressure lamp or wick lamp?
Difficult to tell, but there does not seem to be an overhead burner, nor vapouriser and the globe is not big enough to hide such items. So, I'd guess wicky with the possibility of a mantle like on an Aladdin or similar lamp. Best regards, Wim
Yes you're probably right. The shape did sort of remind me of the early US lamps with overhead generators and the film was shot in the US.
Not a wick lamp IMHO as no space for a chimney. Unlikely IMHO to be a standard pressure lamp as the tank looks too small to hold enough fuel. That leaves either a hollow wire lamp or a gas light, almost certainly electrocuted for filming purposes. Early motion picture film needed very bright lighting to produce a decent picture. For this reason, miniature carbon arc lighting units were produced intended to fit within light fittings intended for oil, gas, or incandescent bulbs. Obviously, a 1KW or so carbon arc looked reasonably bright on a film set lit by other large arc lamps. A genuine gas or oil lamp would hardly appear to be lit. The run time was only a few minutes without adjustment.
See "fixture arc lamp" on page 55 of this document, for type of miniature electric arc lamp used for filming. Link
I was thinking some thing like this .. broadgage, going by the shadows I think you would be right. Great info too. Can you hear the arc in the movie ?
